Smart tokenized deposits for Builders and Managers.
Introduction
This month marked five years since the Enzyme protocol was launched to mainnet as the first decentralised asset management protocol (it was known as Melon back then for the OGs in the room!). Founded in 2016, the protocol vision was predominantly to disrupt intermediaries in the fund management space and make fund management easier, cheaper, more secure and much more transparent. Fast forward to today and whilst the protocol is making new all time highs in usage and Assets Under Technology (AUT), we are realising that the protocol can offer so much more for builders and managers.
Background and Context
Today, less than 10% of AUT on Enzyme is used for the fund management use-case. Meanwhile, builders have started using Enzyme as a way to accelerate pre-launch liquidity (eg Diva staking), others have used it to boost post-launch liquidity and rebalance the staking ecosystem (eg. Swell), and some decentralised insurance protocols have used it to manage capital pools (eg. Nexus, Unslashed finance). As we write, new and novel use-cases are being developed by builders which we hope to share more on in Q2.
Moving Forward
Moving forward, we’ve decided to direct our efforts to transform Enzyme into a highly modular set of components aligning with the approaches taken by projects like Gitcoin, Redstone, Uniswap, Eigenlayer, Euler Finance, Morpho, Maker Labs and more.
This strategic evolution positions Enzyme as a versatile operating system, fostering diverse verticals built on its foundation. Our revamped grants program is designed to incentivise and expedite the development of these emerging verticals.
This quarter we’ll be re-launching the Enzyme website and repositioning Enzyme as a protocol that accelerates growth for asset managers and builders. Our v5 will focus on features that embrace a more expansive vision that will include builders as well as managers.
As new use cases continue to emerge, enzyme’s roadmap is focused on enabling builders and managers to engage with these use cases, accelerate their time to market, reduce costs and use the security that enzyme provides through its long heritage.
Our directional roadmap is focused on expanding the asset universe that vaults can manage, integrations that the protocol can interact with and the chains on which they reside
Enzyme For Managers
Just to be clear, the asset management use case isn’t going anywhere! Enzyme for managers will continue to exist and in fact invest in tooling and services beyond just “funds”. Some of the features we’ve been working on include:
- A regulated fund platform: Through Avantgarde Finance, fund managers can quickly plug into an existing regulated platform and launch products which can be sold to professional investors.
- Indexes & auto-rebalancing: A new adapter will soon allow managers of an index-like vault to regularly rebalance their vault into a target allocation with very little effort (or even completely automated using Enzyme’s custom automations).
- Expanding to RWA’s: As a result of new partnerships we’ve been working on, wrapping any off-chain asset and holding it in an Enzyme vault will become possible with minimal work.
- Structured products: Automating strategies that interact with DeFi are now possible Contact our team if you’d like access to the services that enable you to build an automated product of your choice. The breadth of functionality here includes trading, lending, borrowing, LP’ing and much more.
- Banking gateway: A recent integration with Monerium by the Gorilla Funds team has made it possible to connect a bank account directly to an Enzyme vault. Deposits and withdrawals can now flow almost instantaneously to and from your bank account.
Enzyme for Builders
Perhaps less on the radar, is the work we’ve been doing to support builders! A few examples of features we have built for builders.
- On-chain vault oracles: By having a VaultValueCalculator, projects relying on an oracle can actively move assets and interact with DeFi integrations in a trustless, non-transparent way through enzyme whilst the on-chain oracle reports back to the parent company in a provable, verifiable way 24/7.
- SDKs: The Enzyme SDK is a TypeScript library that allows you to interact with the Enzyme protocol on-chain. It includes abstractions around and utilities for interacting with the full range of the vast Enzyme smart contract landscape: Vault creation, configuration and maintenance, portfolio management, deposits, withdrawals, value and price calculations and more.
- APIs: Our complementary gRPC API includes endpoints for fetching current and historical network wide information, vault specific information as well as information for individual depositor accounts. In addition to our pre-built TypeScript client, the API can be consumed by any client that speaks gRPC
- White labelled interfaces: Enzyme’s white labelling tools enable vault owners to link their Enzyme vault directly and host it directly on their own domain. Deposits/withdrawals can be made possible from your own domain in a matter of minutes and you can display all the vault data on your own website with your own branding, logos and colour scheme.
V5 will also be very focused on builders and unlocking the current bottlenecks that are experienced by some builders who show an interest in using Enzyme. More on that soon though.
Conclusion
In conclusion, as we celebrate the fifth anniversary of Enzyme’s launch, it’s clear that our journey has been one of constant evolution and innovation. While our initial focus was on disrupting traditional fund management, we’ve come to realise that Enzyme has the potential to serve a much broader audience.
By repositioning Enzyme as a highly modular set of components, we’re opening the doors to a myriad of new possibilities. Whether you’re an asset manager looking to streamline operations or a builder seeking to leverage our technology, our goal is to accelerate growth and drive innovation for builders and managers.
We’re immensely grateful to our community of users, builders, and supporters who have helped shape Enzyme’s journey thus far. Together, we’re building a future where finance is more accessible, transparent, and inclusive for all.
Stay tuned for more updates on our progress and new developments in the exciting months ahead.
