Kwenta, alongside its community, has accomplished a great deal, and there’s no doubt that 2022 was a banner year for Kwenta. There's even more, to look forward to in the coming year! Upgrades to existing products, new offerings, and advancements in DAO governance are just some of the exciting developments in store for Kwenta.
As outlined in KIP-33, the Council worked with Core Contributors to develop a roadmap for the first half-year period. Since each epoch covers six months, the 2023 roadmap will be divided into two parts: Q1/Q2 and Q3/Q4. In partnership with the newly elected Council, the Core Contributors have created a delivery schedule that aligns with the roadmap for the first half of 2023 (Q1/Q2). While the Elite Council established the general direction for the roadmap, Core Contributors evaluated the feasibility of the proposed items.
Here’s a peek at what we have planned for Q1/Q2 2023:
This is our estimated timeline for the rollout of major features of Kwenta, the usual caveats apply — it’s subject to change, updates, speed of security audits etc. The best way to keep track of what is happening is through our Discord channel.
Q1 2023
V2 Perps Alpha
Alpha of Perpetual Futures v2; this gave the community an early proof of concept for the upcoming trading experience on Kwenta and was launched over the 2022 holidays. Benefits of v2 perps include substantially reduced fees, more granular pricing, and more frequent updates, a more predictable funding rate, higher open interest limits, and a more comprehensive range of assets. All of this combined enables trading strategies that just weren't possible with the v1 architecture.
Check out the v2 perps alpha and provide feedback in our #perpsv2waitingroom channel on discord.
https://alpha.kwenta.eth.limo/market/?accountType=isolated_margin&asset=sETH
V2 Perps Beta
Several updates and improvements will be rolling out in the coming months.
First and foremost, the focus will be polishing the usability of perps v2. We have listened to users feedback and have identified areas where we can be more user-friendly. Expect to see changes to the layout and navigation of the site, as well as improvements to the overall look and feel. While continuing work with Synthetix to expand markets that are trade-able on Kwenta, giving our users access to the most popular assets in the coming months.
We will (soon) be deprecating V1 cross-margin and isolated perpetuals as we move forward to focus on the v2 contracts. V1 contracts have been used for a long time and have served us well, but with new features and improvements, the focus will be on the newer contracts. Expect the phasing out of the old. Ensuring a smooth transition for our users is a high priority; more information and ample time will be provided to transition from v1 to v2.
We're excited to offer this new trading experience, a $KWENTA rewards program for traders, and stakers will be implemented as the v2 isolated market contracts move out of their infancy.
Kwenta Constitution
The Kwenta proposal system will be transformed into a dynamic and easily readable document known as the Kwenta Constitution. This will streamline the management of the protocol's state and provide more flexibility for contributions from the community. The Core Contributors will consolidate the current KIP repository into a unified constitution and set up the necessary framework for ongoing revisions and updates to the document.
Synthetix v3
The Synthetix v3 system will allow Kwenta’s underlying infrastructure to scale by enabling ETH collateral, offering increased flexibility for asset listings by isolating risk, and enabling permissionless creation of new custom assets and derivative types. This ambitious rollout is expected to begin in early 2023.
Kwenta Contributors will work closely with Synthetix during the v3 migration to ensure Kwenta users can access the core trading and swap features supported by Synthetix. Kwenta governance will stay engaged with the rollout process to develop the Kwenta DAO’s strategy for new features and functionality.
UI/UX Improvements
We will emphasize maintaining a cohesive design across the entire user interface (UI) to promote an uninterrupted experience for our users as they navigate the platform.
A consistent design will aid in this by making it easy for traders to find and access the features they need, no matter their device, improving the speed and stability of the platform. Code continues to be refactored, providing a more responsive feel and increasing the number of requests that can be handled and processed efficiently.
Lyra Collaboration
Placing Lyra's options trading experience in the broader context of a suite of spot and derivatives trading tools, similar to traditional finance, would increase its accessibility and the functionality of Kwenta. Kwenta's focus on providing open access, user-friendly financial tools on Optimism makes it the perfect setting to integrate Lyra's offerings and expand what we can offer to traders.
Aggregation Research
Kwenta's prime objective is to provide unparalleled service to DeFi traders. To further these efforts, we will investigate incorporating aggregation into Kwenta. This research sprint & the initial implementation will empower traders to effortlessly and promptly examine trade terms across various platforms. In the future, it could be expanded to enable traders to perform trades on Kwenta through any supported platform currently offering the best terms for a specified trade.
Kwenta SDK
In an effort to offer more flexibility and control over the experience with Kwenta. Launching a new software development kit (SDK) that will allow traders & developers to interact with Kwenta directly through their own systems and tools. We are always working to make our platform as accessible and user-friendly as possible, and we believe this will bring us one step closer to that goal.
Q2
Cross Margin V2
The upgrade to Kwenta's cross-margin implementation will include new features and support the Synthetix Perps V2 integration. This will provide traders with a better trading experience with decreased fees and other improvements. Secondary improvements include an architecture rework to support account upgradability and versioning, traditional cross-margin optionality, and new order types/strategies.
The current cross-margin implementation does not allow traders to interact with Synthetix Perps V2, only works with atomic orders (which have high fees in V2), and also lacks many features that sophisticated traders expect from a traditional exchange. The upgrade will improve the overall experience of traders by adding delayed order submission functionality to their CM accounts. Execution for delayed orders can then be handled either by a keeper or the caller once the minimum time defined by Synthetix has elapsed.
The upgrade to support Synthetix Perps V2 will also have significant implications concerning conditional orders. Conditional orders must be carefully built to balance risk and usability. Strategies to prevent bad actors will need to be in place and discussed. The architecture rework will include system upgradeability, traditional cross-margin (margin rebalance), adding account versioning, and a permanent contract store that tracks deployed accounts and the respective deployer. Reducing subgraph reliance will decrease frontend load and improve performance.
Adding cross-margin functionality to v2 perpetual contracts will allow traders to use their collateral more efficiently and provides greater flexibility and control over their trading.
Cross-margin will enable users to set up their entire trade from start to finish when taking a new position, allowing users to set take profits and stop losses before a position is entered. By being able to set these orders simultaneously, traders will be able to make faster and more informed trading decisions with greater risk management. Advanced orders will be able to have conditions attached, including but not limited to parameters such as ‘reduce only.’
We're working on the ability for users to opt-in to yield, which will be split with the protocol often referred to as margin sweeping. This feature will allow traders to earn additional income from their idle assets and help them make the most of their collateral.
Finally, true cross-margin works by rebalancing available capital among open positions and was excluded from the current v1 version due to infrastructure concerns. Including this feature in v2 is essential to providing expected cross-margin-like behavior and will be a feature in the upcoming cross-margin contracts.
Once live we will be refocusing $KWENTA incentives on Cross Margin.
Referral Codes
Referral codes in the DeFi space are often easily exploited. To ensure that this referral program is not subject to gaming and will be a valuable addition to Kwenta, core contributors must research existing solutions, consult with the community, and work around existing blockers. Stay tuned for more updates on our referral program and the launch date!
Staking v2
Despite recently launching, we are upgrading the staking contracts for $KWENTA. StakingRewards will be upgraded with an unstaking cooldown and the ability to look up staked amounts at older blocks. These features should facilitate future modules such as fee distribution, automated on-chain voting, and on-chain trading rewards. This upgrade will also support features mentioned in KIP-42 and KIP-45. With this upgrade, general Cross Margin users can be included in the trading rewards mechanism.
A migration will be required from V1 -> V2.
DAO infrastructure
A DAO is an organization run by code, allowing them to operate independently without intermediaries or centralized control. The infrastructure is the core of DAO, enabling trustless voting systems and onboarding members with a user-friendly interface. The interface allows the members of the DAO to access and interact with chosen smart contracts and view proposals and voting information. This ensures the DAO can operate smoothly and efficiently, and thus core contributors are tasked with building out this essential infrastructure for the protocol.
Grants Council Pilot
2023 will begin with an experimental initiative that places three elected community members under the umbrella of the MarketingDAO to fund and oversee community projects and grants. Inspired by similar initiatives from Synthetix and Lyra, this initiative will be an experiment in further decentralizing marketing-related tasks and providing a framework and infrastructure for community members to contribute a wide variety of skills.
Those interested in running for a Grants Council position should review KIP-44 to understand the expectations of the first Grants Council and nominate themselves in the upcoming election.
Once the epoch concludes (at the end of this roadmap), the council will measure effectiveness and will vote if it should be dissolved or extended.
We are just beginning our journey in the realm of on-chain derivatives. As we move into 2023, we anticipate a significant increase in DeFi usage and experimentation, and we are confident that Kwenta will be at the forefront of this growth. If you are interested in becoming a part of our exciting endeavor, join our Discord community.
Join the Kwenta Community
To learn more about how you can acquire a DAO role as a developer, marketer, governance contributor, or professional trader, visit our Documentation.
To be the first to learn about new updates to Kwenta, follow us on Twitter.
To trade futures, spot, or earn $KWENTA rewards visit Kwenta or try the new Perps v2 alpha.