Weekly Bonzo Bytes 🎙️🐵

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Bonzo Finance Labs
@bonzo_financeOct 10, 2025

The Spaces reviews Bonzo Finance’s near-term roadmap, ecosystem health on Hedera, and market headwinds. The hosts confirm Vaults are in final testing with contracts integrated to the UI, targeting a late-October launch with three strategies: single-asset to SaucerSwap V2, LP pair deposits to V2, and a leveraged LST strategy built on Bonzo Lend. A recent BONZO token buyback boost round has ended; the team is designing a sustainable, revenue-linked, automated buyback program with future DAO input. They address CoinGecko/CoinMarketCap pricing glitches for Hedera assets stemming from a codebase change and recommend Dexscreener and SaucerSwap for accurate data. Cross-chain expansion to Supra is paused (Move focus and ecosystem prerequisites), while an independent risk steward (RE7) is preparing Change Memos to refine risk parameters and enable listing of LayerZero’s WETH imminently. To align incentives and improve pool safety, BONZO lending APY will be lowered to be at or below staking APY. Stats: TVL ~$42M (down in USD, up in HBAR to 198M), Bonzo ranks # 3 on Hedera; USDC issued on Hedera is $83.5M. Ecosystem highlights include an upcoming sports-focused prediction market and Hashcraft Online DAO’s AI Registry Broker. Macro topics cover a BTC ATH followed by tariff-driven market selloff and a US Senate draft bill targeting DeFi front-ends.

Bonzo Bytes — Twitter Spaces Recap and Analysis

Participants and Roles

  • Jane (Speaker 2): Host/moderator; led agenda, stats, and news segments; fielded/posed community questions.
  • Speaker 1 (name not stated): Co-host/core Bonzo contributor; provided technical detail on vault strategies, risk/governance process, and ecosystem context.
  • Community members referenced: Doctor Zoidberg (question asker), Zellett (discord discussion), Handsome Brian (listener), Supra (partner), RE7 (independent risk steward), Hedera Foundation (ecosystem support).

Opening Context: Market Volatility and Macros

  • Both hosts noted sharp, unusual volatility across crypto and equities.
  • Jane linked the abrupt sell-off to US–China trade tensions after President Trump signaled increased tariffs/port fees; cited ~$700B in S&P 500 market cap erased within minutes.
  • Speaker 1 emphasized late-cycle overleverage amplifying moves in both directions; markets dislike uncertainty.
  • Actionable note: They intend to better understand “port fees” specifics; caution that near-term could remain choppy.

Disclaimer

  • Views are personal opinions, not financial advice. Forward-looking statements involve risks; do your own research and consult professionals. Neither Bonzo Finance nor speakers are liable for actions taken based on the Space.

Bonzo Product & Protocol Updates

Vaults (targeting late October launch)

  • Status: Smart contracts are ready; final tweaks underway; risk parameters under final round of testing; contracts integrated with UI.
  • Launch target: Second half of October (likely last week), contingent on safety/validation.
  • Strategies at launch (Speaker 1):
    • Single-asset strategy: Deposit one asset; strategy deploys into SaucerSwap V2 pool via vault automation.
    • LP pair strategy: Deposit a token pair; strategy supplies to SaucerSwap V2 with a tailored approach.
    • Leveraged LST strategy: Supply a liquid staking token (LST), borrow base asset via Bonzo Lend, stake, and resupply—an institutionally oriented looping strategy.
  • Tone: High confidence but cautious on exact date—security and robust operation prioritized.

BONZO Token Buybacks — From Boost Campaign to Sustainable Model

  • Recent activity: Latest cycle of BONZO buyback (boost period) completed.
  • Next phase: Designing an ongoing buyback program tied to a percentage/fraction of protocol revenue, with automation.
  • Governance: Long-term parameters to be influenced by DAO token holders.
  • Ecosystem context (Speaker 1): Buybacks are increasingly common across DeFi and NFTs (e.g., “forever mints” mechanics) and viewed as an important, sustainable initiative.

Data Integrity: CoinGecko/CoinMarketCap Pricing Anomalies for Hedera Assets

  • Issue: A Hedera-related codebase change appears to have disrupted how CG/CMC ingest ecosystem asset data, making prices appear abnormally volatile or incorrect.
  • Status: A couple of parties are investigating; timeline unknown; likely needs work from the analytics platforms.
  • Interim best sources: Dexscreener and SaucerSwap’s native UI for accurate prices/trade info.

Community Q&A — Bonzo Roadmap, Risk, and Incentives

Cross-Chain to Supra (EVM vs. Move)

  • Prior contemplation: Bonzo considered deploying on Supra’s EVM chain (discussed late last year).
  • Current stance: Not on the near-term list. Supra prioritized a Move chain; Bonzo is an Aave fork and cannot feasibly rewrite contracts for Move. If an EVM-focused path resurfaces and the ecosystem matures, Bonzo may reassess.
  • Additional considerations (Speaker 1):
    • Supra is a valued oracle partner on Hedera; relationship is strong.
    • Lending requires ecosystem prerequisites—most crucially, a DEX with deep liquidity. Limited liquidity constrains safe lending across assets. Supra’s current VM choices/liquidity posture make timing suboptimal. Team will continue to monitor.

Supply/Borrow Caps and Expanding Asset Access

  • Process update: Independent risk steward RE7 is conducting analysis of assets, users, and ecosystem conditions. Their recommendations will be delivered via Change Memos (the same format Bonzo DAO will use), similar to how Aave/Compound rely on third-party risk specialists (e.g., Chaos Labs, Gauntlet).
  • Expectations: Not every asset’s parameters will necessarily be loosened, but the goal is to enhance flexibility where justified. Caps currently restrain TVL and revenue—frustrating for users and the team alike.
  • Imminent change: Wrapped ETH (LayerZero) parameters are expected next week via a Change Memo—the last prerequisite to list wETH on Bonzo. SaucerSwap’s wETH pool is already live with substantial liquidity.

Aligning BONZO Lending Rewards vs. Staking APY

  • Issue surfaced by community (Zellett on Discord): BONZO lending reward APY exceeded staking APY as supply in the capped pool declined—by design, APY rises when supply falls, but caps distorted incentives.
  • Action today: Reduce BONZO lending incentive APY to steer holders toward staking rather than supplying to the over-capped lending pool.
  • Ongoing policy: Keep BONZO lending APY at or below staking APY to maintain parity and avoid perverse incentives. Monitor and adjust as caps/supply evolve.
  • Rationale (Speaker 1): Caps were applied retroactively, leaving pool liquidity above the cap—paying incentives there encourages the wrong behavior. Lowering pool APY makes single-sided staking relatively more attractive, facilitating safe withdrawals to bring liquidity within cap limits and improve protocol safety.

Bonzo Stats Snapshot

  • Bonzo TVL (USD): $42M (down from $44M last week) due to price action.
  • Bonzo TVL (HBAR terms): 198M HBAR (up from 195M), signaling more tokens locked despite USD dip.
  • Lending protocol ranking: # 66 this week.
  • Hedera protocol ranking: # 3 (behind Stader and SaucerSwap). SaucerSwap TVL ≈ $78M; Bonzo ≈ $42M (~half).
  • Hedera chain TVL: $124M (down from $129M) in USD terms.
  • Hedera among all chains: # 48 by TVL.
  • USDC issued on Hedera: $83.5M (up ~$0.5M WoW).

Hedera & Community News

Prediction Markets Coming to Hedera

  • A new Hedera-native prediction market (name verbally rendered as “TREDAR/Radar”) announced plans to launch, reportedly focused on sports markets. Details (timing/mechanics) pending but welcomed as part of the broader market primitive set.

Ecosystem Momentum and Complements to Bonzo

  • Speaker 1 highlighted a maturing stack: bridges, prediction markets, Bonzo lending and forthcoming vaults, institutional DeFi (advanced trading via Orbit referenced), SaucerSwap innovation, and NFT growth. Expect compounding effects as all pieces come online; kudos to the Hedera Foundation for catalyzing activity.

Hash…Graph/‘Hashcraft’ Online DAO — Registry Broker Launch

  • Bonzo is a member of this DAO. The newly launched Registry Broker aggregates and indexes AI agents across multiple, currently siloed registries (examples cited included initiatives from Google, Ethereum’s ERC-8004, OpenConvai/virtual protocol efforts, etc.).
  • Problem space: Centralized LLMs lack user data privacy and accountability; users have minimal control/visibility.
  • Solution/value: A discovery and commerce layer (“Google for AI agents”) enabling users to register, discover, and ultimately pay for agents; supports running agents on local mesh networks/nodes.
  • Standards: Leverages Hedera Consensus Service (HCS) standards for decentralized registries and universal agent IDs; ERC-8004 support at launch. Launched “yesterday” per the Space. Strong enthusiasm for Hedera’s early advantage in decentralized AI infra.

Web3 & Market News

Lemon raises $20M to expand in LATAM

  • Argentina-based crypto fintech Lemon raised $20M to scale across Latin America (e.g., Peru, Argentina) with a 10M user goal.
  • Notable backers: Stani Kulechov (Aave founder) and Endeavor Catalyst (chaired by Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn co-founder). The team applauded grassroots fintech solving real-world problems in developing regions.

Bitcoin ATH and Macro Shock

  • Bitcoin reached a new all-time high ($126k) earlier in the week; later, comments from President Trump on China tariffs/port fees triggered rapid risk-off across markets ($700B S&P 500 drop in minutes). Hope expressed that it doesn’t escalate into another trade war; noted negotiation style is escalation-first.

Team Offsite: Q4 Strategy and 2025 Themes

  • The Bonzo team met in Dubai for quarterly planning (this week). Priorities:
    • October: Vaults launch.
    • Medium-term: Bridge/LayerZero-related developments (front-end interfaces, contracts) and DAO launch/governance readiness.
  • More specifics to be shared in coming weeks.

US Senate Proposal on DeFi Front-Ends

  • A new Democratic proposal would regulate any revenue-generating DeFi front-end as a broker—viewed by the hosts as potentially fatal for US-based DeFi if enacted. Significant industry pushback expected.
  • Political read: Unlikely to pass given current House/Senate makeup.
  • Speaker 1’s perspective on end-state: Expect regulated entry/exit points into DeFi. Once inside a compliant “walled garden,” users should move permissionlessly among registered protocols. In parallel, a “dark DeFi” realm (akin to the dark web) may persist, but flows between the two will likely be heavily constrained.

Housekeeping and Closing

  • Q&A opened; no live questions. Listeners invited to reply to the Space or continue discussions on Discord/X.
  • Next Bonzo Bytes episode set for next week.

Key Takeaways and Action Items

  • Vaults on track for late October with three strategies; security-first launch.
  • Transition buybacks to a sustainable, revenue-linked, eventually DAO-governed, automated program.
  • Use Dexscreener/SaucerSwap for accurate Hedera asset prices until CG/CMC integration stabilizes.
  • Expect RE7 risk memos soon; wETH parameters next week, enabling listing on Bonzo.
  • BONZO lending APY cut today to be ≤ staking APY, nudging supply out of an over-capped pool and improving safety.
  • Team prioritizing LayerZero bridge work and DAO rollout; more details forthcoming.
  • Monitor US regulatory developments; near-term passage seen as unlikely.