Greetings unshETHians,

The time to pull the curtain back on Project Sentience is at hand. We're extremely humbled by the extraordinary support for Project Sentience, with 497 community members donating over 200k USH.

Building the Base Layer of LSDfi

The reveal: We are proud to announce that Project Sentience is set to become a decentralized, open-source LSD! We had productive meetings at EthCC with several infrastructure partners who are excited to collaborate in making this vision a reality. As part of our commitment to validator decentralization, Project Sentience will be one of the first LSDs to fully open-source all parts of the LSD stack. (not just the smart contracts)

We are currently in a cambrian explosion era of LSDs. As stewards of LSDfi, we are only as decentralized as the LSDs on top of which we are built. Rather than competing over becoming the most decentralized LSD - we feel that teams should instead open-source and share technology that improves decentralization across all LSDs.

In the same way that the unshETH vdAMM proves how collaboration around co-incentives can cheapen liquidity costs for all LSDs - similarly Project Sentience will improve decentralization across all LSDs.

Infrastructure-Level Decentralization

Just as unshETH promotes decentralization by driving economic incentives towards a diversity of LSD protocols, Project Sentience will push this a step further by promoting decentralization at the infrastructure level. This means that we aim to support a variety of infrastructural setups, further preventing the concentration of power and ensuring the robustness and reliability of the network. By fostering diversity in infrastructure, we enhance the resilience of the DeFi ecosystem and empower participants to contribute in their unique ways.

LSDs as a Public Good

Project Sentience will unleash a powerful set of public goods into the LSDfi ecosystem that is set to supercharge LSD innovation over the year.

1. Seamless Configuration of LSDs: One of the key features of Project Sentience is the ability to seamlessly configure an LSD. This feature allows users to easily set up their Liquid Staking Derivative with a customized validator stack, through plug-and-play modules. The setup process includes the configuration of the validator node setup and the LSD smart contracts setup. The goal is to make the process of creating an LSD as easy and accessible as possible, providing users with the freedom to customize their LSD to suit their specific needs and preferences.

2. Liquidity Bootstrapping Kit for New LSDs: Our comprehensive Liquidity Bootstrapping Kit is designed to provide new LSDs with the tools they need to establish a strong liquidity base. The kit includes smart contract templates, automated setup scripts, and a toolkit for easy liquidity incentive setup on vdAMM and other DEXes. These resources aim to simplify the process of liquidity bootstrapping, making it easier for new LSDs to hit the ground running and thrive in the DeFi ecosystem.

Through these features, Project Sentience is paving the way for a more accessible, collaborative, and innovative DeFi landscape. We are committed to providing the tools and resources needed to empower our users and contribute to the growth and success of the broader DeFi community.

What’s Next

We will soon open up deposits for Project Sentience Phase 1, accepting unshETH as well as all major LSDs, including some yet to be whitelisted into unshETH. Depositing unshETH or LSDs will yield reshETH or 'Receipt Sentience ETH'. Details on incentive mechanisms for Phase 1 and benefits for Phase 0 participants will be announced next week. Project Sentience fee revenue model will be governed by USH users.

Get ready to reshETH your unshETH!