Wen? Roadmap to TGE ft. Grvt founders

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Grvt
@grvt_ioAug 22, 2025

The Spaces reviewed Gravity’s near-term roadmap, incentive changes, and TGE planning with co-founder/CEO Hong Yi and co-founder/CEO Matthew. Major announcements include lifting KYC starting Aug 28, a platform-wide negative 1 bps maker fee (users get paid for limit/post-only orders), two new investment products (an Ampersand market-making strategy targeting 60–80% APR with a Sharpe ~7 and a 10% fixed yield on idle balances up to caps), a Mobile App 2.0 release, a universal referral program with default 10% profit share, and a redesigned Rewards 2.0 with a single leaderboard and weekly point issuance to protect early adopters. The team framed TGE as contingent on three gates—product, metrics, and market—targeting end-2025 to Q1 2026. They emphasized compliance without KYC via wallet screening, trade surveillance, transaction monitoring, and sanctions checks, plus a dual-track (regulated and decentralized) business approach. Gravity’s differentiation centers on curated strategies, trustless infrastructure, capital efficiency (unified margin, collateralizing vault tokens), and on-chain privacy using ZK. Q&A covered allocation visibility by end-September, Sybil protection, why negative rebates help retail, safety of high-APR strategies, RWA and fund-of-funds timelines, and the platform’s stance on public on-chain trading vs privacy.

Gravity AMA recap and roadmap (Twitter Spaces)

Participants and roles

  • Hong (co‑founder; addressed by the community as CEO): primary spokesperson on product, roadmap, rewards, and TGE.
  • Matthew (co‑founder; introduced as CEO during the session): added clarifications on rewards and early user protection.
  • Moderator (The Zimists community): session host and Q&A facilitator.
  • Community contributors/audience: asked questions on rewards allocation, KYC lifting/Sybil risk, public on‑chain trading, and competitive positioning.

Executive summary

Gravity announced six near‑term initiatives rolling out over the next ~60 days, headlined by lifting KYC (target Aug 28) and introducing a platform‑wide negative maker fee (−1bp) live immediately. The team will launch two investment/yield products (Ampersand’s flagship strategy targeting 60–80% APR with a Sharpe ~7; and a fixed 10% yield on trading balances up to a cap), deliver a revamped mobile app, a universal referral program with real‑time USDT payouts, and a redesigned Rewards 2.0 that protects early adopters from dilution and introduces a single, weekly‑distributed leaderboard.

On TGE, the team’s target window is late 2025 to before the end of Q1 2026, contingent on three milestone tracks: product (including spot LOB, DeFi swap across ZK chains, unified margin, tokenomics), metrics (TVL, users, volumes), and market conditions. Gravity reiterated its compliance‑first, on‑chain architecture with added surveillance and screening to safely lift KYC for decentralized flows, alongside a parallel regulated line for fiat/RWA integrations.

Key announcements (next ~60 days)

  1. Lifting KYC requirements
  • Timing: targeting Aug 28.
  • Rationale: With maturing compliance tech (trade surveillance, transaction monitoring, proactive sanctions screening, behavioral controls), Gravity believes it can preserve platform safety without mandatory ID verification for decentralized product lines.
  • Model: Two complementary business lines:
    • Regulated line (fiat on/off‑ramp, potential RWA features): KYC’d users, more centralized controls.
    • Decentralized line (DeFi swap, on‑chain matching, ZK‑enabled privacy): KYC lifted, protected by wallet screening, AML/sanctions controls, and real‑time surveillance.
  • Note for existing KYC users: Continued benefits, including access to regulated features (e.g., planned direct local deposit options in Korea, pending approvals).
  1. Platform‑wide negative maker rebate (−1 basis point)
  • Status: Live now; formal announcement post‑AMA.
  • Scope: All users; every maker trade (limit/post‑only) earns −1bp, credited to PnL/positions.
  • Intent: Improve liquidity and trading execution, and incentivize risk‑adjusted behavior (disciplined limit‑order use) rather than aggressive market taking.
  • Differentiation: Team believes Gravity is the first DEX to extend negative maker fees universally to all traders (not just professional MMs/institutions).
  1. New investment/yield products (mid to late September targets)
  • Ampersand flagship strategy (working name “JALP” – Gravity × Ampersand liquidity provisioning vault):
    • Target APR: 60–80% with a Sharpe ~7, derived from cross‑exchange/Gravity MM strategies.
    • Positioning: A higher‑yield, relatively consistent‑return product aligned with community demand for HLP‑like exposure.
    • Partner pedigree: Ampersand’s team has deep market‑making credentials; Hong characterized it as a crypto MM arm with top‑tier TradFi market‑making lineage. Track record reviewed by Gravity.
    • Caveat: APR can fluctuate; 60–80% reflects historical averages, not a guarantee.
  • Fixed yield on trading account balances:
    • Offer: 10% fixed yield on idle balances held in trading accounts, up to a cap.
    • Mechanics: Cap can scale with deeper platform participation; intended to reward depositors even if not fully deployed in strategies/trading.
  1. Mobile App 2.0
  • Timing: Target before end of September.
  • Scope: Overhauled design, improved performance, and additional features following user feedback.
  1. Universal referral program
  • Structure: Holistic profit‑sharing program with a default 10% split and tiered upsides.
  • Payouts: Real‑time in USDT to trading accounts.
  • Aim: Expand passive earnings opportunities as KYC lifts and onboarding friction falls.
  1. Rewards Program 2.0
  • Changes: Removes epochs; moves to a single, platform‑wide leaderboard for all activities, with weekly point distributions that accumulate until TGE.
  • Rationale: Address prior feedback about inflationary point issuance and fragmentation across multiple leaderboards.
  • Early‑adopter protection: Existing Reward 1.0 participants will “lock in” their allocation from all past activities; a new 2.0 leaderboard then starts fresh to mitigate dilution from the expected influx of users post‑KYC lift.
  • Visibility: By late September, users should see a clear percentage allocation from the Reward 1.0 token pool reflecting all activity from day one to the last day of Reward 1.0.

Deep dives and clarifications

Negative maker rebate: Why it matters

  • Mechanics:
    • Maker (limit/post‑only) orders earn −1bp per executed trade.
    • Taker (market) orders pay standard taker fees.
  • Benefits:
    • Improves orderbook depth and liquidity.
    • Rewards disciplined, price‑setting behavior; can support better risk management versus chasing market orders.
    • Reduces trading costs and can produce net positive PnL friction for active makers.

Strategies and yield: Risk/reward framing

  • For the Ampersand strategy, Hong highlighted considering both APR and Sharpe ratio (consistency/risk‑adjusted returns). A Sharpe ~7 signals historically stable PnL characteristics in their track record review.
  • Gravity’s curation model: Gravity does not rely solely on internal prop strategies. It aggregates branded, vetted strategies from top‑tier market makers, asset managers, and hedge funds, enabling trust‑minimized access.

Rewards: How to earn now vs 2.0

  • Reward 1.0 (active until late September):
    • Three streams: ecosystem/community (invites, quests, surveys), trader points (fees/volumes), and maker/MM points (limit/post‑only activity).
    • 20% of the overall airdrop pool allocated to Reward 1.0 program.
  • Transition to 2.0:
    • Locked allocation: All Reward 1.0 activity is tallied into a fixed percentage for that pool; users will see it on their dashboards.
    • Fresh start: Rewards 2.0 begins with weekly fixed point budgets and a single leaderboard until TGE.
    • Dilution concern: Matthew reiterated they do not expect dilution for early participants due to the KYC lift; the structure is designed to keep early users adequately rewarded.

TGE plan and dependencies

  • Target window: late 2025 to before end of Q1 2026.
  • Shared goal with community: List as fast as feasible, time it with favorable markets, target strong initial pricing, and sustain value.
  • Three milestone tracks:
    1. Product milestones
      • Lift KYC (targeted Aug 28).
      • Expand strategy lineup (first new batch by mid/late September; more to follow).
      • Launch spot limit order book.
      • Deliver a DeFi swap accessible across ZK chains, leveraging zkSync’s upcoming interop layer.
      • Unified margin: Allow non‑USDT collateral and strategy‑vault tokens as margin for trading.
      • Tokenomics and utility: In active development.
    2. Metric milestones
      • TVL, active users, and daily volumes must reach sustainable levels (internal targets suggest 5–10× current metrics) to support listing quality and post‑listing stability.
    3. Market conditions
      • Team views current environment as early bull; potential macro rate cuts could further improve risk appetite into late year/early next year. Gravity aims to align TGE timing with constructive conditions.

Product vision and competitive edge

  • Gravity’s mission: Help everyday users make money more easily, peer‑to‑peer, via three pillars:
    1. Trading: Best tools, curated alphas/signals, and superior execution (e.g., universal negative maker rebate).
    2. Investing: Vetted, on‑chain strategies from institutional‑grade managers (market makers, hedge funds, asset managers) plus high‑quality yield products.
    3. Capital efficiency: Unified margin and re‑hypothecation of tokenized assets/strategy vault tokens as collateral, allowing users to do more with less.
  • Built fully on‑chain:
    • Transparent provenance and immutable performance data enable better curation and copyability of real alphas.
    • Automated trust: Smart contracts and ZK primitives replace intermediaries, lowering operational risk and cost.
    • Curated marketplace: Unlike permissionless sprawl, Gravity emphasizes reputation and quality control so users can rely on consistently strong options.

Compliance, privacy, and Sybil‑resilience

  • Compliance as a safety pillar: Gravity equates compliance with security—screening out malicious actors protects user funds and platform integrity.
  • KYC policy shift: The lift relies on matured controls—wallet screening, trade surveillance, transaction monitoring, and sanctions/AML checks—to preserve safety without ID friction on decentralized rails.
  • Privacy stance: Hong stressed financial privacy as a core design principle. Gravity has worked with zkSync since early days to enable on‑chain privacy via zero‑knowledge proofs/validium‑style approaches—preserving optional privacy for positions/orders without compromising trustlessness.
  • Sybil concerns post‑KYC lift: Team will deploy and evolve controls to filter Sybil behavior. Users who completed KYC are by definition immune to Sybil filters and will access both regulated and decentralized lines.

Community Q&A highlights

  • Rewards allocation visibility: When epochs conclude in September and Rewards 2.0 begins, users will see the exact percentage allocation of their Reward 1.0 pool based on all historical activity.
  • Whale public trading blowups: Two takeaways:
    1. Privacy matters—forced public exposure of financial data isn’t always in users’ best interests.
    2. Curation over blind copy—Gravity aims to surface vetted, risk‑managed strategies (especially institutional) rather than encouraging unfiltered whale‑following.
  • Gravity vs CEX/other DEXes: Emphasis on on‑chain trust, curated strategies/alphas, universal negative maker rebate, and capital‑efficiency features (unified margin, collateralizing vault tokens) as core differentiators.
  • RWAs and fund‑of‑funds timeline: On the roadmap, with realistic targeting around mid to Q3 2026. Post‑TGE, the fund‑of‑funds module should let users set parameters and allocate across multiple strategies for optimal risk‑adjusted returns. RWA integrations may involve partnering with specialized RWA chains and surfacing them within Gravity Strategies.

Events and community engagement

  • Active presence at upcoming Asia events (e.g., KBW/“KVW”, Token events). Gravity plans to co‑host side events (including with zkSync and local partners) and will communicate details to the community.
  • Major announcement “today” (in conjunction with the AMA) and a packed slate of feature releases through September/early October.

Actionable timelines and checkpoints

  • Aug 28 (target): KYC lift goes live.
  • Live now: −1bp universal maker rebate.
  • Mid to late September:
    • Ampersand flagship strategy launch; fixed 10% yield on trading balances (up to cap).
    • Mobile App 2.0 rollout.
    • New universal referral program goes live (USDT real‑time payouts).
    • Rewards 2.0 launch with single leaderboard and weekly distributions.
    • Dashboard shows locked allocation percentage for Reward 1.0 activities.
  • Before end of September/early October: Aim to have all six key initiatives deployed.
  • TGE: Target late 2025 to before end of Q1 2026, subject to product, metrics, and market milestones.
  • Post‑TGE focus: Fund‑of‑funds module; deeper RWA integrations.

Notable takeaways

  • Early user protection is an explicit design goal of Rewards 2.0; expect no dilution from the KYC lift due to the locked Reward 1.0 allocation and fresh 2.0 start.
  • Universal negative maker fees set Gravity apart, lowering trading friction for all and improving liquidity for takers.
  • Compliance and privacy are not mutually exclusive in Gravity’s architecture; ZK‑enabled privacy and modern surveillance can coexist to protect users and the venue.

Open items and follow‑ups

  • Technical deep dive (with CTO) on architecture safeguards against flash‑loan exploits and bridge risks—requested for a future session.
  • Full public spec for Sybil‑resistance controls post‑KYC lift (team indicated details will be communicated).
  • Formal announcements with exact dates/details for each of the six initiatives as they roll out.