Identity and background
What is the delegate’s identity and background?
I am the Founder & Research Director at Composable. I have developed a deep understanding of the blockchain space and a comprehensive vision on cross-chain DeFi. As a crypto founder, user, and investor, I am thus always on the lookout for new opportunities to advance the industry and best serve its users. I pride myself on my ability to identify unmet needs in crypto and decentralized finance, and then subsequently define novel solutions to these problems. In my present role, I am focused on researching blockchain infrastructure and relevant trends to advise on Composable’s development as well as designing products that can best leverage the Composable tech stack. I write about the R&D at Composable on Twitter and Medium, as well as our new research forum.
Has the delegate historically contributed to the Jito Network?
I have been an early believer and participant in Jito. I have great respect and faith in this project, hence why I am leading the charge in facilitating the restaking of jitoSOL as one of the first accepted assets in Composable’s restaking vault on Solana (described in more detail below).
Has the delegate historically been involved in protocol governance?
I actively participate in the governance system of Curve, a leading DEX/AMM on Ethereum and its L2s/sidechains. Through my position at Composable, I also have significant insight into how decentralized governance systems work, as we have deployed OpenGov for the Picasso network.
Is the delegate committed to helping the Jito Network and Solana succeed? Explain.
Supporting the growth and expansion of the Solana network, including Jito, is a huge focus of Composable, and also myself personally. This is being accomplished through a number of initiatives/developments.
First, Composable is working to connect Solana to the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) Protocol for the first time. The IBC is a trust-minimized cross-chain interoperability protocol that was initially deployed in the Cosmos ecosystem and brought to other networks for the first time by Composable. Thus, Solana will be able to interoperate in a trust-minimized manner with other IBC-enabled chains (currently including the Cosmos Hub and Cosmos SDK chains, Polkadot and Kusama parachains, and Ethereum, with the lattermost being in testnet). Once Solana IBC goes live, this connection can be leveraged via trustless.zone. This newfound interoperability between Solana and other ecosystems is likely to drive new use cases, liquidity, and usership to Solana.
Moreover, Composable is working to bring restaking to Solana for the first time. Restaking has been described as a new primitive in crypto-economic security that enables the rehypothecation of a token on the consensus layer. The process of restaking involves a user staking an ecosystem’s native asset to that ecosystem’s validators. The user then receives a receipt token representing this stake. They next “restake” this receipt token with validators again. This mechanism enables users to multiply the crypto-economic security (and the yield) of their initial tokens, as they are essentially able to stake the same assets twice, receiving yield and supporting PoS validation both times. Compared to staking alone, using the same amount of initial assets, restaking thus not only increases a user’s yield, but also enhances total security.
Restaking has been pioneered and popularized by EigenLayer, which is a protocol for restaking Ether (ETH) on Ethereum. In particular, users staking ETH are able to opt into EigenLayer’s smart contracts for restaking their ETH and thus extending the crypto-economic security to additional applications within the ecosystem. Through this mechanism, EigenLayer addresses rising concerns of fragmented security on Ethereum, helping to bootstrap the security of various protocols/applications. EigenLayer’s total value locked (TVL) at the time of writing is over $1.69 billion, indicating that there is a clear demand for restaking.
Despite the benefits of restaking, this concept has largely not yet expanded beyond the Ethereum ecosystem. However, there is a huge potential for restaking on other chains. This is particularly true on Solana, where there is a massive amount of staking occurring, with many prominent staking protocols already offering liquid staking tokens (LSTs) and receipt tokens that can be used for various purposes while a user’s original assets remain staked. In fact, at the time of writing, over 392 million SOL are staked, representing a staking market capitalization of over $25 billion dollars. This is 92% of the total circulating supply of SOL, as per Coinmarketcap. Therefore, there is an incredibly large market for restaking these assets that are already staked in Solana. Composable thus introduces the concept of restaking to Solana (and other IBC-enabled ecosystems) for the first time.
Picasso will accept staking of Solana’s native SOL token as well as restaking of various receipt tokens from SOL staking platforms. These tokens can be staked with validators of our Solana <> IBC connection. Users will be able to deposit their assets from their connected digital wallets into our staking contracts. From these contracts, assets will be delegated to validators of the guest blockchain that supports the IBC <> Solana connection in Picasso. Restaking in this manner will support Composable’s guest blockchain along the premise of PoS, which enhances the security of this connection.
Users will accumulate staking rewards proportionate to their staking amount and time. Thus, they can receive not only the yield on their original stake, but also the yield from restaking. This provides a new yield-bearing opportunity to the Solana community.
To allow users to participate in restaking as early as possible, we are opening a restaking vault prior to Solana IBC launch. Vaults will accept staking of Solana’s native SOL token as well as restaking of various receipt tokens from SOL staking platforms. Users will earn staking rewards for participation. This will also give users a head start in our team staking competition, where the prize for the winning team is boosted transfer revenue.
Rewards and the team staking competition last 30 days and are part of the gamification experience in MANTIS. Participants can earn rewards from the 17,500,000 PICA pool based on their stake, and the winning team receives 80% of transfer revenue for 30 days. Team leaders with MANTIS GAMES NFTs get augmented rewards, including a 1.25x boost for their deposits and the ability to generate referral codes. This provides a gamification/SocialFi element to Solana restaking, making this opportunity even more fun and enjoyable for users.
Initial tokens accepted in the vaults include jitoSOL, bSOL, mSOL, and Solana (SOL). We are particularly excited to accept jitoSOL and other Proof-of-Stake assets from Solana, as not only is this a huge market, but also this will enable users to generate more yield and more network security from their underlying stake. This brings greater utility to their SOL as well as their receipt tokens for staking SOL, such as jitoSOL.
More information on Solana restaking vaults and this competition can be found on the Picasso Medium page.
Candidate views
How should JitoSOL validator delegation balance performance (yield) versus decentralization goals?
I believe that the goal of JitoSOL validator delegation should be to maximize decentralization. Yield is of course important, but there are ways to provide significant yield while still maintaining a high degree of decentralization.
What should be the priorities for JTO liquidity mining and DAO token grants?
I believe that the core priority should be increasing use cases for jitoSOL. There is already a massive amount of jitoSOL in circulation, and providing new use cases for this token will even further incentivize participation in Jito, leading to increased security generated from this staking, as well as increased value of the jitoSOL token and new earnings opportunities for users.
What are your goals for the DAO as a delegate?
See previous question; I would like to support innovation around the creation of new and expanded use cases for jitoSOL. I believe that this would have benefits for all stakeholders in the Jito/Solana ecosystem (jitoSOL holders, validators, and participants in the ecosystem who benefit from enhanced network security).
Solana delegation address: CBUFCkC533eJGgFGQ4BupzPEZ6SyCef5iJhNuGH6vGsF