Nexus Mutual Roadmap | Q3 & Q4 2024

Nexus Mutual Updates Roadmap
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[Continued from Above]

DAO Product & Risk

The Product & Risk is a hybrid team that consists of @Hugh and @BraveNewDeFi. The Product & Risk team collaborates with the Foundation BD, Legal, and Engineering teams.

How the Product & Risk team will contribute to core objectives

  1. New Cover Product Development

    • Launch products currently in development over the course of Q3/Q4. The Product & Risk team has developed several products, some of which have gone live already and some that are pending launch. They’ll work to finalise and launch these new products, so the Mutual can pursue deals and new cover listings to drive cover sales.
    • Enter R&D on a new bundled-type product designed to provide cover across multiple protocols. Given the success members have seen with Bundled Protocol Cover, the Product & Risk team has begun researching a new product that can bundle cover for popular protocols to give users greater flexibility in how they protect themselves against risk with just one (1) Cover NFT. They’ll aim to develop this product and, if the research indicates demand, they’ll launch this in Q3/Q4.
    • Enter R&D on a new yield cover product. The Product & Risk team has identified a new cover primitive, which they believe can help the Mutual scale cover sales significantly. This new product requires working with the Foundation Engineering team, so development may take longer than a typical product. However, the team is getting feedback on the product spec and looking forward to further development in Q3/Q4.
    • Conduct market research for Depeg Cover before moving forward. The Product & Risk team has been developing a new Depeg Cover product but it requires engineering resources to get the product across the finish line. Because engineering resources are limited, the team will assess demand in the market for this product before moving forward with the engineering work. The team will conduct research and assess where this new product fits into the engineering pipeline.
    • Support new and existing syndicates on new product development. As new syndicates launch and existing syndicates develop new products, the Product & Risk team will provide support on cover wording development and work with teams to get new products listed. The team will work with syndicates on go-to-market plans for these new products, as well.
    • Support the Business Development team with point-of-sale (PoS) integrations. Now that the Mutual can offer PoS integrations, the BD team will be actively working with existing protocol partners to get more PoS integrations in frontends where users are actively depositing. The Product & Risk team will support these efforts any way that they can in Q3/Q4.

  2. Risk Research Projects

    • Start bridge risk research project. The Mutual sees regular requests for Bridge Cover but it isn’t a product that’s offered at this time. The Product & Risk team will begin a research project, with the goal of creating a risk framework that will be used to create a pricing model for this risk. Once the team can assess pricing, they can begin development on a Bridge Cover product to satisfy market demand.
    • Start lending market research project. The lending market landscape has changed drastically in the last year and with new innovations comes new risks. The Product & Risk team will begin a research project on lending markets, with the goal of creating a risk framework that will be used to create a pricing model for this risk. This pricing model will provide a baseline for how the Mutual assesses risk with the Community Staking pool. The Product & Risk team will share a report on their findings once the project is completed, as well.
Past Performance

  1. Support Cover Re Deal. Per the recently approved NMPIP, the Cover Re deal will require support from the Product & Risk team. In collaboration with the other teams involved, the Product & Risk team will provide support as needed.

    • The Product & Risk team is working with the Foundation Legal team to finalise the retrocession agreement and relevant cover wording ahead of Phase 2 of the Cover Re deal’s execution. Look for future updates on the Cover Re deal in Q3/Q4.

  2. Support New Cover Product Development. The Product & Risk team will collaborate with the Foundation BD and Legal teams to review proposed cover terms, assess feasibility, and contribute to the cover wording development process. Once new cover wording has been finalised, the Product & Risk team will work with the Engineering team to implement the Cover Product Type on chain.

  • In the last six months, the Product & Risk team has launched several new products, which are reviewed below.
    • Bundled Protocol Cover. Since launch, the Mutual has sold $60.18M in cover, earned $785.6K in premium, and generated $117,844 in commissions for the DAO Treasury. Bundled Protocol Cover has quickly become our second most popular product.
    • Fund Portfolio Cover. This product just launched at the end of Q2, and we’ve already sold $20.5M in cover, earned $230,211 in premium, and generated $23,149 in commissions for the DAO Treasury.
    • Sherlock Bug Bounty Cover. The Product & Risk team developed a new Quota Share product to support Sherlock’s syndicate, as they are selling a new type of coverage focused on covering critical bug bounty payouts on code previously audited by Sherlock. While no cover has been sold under this product yet, the Product & Risk team will work to support Sherlock as they scale sales for their Bug Bounty Coverage product.
    • ETH Slashing Umbrella. To support our ongoing partnership with Liquid Collective, the Product & Risk team developed a modified version of ETH Slashing Cover to update the Mutual’s protection for Liquid Collective stakers. To date, the Mutual has sold $5M in cover and earned $29K in premium.

  1. Research Project: Account Abstraction. The Engineering team and Product & Risk teams will collaborate on an account abstraction project. As the Mutual continues to expand into new markets, the Foundation and DAO teams want to research how account abstraction could be implemented within the Nexus Mutual protocol and UI to create an easier way to onboard new users.

  2. Research Project: Membership Benefits Programme. Many discretionary mutuals provide supplementary services to their members as an added benefit. The Product & Risk team will conduct research at potential benefits the Mutual can provide to members to make membership in the Mutual more valuable for existing members and to appeal to broader audiences.

    • The Product & Risk team conducted some initial research, but determined that the Mutual needed to conduct more user research before finalising a membership benefits program. The Product & Risk team will work with the Grants Committee to conduct user research, per the open Request for Proposals to conduct user research for the Mutual.

DAO R&D

How the DAO R&D team will contribute to core objectives

  1. Product & Protocol

    • Pricing input on new products using actuarial expertise.
    • Support on design and edge cases for new technical products.
    • Business-side design and for Engineering-heavy projects as required.

  2. Dune Analytics

    • Create new Dashboards - Support Foundation BD, Marketing & DAO. Community teams with necessary growth and customer metrics; Create Revenue/Value of NXM live statement; work with ecosystem partners who need analytics support.
    • Clear backlog of minor issues in current dashboards, improve speed.
    • Keep up to date with any protocol changes.

  3. Governance Research (together with Community team)

    • Gather feedback and clearly define the main pain points in our current governance set-up (in progress).
    • Understand the existing landscape (in progress).
    • Define and engage with our target audience and how we want them to participate in making decisions on behalf of the Mutual.
    • Synthesise the above to pick best technically-viable plug-in solution.
    • Come up with a Product Spec alongside the Foundation Engineering team.

  4. MCR calculation

    • Can’t be deprioritised anymore. Much harder to change when we’re at Capital Pool ~= MCR compared to changing now when we have a buffer.
    • R&D to deliver v0 calculation & plan for implementation.
Past Performance

  1. Tokenomics Part 2. The R&D team will continue to lead Stage 2 of the tokenomics revamp project in collaboration with the Foundation Engineering team. This stage is focused on managing liquidity through the RAMM in low liquidity conditions, particularly when the Capital Pool balance is near the cover-driven Minimum Capital Requirement (MCR).

    • Deprioritised due to resources being allocated to growth initiatives over the next year. Likely to be picked up in the second half of 2025.

  2. MCR Revamp Project. The v0 model for the MCR calculation is set to be delivered by the end of Q3. This model will provide a coherent, quantifiable framework that outlines the process for regularly updating the cover-based MCR calculation parameters.

    • This was somewhat deprioritised in Q1 & Q2 2024 due to having no direct impact on growth targets. However, will remain a goal for the next year as needs to be solved before the MCR approaches the Capital Pool (see Priorities above)

  3. Support for the Investment Committee. The R&D team will continue to act as a liaison between the Investment Committee and the Nexus Mutual DAO and Foundation. This includes prioritising and technically integrating upcoming investments. Additionally, the R&D team will work to enhance the returns generated by investing the DAO treasury through member-approved investment opportunities.

    • Considerable effort spent on investments by the R&D team in the first half of 2024.
    • Worked on putting two new ETH investment opportunities forward to the community - Stakewise V3 and EtherFi - and coordinated the governance process.
    • Early stage engagement with external teams to invest the DAO Treasury in DeFi for a return.
    • Put forward a Divestment Framework as we require more cash (ETH), including minimum cash asset thresholds held for Claims and the Ratcheting AMM, as well as proposed a way of steadily divesting and diversifying our asset exposure while retaining steady investment earnings.
    • Put together the strategy and numbers for taking out an Aave V3 USDC loan against ETH collateral to meet the Cover Re investment. Created a liquidation prevention framework for the loan.
    • Worked on improving our monitoring and published a regular newsletter, capturing monthly investment returns, capital pool movements

  4. Support for New Product Development. The R&D team will assist in refining the requirements for new cover products and features, such as Cover Edits and Limit Orders.

    • Conducted actuarial pricing and structure review on the Cover Re investment.

  5. Dune Dashboards

    • Guy, our previous part-time Dune Wizard stepped away to focus on his full-time role. Conducted an extensive interview process for a replacement and onboarded a new Dune Wizard - Tomasz - who has recently become a full-time contributor to the DAO. Fully refactored the Capital Pool and Ownership dashboard and committed the key underlying queries to the Dune Spellbook.

  6. Governance Research Project

    • Created a systematic approach and roadmap to revamping Nexus Mutual’s governance, driven by the need to have a more appropriate framework since the launch of V2 and new tokenomics.

DAO Community

How the DAO Community team will contribute to core objectives

  1. Create Guides for Members and Staking Pool Managers. Develop video guides and written resources to assist staking pool managers in creating staking pools and help members navigate the Nexus Mutual UI. Collaborate with the Marketing team to develop effective communication strategies.

  2. Design Onboarding Program. Create resources and design a program to onboard active contributors to the community, covering the basic responsibilities of mutual members. Organise the creation of further resources that document the mutual’s technical architecture, mission, and other important details.

  3. Add More Resources to the DAO Website. Enrich the DAO website with useful resources, including new content on risk, guides, and more.

  4. Collaborate with R&D on Governance Research Project. The Community team and R&D have initiated a research project to explore potential governance models for a possible upgrade to the Mutual’s governance contract. The objective is to enable more members to contribute to core activities within the Mutual and to encourage sustainable participation from critical stakeholders. The research will be conducted in four phases:

    • Understanding the Governance Landscape: Analyse existing governance models and their effectiveness.
    • Defining the Target Audience for Governance: Identify and characterise the primary participants and stakeholders in the governance process.
    • Synthesising Insights: Integrate findings from the first two phases to develop a comprehensive understanding.
    • Clarifying Product Scope for Engineering: Define the requirements and scope for Engineering to implement the upgraded governance model.

  5. Coordinate Governance Reading Group. Prepare reading lists, coordinate sessions, and spread awareness about the Governance Reading Group. The goal is to nurture an open platform with volunteers discussing ways to improve coordination in DAOs, while also benefiting our background research for the Governance Research Project.

  6. Continue “Covering DeFi” Interview Series. Continue hosting public conversations with teams from listed protocols, notable builders, security experts, and active contributors within the Nexus Mutual ecosystem. Drive greater engagement within the Discord server and on Twitter to help educate more people about the Mutual’s mission.

  7. Experimentation & Research. Conduct research or support existing research to create useful content or to plan further community-oriented initiatives, such as the Safe in DeFi Writing Contest, to support sustainable community building.

Past Performance

  1. Update Zerion, DeBank, Zapper and other portfolio management sites with the Nexus Mutual V2 contracts. The DAO Community Team has maintained contact with some of the leading portfolio management sites to enable members to view their covers and NXM deposits in staking pools. Nexus Mutual V2 staking contracts and cover NFTs are now integrated to varying degrees on Zerion, DeBank, and Zapper.The team is just waiting for PRs to be completed to finalise the these integrations, so positions within the Mutual’s smart contracts appear on Zerion and DeBank. Zapper is overhauling their platform, so the team will wait until that work is complete before requesting an update with the V2 smart contracts on Zapper. In addition, if any arise, we will assist in executing further integration requests from the community.

  2. Develop Discord Stages and Twitter Spaces series with ecosystem leaders. The Community team launched the “Covering DeFi Interview Series” on Twitter Spaces in March. This series features interviews with team members from listed protocols, notable builders, security experts, and active contributors within the Nexus Mutual ecosystem. In the first two episodes, BraveNewDeFi and Sem from the DAO Community team interviewed Justin Leroux (CEO of GridPlus) and Ryan Rodenbaugh (Wallfacer Labs & vaults.fyi). This initiative aims to educate more people about staying safe in DeFi and support the Mutual’s mission. Additionally, the Community team hosted Twitter Spaces in partnership with DeFi teams to highlight new product listings, enhancing community engagement and driving product sales.

  3. Collaborate with R&D on governance research project. The R&D and Community teams have initiated a research project to explore potential governance models that could be adopted to enhance the Mutual’s governance contract. This upgrade aims to increase long-term member participation and contribution while ensuring timely decision-making processes. This project has evolved from its first outline in the past roadmap to encompass more research questions and is detailed in the recent team roadmap. We have outlined milestones, formulated research questions, and developed a research plan. Our first findings will be published soon.

  4. Create Nexus Mutual Governance Hub. The first iteration of the Nexus Mutual Governance Hub is now live on the DAO website. This hub provides practical guides for individuals and teams wishing to contribute to Nexus Mutual. The initial feedback has been positive, and the DAO Community Team plans to add more resources for members, teams, and contributors to the governance process in the second iteration, which will coincide with the launch of the updated UI.

  5. Collaborate with Engineering on technical documentation project. The first iteration of the integration resources for the Nexus Mutual V2 smart contracts has been published in the Nexus Mutual documentation. This project is ongoing and more comprehensive documentation on the Nexus Mutual V2 protocol will be added to the documentation in a separate Developer Documentation section.

  6. Create Nexus Mutual Staking Pool Managers Hub. The creation of the Staking Pool Managers Hub had been deprioritized as growth initiatives took a higher priority. As of June 2024, BraveNewDeFi is in the process of interviewing the current staking pool managers and is creating resources to create the Staking Pool Managers Hub on the DAO website.

  7. Create Community-branded Visuals, Animations. The DAO Community Team collaborated with talented professionals to create visually appealing and accessibility-enhancing assets for community channels. These assets are now used for important announcements, such as new product listings, community event recaps, and more. In the next six months, the Community team will work with the Marketing team to secure a long-term design solution for the Mutual’s future announcements and messaging.

Marketing

An update on the Marketing team

The Nexus Foundation has hired a new team member to manage marketing for the Mutual. The previous funds earmarked for the Marketing team ($97,000.00) will be held and used to fund marketing initiatives and new hires for the Marketing team, as managed by the Director of Marketing role that sits within the Foundation.

As the Foundation will direct marketing activities, the DAO Marketing team will exist to support these efforts, as a new brand and content strategy are developed in the coming months.

The Marketing team will focus on hiring a Social Media Manager to develop a cohesive content strategy across the Mutual’s social channels to define the growth funnel and engage with the existing membership base.

The team will also work with a design agency to define the Mutual’s visual and video content, as well as pursue advertising opportunities and develop earned and owned media strategies. To support these efforts, additional funds will be requested to grow the DAO Marketing team and support the Foundation’s direction on marketing.

DAO Operations

The DAO team leads will continue handling the Operations team’s priorities as detailed in the last roadmap.

Future Roadmap Update

The next roadmap update and review of the progress made on this roadmap will be shared at the beginning of Q1 2025.

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