RENA Finance AMA Recap

[We were joined by Choad & Davion, Choad being the community manager, Davion being the lead developer]

Q1) As simply as possible : what problem is RENA here to fix?

Choad :
RENA is a deflationary ERC-20 utility token providing sustained yield for LPs and is the cornerstone of RenaSwap’s utility.

Its aim it to not only create volume for itself but also to enable the RenaSwap platform to allow for volume to be shared between all listed tokens.

Mission :
Interesting, and how does it fix this problem of sustainable yield? Again as simply as possible. . .

Choad :
As we have seen with previous yield tokens like CORE, RFI, Rootkit, etc, once their volume dies off the rewards for holding their tokens or being an LP are significantly decreased to the point where the project can die. RenaSwap aims to fix this by utilizing volume aggregation, allowing other projects to list an rToken pair. Simply put, the aim is to provide yield through volume.

Mission :
Got it, so from a user’s perspective, it helps incentivize liquidity by pushing increased volume through? Can you explain what an “rToken pair” is?

Choad :
yeah exactly, each mechanic in the ecosystem is to help incentivize volume.

[In reply]
yeah so this is a little complex but ill do my best to simplify it : basically an rTOKEN is a wrapped token. it allows us to create pairs such as RENA/rETH.

When a user swaps ETH for RENA in this pair, RenaSwap is able to extract that ETH and use it to market buy RENA from Uniswap in order to reward LP providers with it

simply put rTokens allow RenaSwap to remove the underlying asset while still setting the price of the pair, this is possible because the pairs are one-sided, you can only swap ETH for RENA in the RENA/rETH pair.

Davion :
The wrapper is an 1155 contract which allows us to take anything, not just erc 20 so the wrap token can be one token, many tokens, or not even tokens at all, it can be 731s or 1155s

Mission :
Got it, that’s probably as simple as that can be. Not the easiest concept to grasp one way or the other. But essentially it allows you to utilize the “underlying” asset of the pair to create increased volume. . .

Thanks for clearing that up.

Q2) Can you explain Volume as a Service? Why would a project want this specifically?

Choad :
Yeah, so Volume-as-a-service, is a term we use to further describe volume aggregation. Put simply it means volume sharing. Listed projects will be able to create rToken pairings in order to benefit from RENA’s volume while also providing value to RENA at the same time.

Mission :
Got it. So a way of describing the volume benefits from being part of the RENA ecosystem. . .

In the docs you mention something called a Dynamic Price Floor? What is this, and how is it created over time?

Choad :
Yeah this is a result of having One-Sided RenaSwap pairs. Because the pairs are Buy only, that means that the liquidity can only increase, meaning the RENA and ITS in the pairs will continue to increase. As these tokens are increasing within the pairs, that means that all the tokens on the pricing curve that are to expensive to buy will essentially be “removed” from circulation, thus creating a dynamic supplies based on volume.

Mission :
Got it, maybe to help illustrate how rena works you could give us an example of what happens mechanically (or at least a summary) when someone makes a purchase. What is done with the underlying asset for example?

I understand there is actually a lot going on, so it’s a bit hard to simplify. . .

Davion :
It actually starts before that, the way the fees accumulate in the pair is usually some automatic mechanism for adding the non wrap token to the pair and then once somebody purchases from our pair it really depends on pair they’re purchasing from for instance the its/ rETH pair is going to use half the eth provided to market buy its, create lp tokens and send it to the rebalancer, But the effects are different for every pair.

Mission :
I see. This brings me to my next question, which is essential for understanding rena :

Q3) Can you explain what a rebalancer is? Then maybe explain how the RENA rebalancer operates?

Choad :
The Rebalancer’s main purpose is to provide a predictable, routine force that generates arbitrage opportunities for RenaSwap to produce volume. Thus, any period of low arbitrage opportunity is guaranteed a minimum rebalance, ensuring a predictable price spread, as well as creating arbitrage opportunities between Uniswap and RenaSwap, each Reblance is able to send RENA directly into RenaSwap pairs — ensuring that Uniswap to RenaSwap arbitrage is always viable.

Mission :
And why is creating arbitrage opportunities beneficial for the project, and how is it done?

Choad :
Creating arbitrage is extremely beneficial to our project, as the volume directly rewards LP stakers, refills the rebalancers and burns tokens. There are two main ways that arbitrage is created.

Firstly arbitrage is created directly from buying and selling RENA as the 1% fee is distributed to RENA pairs on RenaSwap.

Secondly each Rebalance distributes a % of the RENA directly into RenaSwap pairs, allowing for more arbitrage between Uniswap and RenaSwap

Mission :
So, without understanding all the specifics : the rebalancer again pushes volume — obviously the point of Rena. :)

I understand the rebalancer is filled when there are TXs, are there other ways it is filled? As it’s quite essential. . .

Davion :
Just like its with its rEth pair the Rena/rEth pair will use the eth to market buy Rena and send lp to its rebalancer.

Choad :
sorry, the RENA/rETH extracted ETH actually goes to reward LPs, incentivizing USER LPs. while the RENA rebalancer actually gets fill from the 50% fee to claim rewards

Mission :
Got it. So in order to claim rewards from LP, you need to deposit money into the rebalancer — essentially?

Choad :
Yeah in order to claim RENA farming rewards, RENA LP token stakers need to spend either LP tokens or ETH totaling 50% of the RENA rewards. If an LP staker claims RENA by spending LP tokens, 100% of the tokens are sent directly to the RENA Rebalancer. On the other hand, if an LP staker spends ETH to claim RENA rewards, 50% of that ETH is used to market buy RENA from Uniswap, pair with the other half of the ETH, create LP tokens, and then send them to the RENA Rebalancer.

Mission :
I guess I don’t need to point out that this just further pushes volume through the system, and keeps the pools lucrative. Really interesting idea. . .

Before we move on from the Rebalancer. . . how often is it’s function executed? Is it automatic?

Choad :
at the moment, a RENA Rebalance can be called once per hour and utilizes 0.5% of the liquidity held within it.

at the moment, a RENA Rebalance can be called once per hour and utilizes 0.5% of the liquidity held within it.

Davion :
It’s not automatic and is called by anyone with at least 25k Rena.

Mission :
Thanks for explaining all of that.

Q4) Can you walk us through the user experience of Rena? How do traders / LPers interact with Rena?

Choad :
yeah traders will be able to trade the following pairs here https://rena.finance/#/renaswap

Swap ETH for RENA
Swap ITS for RENA
Swap ETH for ITS
Swap RENA for ITS

however these pairs are designed to have constant arbitrage opportunities so traders trading here will likely be heavily competitive

for users to stake LP they need to pair their RENA with 50% ETH and receive LP tokens from Uniswap, then visit this page https://rena.finance/#/farm
and select stake liquidity, from here their RENA rewards will accumulate and they will be able to claim their rewards with either ETH or LPs.

another outcome of having users exchange their LPs or ETH for their staking rewards is that it help stop dilution of the LP staking pool.

Mission :
Ah, yeah, that’s pretty well explained in the docs, here : https://docs.rena.finance/renaswap/the-rena-token

at the bottom of the page. Nice solution. . . I think we all know how diluted they become tbh.

Q5) Perfect, now that we’ve covered the basics : how do projects get access to this?

Davion :
Right now they can approach us but soon rgov will be in and it’ll be proposals voted in only.

Choad :
Our dev team will collaborate with projects in order to list on RenaSwap

Q6) How about token utility, what’s the utiliy of RENA and what function does ITS play in the new ecosystem?

Choad :
RENA is a deflationary ERC-20 utility token providing sustained yield for LPs and is the cornerstone of RenaSwap’s utility. It has three defining features: continual liquidity growth, consistent yield and volume, and anti-dilutive LP staking.

Davion :
Rena will definitely be utilized from within the system. It already serves as a way to rewards participants of the network. From there it will be used to provide services from the rena team starting with grants, and a whole lot already in the works spinning from those. We’d ideally like to cultivate projects into our ecosystem and let them grow through Rena’s mechanics. Our staking contract is really powerful. It currently only has a single token staked in it, but that’s just the beginning.

Mission :
Already a bit answered my next question, but let’s address it fully :

Q7) It’s spoken about in the docs that you are actively building an Ecosystem, can you explain how you envision this “RENA Ecosystem”? How do you intend on incentivizing it’s growth, and attracting projects?

Choad :
Much like Uniswap we intend to grow the participating projects, and reach a point of full decentralization where projects can list without our intervention.

along side our grants program we believe that similar volume based projects will want to integrate into RenaSwap in some form to help with their tokens volume

Davion :
We are already attracting projects. We’d like to help those starting out where we began tho. Give them the mentorship and access to resources we never had. Infura nodes aren’t cheap ya know. Ecosystems need to cultivate and thrive

Mission :
Awesome to see this sort of program in defi. Really valuable. . .

Q8) For the sake of brevity, let’s finish up by covering a few more things all at once :
1. When will Rena be available for purchase, and how will it be distributed?
2. Have the contracts been audited?
3. What does the future hold?

Choad :
1. The RENA reservation event is currently live here, https://rena.finance/#/reserve

It is on day 1 of 5.

2) Yes by both blueswarm and Cyotee on a livestream

3) I can’t even tell you! We’ve open sourced our entire contracts for people to play with and interact with. We have a lot of teams wanting to figure out exactly what we’re doing! I’ve heard we might get classified as our own category of defi.

Audience Question 1 :
The system looks like it has a lot of complex transactions going on everytime a user executed a trade. With the platform being built on ETH, won’t that just mean huge gas fees for every trade? what’s your take on this?

Davion :
Our transactions are pretty minimalist in form of the day to day user transactions. The reason we are able to send things into so many places is because of our rebalancer. It conglomerates the transactions needed to execute the fee distribution and handles it in a single shot

Audience Question 2 :
What will be the use case of ITS token in the RENA ecosystem?

Choad :
The ITS will be the governance token of the entire ecosystem, but will also be heavily integrated into RenaSwaps RENA pairings.

Audience Question 3 :
I’ve heard that the Iteration Syndicate (the ITS team) will work on the Dodge-1 sattelite that will be sent by SpaceX. Is that true? Can you explain your mission on this?

Choad :
yeah so the ITS crew, is currently working with GEC who are contracted with spaceX to launch DOGE-1. GEC is also a key contributor to RENA

That’s it for the AMA! The pre-sale takes place for another 4 days (as of may 12th) which is accesible HERE.

Resources 📚 :

website : https://rena.finance/#/
pre-sale : https://rena.finance/#/reserve
docs : https://docs.rena.finance/
twitter : https://twitter.com/rena_finance
telegram : https://t.me/RenascentDefi
discord : https://discord.com/invite/GVJEwzyueC
medium : https://cryptochoad.medium.com/renaswap-is-here-ce5c12cce8b