Nexus Mutual Newsletter | 11 March 2022
We had an interuption with our weekly newsletter, but we return with plenty of updates!
Largest Cover Buy on Record!
On 22 February 2022, the mutual sold a Protocol Cover policy for Enzyme v3 that protected 18,335 ETH ($47,885,886) and earned members 117.464 ETH ($306,784) at the time of purchase. We knew a cover buy of this size was an institution, but CelsiusX, the custodian’s DeFi arm, announced they bought the policy! We’ve seen a rise in 8-figure cover buys in the last several months.
Time and time again, institutions and funds choose Nexus Mutual to cover their productive crypto assets because we have the greatest track record for paying claims and the ability to underwrite large covers. Here’s to the next 18,000 ETH cover buy 🙌
Immunefi Bug Bounty Matching Program: First Matching Payout
Nexus Mutual provided a $200,000 bug bounty matching payout to an anonymous whitehat who found a recent critical bug in Yearn Finance. After the matching bounty was paid out, the whitehat earned $400,000 for their disclosure.
In August 2021, members of the mutual passed a Snapshot proposal to create a matching bug bounty program with Immunefi. The program was launched and announced on Medium, where we outlined the benefits for the ecosystem. By virtue of being listed on Nexus Mutual, protocols receive an added layer of security.
Our aim with this program was two fold: make DeFi safer for users and incentivize disclosures on protocols where the mutual has sizeable liabilities. Yearn Finance currently has a total of $11.99m in active cover. By adding an additional incentive for critical vulnerabiity disclosures, we help prevent potential claimable events.
Through the Bug Bounty Matching Program, Nexus Mutual will continue the work of keeping DeFi users safe, while using community funds to increase critical vulnerability payouts for listed protocols. The program presents a mutual benefit for members and users in DeFi.
Read Immunefi’s announcement of the payout below:
Nexus Mutual is Hiring: Engineers Apply!
We are growing our engineering team and looking for engineers who can dive in and contribute to our growing team in scaling the Nexus Mutual protocol.
Responsibilities
Design, develop, test, deploy, maintain the core Nexus Mutual protocol & UI.
Provide technical support to 3rd parties integrating with the protocol.
Have fun. Be optimistic. WAGMI.
The ideal candidate
Experienced with (some of) our stack: Solidity, Hardhat, React.JS, Ethers.JS, Node.JS, IPFS. Bonus points for expertise or interest in tokenomics, game theory, L2s.
Has a keen eye for security.
Writes clean code.
Passionate about crypto, DeFi and Ethereum.
Self-motivated and eager to keep up with the fast pace of a small, remote startup team.
Willing to learn, grow and have product ownership.
If you or anyone you know is interested in working with one of the best development teams in DeFi, you can find more details within this job posting.
Mutant Meetup Call, Nexus V2 Updates
On this week’s Mutant Meetup call, I shared more information about Nexus V2: namely, the benefits to cover buyers + the new dynamic pricing model.
Over the next several weeks, I will be share more information about the updates, added function, and improved distribution model that will be coming when Nexus V2 launches. Next week, I’ll review delegated staking and the syndicate network, which will create an on-chain market for risk within the mutual.
We shared a synoposis of the updates in the Twitter thread below:
If you could join us on the Mutant Meetup call this week, you can listen to the recording here. Join us next week for more Nexus V2 alpha!
Codeless Conduct Hackathon Winners
Codeless Conduct opens up Gitcoin bounties to non-technical contributors. Anyone can take the opportunity to add value in Web3, and Codeless Conduct is not just another hackathon.
Nexus Mutual posted several bounties during this event. While we received many submissions, we were impressed with the UST depeg risk analyses that Mick-Codes and vedantgit submitted. Since both reports were so well written, we decided to pay out a 750 DAI bounty to both of these researchers.
Members can read the winning risk analysis papers in our Community Risk Analysis Papers section within the mutual’s documentation.
Exploring Nexus Tokenomics/Bonding Curve Redesign
The disparity between wNXM and NXM has not gone unnoticed within the Nexus Mutual community. It’s been a point of frustration for many, but our community is filled with smart, skilled contributors who have formed a working group to discuss potential changes to NXM tokenomics or modifications to the bonding curve design. This conversation started on the Nexus Mutual forum.
While the core team is focused on shipping Nexus V2, which will significantly improve the protocol and widen our distribution network, our community is hard at work on addressing the wNXM issue. When our community works together, we can accomplish anything.
If you are interested in joining the tokenomics working group, reach out to Jack (Dopeee) or Gauthier.
Nexus Mutual @ETHDenver
Jack (Dopeee) and I (BraveNewDeFi) flew to Denver to meet with the talented teams working in DeFi. We represented the mutual at ETHDenver, and wherever we went, we received complimentary responses for the core team’s work on Nexus V2 and the work we’re doing to protect more users in DeFi.
We both had a great time in Denver, met some wildly intelligent DeFi contributors, and shared the mutual’s roadmap for the next several months. And on Sunday, I went to the Castle to listen to presentations, visit the booths on the upper floors, and talk with teams, like the folks at Bancor, MEW Wallet, Tally, etc. I also took a picture with the Bufficorn on Sunday only to find out it was Vitalik in disguise!
Governance Updates, Active Snapshot Vote
Active Vote: Multifarm Product Integration
The Multifarm team posted a proposal to offer Nexus Mutual's cover products directly to their users through a product integration on the Multifarm website. In exchange for the website integration, they are requesting 1 ETH/month for the duration the integration is live on their site.
This proposal was posted on 9 February and has been transitioned to a Snapshot vote.
The original proposal can be viewed on the forum here.
Members can vote starting today, 7 March, at 12:30pm EST / 5:30pm UTC
Voting will close on Monday, 14 March, at 12:30pm EST / 5:30pm UTC
Operation Wartortle
The Special Resolution vote passed with unanimous support from the Nexus Mutant community.
As per the Special Resolution poll, Step 1 has now been executed as at 24th Feb 2022 12:00PM UTC and assets have been transferred from Nexus Mutual Ltd to the Terrapin International Foundation.
Members are now organising themselves as per the Nexus Mutual DAO Member Agreement and are no longer members of Nexus Mutual Ltd.
wNXM Options
The weighted Snapshot vote for the How should we utilize the wNXM purchased during Operation TM-12? resulted in 74.07% allocation to funding the foundation; 13.04% allocation to stake NXM in Nexus Mutual; and 12.86% allocation to create a long-term aligned group.
70,000 wNXM Deposit in Bancor
The Snapshot vote for the Should we allocate up to 70,000 wNXM from the Community Fund to the wNXM Bancor pool? proposal passed with a 62.44% majority vote.
Bancor shared an announcement with the DeFi community signalling that Nexus Mutual’s DAO was making the largest DAO-driven treasury deposit on Bancor in the coming week. Our deposit into Bancor will represent the first allocation of wNXM to a productive strategy, which will earn yield for the DAO, increase treausry holdings, and receive impermanent loss (IL) protection within Bancor’s wNXM:BNT pool.
BootNode | MEV Protection
The Snapshot vote for the Should we give BootNode a grant to build MEV protected swaps for the mutual? proposal passed with 99.91% majority support. The BootNode team is currently working to build MEV protected swap functionality for the capital pool using Cowswap. Should the mutual have to swap ETH for DAI to faciliate claim payouts, we won’t be subject to frontrunning or sandwhich attacks.
Cover Sales (28 Feb to 6 March)
Cover Sales (21 to 27 February)
Cover Sales (Year to Date)
Weekly Close
In this next week, we’ll be hosting:
Our Mutant Meetup call on Tuesday (15 March) at 10am EST / 3pm UTC on Discord in the Community Calls Voice channel.
You can follow the Nexus Mutual Twitter account for regular updates and communication from the mutual, and you can follow the Nexus Mutual Bot Twitter account to stay up to date on cover buys as they happen.
Have a great weekend and week ahead 🐢