The Otter Kingdom: A DAO-governed Land Where NFTs Make Finance Fun

Introduction

The intent of this article is to provide an overview of the OtterClam protocol’s main features, including an updated roadmap. It should be viewed as a hybrid document, merging the breadth of a white paper with the depth and tone of a conventional blog post.

We’ll survey the landscape of the protocol in its current form, highlight the main features, and drill down just enough to whet the appetite, leaving you with a 2022 roadmap of OtterClam’s key milestones.

For more in-depth analysis and technical information, please refer to our official GitBook documents. These are currently being updated to reflect recent developments, but you’ll find most of the basic technical information there.

A Note on Rebranding

The impetus for rebranding was community-driven. Both the community and core team realized that despite our talented artists and developers, we were holding ourselves back. Simply put, we had become more than a memecoin project.

If you want to know more about the observations and rationale that led to the rebranding campaign or what it means for OtterClam, you can read more here. For now, suffice it to say that in many ways, we have always been what we are today. We simply needed to acknowledge it.

What is OtterClam?

OtterClam is, above all else, a community. We are passionate about decentralization, and we believe that in an industry where practically everything can be replicated, our community culture and the art that gave it life, are what ultimately sets us apart. OtterClam’s core values include community, transparency, innovation, education, and fun.

Originally touted as Polygon’s first memecoin reserve currency, the protocol quickly developed into a decentralized ecosystem incorporating elements of finance, governance, and most recently, the metaverse. These three branches aptly correspond to OtterClam’s treasury, DAO, and Otter Kingdom, respectively. We’ll address each in that order.

Treasury

The treasury can be thought of as OtterClam’s automated “asset manager.” It is designed to execute the smart contracts responsible for enabling certain features within the protocol. This system currently manages staking, bonding, NFT, and vault mechanisms, among others.

SlowMist Audit

As of December 15, 2021, the OtterClam protocol successfully passed an independent, third-party audit conducted by SlowMist. This achievement demonstrates a considerable degree of maturity, stability, and security. The core team recognizes the likelihood that additional future audits may be necessary. At such a time, the team will make an official announcement and proceed accordingly.

Multisig

Anytime funds are allocated outside the scope of the smart contract system, the core team utilizes a gnosis safe, multi-signature (multisig) wallet to confirm and execute transactions. The DAO contract is protected by a 4 of 6 multisig policy, meaning that a minimum of 4 stakeholders is required to confirm wallet transactions. If you’d like to see more details on our multisig wallet, you can find them here.

CLAM

The protocol’s treasury utilizes CLAM, the de facto currency of the entire OtterClam ecosystem. MAI (among other assets) can be swapped for CLAM using Polygon’s largest, native decentralized exchange, Quickswap. Once CLAM is acquired, it can be staked, bonded, wrapped, or deposited into vaults, called PEARL Chests. More on acquiring and utilizing CLAM here.

Polygon

We believe that Polygon has a bright future in the L2 space. The composition of OtterClam’s treasury assets illustrates our support. At the time of writing, MAI, the first and largest Polygon-native stablecoin protocol, comprises roughly 80% of OtterClam’s Risk-Free-Value (RFV). We also offer a MAI-CLAM LP bond.

We remain dedicated to the advancement of the Polygon network’s DeFi and NFT ecosystem. Not only do we enjoy the low transaction fees and overall network speed, we also share Polygon’s values emphasizing decentralization and community-building.

Moving Forward

In addition to the revenue generated during the IDO, the treasury continues to raise funds through LP fees, bond sales, and future NFT royalties. Moving forward, OtterClam remains focused on diversifying the treasury to include yield-bearing assets. These will be used to generate revenue to support the ongoing development of the Otter Kingdom while increasing reserves. Ultimately, however, the treasury is DAO-governed and optimized to support the financial directives set forth by the community.

OtterDAO

OtterDAO is the governance protocol of the OtterClam ecosystem. Although far from perfect, we believe the DAO model offers the most effective way to promote transparency. It also ensures members are represented fairly and have access to the decision-making process. Broadly speaking, the DAO has three primary functions:

1. Governance
2. Community-building
3. Innovation

Governance

As it relates to the DAO model, governance is a generic term used to describe a decentralized means of managing and arriving at consensus within a group. Governance involves policy management related to the allocation of funds, the handling of proposals, as well as the day-to-day operations and procedures of the OtterDAO Discord server.

Since these policies govern all of the community’s interactions, it is difficult to overstate the importance of proper DAO management. The OtterClam core team continuously revises policies and creates new ones to address ongoing developments within the community.

Community-building

OtterDAO is where OtterClam’s community culture shines. Sure, the DAO is effectively a governing entity. But perhaps more importantly, it is the place our Otter family frequents to connect with one another, share ideas, and brainstorm. To extend the family metaphor, you might call the OtterDAO our online habitat.

Whether it’s memes, beautiful artwork, or the friendly atmosphere, we believe our community-building efforts in the OtterDAO are vital to our protocol’s success. Fundamentally, the only thing we have that isn’t open-source is “The Otter Way.” Come check us out. You’ll recognize it when you see it.

Innovation

The OtterDAO is also a place where ideas are proposed and developed. If an idea achieves consensus within the DAO, a formal proposal is created and the broader community votes to accept or reject the proposal. If the proposal receives enough votes to be passed, the DAO’s project execution mode comes online. This is the natural course of innovation.

The OtterDAO fosters innovation through cooperation, collaboration, and idea mining. A primary function of the OtterDAO is to bring community-driven ideas to fruition. In a space that moves as quickly as ours, prioritizing innovation is paramount. In addition to the cultivation of our tight-knit community, the success of OtterClam hinges on the capacity of our community (via the DAO) to execute.

Despite a stream of site updates, features, NFTs, and added token utility, the OtterClam team continues to innovate. Our most ambitious project to date that demonstrates our ongoing commitment to innovation is the Otter Kingdom.

The Otter Kingdom

The Otter Kingdom can be thought of as the OtterClam project’s meta-form and final destination. We have started the process of redirecting funds from the treasury to support this vision.

As an integral part of the rebranding campaign, the Otter Kingdom’s development also illustrates the team’s openness and willingness to adapt to community interests.

Let’s introduce a few recent Otter Kingdom developments and wrap things up with an updated roadmap for 2022.

Otto

Otto is the first project of the Otter Kingdom ecosystem. Ottos are generative PFPs created by Appppo, our extremely talented in-house artist and designer. There is a hard cap of 5,000 genesis Ottos.

You can think of Otto as the Otter Kingdom’s first citizen. Ottos have been specially designed to include a DNA breeding system. With this system, you can burn CLAM to create a new Otto pup. Each pup will inherit the DNA of his/her parent.

You can also collect Ottos from the marketplace to breed on your own. To customize the Otto, you need to burn CLAM. If you own an Otto, you effectively become a citizen of the Otter Kingdom and will have a chance to participate in future events within the kingdom.

The Sandbox

Purchasing land in the SandBox marks the beginning of an exciting journey into the GameFi, NFT, and metaverse spaces. Virtual land acquisition was an important first step, but we aren’t stopping there. Members of the OtterDAO have already created an Otter Kingdom game for the Sandbox Alpha-sponsored game jam 2. We are planning to continue developing the land to include:

• NFT sales on the Sandbox Marketplace
• Staking on OtterClam’s Land
• Renting our Land to other creators to host their experiences

Our community has already produced several viable games utilizing CLAM, and our designers and engineers have developed conceptual models for Voxel NFTs to be used in the SandBox. Our virtual land in the SandBox will provide the resources and experience needed to bring the Otter Kingdom to its full potential.

The NFT Market

The OtterClam team has been diligently exploring new ways to combine NFTs and DeFi features into the Otter Kingdom ecosystem. We currently have Otter PAWs, PEARL notes, and most recently, Otto PFPs. The next stop on our 2022 roadmap is the Otter Kingdom’s NFT market.

The market will be fully-decentralized and governed by the DAO. Furthermore, our current tokenomics will be integrated into the marketplace. Revenues generated by the market will go to support future Otter Kingdom development.

Since the marketplace will also be permissionless, it will be open to all NFT collections from any platform. Thanks to the Polygon L2 bridge, it is already possible to send NFTs back and forth from Ethereum to Polygon with relative ease.

With the SandBox currently in the process of migrating to Polygon, we foresee the Polygon NFT market ecosystem expanding rapidly in the coming months. This development creates the potential for the marketplace to become one of the Otter Kingdom’s main sources of revenue.

Roadmap

The following infographic illustrates in Otter Kingdom style, the updates planned for the first half of 2022. Check back later for more information.

Conclusion

The OtterClam protocol has come a long way in a short amount of time. A spirit of relentless innovation exists alongside a warm community vibe, offering a refreshing departure from other projects in the space.

A successful rebranding campaign requires a vision. Yet, a vision is only as good as the community who sustains it. OtterClam has taken the time to build an impressive community from the ground up, fostering a culture that welcomes new ideas while prioritizing innovation.

As we like to say, “Come for the APY, stay for the community.” But don’t mistake friendliness for passivity. We Otters like to get things done. We just believe in having a good time while we’re at it!

No matter if you’re a person who loves to brainstorm, get people engaged and excited, or roll up your sleeves and get things done, the Otter Kingdom has a place for you, and we would love to have you, so stop by our Discord and see what we’re up to!

See you downstream, Otter fam!

• Website: www.otterclam.finance
• Discord: discord.gg/otterclam
• Telegram: https://t.me/otterclam_official
• Twitter: twitter.com/otterclam
• Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/OtterClam/