IIP-114: Transfer USDC from Treasury to the Investment Account and Deploy Productively

iip: 114
title: Transfer USDC from Treasury to Investment Account and Deploy Productively
status: Proposed
author: @Finance.Nest
created: 24/11/2021

Simple Summary

We propose transferring $5M of USDC from the Treasury to the Investment Account. This capital is to be deployed productivity in line with the Stable Coin Asset Management Guidelines and the Investment Account Strategy. Initial investment of the $5M being requested is deployed into productive low vol yield asset strategies. Ie: to earn stable coin yield.

Treasury Account: ‘0x9467cfADC9DE245010dF95Ec6a585A506A8ad5FC

Investment Account: ‘0x462A63D4405A6462b157341A78Fd1baBfD3F8065

Abstract

As outlined in the Investment Account Strategy forum post, the Finance Nest recommends holding a productive stablecoin allocation within the Investment Account,that can be deployed to earn interest whilst providing a safety net for the community. Stablecoins offer the most immediate diversification benefits due to their uncorrelated nature relative to other assets in the treasury, so we intend to keep the transferred stablecoins in stablecoins.

We recommend starting with $5M of USDC that will be deployed across various stable coins and multiple yield generating strategies of varying risk profiles. All of which will bein line with the Stable Coin Asset Management Guidelines. This IIP requests approximately half of the community’s stable coins be directed to the Investment Account, leaving the remaining ~ 50%for short to medium term Operational needs. The Operations Account, plus the remaining Treasury balance is sufficient to support short to medium term spend.

Motivation

Index Coop currently holds around $9.2M in the Treasury unproductively. Holding this capital unproductively has unrealized opportunity cost. Yields on Aave for the lowest risk, most liquid stable coins is 4% and that is relatively low compared to historical standards. With minimal risk, Index Coop can exceed this 4% interest rate and earn passive income for the community.

For Index Coop to realise the goal of becoming a sustainably funded DAO, our assets must be utilised to benefit the community. In this instance, the stable coin safety net that supports the community should be deployed to earn yield. If the DAO was able to earn 5% yield on the USDC balance in the Treasury, this would generate around $460K of income per year. Which equates to ~ 18.4% of total revenue for the last 12 months. . In the simplest framing, Index Coop is losing money by not actively deploying its capital.

Specification

Low vol stable coin assets held within the Investment account will be managed in line with the Stable Coin Asset Management Guidelines as part of a broader portfolio construct outlined by the Investment Account Strategy.

The Finance Nest will manage the funds in accordance with the two publications linked above. The performance of the portfolio shall be made readily available via a Dune dashboard and the community will receive frequent updates on the status / performance of the capital.

Capital will be deployed across multiple strategies with a long time horizon in mind. There may exist a more actively managed portion of the fund. This style of investment will be sized appropriately with a consideration of the holistic risk profile and with the overall goal of preserving community capital front of mind.

Voting

FOR:

DO transfer $5M to the Investment Account and endorse this capital being deployed productively in line with the published guidelines.

AGAINST:

DO NOT transfer $5M to the Investment Account and endorse this capital being deployed productively in line with the published guidelines.

Copyright

Copyright and related rights waived via CC0.

10 Likes

Hi @mel.eth, @sixtykeys, @Mringz,

Can we please have a IIP number assigned.

Hi @mel.eth, @sixtykeys, @Mringz. Would we be able to queue this up for snapshot today please, 29th November.

An IIP number 114 has been assigned to this proposal. Since it has spent the minimum 48 hours in the proposed state, this proposal will be queued for snapshot at the date called by the author.

cc: @mel.eth

This IIP has been queued on snapshot and is set to go live later today at 1800UTC.
Snapshot here

1 Like

Hi @anon10525910 @puniaviision @dylan

Can you please execute the $5M USDC transfer from the Treasury to the Investment Account.
As signs signers on the EOA on the Treasury can you please setup and execute this transfer.

Investment Account: 0x462A63D4405A6462b157341A78Fd1baBfD3F8065

Do advise is an Engineering Work Order request is need to complete the transfer.

2 Likes

Hi @Finance,

Congrats on getting funding for the Investment Account! Excited to see this account grow over time and help diversify the Index Coop’s treasury. We at 1kx voted for this IIP, but had some follow up questions we were hoping you could address.

  • How long do you anticipate before the entire $5mm is deployed productively? Ideally, I think it’d be great to start with $1mm and ramp up to the full balance over 3 months to ensure everything goes smoothly given the large size of the allocation relative to the total stablecoin balance within the treasury. Scaling in could also give you more time to develop appropriate reporting for the investment account and work out any kinks in the multisig approval process given it is a brand new account with new signers.

  • Do you have an idea in mind on how you plan to allocate among the different approved strategies? I realize the goal is to enable autonomy through blanket-approval, but I still think it would be great to get a sense of how you are thinking of structuring the allocation and what kind of assessment will be done behind the scenes before rebalancing into a strategy, at least at first while we work together on getting the Investment Account functional.

Would also be great to get some projected earnings for the strategies deployed if it isn’t too much work.

1 Like

This will be batched with other technical operations and executed towards the end of this week.

1 Like

Hi @dylan,

Can this batch of transaction please be processed before EOY.

Hey @Matthew_Graham @dylan , just following up on whether this transfer has been completed yet, and whether this IIP has been executed yet.

Hi @sixtykeys,

The funds have not been transferred to the Investment Account. If the $5M was earning a conservative 10% APY, each month we delay costs Index Coop around $41,666 is lost yield.

It should be noted MVI was transferred from the Treasury to enable the christmas distribution to happen. I would have thought queuing up another transaction at that point in time made sense.

@dylan @puniaviision @anon10525910 as signers on the Treasury EOA wallet - when can the transfer transaction be processed ?

3 Likes

Thanks for the the response @Matthew_Graham , hoping the treasury wallet signers (@dylan @puniaviision @anon10525910) can prioritize the execution of this IIP as soon as conveniently possible.

Noting that it has been a month since this IIP passed.

2 Likes

Sorry for the delay folks. This will be transferred to the Ops account by Friday at latest.

2 Likes

The investment account please 0x462A63D4405A6462b157341A78Fd1baBfD3F8065 - not the operations account

3 Likes

5,000,000 USDC has been transferred to the Investment Account

4 Likes