The Weekly Yax #14: Partner Programme

The Weekly Yax is the easiest way to keep up with the yAxis Project.

Every Sunday, we highlight major news and developments, alongside key takeaways from the week’s episode of Ya Herd?

Major News & Developments

• July 18th introduced the yAxis Partner Programme.
• July 19th kicked off the End of Era Awards.
• July 22nd revealed the new official yAxis subreddit.
• July 23rd marked the 14th episode of Ya Herd? and its new podcast format.
• July 24th commenced the voting for the Canonical Vault NFT Contest.

Ya Herd? Week #14 Key Takeaways

The driving purpose behind this week’s episode was to provide the community with additional details about the yAxis Partner Programme and convey its value proposition.

The yAxis Partner Model

The yAxis partner model is grounded in the simple, time-tested strategy of incentivizing loyal users with a revenue share, particularly users that will drive high traffic and offer potential additional co-benefits. The target partner types could be split into two main categories: (1) high-volume referral sources and (2) large entity depositors. An example of a high-volume referral source is another DeFi protocol integrating yAxis as a “whitelisted partner.” The co-benefits from this type of engagement are

• Unlocking potential joint marketing initiatives and expanding our reach to new communities.
• Enabling yAxis to draw more TVL and revenue than yAxis would’ve attracted in the first place, such that even with yAxis sharing a cut of the revenue, it’s still positive EV for the Project and YAXIS stakers.

A large entity depositor, or an “entity partner,” with a large deposit and time-lock structure also offers co-benefits, such as

• Leveraging the network of these entity partners.
• Driving TVL and revenue stability, in addition to the above benefit of attracting more TVL and revenue than yAxis would’ve captured in a “BAU” scenario.

After v3 Canonical Vaults are launched, there will be a short transition period and then the Partner Programme is planned to go live. The yAxis team is currently using this time to fine-tune revenue modeling and Programme parameters. Potential partners will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis with co-benefits in mind.

Other Successful Models Across DeFi

Yearn has a successful partner model with Alchemix, Badger, Inverse Finance and others. Yearn provides reliable yield infrastructure for these DeFi partners to build on top of, such as Alchemix’s notorious “loan that pays itself back with yield” model. Yearn provides a consistent place to source yield and rewards Alchemix with a cut of revenue to incentivize continued partnership. As discussed in the introductory yAxis Partner Programme article, Yearn’s partners helped propel nearly 150% growth in TVL to date from inception of the programme in March — results that yAxis is striving to generate with its Partner Programme.

Lido, the liquid staking solution for Ethereum 2.0, launched its referral program launched about a week ago. The goal of this programme is to encourage building on top of Lido and driving ETH to be staked through their platform. In return, the referral source receives LDO token rewards. In our opinion, the yAxis model is superior because it’s non-inflationary and doesn’t rely on additional emissions to fund itself. That being said, the Lido referral program is something that yAxis could look to leverage in an ETH Canonical Vault strategy.

Potential Value Creation for yAxis

The value creation potential for yAxis from the Partner Programme is multi-faceted. TVL growth from partners is poised to generate more aggregate revenue, supporting YAXIS and YAXIS stakers, contributing to higher yield as the value of YAXIS rewards increase, attracting more TVL, which generates more revenue and so on. This is the great reflexivity mechanism that many appreciate about yAxis.

Furthermore, providing whitelisted partners with a revenue share incentivizes them to drive capital to yAxis, opening the door to co-marketing. For instance, yAxis could invite someone from the Partner’s team on Ya Herd? to welcome people from a new community. yAxis could also participate in the Partner’s community events. The opportunities to expand our reach and engage new users are immense.

As mentioned earlier, entity partners improve TVL and revenue stability, benefitting both YAXIS stakers and the treasury. Greater TVL stability also creates more confidence and trust in the product. Also mentioned earlier was the potential to leverage the network of entity partners. For example, COSIMO X could serve as an entity partner and introduce their network of institutional clients to the Programme, driving outsized value creation beyond just COSIMO’s TVL contribution and revenue generation.

In addition to the interest yAxis has already fielded since the announcement of the Partner Programme, the team has received inquiries from potential institutional partners throughout Era 1. The future for the Partner Programme appears bright. We are excited to see how it develops over the course of Era 2!

The full recording of this week’s episode can be found on YouTube and now in podcast format.

yAxis Project Stats of the Week

• MetaVault TVL $7.4 million.
• YAXIS staking 116% APY (77% APR) and LP 146% APY (183% APR).
• Over 900 YAXIS bought back with MetaVault revenue this week for distribution in The Great Harvest.

Community Content Spotlight

This week’s community content spotlight goes to the finalists of the Final Champions Table Design Contest — the Canonical Vault NFT Contest. Members of the yAxis community submitted designs for BTC, ETH, LINK, and YAXIS-themed NFTs. One of the LINK finalists is shown below. Check out the full finalist list here.

Voting for the winning design is ongoing. The winning designs will be used to advertise the release of the Canonical Vaults. Thank you to all yAxis Herd members who submitted NFT designs!

Join Us: Bounties & Jobs

Coordinated by the yAxis Champions Programme, the yAxis Bounty Board lists requests for proposals (RFPs), where community members can respond to specific Project needs and receive compensation upon task completion. See the current opportunities below and check the Bounty Board frequently as more opportunities will be added over time, such as the Convex Development Bounty added last week.

If none of the current opportunities appeal to you, but you would still like to contribute, reach out to waali@yaxis.io. You have the opportunity to shape the next era of yAxis.

That concludes the fourteenth edition of The Weekly Yax. Thank you for reading and looking forward to many more!

Onward and upward, Yax Herd!