DeFi Saver Newsletter: May 2020

The goal of the newsletters will be to provide a quick overview of the happenings in the month behind us, including any introduced updates, interesting stats and any other related events worth mentioning.

So, without further ado, let’s get to it!

DeFi Saver updates

WBTC Support

MakerDAO governance has onboarded WBTC as a new supported collateral type and we quickly added full support for WBTC positions in our MakerDAO dashboard.

This includes the support for creating an instantly leveraged WBTC collateralized debt position, our signature Boost and Repay 1-transaction leverage adjustment features for WBTC, Automation support, as well as 1-transaction position closing.

You can find more details on all of these WBTC related options in our recent What can you do with WBTC in MakerDAO? post.

First Automation update completed

With the introduction of WBTC support, we have also completed our first Automation update. The only change between the previous and new Automation Monitor contract is the addition of support for WBTC.

You can now also find information on any on-going or previous Automation smart contract updates on our new Automation stats page.

Oracles access progress

As you may know, we recently introduced a greatly updated Automation v2 which includes support for the next scheduled price update in MakerDAO, something that the system unfortunately lacked on Black Thursday. However, this support has been added in a non-trustless way while we wait for access to MakerDAO Oracles.

We have finally kicked things off with people at MakerDAO regarding this and recently formally submitted proposals to MakerDAO governance. These are Maker Improvement Proposals MIP10c9-SP1, MIP10c9-SP2 and MIP10c9-SP3, for whitelisted access to ETH, BAT and WBTC Oracles respectfully.

We expect to see these proposals in a polling vote some time next week and then hopefully in an executive vote by the end of June, too.

Once the executive votes go through, we should have the next Automation update ready the following week and with it enable trustless, on-chain verification of upcoming price updates in Maker.

Aave added to Smart Savings

The Smart Savings dashboard has been updated with Aave support early in May. This means that it now provides access to lending DAI via Compound, dYdX, Maker’s DSR (Dai Savings Rate) and Aave.

The interesting thing about Aave specifically is that the protocol rewards flash loan fees to those who are lending funds to the utilized funds.

You can find an example of this analyzed in this thread by Pablo from Aave on a recent 500,000 DAI flash loan made via DeFi Saver.

Transaction confirmation flow updated

The transaction confirmation process has been updated so that users of all wallets get to configure gas prices within DeFi Saver before proceeding to approve the transaction in their wallet.

Current gas prices are checked via the ETH Gas Station API and you get to choose between Cheap, Regular and Fast options. Even though the Cheap here is slightly higher than Safe Low at ETH Gas Station, we have to underline once again that Fast really is always recommended due to constantly changing network and DEX conditions.

This change should resolve the issues users of wallets without built-in gas price control previously had at times when gas prices spike.

Wallet connection flow updated

We have also updated the wallet connection flow for those who potentially load straight into a specific dashboard only to find themselves logged out.

You can now just select your wallet right there and get on with your business sooner, it’s a small change, but still a nice little improvement.

May stats

As of May 31st, there were a total of 345 Maker positions with Automation enabled, with the system managing a total of 70,700 ETH, 19 WBTC and 350,000 BAT collateral.

Note that there are still 40 positions managed by the older version of Automation. If you haven’t logged into DeFi Saver for 30+ days and had Automation enabled prior to that, please do stop by to update to v2 or disable Automation. Any positions not still on the older system by June 17 will be automatically updated to v2. You can read about Automation v2 in the introduction post or find a quick rundown of changes in our knowledge base.

Overall, during May there was over $7,5m of volume made via DeFi Saver, most of which was achieved in over 2,300 Boost and Repay transactions (both automated and manual).

On May 29 a DeFi Saver set a new record utilizing a 500,000 DAI Aave flash (after 3x smaller 200,000 ones), which they then additionally repeated on May 30.

For anyone interested, stats about Aave flash loans can be found at Aave-WATCH, with a very nice spike in DAI flash loans visible in the last few days.

Community shoutouts

We also wanted to take a moment to appreciate those who recently helped us share the story of DeFi Saver.

The DeFi.cx team posted a great introduction to DeFi Saver on their blog earlier in May.

DeFi Dad recently went as far as calling DeFi Saver a dummy-proof app for opening and managing a MakerDAO position.

Finally, Marc Zeller took the time to highlight just how simple it is to move DAI funds from Compound to Aave using Smart Savings to make use of higher interest rates.

A special shoutout is in order for everyone sharing their DeFi Saver experience with others in subreddits such as r/ethfinance and r/MakerDAO. Here’s one example where u/RobertLobLaw2 recently gratefully and extensively explained what Automation does.

Hope you’ve enjoyed our quick look at happenings in May and we’re looking forward to sharing more cool news in the coming weeks! If a teaser is in order, I can mention that work is underway on a nice interface refresh together with a massive Compound dashboard overhaul. Stay tuned for more!

Stay connected:
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