Abstract

Cerus builds omni-chain, liquid staking NFT services. The Cerus platform allows users to earn staking rewards across a basket of tokens without locking assets or maintaining staking infrastructure by using multiple automated underlying yield strategies and auto-compounding.

Maintaining a portfolio of various assets staked in a multitude of different dApps becomes unmanageable quickly, especially with rotating narratives and various compounding strategies evolving constantly.

Additionally, many staking solutions require locking up assets for various time periods. This is a steep learning curve for those new to crypto and we can do better. Cerus is a liquid staking NFT protocol solving these drawbacks and paving the way for easier buy-in for new crypto users and narrative rotations for savvy crypto natives.

Protocol users can deposit their USDC in Cerus smart contracts and mint Synergy NFTs -- a tokenized version of a yield bearing, liquid staked, basket of tokens that auto-compounds on the position -- in return.

The DAO-controlled smart contracts then deploy collateral to positions within the narrative by minting pool tokens that represent a share of the underlying assets. The assets in the SYN NFT collect exchange fees and yield by utilizing managed Balancer pools, and select yield strategies. As a result, the underlying value of the positions grows accordingly as rewards and fees are auto-compounded into the various positions within the SYN NFT.

Unlike some staking solutions and NFTs, the SYN NFT is free from the limitations associated with a lack of liquidity and can be transferred or redeemed at any time for the underlying asset amounts. Upon redemption, the SYN NFT collateral value will be calculated based on the total value of the underlying assets.

Cerus is a much more flexible solution than self-staking since it avoids freezing assets, lock up times and manually compounding and managing staked positions. In addition, it allows staking users to earn rewards on any sized position they want without restriction or lock ups.

The system applies a Management fee (this can be changed by DAO governance) on yield strategy rewards that are split between SYN NFT holders and the DAO Treasury. This fee level will make Cerus NFTs more profitable than reward levels offered by most exchange staking, as well as fully auditable, and sustainable. Initial SYN narratives will be based on which chain it launches on, however, expansion into the wide array of chains available on LayerZero in the future is a certainty, and the reason we made the NFTs and CERUS token omni-chain.