1. Summary
This proposal outlines:
- The impact and resolution of the Resolv incident
- Treasury and emissions adjustments required to maintain protocol health
- Security enhancements at the protocol and legal levels
- Market conditions following recent DeFi exploits (Resolv, KelpDAO, Drift)
- Updated roadmap and strategic direction
The objective is to ensure long-term solvency, user protection, and sustainable growth of the Fluid ecosystem.
2. Background
Over the past two months, DeFi experienced multiple major incidents, including:
- Resolv exploit
- KelpDAO exploit
- Drift exploit
While Fluid only had direct exposure to Resolv, all three events triggered:
- Significant loss of confidence across DeFi
- Large-scale capital withdrawals from lending markets
- System-wide liquidity contraction
3. Incident Impact
Fluid incurred ~$21M in bad debt due to the Resolv incident.
Resolution
- Resolv will cover 50% of the losses for pre-incident DEX LPs
- The remaining ~$19.3M bad debt will be handled as follows:
- Resolv will cover ~$9.7M
- ~$8.2M will be covered by the Fluid governance treasury
- ~$1.5M will be covered by the team (to be reimbursed from future protocol revenue)
- All remaining USR tokens within the Fluid protocol have been burned at the contract level by the Resolv team, and users with healthy positions will be able to redeem them directly through Resolv.
This ensures:
- Full system solvency
- No impact to user deposits
4. Proposed Treasury & Emissions Actions
To preserve long-term protocol sustainability, the following changes are proposed:
4.1 Pause Buybacks
- Immediate halt to all token buybacks
- Rationale:
- Prior buybacks (~1.3% of supply) showed limited effectiveness
- Treasury must be preserved and rebuilt
4.2 Reduce FLUID Incentives
- Significant reduction / minimization of emissions
- Objective:
- Reduce sell pressure
- Improve token sustainability
- Continue the organic, sustainable growth that has always defined Fluid
4.3 Foundation Monthly Grant Adjustment
- Suspension of $250k/month grant to Foundation
- Duration: March → June (4 months)
5. Lite ETH Vault
During the KelpDAO incident, DeFi experienced a severe liquidity crunch that pushed ETH utilization close to 100% across major lending markets.
As a result, immediately withdrawable liquidity across the ecosystem became heavily constrained, temporarily preventing withdrawals from the ETH Lite Vault.
In response, the Fluid team rapidly designed and deployed an aWETH redemption mechanism, which processed more than $440M in redemptions. This allowed affected ETH lenders to exit positions while simultaneously deleveraging the Lite Vault’s exposure on Aave in an orderly manner.
The redemption system generated sufficient fees to fully offset losses incurred during the period of elevated ETH utilization.
Current Status
- All user funds remain safe
- All losses have been fully covered
- Immediate withdrawable liquidity will be replenished next week
- Lite vault effective APR for the disruption period will be 0%
- Additional strategies will be introduced to the ETH Lite Vault to:
- Reduce dependency on external protocols
- Improve diversification
- Increase long-term yield generation
6. Security Framework & Enhancements
Fluid / Instadapp maintains a zero-incident security track record.
Security remains the protocol’s highest priority.
6.1 Existing Measures
- Dozens of completed audits
- Continuous security reviews
- Ongoing formal verification (EVM + Solana) with Certora
6.2 Protocol-Level Risk Improvements
Over the next week we will be rolling out a significant oracle overhaul:
Core features
• Per-key pricing — (token, eMode, isOperate, isCollateral) with eMode → 0 fallback if the exact key is missing. 4x unique config depending on exact use case of where token is used.
• Token types — PEG / STABLE / VOLATILE drive which sources and modes are valid (e.g. STABLE+PEG = constant $1, no feeds).
• Price modes — MARKET vs PEG
• Multi-leg feeds — up to 3 chained primary sources; same for alt.
• Deviation check — operate-only; compares primary vs reference → e.g. check REUSD peg price vs market price, revert all operates if deviation > 2%
• Fallback — if primary composed price is 0 and enabled, strict-read alt configured price.
• Min / max USD caps — per-key minPriceUSD / maxPriceUSD → e.g. GHO market price on debt side operate but cap to minimum 1 USD.
• Pause — per-token operate / liquidate pause bits (separately). Guardian (e.g. bot) can pause operate but not liquidate!
• Raw mode — getPriceRawForMode: no caps/deviation/revert path; lenient reads; optional alt retry → for use in auth contracts, e.g. limit handler that sets limits via human USD input amount!
• L2 — FluidUsdOracleL2: sequencer uptime + grace period before any price call → copied 1:1 from oracleV1 code.
These changes significantly improve resilience under extreme market conditions.
6.3 Legal Risk Mitigation
To further reduce systemic risk:
- Fluid will establish legal agreements with asset issuers
- These agreements provide:
- Enforceable claims on underlying assets
- Recovery pathways in case of depeg or asset failure
7. Market Conditions & External Impact
Recent exploits have had ecosystem-wide consequences:
- Reduced trust in DeFi protocols
- Liquidity fragmentation
- Withdrawal pressure across lending markets
- Increased volatility in stable asset markets
These conditions inform a more conservative short-term strategy.
8. Product Roadmap Updates
8.1 DEX v2
- Development completed
- Launch postponed due to market conditions
- Deployment will occur once:
- Liquidity stabilizes
- Market confidence improves
8.2 Solana DEX v1
- Currently in final audit stage
- Expected launch timeline: ~6 weeks
8.3 Liquidity-as-a-Service (LaaS)
Introduction of DEX Liquidity-as-a-Service:
- Deep liquidity provisioning for stable assets
- No inventory or LP management requirements for partners
- Minimal risk exposure
Expected outcomes:
- Increased protocol TVL
- Expansion of partner ecosystem
- Higher trading volumes
8.4 Fixed Rate Borrowing
Upcoming feature:
- User-selected loan with any duration
- Fixed interest determined upfront
- No variable rate exposure
This introduces:
- Predictability
- Improved capital planning for borrowers
8.5 Institutional Expansion
Fluid is actively onboarding institutional participants.
Key advantages:
- Unified liquidity layer
- Flexible regulatory framework
- Lending + DEX integration
- Composable credit infrastructure
Multiple institutional integrations are expected in the near term.
8.6 Custodied Collateral
To meet institutional requirements:
- Support for custodied assets as collateral
- Enables:
- Off-chain custody
- On-chain borrowing
This bridges traditional finance requirements with DeFi infrastructure.
9. Rationale
The proposed actions are designed to:
- Ensure protocol solvency and resilience
- Preserve and rebuild the treasury
- Reduce unnecessary emissions
- Strengthen risk management systems
- Align protocol growth with market conditions
10. Conclusion
Despite a challenging period for DeFi, Fluid remains:
- Solvent
- Secure
- Strategically positioned for long-term growth
This proposal ensures that the protocol emerges stronger, with improved infrastructure, aligned incentives, and a clear path forward.