Funding proposal for Swiss Stake AG - Grant Proposal 2026

Proposals
1

Preamble

From the early days of Curve’s development in 2020 to the creation of the Curve DAO later that year, the project has grown into one of the defining pillars of decentralized finance. Swiss Stake AG has been part of this journey from the start, driving innovation through research and development across the Curve ecosystem.

We would like to thank the Curve community for their loyalty over the years and for continuously using and supporting the tools developed by people at Swiss Stake AG. We would also like to express our sincere gratitude for the trust and support shown through the approval of our first grant in 2024, which allowed us to continue building and innovating for Curve. The progress and innovation achieved over the past year across technical development, governance, and ecosystem integration have been made possible thanks to that initial vote of confidence.

This proposal requests a grant for software research and development work, as well as related activities for the continued benefit of Curve. The grant covers a one-year period, with any unused funds to be rolled over to the following year.

Since the inception of Curve, Swiss Stake AG has served as the initial developer of the Curve software repositories and continues to maintain and expand them. The company has relied primarily on the CRV allocation received in August 2020 as the main funding source for research and development. Over time, Swiss Stake AG has managed to establish some ancillary income streams, mainly through Curve Lite deployments on other networks. We have additionally earned system fees by staking veCRV via several wrapper protocols (Convex, StakeDAO, Yearn) as a minority participant. All such revenues have been used strictly in line with the purposes outlined in the grant. However, this revenue does not yet make the company sustainable at this stage. As part of improving long-term sustainability, Swiss Stake AG will also explore future funding models which include the monetization of some of its developments (e.g. fees for additional front-end features etc.). This would reduce the need to sell CRV for operating expenses and create a healthier, more predictable structure for the company as a contributor to the Curve ecosystem. No grant funds of course will be used for such proprietary developments.

With a team of more than 25 contributors working directly or indirectly on Curve-related projects, Swiss Stake AG seeks renewed funding to retain key talent, attract new contributors, and ensure long-term development continuity for Curve. The company remains largely dependent on community support to continue its work, with the paramount goal of researching, building, and advancing the Curve ecosystem for years to come.

Throughout the first grant period, Swiss Stake AG has provided regular quarterly reports on progress and deliverables, ensuring transparency and accountability as promised in the original proposal. We hope the community was able to follow these updates and recognize the steady progress made during the past year.

This proposal represents a follow-up grant to continue that momentum. We hope the advancements made and the impact delivered over the last year have been recognized by the community, and we are committed to further expanding our contributions in research, development, and open-source technology under this renewed mandate.

The first grant, approved by the community in 2024, concluded at the end of August 2025. Swiss Stake AG has since continued its operations by using the remaining unspent funds from that grant, which provided approximately four additional months of runway. These funds have allowed the team to maintain full continuity of work until the end of 2025.

Following the successful completion of the 2024-2025 grant, Swiss Stake AG now proposes a new 12-month grant, beginning January 2026, to ensure continuity of innovation and technical excellence within the Curve ecosystem.

1. Purpose and Rationale

The 2024-2025 grant period has enabled significant advancements across key technical and operational areas of the Curve ecosystem. To maintain this trajectory and ensure long-term sustainability, Swiss Stake AG requests a renewal of support for 2026.

The purpose of this extension is to ensure uninterrupted development capacity and knowledge retention within the Curve ecosystem. The requested funding will enable Swiss Stake AG to continue coordinating its team of core developers, auditors and security researchers, and ecosystem partners, whose collective work has been beneficial to Curve’s growth and resilience.

This proposal seeks to continue funding the development and maintenance of Curve’s smart contract ecosystem and software repositories, support further integrations, cross-chain functionalities, and user interface improvements, strengthen the governance and operational infrastructure of Curve DAO, and preserve continuity in key engineering, research, and support roles.

2. Achievements and Progress to Date (2024-2025)

During the current grant period, Swiss Stake AG has delivered key upgrades to the crvUSD ecosystem, enabling improved collateral flexibility and lending mechanisms. It has advanced cross-chain boost capabilities, preparing Curve for multi-chain governance and liquidity coordination. It has modernized the Curve governance and user interfaces for improved accessibility and transparency and implemented a robust quarterly reporting framework for community updates on progress, deliverables, and spending categories. All deliverables have remained open source and fully aligned with the DAO’s transparency and decentralization principles. The new iteration of Llamalend (version 2) has been established and completion is expected to go public (after finishing security audits) in the nearest future.

3. Objectives for 2026

The focus for the next 12 months will be to build upon this foundation through the following initiatives:

  • Launch and scale Llamalend V2 with support for LP and PT collateral. V2 now earns admin fees for the DAO and has the ability to create markets in any asset (not just crvUSD), bringing Curve’s DEX and lending layers closer together with higher capital efficiency.

  • Build out FXSwap, ensuring Curve is positioned as the main venue for onchain foreign exchange markets and other low-volatility assets, including RWAs like gold.

  • Further development of crvUSD and lending systems by expanding collateral options, improving semi-isolated lending, and integrating new risk management models.

  • Cross-chain deployment and DAO integration by extending Curve’s multi-chain reach with improved DAO tooling and cross-chain messaging.

  • Enhancement of the Curve user interface software and hence experience by continuing the transformation of the front-end architecture to make Curve’s applications and governance portal faster, clearer, and more user-friendly.

  • Development of ecosystem tooling and software kits to strengthen the broader Curve developer ecosystem.

  • Conduct AMM research in the field of dynamic fees and possible implementation thereof.

  • Build technical solutions to allow external parties to manage and optimize parameters in lending markets and liquidity pools.

  • Research modularization of existing AMM to enable the support of different curves.

  • Maintenance of high security and infrastructure standards through continuous audits, stress testing, and optimization.

  • Improve Research around Simulation & Analyzing tools.

  • Continue developing and releasing public-goods infrastructure such as the Curve Block Oracle.

4. Grant Details

  • Grant Period: 12 months (January 2026 to January 2027).

  • Grant Amount: Swiss Stake AG requests a grant at the same level of costs as applied in the previous grant period, equivalent to 17’450’000 CRV tokens, representing approximately CHF 5.3 million based on current market conditions.

  • Purpose: This grant will fund software research and development, infrastructure, security, and ecosystem support, ensuring that the 25-member team at Swiss Stake AG can continue its ongoing contributions to Curve.

  • Vesting: The CRV tokens will be vested to a smart contract over one year, from which the Swiss Stake AG multisig can withdraw in accordance with the rules set by DAO governance.

Swiss Stake AG shall use the Grant Amount received in good faith exclusively for the Project Description. Any other use without the prior consent by the Curve DAO is prohibited. Unused funds will be rolled over to the next year and spent in line with the Project Description. If any part of the Grant Amount cannot be used in accordance with the Project Description, it shall be returned to the Curve DAO.

Swiss Stake AG may at its sole discretion decide to stake the CRVs received as part of the Grant Amount in liquid wrappers to generate additional yield. This yield also will be used exclusively for the Project Description.

Swiss Stake AG shall release any and all intellectual property consisting of mathematical codes, software programs, routines, and other functions that control the functioning and operation of a computer’s hardware that results from the use of the Grant Amount (“Software”) under an open-source license compatible with the Curve software repositories.

The Grant Amount includes Swiss Value Added Tax (“VAT”) (if applicable). The Grant Amount may be used for the payment of income tax, capital tax, VAT and tax at source or withholding tax, and any other taxes of Swiss Stake AG, if such taxes apply and are related to the Grant Amount or the activities mentioned in the Project Description.

Swiss Stake AG commits to produce bi-annual reports on the spending of the Grant Amount. It will list expenses in a summarized form and inform about the ongoing initiatives for which the funds are used. The report will be published in written form on the governance forum.

Swiss Stake AG shall inform the Curve DAO of any event or change in circumstances that could reasonably affect its ability to perform any of the grant conditions.

Swiss Stake AG does not guarantee any success related to its activities under the Project Description and all liabilities except for gross negligence, intent and fraud should be excluded.

The grant proposal as well as the subsequent grant shall in all respects be governed by and construed in accordance with substantive laws of Switzerland (to the exclusion of the Vienna Convention on the Contracts of the Sale of Goods). Any dispute arising out of or in connection with the grant proposal as well as the subsequent grant shall exclusively be referred to the courts competent for the city of Zug, Switzerland.

5. Use of Funds

Funds will be used exclusively for the purposes outlined above and distributed across the following categories:

  1. Security Audits

  2. Front-End Software Development

  3. Software Development for Curve Repositories

  4. Infrastructure Development

  5. Community and Technical Support

  6. Research and Analytics

Swiss Stake AG may stake CRV tokens not immediately required for expenses in major liquid locker projects such as Convex, StakeDAO, or Yearn, with all yield to be used strictly in line with the present grant conditions.

6. Reporting and Accountability

Swiss Stake AG will continue to publish quarterly progress reports on the Curve governance forum, providing transparent updates on technical progress, roadmap milestones, and use of funds per category.

7. Commitment

Swiss Stake AG remains fully committed to building, researching, and advancing Curve’s technology stack. Its long-term focus is on sustainability, innovation, and alignment with the DAO’s vision for decentralized finance. The company greatly appreciates the community’s continued trust and support.

5 Likes
2

Another way to fund Swiss stake and the ongoing development of Curve Protocol would be to forward part of the protocol fee, I suggest 1/3 of it. (33%)

This would have these benefits:

  • Swiss Stake would be more aligned to maximize for fee revenue
  • No additional CRV token coming on the market
  • Long term this is the only solution anyway, as CRV tokens from the Community Fund will be fully used at some point.

Details would need to be discussed, as an intermediary solution maybe a mix of these to ways of financing would be possible.

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Oh that is interesting, I love it a lot. But would DAO support it?

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I would be very strongly against that. This would be a way to rip CRV of 30% of its value.
The good way to do it is to build a Curve DAO reserve/treasury, that would be the recepient of 30% of Curve’s fees. Then Swiss Stake can do grant requests, that will be financed by this reserve, and if the reserve is too shallow, by CRV from the community fund. Grant payment can be spread in several installments, like monthly payments for example, to give time to the reserve to build itself before paying grants.

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What about allocating 20% of the protocol fees and 20% of the bribing fees ? Also, couldn’t Convex or StakeDAO support somehow with grants?

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Problem is not the fact that there is a share of protocol fees used to finance the development, it’s that this share would go directly to a centralised company, rather than to a community treasury allocated through a grant request process. I think it also creates regulatory issues, since it would make Swiss Stake kind of owner of 30% of the business, and limit the decentralisation of Curve as a product/infrastructure.

Also, I can’t speak for Convex, but Stake DAO functions in the same way: the fees are used to finance the grants of the external service providers who develop the product. Should Swiss Stake be willing to receive a grant from Stake DAO, they would need to go through a grant request process in Stake DAO’s governance, and this would be discussed as a separate matter.

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Oh absolutely, DAO should be in control at all times. So it is STILL going as grant request.

Problem is: this treasury is NOT YET built to the necessary extent (well there’s 600k or so collected this way currently). So we may need some more frequent votes first

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I agree that control must remain with the DAO and that any allocation should go through transparent grant processes. My idea around allocating protocol and bribing fees/rewards is not about a direct transfer to Swiss Stake, but about gradually building a DAO treasury dedicated to longterm development.
Regarding Convex and StakeDAO, any support would of course need to go through their respective governance processes. That said, it’s also true that their economic models depend largely on Curve, whereas the reverse is far less true. In that sense, contributing to Curve’s development would be a reinvestment into the infrastructure they derive value from, not a form of centralization.

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Hi Martin,could you please point to where the bi-annual spending reports by Swiss Stake AG are published (e.g. governance forum links or archive)? Thanks in advence.

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Another idea. Why don’t we execute this proposal, but as it seems like it takes some time to implement all the details with the fees - we can switch to that one when ready and vest the rest of CRVs back to the DAO at that time

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Yes, I would strongly suggest to vote yes on this proposal:

  • More time is needed to find out how a fee distribution is best structured, which size is needed and how to implement in a technical sound way.
  • It’s better to have some transition phase to buffer some revenue for further spending.
  • Once a different way to finance the ongoing development cost is established, the CRV vesting can be redirected anytime back to the Curve DAO.
1 Like
13

I like the few propositions made here. Thanks @martinkrung & @Hubert.

On the DAO treasury, I have a mixed opinion :

  • It’s a must have. It shows some maturity for the protocol to :
    • onboard other contributors
    • funnel funding
  • it kinds add another layer of governance. I do think the less surface exposure you have for governance the better overall. Minimizing trust should be at any cost the way to build/fund. If we have a DAO treasury then a framework ala MolochDAO may be helpful. The proposition is executed but the final amount is based on the % of the veHolder’s’ ragequit.

I do like that Grantees are veHolder too. It shows a clear signal for the community.

And last, on the communication side : objectives & results are nice but it should be assessed business wise for every report too. If it’s not mandatory (yet), there is a good ground for operators willing to tackle this.

1 Like
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I think it is important to clarify that the current DAO vote to fund Swiss Stake AG is absolutely necessary, regardless of the discussion around the nature or structure of a sustainable funding mechanism for the DAO community fund. While I agree that the suggested approach is viable and could enable the DAO to generate sustainable income over time, Swiss Stake AG will not be able to collect any fees directly, nor does it control the mechanisms or parameters required to implement or adjust such a model. I trust this clarifies the situation. Please rest assured that we will work diligently toward the solution discussed here and take the necessary preparatory steps to move in that direction.

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On behalf of Swiss Stake, I would like to thank everyone for their continued support in the current vote.

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quite interesting analysis here

" Providing 17.45m $CRV grant will dilute existing veCRV holders only by 2.1% Using 1/3 of fees (not bribes) for dev funding will cut ~9% veCRV revenue per year for everyone $CRV grant looks as less expensive option for veCRV holders "

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Our counter-proposal is that the Yield Basis Protocol allocates 20% of its revenue to Curve as compensation for the use of technology developed by Curve.
SwissStake would be compensated through this revenue share.

The primary concern raised by this proposal is centralization.
It is important to clarify whether Curve is fully governed by the DAO or whether critical decisions are effectively dependent on a single external party.

If Curve intends to allocate 17 million CRV toward innovation, a process similar to that used by Hyperliquid could be considered, where multiple teams are able to propose and compete to provide services.

For these reasons, there is notable opposition to this proposal within the community.

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Swiss Stake’s work is essential to Curve and we want to see them funded. Our hesitation is about process: a proposal for 71% of the treasury’s remaining CRV deserves to have standard time for comment.

We recognize the time sensitivity of the funding and would be happy to support any necessary interim funding while discussions continue.

We’re available to engage constructively where helpful, and respect that next steps rest with the proposers and the broader Curve DAO.

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https:// news.curve.finance/curve-monthly-recap-november-2025/

The team also expanded backend and frontend capabilities, improved multi-chain monitoring, and supported new deployments on TAC, Etherlink, and Hyperliquid. Business development, educational efforts, and global event participation continued to drive adoption. Swiss Stake expects remaining grant funds to cover several more months of operations, with a follow-up proposal planned for early 2026.

What happened to “several more months of operations” given this was written this month?

The DAO deserves an itemized and transparent list of expenses and shouldn’t be expected to authorize any more funding until this requirement is met and the community has the opportunity to openly discuss whether those expenses are reasonable. cvxCRV already had 10% of its revenue carved out recently and now in short order talks of 33% and or 71% of the treasury are being thrown around.

My goal with this post and above quote is to highlight that some measure of budgeting efficiency within Swiss Stage AG isn’t being conducted properly. I want to know why the funds did not last as long as they were supposed to, and alongside the community create a sustainable funding framework going forward that does not meaningfully negatively impact the value of CRV or cvxCRV. The DAOs operational costs themselves should not be a net negative on the growth of the protocol or the asset CRV itself.

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Hallom

I’d like to connect with you for discussion on a proposal.

I am not part of the DAO or Curve, but am in your discord and similarly left a message.

Cheers,

Nick