Bonzo Finance: Pioneering Lending and Borrowing for Hedera DeFi

Hello, Hedera Community! We’re Bonzo Finance - and we’re building a trustworthy, reliable, and user-friendly lending and borrowing protocol for the Hedera DeFi ecosystem.

The Bonzo Finance team is deeply rooted in blockchain and DeFi ecosystems, development, and innovation. As many in the Hedera ecosystem may know, Bonzo Finance’s Co-Founder & CEO, Brady Gentile, has experience with Hedera that spans over six years, where he had the privilege to contribute and grow alongside the incredible Hedera community working at both Hedera and Swirlds Labs.

Bonzo team members are HBARbarians at heart, and they’re excited to embark on this next journey with a sole focus of ushering in the next era of DeFi for the Hedera ecosystem. The team today consists of professionals with strong backgrounds in blockchain, decentralized finance, and technical knowledge of Hedera, its associated services, and community.

ETHDenver 2024: Data-Driven DeFi Hackathon Win 🎉

Bonzo Finance recently embarked on a field trip to ETHDenver 2024 #BuidlWeek, where the Bonzo team competed in the Hedera bounty category "Data-Driven DeFi: Revolutionize Finance with Oracle Feeds”. The Bonzo Finance team is proud and humbled to announce that Bonzo Finance clinched first place in this category - this victory is not just ours but a testament to the collaborative spirit and innovative drive of the entire Hedera community.

For the hackathon, the Bonzo team adapted Aave v2, the leading lending protocol on Ethereum, to Hedera’s EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) and native Hedera Token Service (HTS); the team also leveraged the power of Supra oracles - these price feeds are an essential component to create a solution aimed at bringing decentralized lending & borrowing to the Hedera network.

Bonzo showcased the potential of decentralized lending & borrowing services for the Hedera ecosystem and set the stage for what's to come.

The Bonzo Finance Mission 🛡️

Bonzo Finance’s mission is to build a trusted, reliable, and user-friendly protocol that enables decentralized lending & borrowing — while, at the same time, mitigating as much risk as possible for the Hedera ecosystem and its users.

Lending & borrowing opens the door to new types of financial transactions that have the ability to make a significant impact on the dynamics of the DeFi ecosystem on Hedera. These impacts are mostly positive - lending & borrowing allows us, as an ecosystem, to unlock liquidity, create greater efficiencies in Hedera’s decentralized markets, and increase yield-earning opportunities for all users.

The Bonzo team recognizes that decentralized lending & borrowing is intrinsically risky - the Bonzo mission is all about mitigating that risk by building a trusted, reliable protocol that’s incredibly easy and fun to use, while ensuring proper education and support for the Hedera community along the way.

Laying a Robust Foundation 💪

For Bonzo Finance to accomplish its stated mission, the team has embarked on laying a robust foundation for the protocol’s existence in the Hedera ecosystem:

Based on Aave V2

Bonzo Finance’s philosophy is rooted in the principle of leveraging what's already successful as a base foundation. Why start from scratch when there are tested, trusted solutions available? This is particularly true for the complex world of DeFi protocols - especially those in the lending & borrowing category. Introducing new elements, especially those not yet battle-tested, like certain AI functionalities or economic models, can unnecessarily complicate matters and introduce new risks.

This is why the Bonzo Finance team has chosen to build Bonzo on the tried-and-true framework of Aave v2, the most utilized lending and borrowing protocol on Ethereum. Aave's robust codebase and governance structures have been thoroughly vetted, proving their reliability across diverse web3 environments. This decision aligns with a dedication to fostering a secure, dependable, and accessible platform, mirroring the path taken by SaucerSwap Finance adopting Uniswap v2 as a foundation, with recent upgrades to Uniswap v3.

Embracing Aave v2’s framework doesn't mean Bonzo Finance is shy about innovation — the capabilities of Hedera's network and its services open up a trove of possibilities for enriching the protocol. The team is excited to explore pioneering features like reward systems based on points (HCS-20), single-sided staking, and the integration of utility-centric NFTs via Hedera's Token Service. These enhancements are designed with the Hedera community in mind, encouraging active participation and feedback as the protocol evolves. Bonzo’s commitment remains steadfast: to enrich the Hedera ecosystem while staying true to the mission of delivering value and safety to users.

Redundancy of Supra & Pyth Oracles

Bonzo is committed to mitigating the intrinsic risks associated with decentralized lending and borrowing within the Hedera DeFi ecosystem. Understanding the critical role of accurate and reliable price feeds in the safety and stability of lending protocols, the Bonzo team has taken the innovative step of integrating redundancy through the utilization of both Pyth and Supra oracles.

This dual-oracle approach enhances the reliability of Bonzo by providing a fallback mechanism in case one of the oracles fails or presents inaccurate data. This redundancy not only reduces the risk of oracle manipulation or single points of failure but also ensures that users benefit from consistent, accurate, and secure price information, thereby fostering a safer lending and borrowing environment. Through this strategic implementation, Bonzo Finance underlines its dedication to risk mitigation, security, and the advancement of a resilient DeFi ecosystem on Hedera.

What’s next for Bonzo? 🔜

The Bonzo Finance team is excited about the future and has a clear roadmap for the coming months. Here's a glimpse of what's in store:

• Brand & Design: The Bonzo Finance team is working with a team of talented brand designers, web3 UI/UX creators, and illustrators to deliver a highly polished, easy-to-use, and responsive experience.
• Community & Education: Within the next month, Bonzo Finance will be setting up a Discord server to foster a community around the protocol. This will serve as a hub for discussions, updates, and feedback, ensuring that the community is closely involved in the development process.
• Points and Incentive Programs: Bonzo Finance recognizes the importance of rewarding early adopters and active participants. The team will be working on developing a robust points system and incentive programs to encourage participation and loyalty within the Bonzo ecosystem.
• Testnet Deployment: Within the next three months, Bonzo Finance aims to deploy the protocol on a testnet environment. This will allow the team to thoroughly test the protocol's functionality, gather feedback from the community, and make necessary improvements before the mainnet launch.
• Initial NFT Offering (INO): To further engage the community, Bonzo Finance is exploring the possibility of an Initial NFT Offering. The INO would feature utility-centric NFTs that grant holders exclusive benefits within the Bonzo ecosystem. By opting for this INO approach, Bonzo Finance aims to ensure that the protocol remains true to its mission of serving the Hedera community.
• Code Freeze and Audits: As the testnet phase concludes, Bonzo Finance will initiate a code freeze to ensure the stability and security of the protocol. During this period, the team will engage reputable auditing firms to conduct comprehensive security audits of the protocol's smart contracts and infrastructure.
• Mainnet Launch: If all goes according to plan, Bonzo Finance is targeting a mainnet launch by the end of July 2024. This will mark a significant milestone for the protocol and the Hedera DeFi ecosystem as a whole, bringing a trusted and user-friendly lending and borrowing solution to the community.

Stay Up-to-Date on Bonzo ⏰

We believe in transparency and communication. As the team builds, develops, and innovates, they pledge to keep the community informed every step of the way. Expect regular updates, insights, and sneak -peeks into the latest features and development progress.

The Bonzo team invites you to join along on this exciting journey. Follow @bonzo_finance on 𝕏 and subscribe to updates by submitting your email or Hedera account ID on the Bonzo Finance landing page. Be the first to know about the latest developments, achievements, and how Bonzo Finance is transforming the DeFi ecosystem on Hedera.

Together, let's build a future where finance is open, accessible, and powered by the Hedera community.

Easter Egg: WTF is a “Bonzo” 😂

If you’ve made it all the way through this post, the Bonzo team greatly appreciates your interest and support and think you deserve a treat. You may be wondering how the name “Bonzo Finance” came to be — well, the team loved the name’s simplicity… It's two syllables, easy to remember, the domain was available, and it’s pretty fun/zany (very memeable).

But there’s also a backstory: In 1951 the American comedy “Bedtime for Bonzo” was released - it starred Ronald Reagan and a chimpanzee named Peggy, who played Bonzo! And from that movie, the phrase “bedtime for bonzos!” was born. So, instead of throwing a gn into Discord or 𝕏 when signing off, let’s keep things fun and throw a “bedtime for Bonzo” instead 🦧

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