Mango Monitor: May Madness
May was a turbulent month for markets as a macro downturn snowballed into collapse for the entire Luna ecosystem. However, Mango’s are a hardy fruit that thrive despite occasional hurricanes. The community remains focused on building the premier DeFi exchange regardless of some stormy days.
Section I: Assessment of Performance during Volatility
Given the recent challenges of many projects, below is a brief review of Mango’s performance during the Luna drawdown. The protocol saw elevated volume and its highest number of daily active users in months as traders rushed to manage their exposure. The exchange remained fully operational throughout the turbulence with active market makers and immediate liquidity.
Mango processed over $22mm in liquidations during the first two weeks of May and only suffered a $162k withdrawal from the insurance fund. This performance during a period of substantial Solana congestion demonstrates the stability of the platform and depth of the liquidator ecosystem.
For Luna assets specifically, UST was never accepted on Mango so the program had no exposure to de-peg risk. LUNA perp and spot tokens are now in reduce-only mode. All users were able to close their positions and withdraw profits.
Mango has over $10mm in its insurance fund and a $70mm treasury in total. Users should feel confident in the project’s ability to weather any market environment.
Section II: Product Updates
GMT Listing: We have listed crypto’s favorite walk-to-earn app: STEPN. GMT, the app’s governance token, is now trading on Mango with perpetual and spot products. Traders can bet on the future price with up to 8x leverage, hedge their earnings ahead of a long walk or earn interest on their existing GMT assets. Start trading-to-earn today with GMT.
Exodus Wallet: We have integrated the Exodus wallet. This popular new cross-chain wallet offers a slick UX and the auto-approve feature many users are missing since Phantom removed it. Auto-approve enables hassle-free trading on Mango.
A clever setup for those using auto-approve would be to set that wallet as their “delegate access” while keeping a fully secured address for their primary account with withdrawal privileges. As always, be careful and ask any questions in Mango’s discord support channel. Learn more about setting up Exodus here.
New Data Access: Mangolorians, the in-house data analytics resource, has added another feature in our quest to be the most transparent trading protocol in financial markets. Traders can now monitor the composition of open interest for all perpetual assets. Anyone can search for users with a large share of OI, check their account health or copy-trade their strategy. This data is typically proprietary to exchanges. Check out the data here and find some new trade ideas.
Section III: Governance News
This was another active month on the governance front with several interesting treasury proposals.
After the drastic market declines associated with Luna’s implosion, some community members proposed the DAO buy the dip with its ~$70mm of treasury USDC. Three separate proposals were put forth: a $10mm BTC purchase, a $10mm MNGO buyback and a $1.2mm MNGO buyback (this amount equals Mango’s accumulated fee revenue).
The investments were thoroughly debated in our DAO meeting but members ultimately elected to be patient with any purchases. Dialogue is ongoing and we suspect the issue will continue to be discussed. Follow the forum or tune into the DAO meetings to stay abreast of future plans.
Marinade Token Investment: A treasury investment in MNDE was proposed by the Marinade team. Marinade is Solana’s leading liquid staking project via the mSOL token. They are soliciting interest from key strategic partners to invest in a capital raise. Mango’s ownership would provide some interesting strategic benefits around stake control and enhanced execution. Discussion continues with a vote likely sometime in June. Catch up on the proposed terms and community feedback on our forum.
GM Engagement: After a successful trial period, the DAO voted to move forward with our engagement of GM to manage market maker relations for the next five years. Their long tenure in crypto market making and alignment with Mango’s values make them the perfect partner as we build an institutional-grade order book on chain. They are always available in discord to offer support, especially to any aspiring market makers. Lookout for Klossie, Crusher or newly full-time Mango member Waterquarks. The grant was discussed here.
Section IV: Content Roundup
- Governance guru’s Max and Adrian attended AthensDAO as part of our sponsor delegation. The conference was unique with an exclusive focus on DAOs and governance. Max’s presentation (embedded above) covered the project’s effort to further decentralize and a DAO tooling wish list. The entire conference is available for replay: schedule to find specific panels and the day 1, day 2, day 3 and day 4 replays.
- Max joined oracle provider Pyth for a twitter spaces. They chatted about market infrastructure’s performance during the Luna meltdown, Mango’s oracle usage and future plans. Catch the recording here.
Section IV: Upcoming Events
- This month’s biweekly meetings are planned for June 9th and June 23rd. Discussion topics will include MNGO buybacks, MNDE token purchase and a new trading competition. Meetings are open to all DAO participants.
- Mango community members will be in Austin for the Solana hacker house. Say hi if you’re attending.
Additional Resources:
- Website: https://www.mango.markets
- Discord: https://discord.gg/mangomarkets
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/mangomarkets
- DAO Forum: https://forum.mango.markets
- Github: https://github.com/blockworks-foundation
