Filip here, DeFi Protocol Relations Contributor at Lido DAO. I am writing this post to provide more clarity to contributors of other projects who want to collaborate with Lido contributors and for the wider community to be able to cross-check if collaborations with protocols that claim collaborations with the DAO contributors are legit. Generally, those collaborations are listed on the Lido Ecosystem page.
In the attempt to create as safe as possible environment for community members and participants in DeFi, DAO contributors created primitives with a straightforward approach to collaborations.
While security and technical compatibility practices are anchored and there is no flexibility, for community, alignment and usage metrics, most of the points should be covered but are not mandatory as it highly depends on the type or project in discussion.
Please note these are unofficial guidelines for transparency and are not voted in by the DAO and are applicable for Protocol Relations Guild only.
Security
- Thorough Security Audits: The project should have undergone comprehensive security audits by reputable firms. (For reference these are some of the auditing companies which Lido contributors have worked with and are considered high profile by the contributors: Statemind, Certora, Oxorio, ChainSecurity, SigmaPrime, Hexens, Trail of Bits, Halborn, and other similar reputable auditing companies). Any modification after the audit should be re-audited before it goes in the production.
- Transparent Audit Reports: Audit reports should be publicly accessible and demonstrate a track record of addressing identified vulnerabilities promptly and effectively. Every smart contract needs to be verified on Etherscan (or similar block explorer where Etherscan is not present) and the code has to match the one from the commit hash mentioned in the latest audit report.
- Strong Security Practices: Robust security measures should be in place for the minimization of risk and the effect in case of unwanted event. Where multisig is used as an admin role instead of a DAO, the signers should be transparent.
- Bug Bounties:(optional but highly recommended) Along with audits of the codebase, attractive bug bounty programs ensure that the code is regularly assessed by independent security professionals. It is an important aspect of any live DeFi protocol.
Technical Compatibility
- Seamless Integration: The collaboration should not require any smart contract changes on Lido protocol. Those are usually not feasible due to enormous resource requirements.
- Verified and Open-Source Code: The code should be verified, open-source, and accompanied by detailed documentation.
- Compatibilty: Project is on the network where wstETH is officially recognised by the DAO
Here is an example of the proposal of deploying wstETH on Base. - Technical Responsibility: The project team should be willing to handle all technical integrations and audits if needed, ensuring the project is fully prepared and self-sufficient in this regard. Lido contributors are keen to offer support for the use of SDK.
Community and Ecosystem
- Engaged User Base: The project should have an organic, engaged, and growing user base.
- Transparent Communication: There should be open and transparent communication with regular updates and clear practices.
- Positive Reputation: The project and/or team should have a positive reputation within the Web3 community and among the industry.
- Professional and Ethical Team: The team should demonstrate integrity, professionalism, in all interactions and business dealings.
Alignment
- Clear Vision: The project should have a strong use case for stETH
- Value Proposition: The project should offer a clear value proposition that complements Lido’s stETH
- Unique Features: The project should have unique features or services that differentiate it from competitors and add tangible benefits to Lido DAO
Usage Metrics
- Usage Metrics: The project should have quantifiable metrics of usage and adoption, including active users, transaction volume, and TVL (applicable metrics depend on the protocol and collaboration type). The protocol should be “battle tested”.
- Growth Potential: The project should demonstrate potential for growth, supported by market analysis and user interest.
If you feel your project meets the requirements in the above-mentioned criteria, please fill out this form, and a ProRel contributor will reach out to you if the ProRel guild would like to collaborate and/or discuss further.
Please note that collaboration with the ProRel Guild does not guarantee collaborations with other guilds such as LOL (Liquidity Observation Lab) and vice versa. Each guild operates independently, and their collaboration requirements are based on their specific criteria.