Risk Committee Election Application: OAK Research
To Ethena’s stakeholders and the broader community, OAK Research is honored to announce its application to join Ethena’s Risk Committee, with the objective of serving as an independent risk intelligence and transparency layer within the protocol’s governance framework.
As on-chain finance continues to scale and Ethena’s mechanisms grow in complexity, critical risk-related decisions become increasingly difficult to interpret and prioritise. The role of the Risk Committee should not be limited to observing isolated metrics, but rather to analysing the current market conditions, on-chain activity, and liquidity, assessing their systemic implications, and informing the protocol’s most structural decisions.
OAK Research’s goal with this proposal is to deliver factual, readable, and directly actionable analyses to all relevant stakeholders and the broader crypto community to reduce information asymmetry and provide better governance decisions with the best risk assessment.
Within a three-member Risk Committee, OAK Research does not seek to duplicate existing members’ duties. Our role is to do what we do best: transform raw data into actionable risk intelligence, and ensure that the committee’s decisions remain understandable, transparent, and relevant in the eyes of the community.
About OAK Research
OAK Research, launched in November 2024, is an independent research platform dedicated to the analysis of DeFi, stablecoins, RWAs, and broader crypto market developments. Its mission is to provide investors and market participants with a clear, data-driven understanding of crypto market dynamics.
Our platform combines data-driven reports, narrative and protocol-level analysis, and independent investment theses to deliver real-time insights and in-depth research.
We have worked alongside a wide range of DeFi and infrastructure protocols, including Maple, Pyth, Euler, Polygon, F(x) Protocol, and Plasma, to analyse their evolution, risk profiles, and structural design. This experience has enabled us to develop a deep understanding of protocol-level dynamics across multiple verticals and stages of maturity.
In this context, OAK Research proposes to implement a robust monitoring and analytics framework for the Ethena ecosystem. As Ethena scales and introduces greater structural complexity, through diversified backing assets and new strategic primitives, an independent and agnostic layer of analysis becomes critical.
Contribution: The Three Pillars of Oversight
OAK Research will act as a unification actor of the Risk Committee contributors by unifying, organising and coordinating the various governance proposals, data analytics, and core evolutions of Ethena’s protocol.
With the transition to a three-member Risk Committee, we will provide monthly updates on each subcommittee’s decisions, governance proposals and data points to take into account for the next months.
1. Market Dynamics & On-Chain Health
While existing industry-standard tools, notably the Blockworks Ethena Risk Dashboard, provide essential high-quality raw metrics, OAK Research’s primary objective is to bridge the gap between raw data, community understanding, and the important points to take into account going forward.
We aim to translate these complex data points into digestible insights, thereby enhancing protocol transparency and ensuring that Ethena’s evolution is accessible to all stakeholders, regardless of their technical level.
The following is a non-exhaustive list of the elements to be analysed and interpreted, leveraging the foundational work provided by available data dashboards.
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Monitor the structural integrity of the USDe/sUSDe ecosystem.
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Basis & Funding Analysis: deep dives into Funding Rates and Open Interest (OI) dynamics to assess the sustainability of the yield engine.
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Cross-Venue Liquidity Mapping: Granular analysis of liquidity concentration across CEXs (Binance, Bybit) and DEXs (Hyperliquid, etc.) to detect shifts in market leadership.
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Money Market Integration Monitoring: audit of USDe/sUSDe utilization rates, LTV, and liquidation thresholds on Aave, Morpho, and Spark. This also implies:
→ Strategic Audit: Evaluation of deployment costs vs. revenue per chain to identify underperforming or non-essential integrations.
→ Pendle Dependency: Tracking the percentage of TVL locked in Pendle to assess duration risk and exit liquidity concentration.
2. Governance Reporting & Transparency Enhancement
OAK Research will commit to publish monthly comprehensive reports on the governance forum, detailing the evolution of protocol health metrics. These reports facilitate a rigorous assessment of how prior governance decisions impact Ethena’s current operational state. These reports will also act as a monthly summary of the various activities of the subcommittees’ members.
While in the past these reports were crafter by the various members of the Risk Committee, our goal is to facilitate their publication by unifying the information and making it standardised.
OAK Research will act as an analytical filter to make the comprehension of major proposals clearer for token holders and other market participants. We would synthesise technical and economic stakes to ensure the community can rapidly understand the implications of each vote.
To guarantee maximum transparency, every analysis and report will be broadcasted through our dedicated channels:
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OAK Research Platform: Publication of in-depth, long-form technical articles on the most important data and our implication in the Risk Committee.
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Social Media & X: threads designed to inform stakeholders in real-time, ensuring governance data reaches a broader audience beyond forum regulars, while gathering input from the broader crypto community.
3. Macro Environment & Competitive Benchmarking
The objective of this pillar is to contextualize Ethena’s performance within the global financial ecosystem by anticipating external risk vectors and identifying market opportunities.
Yield Spread Analysis & Ethereum Staking Rate Competitiveness:
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Yield Correlation: OAK Research would monitor the evolution of the native Ethereum staking rate (ETH Staking Rate) to assess its direct impact on the attractiveness of USDe returns. This monitoring extends to all yield-bearing collateral utilized by the protocol.
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Flow Dynamics: Analysis of the competitiveness of the Basis Trade (funding rate arbitrage) relative to the DeFi Risk-Free Rate (native staking). The goal is to forecast TVL (Total Value Locked) contraction or expansion phases based on yield differentials.
Behavior During High Volatility Periods & Market Correlation:
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Comparative Resilience Analysis: A comparative study of USDe behavior during extreme volatility episodes relative to its direct competitors.
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Competitive Activity & Market Evolution (if applicable or relevant):
→ Market Share & Inflows: Continuous benchmarking of USDe growth against emerging synthetic dollar protocols and yield-bearing stablecoins.
→ Retention Analysis: Study of capital flows between protocols to identify potential market share erosion or emerging growth segments.
Regulatory Monitoring & Macro Risks:
- Legislative Tracking: Proactive monitoring of international regulatory developments specifically impacting synthetic stablecoins and passive yield products.
Ethena Alignment
OAK Research has closely followed Ethena’s evolution throughout 2025, beginning with the publication of a full week of in-depth content focused on Ethena’s protocol. Building on this initial work, we later partnered with Ethena to provide further insights into the ecosystem by publishing additional research on the protocol’s mechanisms and design choices.
Beyond research, we have actively contributed to ecosystem growth. To date, we have onboarded over 400 users to Hyena and were among the earliest partners supporting the HIP-3 DEX by helping onboard users to the protocol.
One of our research pieces was described as “the best overview of Ethena out there atm”. reflecting both the depth and clarity of our analysis. We have continuously tracked Ethena’s development, governance discussions, public communications, Guy’s publications, allowing us to maintain a comprehensive and up-to-date understanding of the protocol’s evolutions.
Through this sustained engagement, we have developed a deep understanding of Ethena’s architecture, its innovations within the broader crypto ecosystem, and the risk considerations required to make the protocol safer, more transparent, and more attractive to investors.
By applying to the Risk Committee, our objective is to deepen our collaboration with Ethena. We aim to contribute directly to strengthening the protocol’s role within the ecosystem through risk analysis, clear communications, and data-driven decision-making processes, while making governance processes more transparent.
Members managing our contribution
Within OAK Research, two members of the team will be allocated towards managing the Ethena Risk Committee’s position. Once the report is drafted, the rest of the team will include their comments to present the most comprehensible and complete report on the current state of Ethena and Ethena’s governance updates.
The whole team at OAK Research will be involved in the Risk Committee decision making process. The two members managing the reports will be:
→ YetAnotherAnon (prenomnom)
YetAnotherAnon is a researcher at OAK Research specialising in DeFi market microstructure and technical analysis. His work focuses on the economic sustainability of protocol designs and the quantification of market-driven risks.
DeFi Analysis & Risk Modelling: Since 2022, he has focused on the forensic analysis of decentralised protocols, evaluating financial mechanisms, risk parameters, and the structural integrity of yield-generation models.
Educational Synthesis: Leveraging his ability to analyse complex information, he has also authored technical reports for a leading French-speaking YouTube channel, focusing on high-level Bitcoin & DeFi education.
Within OAK Research, YetAnotherAnon has authored several research articles focusing on both on-chain and off-chain financial infrastructures, including a technical deep-dive into Pendle Finance, mapping the non-linear risks of yield-stripping and PT/YT liquidity dynamics, and an analysis of institutional-grade financial models, including the StrategyB infrastructure.
→ tx (tx_analysor)
Tx is a DeFi-focused analyst and writer at OAK Research, where he has been delivering independent research on DeFi protocols and broader crypto ecosystem dynamics for over three years. His work emphasizes protocol design, risk mechanisms, and structural evolution across decentralized finance.
He has authored in-depth analytical pieces on major ecosystems and protocols, including Euler, Ethereum, Polygon and many more. His research on F(x) Protocol was described by the protocol’s core team as one of the most comprehensive and high-quality analyses ever produced on the subject.
In parallel, tx has also contributed to the crypto section of Snowball, France’s leading financial newsletter for retail investors. This experience has strengthened his ability to translate complex DeFi and financial concepts into clear, accessible narratives for non-technical audiences, while maintaining the technical depth required to generate actionable insights for advanced stakeholders.
→ Rest of the team that will take part in the decision making process
Artem Sinyakin (Artem_Oak): CEO @ OAK Research that has over 6 years of experience in the crypto sector within Node Management company Meria, media company OAK Invest, and OAK Research. Artem focuses on Ethereum DeFi and yield-bearing stablecoins and protocols.
Lilian Aliaga (LilianAliaga_): COO @ OAK Research that has over 6 years in crypto in the largest French media Cryptoast. He is also the main author of the research pieces published on the OAK Research platform. He has extensive knowledge of DeFi protocols, stablecoins, and Prediction markets.
Maximilien Prue (MaximilienP51): Crypto Analyst @ OAK Research. Working full-time in the crypto industry for 4+ years, including experience at France’s leading crypto media outlet.
Decrypt: CTO @ OAK Research with extensive blockchain expertise since 2017. Web developer specialising in NextJS, React, and mobile development. Contributor to DeFiLlama and Cryptoast, focusing on innovative cryptocurrency solutions. Open source contributor passionate about blockchain technology.
Five-Member to Three-Member Structure
OAK Research supports transitioning Ethena’s Risk Committee to a three-member structure, as we believe this configuration will materially improve governance efficiency and decision-making quality. While we were not members of the Risk Committee in the previous term, we have closely followed prior discussions and proposals on the governance forum and have incorporated our findings into our proposal.
We strongly believe that our participation can make the governance process more transparent, involve more community members and token holders, while clearly communicating the rationale behind Risk Committee decisions.
Although governance is often viewed as a bottleneck to growth, we take the opposite view. Making governance more accessible and transparent is essential for Ethena to sustain long-term growth and innovation, while integrating insights from the broader crypto community.
A three-member Risk Committee structure allows each member’s contributions to be more impactful, improve coordination and communication, and enable more efficient allocation of resources. This includes deeper engagement in governance participation, enhanced data analytics, and continued development in collateral onboarding and venue selection, while maintaining a healthy DeFi risk profile.
We strongly believe that OAK Research can play a meaningful role within this new structure and contribute positively to the future development of Ethena.