Launching Cross-Chain Gauges
Saddle Finance has introduced cross-chain gauges to optimize emission flows and enhance overall user experience, elevating the gauge system to all partnered chains. The future is multi-chain and ensuring a frictionless experience for users is of paramount importance.
Saddle is emitting 1.25 million SDL tokens weekly in liquidity mining incentives. The Saddle community determines the SDL emissions for each liquidity pool through the weekly gauge vote.
The new infrastructure shall render the current Minichef system deployed by Saddle obsolete. Saddle users will now be able to vote on the Mainnet with their veSDL balance (similar to on-chain gauge voting).
Cross-Chain Gauges
Ethereum remains expensive; because of this, most people refrain from transacting on the Mainnet. However, cross-chain gauges make DeFi more accessible.
In order to broaden its reach, Saddle has deployed on multiple L2s, including Arbitrum and Optimism. However, a significant issue associated with this move is the inability to find deep liquidity. With cross-chain gauges, SDL can be bridged from the Mainnet to corresponding sidechains for liquidity incentivization purposes.
How do Cross-Chain Gauges work?
Cross Chain gauges are a set of contracts that work in pairs of RootGauge/ChildGauge contracts. The RootGauge contract on the mainnet has the same address as a ChildGauge contract on a sidechain. Users can stake sidechain LP tokens via the ChildGauge on a sidechain and then vote for the corresponding RootGauge on the mainnet.
veSDL holders can vote for one or more Gauges, choosing the percentage of their voting power to be allocated to a specific Gauge. On Ethereum (RootChain), pool gauges get their SDL directly, while on the non-mainnet chains (ChildChain), the rewards shall be bridged at the beginning of a new epoch (i.e., every seven days).
Benefits of Cross-Chain Gauges
Cross-Chain gauges benefit both Saddle and our users. The tracking and allocation of rewards will become more systematic and efficient. This will require less management as the rewards will be bridged automatically.
For users, it would mean no more snapshot votes to determine the SDL outputs of the minichef contracts. Instead, users can vote on Mainnet with their veSDL balance, and the vote will also carry over. The new infrastructure shall give Saddle users the same experience that currently exists on Mainnet and maximize veSDL utility across networks.
Risks & Preventive Measures
It is essential to note some of the risks associated with using cross-chain gauges.
- The system relies on the associated bridges for each chain. If a bridge becomes unavailable, there is a 7-day buffer period for every epoch (before the distribution of SDL), during which the admin can take action to prevent issues.
- Some contracts still need to be fully audited.
However, to stay safe, users must double-check the name and address to ensure they’re voting for the correct gauge. This will help prevent any potential errors or misunderstandings. If you notice any irregular distribution/bridging, please get in touch with us on Discord.
Saddle is a decentralized AMM that enables cheap, efficient, fast, and low-slippage swaps. Saddle is built by a team of DeFi natives aimed to bridge the gaps between the different silos of DeFi. We believe in collaboration, building Saddle as a DeFi lego block, and helping DeFi teams bring AMMs to any blockchain.
Feel free to reach out through our community Discord or follow us on Twitter.