VYFI: Open-Source Multi-Chain Auto-Harvester

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Steven Ward

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

9

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language

No

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

By allowing investors to access DeFi strategies in a chain agnostic manner, we aim to build participation in the Cardano DeFi Ecosystem by increasing the available consumer base of ADA DeFi.

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

No dependencies.

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

Yes

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html

[METADATA] Horizons

DeFi

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

One of the most important aspects to a DeFi ecosystem is access to liquidity. By growing liquidity on-chain, more and more users will be incentivized to engage with the ecosystem, creating a positive feed-back loop that grows the total engagement on the Cardano Blockchain. 

The current structure of DeFi is very segmented between different blockchains. This works to isolate users from respective ecosystems, resulting in a lower level of liquidity for all chains. The first step to bring cross-chain users to Cardano is to offer an accessible experience to those from other blockchains. With our cross-chain auto-harvester, we are able to offer DeFi positions that exist on Cardano to a far wider audience. 

What is an Auto-Harvester? 

An auto-harvester is a tool for users that will allow for easier portfolio management in Cardano DeFi. It will allow users to liquidity farm across multiple protocols on the Cardano blockchain, by just selecting a strategy, and then conducting a single transaction to deposit their CNTs to that strategy. It can be thought of as an Index Fund for LP tokens of projects from different areas of the Cardano Ecosystem.

Why cross-chain? 

Liquidity is essential to all businesses on block-chain, irrespective of the chain the project occupies. This partition between chains works against all of our ecosystems, limiting the capacity for users to interact with other communities and investment opportunities. 

By allowing this link between our chain, and other EVM chains, we will be able to expand the liquidity base on Cardano by offering investment opportunities that have previously been isolated to only users of our chain. Similarly, as this tool is open-sourced, anybody will be able to build bespoke investment strategies that originate from any of the integrated chains. 

How will we measure our impact?

Being a DeFi protocol, our principal measure of success is to build the total TVL in the Cardano ecosystem. As of today, ADA holds $230 million USD in total liquidity. Any increase to this number by more than a whole integer percentage point would be a successful implementation that has a net positive impact on the entire ecosystem. 

We will be able to track the total investment into our Auto-Harvester. Thus, the amount of liquidity gained will be directly measurable.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

Cardano has employed the most robust security measures of any blockchain that exists. It has, however, struggled to garner the same level of liquidity that we see in other comparable chains. As of 10/2/24, Cardano has 25% the liquidity of Avalanche and Polygon, 12.5% the liquidity of Base and 8% of the liquidity held on Solana. 

A big factor to this discrepancy is the rampant factionalism that exists between blockchain technologies. We can break this barrier by increasing access and building better pathways for users to access Cardano and the amazing opportunities it offers.  

Given the discrepancy in total liquidity invested on-chain, we can see there is a lot of opportunity that exists on other blockchains, for which Cardano currently has extremely limited potential for engagement. By building this link to other chains’ liquidity, we will help bridge the gap between these investors, and the opportunities that exist on the Cardano Blockchain.

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

Platform

We’ve been in the ecosystem for over four years. We have already delivered a unique suite of products for the ecosystem (Our DEx, our distributive BAR, first on-chain lottery, our Vaults, Transaction Cart, and many more), and continued to build and innovate within the Cardano ecosystem. We are confident with our track record and that we have the capability to deliver the Auto Harvester. 

Funds

We are a registered business in Australia, with our registration under International Markets, ABN: 84 649 719 433

Abn lookup: https://abr.business.gov.au/ABN/View?abn=84649719433

The Funds (wallets) used for the development of the Auto Harvester will be public and transparent. We intend on using these funds in a transparent manner that will be auditable on chain.

Project Visibility and Community Engagement 

The VyFinance team has attended (and will continue to attend) each major Cardano event in the community, including: 

- Rare Bloom 2022

- CNFTcon 2022

- NFTxLV 2023

- Rare Evo 2023

- Rare Evo 2024

- Cardano Summit 2022

- Cardano Summit 2023

- Cardano Summit 2024

Here we have been able to build confidence with the ecosystem and create relationships with many projects and leading community members.

We have also had the honor of being awarded/nominated for multiple accolades within the blockchain. This includes:

CNFT awards - “Best Long-Term Utility” - Winner

Rare Evo Award 2024 - “Best DeFi” - Winner

Cardano Summit 2024 - “DeFi Category” - Nominated  

[PROJECT MILESTONES] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

On-Chain Code

This includes the smart contracts and data handling required on chain.

This is the core of the product, and will provide the primary utilities of the auto-harvester. 

The deliverable will be test-net. Users will be able to engage with the smart contracts upon the launch of our testnet. This period will be crucial if the functionality meets the communities expectations.

Off-Chain code

This involves many crucial aspects of the product. Including, but not limited to: data query servers, data based handling and transaction construction.

The principal deliverable will be Milestone 3: testnet, where our off-chain code will be working synchronously to achieve the final product.

Test-net

Once the first two milestones are completed, we will be able to launch our test-net. Users will be able to engage with the product and we will be able to test the functionalities of the system.

The success of this milestone will be user feedback, which will allow us to optimize prior to launch. 

Audit

The audit is crucial for ensuring the safety of the smart contracts prior to launch. 

The deliverable for this milestone will be a public release of the audit of our smart contracts.

Video

We regularly engage with the Cardano community, and have released over 150 videos that can be found on youtube. We will continue releasing content regarding the auto-harvester through until launch. We will continue to share our progress with our combined community through the various social media platforms.

Final Project Completion Report

We will release regular updates about the progress of the product through Medium. We currently release a monthly update to engage the community in the process and progress of these new products. This will include technical reports, alongside more general product updates.

We also have a Trello, which is live. Where the live progress of current tasks can be viewed. This is available to be viewed at all times.

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Steven Ward - CEO

Dylan McCoy - COO

Deann Zois - CMO

Ryan Felt - CTO

Jon Hendrickson - CRO

Nick Cappiello - CCO

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

By allowing easier access to liquidity provision for users, we will be able to boost the total liquidity available on-chain, and thus grow the entire ecosystem. Liquidity is the largest barrier to DeFi on the Cardano Blockchain currently, and this product will allow a streamlined mechanism for integration of liquidity strategies on-chain.