Umami DAO Treasury Update — January 2024
By Steven-T
Umami is blazing a trail! We’ve launched the GM Vaults and a new ARB emissions program to boost our GM TVL, which has already hit the $2 million milestone. Our treasury not only covered expenses and audit costs but also generated a profit this month through the market volatility. Although Bitcoin and Ethereum initially saw excitement with the ETF news, they ended the month relatively stable, without significant gains.
With the conclusion of the oARB campaign and the commencement of the new direct ARB emissions for GM vaults, the Umami team is fully committed and prepared to take the lead, positioning us in the driver’s seat as we move forward with confidence to develop and introduce groundbreaking products to the market.
Now, let’s take a dive into January’s numbers:
Overall Performance
Treasury value, excluding UMAMI token holdings:
- End of December, $3,619,970
- End of January, $3,671,179
In the month of January, there was a Net Treasury gain of $51,209 or 1.2%.
For comparison:
- The total crypto market cap down 1.3% to $1.584T
- The price of Bitcoin was up 0.6% to $42,548
- The price of Ether was flat to $2,282
Gross Yield: $47,999 which constitutes a 15.7% APR return for the whole treasury!
- 10.2 ETH ($23,276)
6.5 wETH from GLP, 8.66 wETH distributed to marinatoors
1.38 ETH from Liquidity pools
2.32 ETH from vaults profit - Liquidity pools($24,841)
USDC — $9,447
ETH — $3,149 (1.38)
ARB — $11,519 (6,545)
UMAMI — $726 (147) - GMX V2 ARB incentives
ARB — $4,745 (2696)
Net Yield was $28,236.92 using Gross Yield — Marinator Payout.
Expenses: Umami’s OpEx was $140,384 in January. The monthly USDC break down:
Fixed OpEx was $100,500
Variable Expenses $39,884 (Final Guardian audit payment has been sent)
Asset Appreciation for Umami’s treasury is a net appreciation of $112,147.08 or 3.1%, using this formula:
Asset Appreciation = Net Treasury Gain — (Gross Yield — Expense Outflows — Marinate Payout)
Treasury Breakdown
Currently the breakdown of our treasury is as follows:
Liquid Runway: is $2,474,441 or 24.7 months (assuming new maximum monthly opex of $100k). This is the value of any blue-chip liquid treasury holdings. It constitutes our GMX positions; treasury stables + ETH and our Vendor positions. It does not include UMAMI, ARB, esGMX or xGRAIL.
GMX GLP
To enhance the treasuries beta, we’ve strategically reduced our GLPUSDC vault position, with the majority of our Umami product holdings now being in the GLPWETHb vault. Reviewing GLPs performance over the last month we can see an impressive rally in the midst of a sideways market.
Impressively, GLP with fees has outperformed both the index price and regular LPs, taking into account the compounding of fees earned during this period. This positive trend is reflected in our GLPUSDC vault PPS, which has shown significant growth over the past 30 days. Giving 36% APR over the last 30 days, this APR is not including the additional oARB emissions which have now been turned off.
The treasury approach involves gradually increasing our exposure to ETH using our innovative GM vaults. This enables us to manage the treasury’s market beta effectively and seize opportunities for the upcoming bull market while still earning yield.
GMX V2
The treasury initially invested $160k in Umami’s GM vaults to jumpstart TVL scaling during the vaults’ launch. We are steadfast in our commitment to flexible allocations, adjusting our treasury’s GLP-based assets as needed to align with market conditions.
When assessing the GMX V2 volume, it’s evident that the STIP program, launched in September, has had a profoundly positive impact.
In tandem with increased volume, fees have seen substantial gains, now totaling an impressive $16.5 million since August.
Recent market events, including the ETH pullback, more trading volume and larger liquidation fees in V2 have resulted in a negative PnL for traders. While GLP traders were about even for a month, examining the V2 numbers for January, we observed a $2.17m loss for traders substantially benefiting GM pools. Notably, this occurred before the launch of Umami’s GM vaults, which means they missed out on a significant revenue boost. However, the recent volatility has provided valuable insights into potential drawdowns in the market and how Umami’s GM Vaults will provide valuable insights into the real yield and performance for single sided GM pool positions.
UMAMI Liquidity Pools
The price volatility in January had a positive impact on our liquidity pools. Firstly, UMAMI’s price increase allowed our treasury’s high liquidity depth in a Uniswap UMAMI/ETH pool to regain its range, boosting the ETH value support within the LP.
Furthermore, our treasury’s ARB pools witnessed substantial trading volume, with LPs earning exceptionally high APRs while the price ranged between $1.60 to $2.00. This resulted in a total of $24k in fees earned during January. These fees have been reinvested and compounded back into the ARB liquidity pools for February, which should contribute to even greater fees in the future.
As part of our treasury strategy, we are actively working on reducing the reliance on treasury-based support for UMAMI. We are currently in the process of exploring innovative community-driven liquidity solutions. Once our plans are fully developed and finalized, we will be sure to share all the exciting details with you. Stay tuned for more updates!
Vendor Finance
As mentioned last month, a number of vendor loans expired in early January, resulting in the accumulation of 21,917 UMAMI tokens in the treasury at the strike price of $3.69 each, as depositors opted to retain their borrowed USDC. In response to the significant demand for cmUMAMI vendor loans, we introduced more standard 24% APR Vendor pools offering both USDC and ETH as options. These pools have since been fully utilized so we can consider adding liquidity to these pools. However, there is still an available 48% APR pool with $28k remaining for borrowing.
oARB STIP Program
Important Update — oARB emissions for Umami’s GLP vaults have stopped. To all oARB holders, you have a two-week window to exercise your oARB before the deadline on February 19th. There are currently 70k unclaimed ARB tokens at stake, which will be reallocated to fuel our exciting new GM vault incentive program if left unclaimed.
I’d like to express my gratitude to everyone who participated in the oARB campaign. We recognize that understanding the intricate requirements for participation demanded time and effort. As anticipated, the challenges associated with matching our ARB emissions and committing to a prolonged staking period meant that not all oARB were exercised, with approximately 16% of all oARB remaining unutilized. This aspect, coupled with our capacity to over-emit oARB due to the calculated non-exercised amount, resulted in enhanced yields for those who were quick-witted enough to seize the opportunities presented by the program’s first-come, first-served mechanism. Your participation and engagement have contributed significantly to the program’s success and transformation from start to end.
Throughout this 12-week journey, we’ve received invaluable feedback from our community. We’re delighted to report that, to date, the community has successfully matched 679k ARB with our 679k ARB incentives. This achievement highlights the system’s ability to efficiently leverage the incentives received, effectively bringing more ARB into the supply locking mechanism.
In addition to the TVL growth observed in the GLP vaults, the oARB program has played a pivotal role in aligning all participating users with Arbitrum’s success, thereby eliminating opportunistic farming practices. Notably, out of the total ARB claimed and staked, a remarkable 509k ARB were staked for the full 40-week duration, underscoring the high demand for extended, straightforward, single-sided staking yield opportunities. Your engagement and commitment have been instrumental in making this experimental program a success.
The STIP analytics page can be found here
New GM Vaults ARB incentives
Thanks to GMX’s generous grant for our GM vaults, our incentive program officially kicked off at the beginning of the month. We began with an initial allocation of 25k ARB, and an additional 35k ARB has since been released now that we successfully reached our $2 million TVL milestone. Our ultimate TVL target for the program is $5 million, at which point the remaining 45k ARB will be distributed.
In exciting news, after discussions with the GMX Grant team, we have received approval to extend the program from its initial end date in February to a new end date of March 15th. This extension allows us more time to introduce our highly anticipated ARB and wBTC vaults, increasing our chances of reaching the $5 million TVL goal. When achieved, the 45k ARB will be distributed to our dedicated community members who truly deserve it.
Galxe Quests Continue!
The GM Vaults Galxe Special is live! 500 ARB will be distributed between 5 lucky participants. Get involved for your chance to win! https://x.com/UmamiDao/status/1753130679708078564?s=20
DAO Proposal
DAO proposal #7 for the team’s continuation has received resounding support from the community, with an overwhelming 426k Umami votes in favor and a mere 8k against it. This remarkable turnout represents the highest number of voters ever, highlighting Umami’s deeply engaged community, at the forefront of DAO principles.
By reducing the treasury’s USDC burn rate by an impressive 34%, the team reaffirms its unwavering commitment to evolving into a self-sustaining protocol. Your active participation and support have been instrumental in shaping Umami’s path towards sustainability and growth.
vUMAMI
Taking a broader view of our treasury position, it’s worth noting the substantial accumulation of UMAMI tokens in the treasury over the past year, particularly as Umami’s price declined. Currently, approximately 330k UMAMI tokens are under the treasury’s control, with only 65k of them in UMAMI liquidity pools. This means that the treasury still holds a significant portion of the supply and has the resources to incentivize growth. The key question is how Umami DAO can utilize these UMAMI tokens to promote TVL growth without diluting the value for current holders.
To address this challenge, a DAO proposal for a pilot program called vUMAMI is in the works. This program aims to leverage the ETH received from the STIP program to tackle the issue of aligning emissions for the community’s benefit. In the vUMAMI program, distributed tokens allow users to instantly purchase UMAMI at a discounted rate and then wait for one week to claim their vested UMAMI. The ETH used to execute the vesting contract will automatically buy UMAMI on the market, instantly replenishing the pool of UMAMI available for vesting. This creates a self-sustaining system that explores the benefits of zero-slippage UMAMI purchases while increasing the ETH invested in the liquidity pool.
Notably, this program ensures that all vUMAMI farmers are aligned by emitting tokens exclusively to those invested in Umami vaults and the UMAMI token. Expect a Commonwealth proposal in the coming days, and we eagerly anticipate feedback from the community.
Rebranding and new tokenomics
Separately from the vUMAMI pilot emission program, we will initiate community discussions regarding our rebranding and new tokenomics strategy. While the team has already identified a new symbol and name, it’s essential to assess how a token migration will impact the protocol. We will provide a rough estimate of how tokens are planned to be allocated within the new system, with the aim of facilitating a straightforward and transparent transition for the community to make well-informed decisions about the protocol’s future.
Regarding potential changes in tokenomics up for discussion, we will explore:
- Replacing the existing monthly locking mechanism with a simpler locking solution.
- Consolidating the ETH yield marinate function (mUMAMI) into a single ETH revenue compounding system (cmUMAMI).
- Considering a 1 UMAMI for 10 migration program, which would transition the new token to a total supply of 10 million.
- Reclaiming the 98,000 UMAMI tokens that are permanently locked and returning them to the treasury’s control.
We look forward to engaging in these discussions with the community to shape the future of our protocol in a clear and collaborative manner.
Final Thoughts
Our team is hard at work, steadily advancing the protocol and developing a new product. We’re actively developing strategies to enhance community-based liquidity, including partnerships with projects like Isekai, which will be the first bribe incentive-driven marketplace on Arbitrum. This marketplace will utilize our non-liquid xGRAIL and convert it into HOLY, offering xGRAIL dividends as rewards for yield incentives. We are excited about these converging developments and remain committed to delivering maximum value to our community.
As always, feel free to reach out to me regarding any questions or feedback. See you next month!
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