PNG Litepaper

Introduction

Pangolin

Pangolin is a decentralized exchange (DEX) using the same automated market-making (AMM) model as Uniswap V2*, which utilizes the constant product formula.

Pangolin was launched in February 2021 as a proven concept for AMMs native to the Avalanche network. Pangolin also features a native governance token on the Avalanche network called PNG.

Pangolinโ€™s mission is to create a chain-agnostic exchange utilizing blockchains with low transaction costs, high transaction speed, and the bridge infrastructure for a cross-chain future.

Avalanche

Avalanche is the fastest smart contracts platform in the blockchain industry, as measured by time-to-finality.

Source: https://www.avax.network/

Cross-Chain Strategy

Pangolin is chain agnostic and believes in a multi-chain future. Pangolinโ€™s multi-chain strategy is shaped by current limitations of the blockchain/bridging technology as well as the analysis of leading DEXs.

Some multi-chain DEXs have already launched in several chains with different strategies. Many of these DEXs have encountered issues competing with native exchanges and have spread their tokens across multiple chains. Learning from such examples, Pangolin will have a new token on each chain, enabling chain-specific governance and emissions. Partnerships with local projects are also a key component of the strategy to embed Pangolin in different chains. Pangolin.exchange will be the website for all blockchains Pangolin expands to, creating synergy among different Pangolin franchises.

Features & Product Overview

Pangolin's decentralized exchange product on Avalanche offers several services to users, including but not limited to:

Pangolin Avalanche offers a variety of features and products for users:

Token swaps: Trade any token on the Avalanche network for another token.

Liquidity pools & farms: Provide liquidity to the pools to earn swap fees proportional to the share of the pool & provide liquidity to the farms to earn additional reward tokens.

Single-sided liquidity provision (such as PNG): Deposit tokens into single-sided pools that are available to earn reward tokens.

Governance: Vote on governance proposals using the governance token, PNG.

Analytics: Get more insight about the tokens, pools, the exchangeโ€™s volume, TVL, and track portfolio.

PNG Tokenโ€™s Use Cases

PNG is a governance token. It can be used for:

  • participating in governance by voting on proposals

PNG is not backed by any monetary value. PNG's value is in determining the protocolโ€™s direction.

Tokenomics

PNG Token Distribution & Distribution Breakdown

  • Initial Total Supply: 538,000,000 PNG (V1 tokenomics)

  • Months to emit: 336 months

When it was launched in February 2021, PNG had a 28-year emissions schedule with 538M max. token supply. After the proposal to change Pangolinโ€™s tokenomics in November 2021 got approved, Pangolin V2 was launched, improving PNGโ€™s tokenomics, switching to a new 4-year emissions schedule, reducing max. token supply to 230M tokens by ceasing emissions for 57% of all PNG tokens. We have achieved this by writing a proxy contract on top of our existing contracts.

New total supply and emission duration for the PNG token is as follows:

  • Total Supply: 230,000,000 PNG (V2 tokenomics)

  • Months to emit: 48 months (starting from February 2021)

PNG's distribution breakdown is as follows:

When it was launched in February 2021, PNGโ€™s token distribution was as follows:

  • Liquidity Providers: 95%

  • Airdrop: 5%

The airdrop allocation was distributed on the basis of ownership of UNI and SUSHI. In order to claim the PNG Airdrop, UNI and SUSHI holders had to:

  • claim from December 7th 2020 via a distribution contract

  • claim from same Ethereum wallet address that held UNI/SUSHI

  • claim within the first month of Pangolin's launch

The conversion formula from SUSHI or UNI onto PNG is not linear, but rather slightly quadratic. (The conversion rates were chosen by AvaLabs in order to reduce wealth concentration onto large holders of SUSHI and UNI and redistribute more evenly onto smaller holders of SUSHI and UNI)

Specifically, PNG will be claimable pro-rata based on the following formula:

PNG amount = 0.3 * (SUSHI amount ^ 0.8)

30% -- or 7.8M PNG -- to SUSHI holders

PNG amount = 0.7 * (UNI amount ^ 0.8)

70% -- or 18.2M PNG -- to UNI holders

New distribution breakdown after V2 proposal approval in November 2021 is as follows:

  • Liquidity Providers (Farms V1): 15.4%

  • Liquidity Providers (Farms V2): 68.3%

  • Airdrop (claimed): 3.3%

  • Treasury: 13%

Pangolin takes regulatory compliance seriously and has not raised and will not raise any funds via a private sale, public sale, ICO, IDO or IEO.

Token Vesting Schedule

Token emissions started in February 2021 and will end in January 2025 (in accordance with the tokenomics update in November 2021). Below are the emission schedule and emission rates for PNG token.

Protocol Fees

For every swap made on a particular Pangolin pool, a 0.3% transaction fee is charged which will be shared among the following parties with the following breakdown:

  • Liquidity Pools: 0.25% (in accordance with their share in the particular pool)

  • PNG Staking Pool: 0.0425%

  • Pangolin DAOโ€™s Treasury: 0.0075%

The 0.3% fee is set forth by Uniswap V2โ€™s smart contracts which Pangolin also uses.

Initially, the fee switch was turned off. At a later stage, however, a governance proposal took place to turn on the fee switch on Avalanche.

By enabling the fee switch, Pangolin diverts 0.05% of all swap fees to a designated address. The Pangolin fee switch is subject to a 90-day timelock delay and was disabled by default at launch.

Governance decisions that may impact Pangolinโ€™s future development are intended to be decided via governance proposals. In particular, any smart contract upgrades or changes to smart contracts are intended to be subject to a governance vote. In addition, every six months, expenditures for the next six months are intended to be put to a governance vote to manage the budget. PNG holders can vote for or against governance proposals. Although Pangolin has its own custom on-chain governance for Avalanche, governance proposals didnโ€™t start until three months after the launch of Pangolin. This waiting period of three months was to ensure that enough PNG was distributed to the community.

The initial development work for Pangolin was done by AvaLabs. Until an on-chain governance was in place, Pangolin was run by AvaLabs. However, once governance was in place, initial team members were selected by the community.

Conclusion

Pangolin Exchange has been restructured for a multi-chain future. Building off the strength of the Uniswap V2 contracts, the contributors have built infrastructure for multi-VM capabilities, cross-chain interoperability, and features like portfolio management and token watchlists. With the rise of new blockchains, novel technology, and a growing user base, Pangolin Exchange will be at the forefront of every chain where it deploys.

*Uniswap v2 Whitepaper: https://uniswap.org/whitepaper.pdf

Disclaimer

This paper is for general information purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation or solicitation to buy or sell any investment, including the PNG token, and should not be used to evaluate the merits of making any investment decision. This paper should not be relied upon for accounting, legal, tax advice or investment recommendations. This paper reflects the current opinions of the authors and is not made on behalf of the developer community of Pangolin or its affiliates and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Pangolin's developer community, its affiliates or individuals associated with such community. The opinions reflected herein are subject to change without being updated.

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