Been a while huh?

$DOWN Updates - Aug. 10

GM anons! We apologize for the lapse in updates recently; there's really a one-man-army type of 'team' for $DOWN, in addition to several other projects that may have 1-2 people actively contributing aside from myself (BruceTheGoose). BUT THERE'S GOOD NEWS within that statement. All of the time that isn't spent writing a daily or weekly newsletter can then be used on actually improving the project(s), in this case $DOWN. And that's exactly what we've been up to since last writing an email blast!

There's been a lot of progress related to the $DOWN token, and plenty of exciting updates to discuss that are either live now or are coming soon! Let's vibe.

Overview

• $DOWN (via Chainport) to be phased out for $DOWN (PoS)

• Expansion pending for Optimistic $DOWN

• $DOWN community Metaverse upcoming on Rove

• Deployed Unilend $DOWN pool

• Exploring a $DOWN stablecoin and veTokenomics

• Season 2 Farming

• NFT 'Bonds'

$DOWN (PoS)

Initially, $DOWN's multichain expansion was accomplished using Chainport.app, which generated a derivative token in the form of $DOWN Vault (via Chainport). Chances are, if you're holding $DOWN, it's the Chainport derivative. This token will no longer be supported for liquidity incentives, voting, token-gated access, etc. (though deactivating token gates and such won't be done immediately). The Chainport-based derivative will be replaced by the official "child token" deployed in collaboration with the Polygon team; allowing $DOWN to be transferred seamlessly between L1 / L2 via Polygon's official network bridge. To replace your $DOWN Vault (via Chainport) tokens, simply use Chainport's app to transfer your tokens to Ethereum mainnet, then bridge them to Polygon using the official bridge. Alternatively, there is a pegged swap pair on DoDo Dex allowing a 1:1 exchange of $DOWN (Chainport) to $DOWN (PoS). The correct token contract addresses are as follows:

• Chainport $DOWN: 0xa584484f422bfc2128566f8f954b7f2e31e94cc8

• PoS $DOWN: 0xA934bcBf24A7272781197b6559230c30bf0BB2e6

BE SURE TO USE THE CORRECT BRIDGE. CHAINPORT $DOWN TRANSFERRED TO THE POLYGON NETWORK BRIDGE CONTRACT WILL BE LOST, AND VICE-VERSA

Optimism Expansion

Pending final approval from the Optimism dev squad; $DOWN will expand it's availability to the Optimism L2 network. The token has been mapped and a child-token contract on Optimism is deployed, allowing the token to be bridged via the Optimism Gateway. In the near future, we will submit a pull request to add $DOWN to the Optimism token list, enabling holders to migrate their $DOWN (from Ethereum mainnet) by way of the official Optimism network bridge. Once this is finalized, we will request additional mapping to allow the $DOWN (PoS) token to be transferred from Polygon to Optimism while receiving the same ERC-20 as would be deployed when transferring $DOWN from L1.

Once the token mapping is deployed to allow simple transfers between the 3 networks, additional LP incentives will be deployed to both Polygon and Optimism; enabling early supporters to accumulate $DOWN at an appealing rate, which in turn will motivate more participants to both hodl and to provide liquidity to various pairs.

$DOWN Metaverse

Rove is a "metaverse as a service" platform, allowing any NFT hodl'er to deploy (or claim a parcel in) a Metaverse for any NFT collection, as well as allowing the deployment of custom metaverse environments; within which the deploying project/team can dictate how many plots of land are available and the cost to mint one or more of the available land NFTs. Once deployed, these "micro-metaverses" become a part of an expanding multiverse connecting all deployed NFT collections' metaverse environments and those deployed directly by project teams, DAOs, etc. Initially, we planned to token-gate minting access for the $DOWN community metaverse, but chose to instead create a rewards system to drive additional value to $DOWN and the $DOWN DAO. The $DOWN community metaverse has a very limited supply of 777 land NFTs available, minted and maintained on the Polygon network. These NFT lands; representing claim over a single parcel in the $DOWN Town 3d 'microverse' can be minted for a fixed price of 125 $MATIC, by anyone who has the required $MATIC available on Polygon. $DOWN holders can earn a price rebate by minting a parcel while hodl'ing at least 500 $DOWN (currently about $35 USD). Eligible hodl'ers will receive $DOWN equivalent to 35 $MATIC, equal to approximately 30% of the minting cost, after submitting a rebate request which will be reviewed for eligibility before the rebate is distributed. After all 777 NFT land parcels are minted, 75% of the generated $MATIC will be utilized to boost liquidity for $DOWN while also fueling token buybacks. The liquidity boosting and token buybacks will apply the following format, using 1000 $MATIC as an example figure. With 750 $MATIC allocated to buybacks and liquidity, 250 $MATIC will be used for token buybacks, leaving 500 to be added to liquidity. After buybacks, the remaining $DOWN (250 $MATIC value) will be provided from the community rewards distribution pool and supplied to liquidity pools; with the resulting LP tokens transferred to the $DOWN DAO treasury. Remaining revenue (250 $MATIC based on the example of 1000 $MATIC) will be divided (at a TBD rate) and transferred to the $DOWN DAO and the $DOWN Vault. As the $DOWN Town metaverse populates, land owners and non-landowner visitors can expect a variety of experiences ranging from live entertainment, to scavenger hunts, to curated art exhibitions, and more.

$uDOWN

Currently being explored to determine the most beneficial methodology; $uDOWN is a synthetic token generated by providing $DOWN to Unilend's permission-less borrowing/lending pools. Currently, there are low-rate rewards available to users who provide $DOWN (via Chainport) to the Unilend protocol's lending pools, which may additionally be rewarded to borrowers of $DOWN. It is not recommended at this time to lend/borrow $DOWN via Unilend as the protocol is delpoying a major update soon and migrating to Unilend v.2. Once their updates are complete, detailed information will be available and lending/borrowing incentives will be optimized.

Stable $DOWN / veTokens

Currently, a variety of governance frameworks are being explored with the goal of determining and utilizing the most efficient DAO structure to govern (and incentivize governance of) the future of the $DOWN token's ecosystem expansion, $DOWN grants offered to external projects, investment management (including flips-for-profit as well as vault acquisitions) and additional aspects of the $DOWN DAO; for which the intention is to be as accessible as possible without enabling vote manipulation through short-term trades (meaning that we're aiming to remove the ability for someone to buy $10,000 USD in $DOWN for the purpose of increasing their vote weight, then selling the tokens after the vote is settled). One potential solution is to utilize a similar format to that of a growing number of protocols; veTokens governance. In this model, hodl'ers are able to stake and lock their tokens ($DOWN) for a fixed amount of time to gain voting power in the form of $veDOWN. This model is appealing, but we're also exploring additional options, such as NFT-based voting, 1-per-holder votes with a minimum tokens held threshold, and others. In the same sector (according to my A.D.D.), is the possibility of creating a $DOWN-based stablecoin, either via a direct 1:1 $DOWN/$stableDOWN pegged token, or by utilizing the Ichi protocol to deploy and manage $oneDOWN. $oneDOWN would exist as a USD denominated stablecoin, with 1 $oneDOWN equalling $1 USD; minted by supplying $USDC and $DOWN proportionally to establish a 1:1 USDC backed token. If deployed, it is likely that this stablecoin would be used as voting power for $DOWN DAO governance, ensuring that anyone participating in ecosystem proposals would have a financial stake in the experiment and would therefore be likely to have aligned motives and a desire to see the project succeed. These undecided details will be elaborated on further as the DAO and the hypothetical stablecoin are developed, deployed, and optimized.

Season 2 Rewards/Farms

Currently, the live incentives and rewards mechanisms for $DOWN hodl'ers and LPs are based on the $DOWN (via Chainport) token which is soon to be deprecated. As such, the existing rewards pools will remain active until their scheduled end date, or until the rewards available are depleted. After all current reward strategies are completed; $DOWN (PoS) rewards will be deployed; with more diverse staking strategies made available to provide a variety of options for which tokens or LP receipts to stake, as well as establishing a variety of potential rewards which will include $DOWN, governance tokens, and NFTs exclusively available to stakers and LP providers. The exact details are yet to be determined, but the current rewards outline includes several strategies with some examples including:- Stake LPs to earn $DOWN- Stake $DOWN to earn $(governance token)- Lock $DOWN to earn $veDOWN- Stake $DOWN or LPs to earn 3rd-party fractional NFT tokens- Stake $DOWN or LPs to earn points redeemable for exclusive NFTs- Stake various NFTs by BruceTheGoose, DappGoose Labs, or partnered projects to earn $DOWN, NFT shards, or other tokens.

$DOWN NFT Bonds

Though heavily inspired by the token-bonding primitive pioneered by Olympus DAO and $OHM, $DOWN's integrated bond market will leverage the composability and diverse potential for utilities made possible through the use of NFTs. Instead of selling tokens at a discount in an effort to accumulate protocol-owned liquidity, $DOWN Bond NFTs will be deployed; in limited quantity over several tiers, and sold for stablecoins or network-native assets. These NFTs will feature original artwork by the creator of $DOWN (BruceTheGoose) and represent an allocation of $DOWN to be distributed by weekly airdrops. This will allow $DOWN to be sold at a discounted rate in comparison to market value; while also generating revenue that will be more readily liquid than the alternative of selling native tokens or withdrawing liquidity to access necessary capital. Additionally, the sale of $DOWN bond NFTs will still deepen liquidity for the token, by matching 35% of revenue with an equivalent quantity of $DOWN, to be deposited across several liquidity pairings; as well as directly supporting the value of $DOWN by depositing a significant portion of revenue to the $DOWN Vault. The remaining balance of crypto brought in by selling $DOWN Bond NFTs will be divided between the $DOWN DAO treasury, and token buybacks that will be black-holed into the $DOWN Vault (providing additional value to the token at the same time as reducing the accessible supply.)To provide an example of how this might work, we'll assume that there are 3 tiers of NFT with the following format:T1 - 1000 $DOWN, 4 weekly drops of 250 tokens : 80 $MATICT2 - 2500 $DOWN, 100 $DOWN on purchase followed by 6 weekly drops of 400 tokens : 200 $MATICT3 - 5000 $DOWN, 500 $DOWN on purchase followed by 9 weekly drops of 500 tokens - 350 $MATICIn our hypothetical scenario, our example degen, Thomas, has been anticipating the launch of the $DOWN bond program, which has just become available for minting. With a price of $1/MATIC and $0.10/$DOWN, Thomas can acquire a tier 3 NFT for approximately $350 USD, and over time, based on the market value at the time of purchase, will receive about $500 USD worth of $DOWN, saving $150 compared to simply market-buying the token. Upon purchase, Thomas will receive a limited edition artwork NFT which can be kept or resold. At a fixed date (either a fixed time after the NFT minting becomes available, or beginning after the NFTs are sold out) Thomas will begin to receive weekly airdrops of 500 $DOWN per week, for 10 weeks. This allows for a variety of strategies for Thomas, and may offer opportunities for additional profit. As one example, let's say Thomas has received 2000 $DOWN from the allocated 5000. During this 4-week period, the price of $DOWN has increased to $0.25, making the 2000 $DOWN he's received worth $500, a significant profit from his initial minting cost of about $350. Thomas could then sell the $DOWN bond NFT profitably at any cost (since he's already holding an unrealized profit of $150 in received $DOWN), using the remaining 3000 $DOWN (or, in this scenario, now $750) as a selling point; since the $DOWN distribution will be provided to the addresses holding the bonds during each weekly delivery). Alternatively, Thomas can simply continue to hodl the NFT, and receive the full allocation of $DOWN tokens. There are several possibilities being explored in relation to additional benefits granted to bond holders; such as the ability to stake the bond NFTs to earn additional $DOWN, bonus rewards for holding bonds through the entire distribution schedule, token-gated access for bond minters, and other potential benefits (as well as the possibility of disciplinary actions triggered by selling an immature bond, or listing below a certain price threshold). Without considering the possibility of additional incentives and/or consequences; since these features aren't yet decided, there is another aspect of the $DOWN bond program that we believe is an improvement to the current "sell tokens to accumulate protocol owned LP". Making the $DOWN bonds mintable for a network-native asset such as $MATIC, or for an established stablecoin such as $MAI, $USDC, or $FRAX will serve to direct additional value to both the $DOWN token (via buybacks and sales revenue allocation to the $DOWN Vault) and to the $DOWN DAO treasury without the generated revenue becoming relatively illiquid. To be more specific, we'll hypothesize that the $DOWN Bond NFT mint generates a total of 5000 $MATIC, allocating a total of 100,000 $DOWN to be distributed. Since the $DOWN DAO has an excess of $DOWN, the value of which is only accessible by selling the token against existing liquidity and negatively affecting the market value, the distribution of $DOWN is essentially cost-free; meaning that of 5000 $MATIC, 100% is profit. Of this, 20% (1000 $MATIC) will be transferred to the $DOWN vault; effectively increasing the backing of $DOWN by $MATIC's current price x 2500 and immediately increasing the provable value of every bond sold. 50% will be used to deepen the available liquidity across various pairs, leaving a difference of 30% of the revenue (in this example, 1500 $MATIC) to be supplied to the $DOWN DAO treasury, available to be used for investing in promising tokens to hold in the treasury or deposit to the $DOWN Vault, rewarding bounties, publishing marketing material, or covering other operating costs. By creating $BONDs as NFTs, and selling these NFTs for 3rd party assets instead of $DOWN/(token) LP tokens, the revenue created is significantly more liquid, and due to the unique tokenomics of $DOWN, directly adds to the token's value; all without creating a scenario where a single hodl'er obtains (and potentially sells) a huge quantity of tokens. To further deter huge sell-offs of $DOWN, purchasing multiple bond NFTs will incur an adjusted vesting format. In theory, this would function as follows:Let's assume Thomas, our degen from the last scenario, decides to buy 3 tier 3 NFT bonds; entitling him to a total of 15000 $DOWN via weekly distributions. By default, each T3 would receive 500 $DOWN per week, for 9 weeks. Due to the very large quantity of $DOWN allocated to Thomas' 3 NFTs; their distribution would be modified to have a longer distribution schedule, or a payment stream would be established with daily releases. It's also possible that the $DOWN DAO will decide against metered distribution for collectors of multiple $DOWN bond NFTs. Release dates for all mentioned updates will be announced in the next issue of the $DOWN Debrief, as well as being announced on our official twitter; @downtoken.And just in case there wasn't enough alpha packed into this email; we'll let you in on a secret or two... There's a lot more in the works that we didn't have room to include here....And we're exploring expansion to Solana.