Vision & Roadmap

Vision

We will make a true cross-chain DeFi ecosystem. There are many coins that mirror Bitcoin like WBTC, renBTC, BTCB, .... and there are also many USD based stablecoins including BUSD, USDT, USDC, DAI, UST and more. The problem with this is that it is confusing to swap and store these in vaults. While the value of the coins themselves may be stable, generating high yield while keeping this safety is not the easiest process.

Belt.fi makes pools of these tokens of the same nature (i.e. BUSD and USDT) and make it possible to swap these with very low fees and low slippage. This gives DeFi users the opportunity to keep the safe nature of their stablecoins while getting high rewards.

We at Belt.fi envision a future of immense interoperability in which you can maximize returns conveniently by adding liquidity to any pool of assets of any connected chain.

The team behind Belt.fi has been researching and developing interchain technology since incorporating in 2017 and creating Orbit Chain and related interchain-protocols. We launched Orbit Chain and it's Orbit Bridge IBC protocol, which bridges assets on N-to-N routes. We will continue making IBC (inter-blockchain communication) innovations with Orbit Chain to create a true cross-chain DeFi ecosystem. Belt.fi will be the core protocol of this ecosystem.

Roadmap

With our cross-chain swap future, which will be explained further below, users on all chains that Belt is operating on will be able to easily, quickly, and efficiently swap their any of their tokens on any chain to any other token on another connected chain to experience DeFi wherever they want without having to go through complicated bridging processes or central exchanges. This will really create a liquid cross-chain DeFi world in which Belt’s cross-chain swap/pools will play a central part. Belt Finance will help DeFi go further than multi-chain by making cross-chain simple.

Explaining the Q3/ Q4 Timeline

Since our launch in March, Belt grew at a wild pace, exceeding our projections and expectations to grow to billions in TVL. Frankly, after a certain point, we experienced some growing pains and recognized the need to stabilize and fix a few parts of the protocol before making larger changes and excelling once again. Much like a racecar refueling at a pitstop, we did what we needed to do to be ready to speed out onto the track again.

To that end, we’ve laid out the groundwork in Q3 to build Belt Finance closer to its full potential in Q4. Much of Q3 was focused on stability, optimization, and security. This is because what we are working to accomplish is vast and largely new to DeFi, a comprehensive, truly cross-chain platform. Especially after we saw a different cross-chain protocol get the biggest hack in DeFi history of around $600M, we decided to push back the larger v3 release to make sure that our protocol and cross-chain v3 would be secure. To do this, we’ve spared no expenses. We reached the milestone of rewarding out the biggest bug bounty in DeFi history with a $1,050,000+ payout through Immunefi with support from BSC’s Priority One. We also focused on finding the right audit partner, which we will explain more below.

In Q3, we started the push to bring the BELT token closer to the center of the platform so that BELT started to bring more of the massive value behind the protocol to its holders. With the new single staking vault, an additional portion of the base yield from our multi-strategy vaults is used to buyback BELT tokens on the market and then distribute them to stakers. This has led to some stabilization as close to 1 million BELT tokens are deposited in this vault.

We also updated our UI and launched a multi-strategy yielding vault on the Klaytn chain in preparation for the release of v3.

With that, we are ready to finalize the release of the v3 update in Q4, which will be detailed below.

Ongoing Improvements

Behind the scenes, we’ve also been working on efficiency improvements. These include better, automated strategy ratio rebalancing so that our TVL deposits can be safely, optimally moved between our different strategy protocols to offer Belt users the highest possible APR.

We’ve added a better monitoring system so that any irregularities will be caught and dealt with immediately.

Finally, we’ve worked on updates to the 4Belt system so that 4Belt swaps will be cheaper and more efficient. The complexity of our vault/swap system created high fees proportionally to smaller swaps, which made smaller swaps uneconomical. The changes we made will decrease complexity while decreasing slippage for overall cheaper, better swaps. This will lead to more swaps arising directly on our stableswap and therefore more fee rewards and buyback.

Belt’s Q4 Updates

Cross-Chain Swap & Pool

First and foremost, we will be releasing a cross-chain stableswap consisting of a pool of 3 stablecoins on 3 different chains:

USDT on BSC
USDT on HECO Chain
KUSDT on Klaytn

As the actual cross-chain bridging happens through stablecoin swaps, users will be able to easily move their assets from chain to chain with low IL and slippage, and without going to centralized exchanges. To accomplish this, we are utilizing Orbit Chain and its Orbit Bridge, a decentralized cross-chain bridging protocol, to facilitate the cross-chain swap aspect.

Belt’s new cross-chain stableswap system also makes it possible to connect to existing liquidity-based DEX’s to make it possible for users to essentially swap any token to any other token on any of the connected chains (BSC, HECO, Klaytn). We will be launching this in close cooperation and connection with the top DEX protocols available on those respective chains. This connection will expand the liquidity of each of these connected protocols to cover each other. The swap, and aforementioned partnerships mean that our cross-chain stableswap will be the backbone of all cross-chain transactions made through these DEX protocols. We will start off by connecting PancakeSwap and MDEX to cover the top DEX’s with the highest liquidity on BSC and HECO. We will also be connecting to KLAYswap, the largest DeFi protocol on the Klaytn chain. The amalgamation of us and these new partners will create a Belt cross-chain DeFi behemoth of more than $7B in liquidity and hundreds of thousands of unique users that is unrivaled in size and influence. All platforms need scalability in terms of liquidity and users to avoid stagnation. Belt’s new cross-chain swap will be the liquidity infrastructure to allow the expandability of swap protocols on these chains.

Going forward, we will be adding more chains and connecting new DEX protocols to allow for even more liquidity, more transaction volume, and efficient swaps. While our current focus is on stablecoins, we will eventually expand to allow cross-chain swaps of major assets like BTC and ETH so users will be able to more efficiently utilize these assets in our vaults and by extension, all top DeFi protocols on all our connected chains. We are currently talking with different protocol teams and public chain foundations to make this happen in the near future.

This cross-chain swap will be powered by a new cross-chain pool consisting of the aforementioned 3 tokens, USDT on BSC, USDT on HECO, and KUSDT on Klaytn. Collectively, this pool will be called the 3Tether pool. Users will be able to deposit on any of these and contribute to 3tether LP and receive trading fee rewards and BELT rewards. The LP will be created on Orbit Chain and as such, swaps within the LP will be done on Orbit Chain.

Benefits to Belt and BELT holders

As we explained above, the connection of great liquidity across different chains will make Belt’s new cross-chain stableswap the center of multiple DeFi ecosystems, and as such, utilization and volume will be high. More utilization of our cross-chain stableswap means more BELT buyback, with trading fees accumulating for the buyback with every swap. This will greatly increase the buy-pressure to counter BELT inflation and create a more stable, positive token. As the other improvements to the protocol are made and more vaults are launched, TVL will grow, leading to even more buyback.

Improved Tokenomics

On the topic of inflation, and tokenomics. We are also making wholesale changes to the BELT token economy to improve the sustainability and stability of the protocol and its supporters.

Our initial projections on the power of using protocol yield-based buyback to counter BELT’s infinite inflation enough to create deflation have been proven false. This is because of a variety of factors that have changed with the maturation of DeFi protocols and their yield systems. Along with this, swap volume dropped and TVL plateaued, meaning that there was less and less buyback+burn while inflation stayed the same. With this, it came to be that there was not enough incentive to hold. It came to be that a big portion of deposits in the Belt came not from supporters, but just from compounding farmers, leading to more sell pressure. This is another reason why we have been focusing on the foundations of improving our vaults and swaps.

We recognize the need to improve this and give more benefits to supporters. This shift started with the single BELT staking vault, giving protocol profits to BELT supporters. Going forward, more comprehensive changes will be made to improve the token.

Halving

To control inflation, we are implementing a halving model. Over repeated periods of time, inflation will be halved. The halving will be done aggressively. This will essentially create a max cap to BELT supply of around 22,108,836 BELT. The final number, however, will be lower because of continued burns.

With decreasing emissions, the effect of BELT buybacks will be greater and more people will be incentivized to stake (due to the buyback → rewards of the BELT single staking pool). You may be wondering about the vault yields due to decreasing emissions, but as a large percentage of yield comes from strategy protocols for our beltTokens, which in turn will be improved, the yield will be maintained. Lowering emissions will decrease the proportion of BELT that is being sold by auto-compounding protocols, which has been one of the biggest contributors to the high sell-pressure on the BELT token. Lower sell pressure while maintaining and increasing the buyback amount will create a more positive price flow.

When the max cap is reached (End of Emissions), the profits of the Belt Finance platform will directly be given to users in the form of staking rewards. Buybacks and burns/staking rewards will be increasingly more impactful as they directly influence deflation. BELT holders will get increasingly more value from the Belt Finance platform itself.

The first emissions halving will take place at BSC block 14,500,000. More details about our emission halving model will be posted soon.

Other Tokenomics Improvements

Unlike other DeFi protocols, Belt has never taken a fee from profits or usage for the team. We’ve taken a controller fee from yield and swap fees to directly buyback and burn BELT, and more recently to give to BELT single stakers.

We’ve made a decision to increase the controller fee from base yield and swaps. This larger controller fee will be used for more aggressive BELT buybacks to create more buy-side pressure for the BELT token.

We will also distribute more of the base yield BELT buyback to our supporters using the BELT single staking pool which will convert to higher yield rates.

As this happens, we will add more strategy protocols so that base yield, and subsequently, buybacks, are higher.

Audit

As mentioned above, we talked with and reviewed many Audit teams to find the one right for us. We’ve completed a full, comprehensive security audit focusing on v3 updates with DeDaub. They are a renowned team of security experts and professors that have been trusted by the likes of the Ethereum foundation.

This team was recommended to us by Immunefi for their impeccable work. This audit is expected to be completed in early/mid-November. We will start launching the updates as the audit finalizes.

Governance

We released the long-awaited governance system in Q4. As the shape of the protocol is now stabilizing with beltToken vaults, improved on-chain stableswap, and cross-chain swap, it is now time for our supporters to decide the finer details and direction of the protocol themselves.

These proposals will include:

General:

Adding new strategy protocols
Adding new AMMs to the cross-chain swap
Operating Periods (pausing strategies, deactivating pools/vaults)

System Parameters:

Vault buyback → burn ratio
Vault buyback → staking reward ratio
Contract Impl Updates
Changing mining rates

Belt Governance will be a decentralized system based on proposals and voting. This voting will also lead to increased BELT burning and rewards for participants.