Establish DAO Treasury Allocation for Current & Future CEX Listings

Request for Comment
1

Title: Establish DAO Treasury Allocation for Current & Future CEX Listings
Author(s): SaucerSwap Labs
SaucerSwap Voting Interface: TBA
Related Discussions: None
Submission Date: 2025-09-10

Summary

This proposal establishes a standing program allocating 60% of the DAO Treasury (USD‑equivalent NAV across all assets) to (i) fund future CEX listing fees, and (ii) deploy initial and maintenance liquidity for current and future CEX spot and derivatives markets. Liquidity support is retroactive and forward‑looking (to backfill existing listings and bootstrap new ones); listing fees are forward‑looking only (no reimbursement of past fees). Immediate precedent includes an upcoming Southeast Asian CEX listing and a pending Kraken listing application; beyond this context, the program is generalized and CEX‑agnostic.

Abstract

CEX listings expand token accessibility, deepen liquidity, and reach KYC’d retail users with fiat on‑ramps. Rather than one‑off votes per listing, this creates a single, capped allocation (60% of Treasury) to pay future listing fees and provide SAUCE (or required asset) liquidity for both new and existing spot markets, and to support perpetuals with defined, budgeted costs and recoverable collateral. The goal is to reach an inflection point where visibility and liquidity prompt CEXs to list proactively—ideally waiving fees over time. Liquidity support may be deployed retroactively to replace company-provided liquidity on existing markets, allowing SaucerSwap Labs to withdraw its inventory and ensuring that liquidity is held directly by the DAO. Past listing fees paid by SaucerSwap Labs remain non-reimbursable.

Motivation

  • Distribution & Access: Additional CEX coverage helps non‑DeFi users acquire SAUCE and provides fiat pathways.

  • Market Quality: Seed and maintenance liquidity, as required by CEXs, help reduce slippage and promote orderly price discovery.

  • Growth: Programmatic coverage can compound awareness, volumes, and integrations across CEXs.

  • DAO Stewardship: Retroactive and forward liquidity deployment transfers responsibility from SaucerSwap Labs to the DAO, ensuring that exchange liquidity is transparently held and governed on-chain.

Specification & Rationale

Scope of the Program

  • Allocate 60% of total DAO Treasury NAV (USD equivalent, measured at drawdown using 24-hrs TWAP on SaucerSwap) as a CEX Listing Fee & Liquidity Allocation (the “Allocation”).

  • Authorized uses within the Allocation:

    1. Future CEX listing / integration fees for spot and derivatives (non‑retroactive).

    2. Initial and maintenance liquidity for current and future spot markets (retroactive and forward‑looking).

    3. Derivatives market support, including MM retainers, incentives, operational / indexing / insurance costs, and recoverable collateral posted to CEXs or MMs.

Budget Framework

Listing cadence and fees are assumptions intended for planning purposes only.

Spot

  • Tier 1 (e.g., Kraken, OKX, Bybit): $500K fee + $500K liquidity ($250K SAUCE + $250K stables) → $1,000,000 total per listing; 0.5 listings / year.

  • Tier 2 (e.g., Gate.io, KuCoin, MEXC): $200K fee + $200K liquidity ($100K SAUCE + $100K stables) → $400,000 total per listing; 1.0 listings / year.

  • Tier 3 (e.g., BitMart, LBank, CoinEx): $25K fee + $100K liquidity ($50K SAUCE + $50K stables) → $125,000 total per listing; 1.0 listings / year.

Tier Listings / Yr Fee / Listing Liquidity / Listing Total / Listing Annual Total
Tier 1 (Spot) 0.5 $500,000 $500,000 ($250k SAUCE + $250k stables) $1,000,000 $500,000
Tier 2 (Spot) 1.0 $200,000 $200,000 ($100k SAUCE + $100k stables) $400,000 $400,000
Tier 3 (Spot) 1.0 $25,000 $100,000 ($50k SAUCE + $50k stables) $125,000 $125,000
Combined (Spot) 2.5 — — — $1,025,000 / yr

Derivatives

  • Tier 2 Perpetuals (e.g., Gate.io, KuCoin, MEXC): $50K integration fee + $240K MM retainer + $75K incentives + $25K ops / index / insurance → $390,000 cash total per market (excluding $250K recoverable collateral); 1.0 markets / year.
Product Listings / Yr Fee / Integration MM Retainer / Yr Incentives Ops (Index/Insurance) Cash Total / Listing Recoverable Collateral
Tier 2 (Perpetuals) 1.0 $50,000 $240,000 $75,000 $25,000 $390,000 $250,000

Definitions: Fee / Integration covers one-time exchange work to launch the perpetual contract (product configuration, risk parameterization, index linkage to SAUCE spot data, testing, and any compliance setup). The MM retainer is an ongoing payment required by exchanges for market makers to maintain order-book depth, tight spreads, and risk management across both spot and derivatives markets. Incentives refer to market-function support (maker rebates, funding rebates, or volume-based MM incentives) and explicitly exclude exchange-mandated promotional token allocations or marketing campaigns. Ops / Index / Insurance bundles recurring exchange charges for index maintenance and data, risk/operations infrastructure, and insurance-fund contributions. Recoverable collateral is capital posted to the CEX or MM to underwrite positions; it is tracked within the Allocation but is not an expense and should be returned upon exit subject to CEX terms. Cash totals shown exclude collateral.

Budget Summary

  • Program totals (cash basis): $1,415,000 / yr ($1,025,000 spot + $390,000 derivatives).

  • Quarterly planning figure (cash): $353,750.

  • Capital locked (recoverable collateral): $250,000 per derivatives market (tracked within the Allocation but not treated as expense).

  • The proposed 60% CEX Listings & Liquidity Allocation is delta-positive for the DAO Treasury, as the average quarterly planning spend ($353,750) remains below projected quarterly inflows from emissions (~$357K, assuming fixed price as of mid-Aug). This ensures the treasury continues to grow while fully funding the expected annual cadence of spot and derivatives markets.

  • Any deviation from these planning levels that would cause annual cash spend to exceed the budget requires a separate DAO proposal; outsized single‑quarter needs are permitted so long as total annual spend remains within the approved limits and will be disclosed in the per‑draw memo with transaction hashes (TXIDs).

Gating Criteria

Actual cadence and CEX selection will be determined by SaucerSwap Labs in coordination with the DAO, based on prevailing market conditions, liquidity, and strategic priorities.

Retroactive Liquidity Backfill

The DAO may deploy liquidity to existing CEX markets so SaucerSwap Labs can remove its liquidity.

CEX Pair(s) Current SaucerSwap Labs ↔ DAO Liquidity Backfill Target
MEXC SAUCE/USDT 690.4k SAUCE; 47.2k USDT
Gate.io† SAUCE/USDT 3.6M SAUCE
Total 4.2904M SAUCE; 47.2k USDT

† SaucerSwap Labs entered into a zero interest rate loan agreement with Skynet (market maker) for the Gate.io listing, where Skynet will return the lesser of 3.6M SAUCE or $125.5k upon request.

Actual token amounts will be calculated at execution using 24-hrs TWAPs on SaucerSwap.

Current Treasury Snapshot

DAO Treasury multi‑signature account: 0.0.1056814

Asset Balance USD Equivalent
SAUCE 24,564,527.40 $1,206,118.30
HBAR† 422,046.02 $98,083.50
USDT/USDC 0.00 $0.00
Other N/A N/A
Total — $1,304,201.80

† All DAO Treasury HBAR is allocated to the ongoing Incentives Campaign.

  • Percentages / values to be finalized via on‑chain / market data at time of drawdown and summarized in post‑execution memos.

Conversions / Asset Mix

  • The Allocation is defined as a percentage of total Treasury across all assets. To meet CEX requirements (e.g., USDT for fees or quote pairs), the DAO may swap within the Allocation between Treasury assets (e.g., to stablecoins or SAUCE).

  • To minimize market impact, SaucerSwap Labs may also execute OTC swaps with the DAO Treasury (e.g., company‑held stablecoins for DAO‑held SAUCE) at a fair‑value reference price (24‑hrs TWAP on SaucerSwap at execution). OTC will be used when conversions required for liquidity seeding or listing fees could cause material price impact on SAUCE. All conversions—including OTC—will be disclosed with TXIDs in per‑draw memos and will be sized and timed to avoid material price impact on SAUCE.

Execution Controls & Transparency Protocols

  • Custody & Transfers: Funds move from the DAO Treasury multi‑sig to designated deposit addresses solely for listing fees, liquidity seeding/maintenance, and approved derivatives support.

  • Confidentiality: CEX names will remain undisclosed pre‑listing. Within 7 days post‑listing, Labs will post an update identifying the CEX, the final amounts deployed (and any conversions), and transaction hashes (TXIDs).

  • Per‑Draw Memo: Each draw includes purpose (fee vs. liquidity vs. derivatives support), CEX, USD notional, assets used/swapped, and expected timeline; the memo will include relevant TXIDs.

  • Publish Conversions & Transfers: All conversion transactions (including direct and OTC swaps) funded by the Allocation, as well as all transfers to/from CEXs, will be published with TXIDs, routing details, and reference pricing.

  • Delisting/Failure Contingency: If a listing is canceled prior to execution, no transfer occurs. If a CEX later delists SAUCE, any recoverable funds (including derivatives collateral) will be returned to the DAO Treasury.

Pros

  • Programmatic funding accelerates CEX coverage (spot and perps) and improves launch/maintenance liquidity.

  • Operational efficiency: fewer one‑off votes, faster execution within a capped, transparent envelope.

  • Capital‑efficient deployment of otherwise idle treasury funds.

  • DAO Empowerment: Centralizing both new and backfilled exchange liquidity within the DAO strengthens on-chain governance, improves transparency, and reduces dependence on company-held assets.

Cons

  • Treasury spend on listing fees and derivatives support has uncertain, market‑dependent ROI.

  • Reduction of the DAO’s SAUCE (and/or other assets) depending on conversions and liquidity needs.

  • CEX custody/operational risk; recovery on delisting can be delayed or partial.

  • Asset conversions may introduce price impact, slippage, and opportunity cost.

Voting Options

  • YES — Approve

    Approve allocating 60% of total DAO Treasury NAV to a standing CEX Listings & Liquidity Allocation that may be used for future spot listing fees, spot liquidity, and Tier-2 derivatives support (integration fees, MM retainers, incentives, ops, and recoverable collateral). Authorize swaps within the Allocation (between Treasury assets and into required assets such as SAUCE or stablecoins), including OTC swaps with SaucerSwap Labs, to meet CEX requirements. Drawdowns are expected to align with the ~$353.75K/quarter planning figure (non-binding) and require the reporting described above, including TXIDs.

  • NO — Reject

    Do not create a standing allocation; continue to consider listings and liquidity on a case‑by‑case basis.

  • ABSTAIN

2

Would there be matching funds from the dev team, under marketing or any other allocations?

3

Labs covers all marketing expenses (exchange-mandated promo token allocations, campaigns, etc.), and past listing fees remain non-reimbursable. All future costs apart from marketing are covered by the DAO under this proposal.