NMDP 7: Q3 & Q4 2024 | DAO Teams Budget Request Proposal

[BraveNewDeFi]

DAO Teams Retrospective for the August 2024 to July 2025 Funding Period

Community: August 2024 to July 2025 Performance

Over the past year, the Community team focused on designing information, communication, and knowledge-sharing channels for both Nexus Mutual members and the broader DeFi and risk ecosystem.

Guides for Members

• Produced an initial batch of step-by-step video and written guides covering cover purchases, staking, and dashboard usag
• Final edits in progress; release timing is aligned with upcoming product feature rollouts for maximum relevance

Onboarding Program, Interview Series

• Launched the DeFi & Risk Learning Group to onboard participants into DeFi, risk management, and Nexus Mutual
• Received 60+ applications; selected 14 for the first cohort
• Iterating on the program structure to improve alignment with target audiences
• DeFi AMA Interview Series launched—risk experts address participant questions

Resources

• Prioritized the Nexus Mutual Governance Forum over a new DAO website, due to its support for community-generated content
• Added new posts under the “Community” category covering DeFi, risk, and related topics

Governance Research Project

• Completed with the R&D team
• Deliverables focused on addressing technical debt and aligning with the Mutual’s evolving governance structure

Governance Reading Group

• Ongoing volunteer-led discussions
• Members collectively select readings on governance theory and practice

Experimentation

• Building new communities from scratch
• Planning product-focused communities, pending privacy policy updates

Research & Development: August 2024 to July 2025 Performance

The R&D team focused on expanding analytics capabilities, improving onchain transparency, supporting investment oversight, and delivering protocol support across Mutual.

Governance Research

• Worked with the Community team to gather feedback and identify key pain points in the governance setup
• Analyzed the current governance landscape
• Defined the target audience and their desired role in Mutual decision-making
• Selected the best technically viable plug-in solution based on findings
• Drafted a product spec in collaboration with the Foundation Engineering team

Dune Analytics

• Refactored all 5 existing dashboards to improve performance and clarity
• Delivered 5 new dashboards:
• Financials - monthly statements including revenue, balance sheet, and NXM movement, with rolling 12-month trend analysis
• Staking - global overview across all pools and individual pool statistics
• Covers BD - active cover and sales metrics from a Business Development perspective
• Community - weekly, monthly, and quarterly protocol stats
• OpenCover - sales performance from our partner offering L2-based covers

Dune Spellbook

• Created 25 new data models (“spells”) across areas like covers, claims, capital pool, and staking
• Contributed 34 pull requests (all merged) for new spells and ongoing maintenance

Investment Committee Newsletter

• Published monthly Investment Committee updates with insights on the Capital Pool and Mutual’s investments, shared on the forum

Wallet Tracker

• Designed an internal wallet monitoring tool to track user’s exposures to protocols covered under Nexus Cover products

Engineering Support

• Conducted DeBank API research and provided few Dune queries as API endpoints to feed data into the app UI

Cross-team Research & Support

• Provided ongoing research and data support to all DAO teams on an as-needed basis

Marketing: August 2024 to July 2025 Performance

Implemented Marketing Budget

• Set up annual budget to plan and track all marketing spending

Events

• Executed our first two events with a booth presence: iConnections and ETHDenver

Product Launches

• Created content for cbBTC, depeg, custody, and other company/partner announcements

Started Paid Ads (LinkedIn, Affiliate)

• Implemented paid ads on LinkedIn and started testing affiliate newsletter placements

PR Outreach + Partner Marketing

• Started PR strategy, leveraging partners where possible (PR placements with OpenCover and Babylon)

Set up CRM + Email

• Laid the foundation for tracking marketing channel effectiveness by setting up a CRM. Worked with dev team to implement email best practices

Marketing projects In progress

• Website revamp
• Marketing team expansion

Product & Risk: August 2024 to July 2025 Performance

In our last funding proposal NMDP, I (BraveNewDeFi) shared that our team would prioritise projects that didn’t require engineering support beyond the basics of new listing requests. We also initiated research projects on new types of risk.

Reviewing Past Priorities

@BraveNewDeFi

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 new deals and cover listings to drive sales.

Since July 2024, the Product & Risk team launched the following cover products:

• Follow On Cover. This cover product was developed alongside Ensuro, a regulated onchain insurance market that provides additional USDC capital to reinsurance markets. While the initial we closed was small in size, it opened the door to pursuing other discretionary reinsurance deals like this one. We’ve been in conversation with Ensuro and other regulated insurance platforms about similar deals. In total, we’ve sold $517,690.46 of Follow On Cover and generated $13,675.64 in premium.

• Immunefi Bug Bounty Cover. We collaborated with Immunefi to launch this product at the end of Q4 2024 to allow protocol teams to pass off the risk of paying out large critical bug bounties to further secure their codebase. To date, we have not sold any cover through this product type, but we are still quoting projects on bug bounty cover.

• Crypto Cover. In the past, we worked with larger funds and institutions that wanted to bundle different types of coverage together. To address this need, we created Crypto Cover, a modular cover product that can bundle together Custody, Protocol, Depeg, and Slashing risk under one listing. We’re able to use this cover product to offer product types we haven’t been able to in the past, such as Depeg Cover and Custody Cover. While we previously offered Custody Cover, we had to overhaul the wording and our pricing models for this product. With the Slashing Cover included in Crypto Cover, we’re also able to expand to new types of slashing beyond slashing for ETH staking. To date, we’ve sold $10,780,420.85 of cover and generated $34,629.54 of premium since this product was launched.

• Native Syndicate Cover. Native, a syndicate/broker in our ecosystem, worked with us to launch their own cover product. They closed their first deal with one of the Bittensor subnets, which resulted in a $25M Protocol Cover sale that has renewed 2 times since they began working with Native. To date, a total of $50,033,378.65 in cover has been sold and this has generated $146,409.98 in premiums.

• Spearbit Cantina Cover. After the launch of our Bug Bounty Cover product, the Spearbit/Cantina team reached out to us. We worked with them to develop their own white label Bug Bounty Cover and Native Protocol Cover listing. To date, we have not sold any cover under this product type, but we’re working closely with the Spearbit/Cantina team to quote teams on both Bug Bounty Cover and Native Protocol Cover.

In total, the Product & Risk team launched several new cover products between 2024 and 2025 that resulted in a total of $333,807,061.91 in new cover sales beyond our Protocol Cover and Bundled Protocol Cover sales. These cover sales generated an additional $2,699,084.50. This is largely due in part to the incredible Business Development team we have working for the Foundation, as well.

Product Type	Number of Covers Sold	Aggregate Cover Sold	Aggregate Premium Earned
Fund Portfolio Cover	21	$196,713,917.88	$2,014,752.39
Native Syndicate Cover	2	$50,033,378.65	$146,409.98
Generalised Fund Portfolio Cover	7	$50,030,941.90	$390,746.27
Nexus Mutual Cover	128	$13,038,812.31	$53,768.90
DeFi Pass	119	$12,691,899.86	$45,101.78
Crypto Cover	35	$10,780,420.85	$34,629.54
Follow On Cover	2	$517,690.46	$13,675.64

@BraveNewDeFi

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.

The following two cover products were also launched in the August 2024 to July 2025 funding period, so we’ll recap them both here instead of above in the previous summary.

• The DeFi Pass. This cover product was designed in collaboration with OpenCover. We wanted to provide DeFi users with an ecosystem-wide pass that included cover for the most popular protocols. OpenCover worked with the Base team to launch the Base DeFi Pass, which included the 10 largest DeFi protocols on Base whose TVL accounted for 85% of the TVL on Base. To date, OpenCover has sold $12,691,899.86 of Base DeFi Pass Cover and these sales have generated $45,101.78 in premium. OpenCover has also partnered with Coinbase to offer Coinbase One users access to the Base DeFi Pass, as well. The DeFi Pass allows us to create white label ecosystem passes. We’re currently in discussion with other ecosystems about offering passes for their networks, as well.

• Nexus Mutual Cover. This cover product was an evolution from the DeFi Pass product line. Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for people to protect themselves against DeFi risks without having to be a DeFi expert. The result of our research and development was the Nexus Mutual Cover product, an all-in-one cover solution to protect your entire portfolio across multiple wallets. To date, the Mutual has sold $13,038,812.31 in cover and generated $53,768.90 in premiums from these cover sales.

@BraveNewDeFi

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.

During Q3/Q4, we conducted some user interviews to determine if a product offering that split some of a user’s yield to pay for coverage natively would be popular. During the research and development phase, we found that there was mixed support for this offering and it was highly reliant on DeFi yields being high. As yields declined in Q4, the Product & Risk team decided this initiative would not result in reasonable growth and would not be a good use of our existing engineering resources.

Instead, we pursued improvements to the Mutual’s pricing mechanisms to allow for sub-1% pricing. We also worked with the engineering team to remove surge pricing from the protocol’s existing pricing mechanism after receiving approval from members to do so in NMPIP-[XXX].

@BraveNewDeFi

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.

During Q4 2024, the Product & Risk team interviewed some of the Mutual’s longtime cover buyers and large cover buyers to get feedback on a Depeg Cover offering. After receiving product validation, our team finalized the cover wording under Crypto Cover and launched Depeg Cover in Q1 2025. While cover sales have not been staggering, we are seeing growth in interest for the Depeg Cover product. We’re developing the Leveraged Depeg Liquidation cover product in response to requests from members who want to use leverage on lending protocols, while protecting their positions–something our current Depeg Cover product does not allow for since the covered token needs to be exchanged for the claim payment.

@BraveNewDeFi

Support new and existing syndicates on 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 and new listings live. The team will work with syndicates on go-to-market plans for these new products, as well.

Our team has worked closely with OpenCover and Native to launch new cover products, add new listings, and drive growth in cover sales. We continue to work with potential new syndicates interested in building on top of Nexus Mutual, as well.

@BraveNewDeFi

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.

This initiative proved more difficult than our team originally anticipated. We found that while gas costs were higher last year, Point-of-Sale (PoS) integrations had difficulty gaining traction due to higher costs. However, as gas fees have come down, we’ve seen additional cover sales through our existing integrations. Our team also worked with the OpenCover team to drive growthin PoS integrations on Layer 2 protocols such as vfat, Superform, Beefy, ExtraFi, Arcadia, etc.

We’ll continue to focus on PoS integrations in 2025 and continue our work with OpenCover to increase distribution on Layer 2s, as well.

@BraveNewDeFi

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.

The Product & Risk team did conduct research into bridge risk in Q3/Q4 2024. Bridge risk continues to be a major concern among users. However, because the bridge risk is not tied to yield, there is a lack of willingness to pay for bridge risk cover. The Mutual can currently offer bridge risk cover through the Depeg Cover listing. We’ve shared this with some larger cover buyers but we have yet to see any real demand result from this development.

The expected loss from bridges–especially ones secured by multisigs–is still high and results in pricing that is beyond what users are willing to pay. This is why we haven’t pursued further development on a bridge risk product offering at this time.

@BraveNewDeFi

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 within the Community Staking pool. The Product & Risk team will share a report on their findings once the project is completed, as well.

While the Product & Risk team did conduct research on lending protocols in Q4 2024/Q1 2025, our team did not have the time to write a complete report. Our findings did allow us to reassess the way we handle listings for permissionless lending markets like Morpho, Euler, and Ajna. The introduction of hardcoded and fixed-rate oracles across lending markets has also impacted how the Mutual sees risk in lending markets. If you look at the B-Tier Morpho and Euler v2 listings, you will see that the majority of the markets included in the Annex documents use hardcoded or fixed-rate oracles. That added risk results in higher overall pricing for those listings. While borrowers in those markets benefit from the use of hardcoded and fixed-rate price oracles, lenders take on additional risk of bad debt accruing, as liquidations won’t be triggered until a human counterparty steps in to update the oracle.

Lending markets change quickly, so our team monitors lending protocol governance forums on a weekly basis to stay up to date. With Aave v4 on the horizon, there will be additional research needed to support that listing in the future, as well.

Nexus Mutual DAO Community Staking Pool

After NMDP 5 was approved by members in May 2024, the Product & Risk team launched the Community Staking Pool with 57,607 NXM. This NXM was earmarked for staking against crypto-native cover products to help the Mutual scale cover sales, while bringing in additional revenue for the DAO.

To date, the Product & Risk team has staked 40,000 NXM and earned a total of 3,945.87 NXM ($234,581.75) in rewards. This additional revenue helps the DAO teams offset their expenses while the Mutual scales cover sales. If the price of ETH rises and the Mutual continues to see growth in cover sales, our team expects to maintain and/or grow the revenue we’re earning in the Community Staking Pool.