Initialize Compound III (WETH on Ethereum)

Gauntlet has conducted an initial market risk analysis on the parameterization of the wETH Comet market.

stETH

Our systems observe ample liquidity in the stETH/wETH market. The slippage/liquidation curve suggests that a $130mm market sell of stETH through 1inch only incurs 1.5% slippage, implying a liquid market. We also ran simulations hypothesizing the amount of insolvencies and liquidations given various CFs and stETH/ETH deviations for accounts that have historically supplied stETH and borrowed wETH - and found that only at high deviations is there a likelihood for insolvencies.

Because of this, it can prudent to initialize the market at $100mm supply cap, 90% CF (collateral factor), 93% LCF (liquidation collateral factor), and 5% LF (liquidation factor). Combining capital-efficient borrowing parameters with a stringent supply cap will be valuable to understanding and studying the pool behavior.

cbETH

We recommend a lower supply cap for cbETH but with the consistent CF/LCF/LF parameters as wstETH.

cbETH is less liquid on DEXes compared to wstETH (1.5% slippage for $1.3mm sell of cbETH, versus $130mm sell of wstETH). cbETH is also not very liquid on CEX - where a $1mm sell incurs roughly 2% slippage. In addition, cbETH is only redeemable to locked ETH on Coinbase, whereas wstETH is redeemable to stETH, which is more easily transferable and more liquid. There exists a 2-3% discount on cbETH, perhaps due to this intransferability.

However unlikely, we may imagine a situation in which insolvency news on the CEX leads to the cbETH market rate plummeting, creating risk for Compound. Although this existential risk is neither a market risk nor a quantifiable risk, a conservative supply cap can mitigate the potential loss posed to Compound.

Specification

  • wstETH: $100mm supply cap, 90% CF, 93% LCF, and 5% LF
  • cbETH: $10mm supply cap, 90% CF, 93% LCF, and 5% LF

By approving this proposal, you agree that any services provided by Gauntlet shall be governed by the terms of service available at gauntlet.network/tos.

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