Nov. 19, 2021: Vampires Amongst Us? 🧛🩸
Delineating the Relationship Between Convex and Curve
The Curve-Convex flywheel works together so perfectly, that yesterday Curve actually had to issue a statement yesterday reminding people they are in fact independent entities.
Some of the confusion stems from the fact that the Curve team are mostly doxxed, whereas the Convex team is mostly anonymous. So it could be that the Convex team is just Curve team in disguise. The two protocols are so perfectly designed to fit together, this rumor may never go away.
Just a month ago I got asked this in person. I offered my persuasive argument as to why they are in fact two different entities.
Simply take a cursory look through the Curve Github repository, and it has a pretty unmistakeable signature. Consider the main contracts repository:
The 99.6% Python is no accident. Curve’s secret weapon is none other than Ben Hauser, aka @iamdefinitelyahuman in the top left corner of contributors. Most major DeFi protocols other than Curve have suffered some degree of hack — yet thanks to Mr. Hauser’s punctilious attention to detail and comprehensive unit testing, Curve has been quite safe to date.
He rightly was listed in a thread a few months back on best living DeFi devs.
Mr. Hauser has not only built out anywhere from the plurality to the majority of the Curve backend, he’s also done the same for Vyper and Brownie. Both of these projects are unmistakably services that exist in other languages, but built in Python and better.
OK… Brownie technically preceded Hardhat, but the point stands. Hauser publicly loathes Javascript. From the Brownie launch:
I have a confession… I don’t like JavaScript.
Somewhere in the last decade JS moved from front-end to back-end to pretty much everywhere, and now we have a multitude of full stack devs who know only one language. I recognize that JS is here to stay and in some cases I can see the benefits, but as a testing and auditing framework for smart contracts it is not the optimal choice
While Mr. Hauser is technically capable of anything, if he’s the primary contributor in a project it will undoubtedly be utilizing the Vyper + Brownie stack he built himself, and the Curve team is also on board with this. Fast forward to Convex Finance.
So first up… JavaScript/Solidity split? That’s gotta be a no from Hauser.
Hauser is also a contributor to this repository, albeit in a fairly minor fashion. His commits are mostly dedicated to refactoring and some optimizations. Which fits the relationship Curve has always described, which is that the Convex team is independent, but Curve is supportive and has provided guidance.
To believe it is actually done by Curve, we can essentially rule out Hauser as the primary builder. We would need to believe he’s created a separate account to do all of his commits, and doing so in languages he despises.
If Curve == Convex, you’d likely need to doxx C2tP-C2tP as a different member of the Curve team, one who was somehow less involved in building out the backbone of Curve yet secretly jonesing to build a complementary service in months using a different tech stack. Sure it’s possible, but would be a psyops for the ages. Occam’s razor cuts sharply here.
In other developer drama regarding Convex, retro memelord Julien Bouteloup raised eyebrows by describing Convex’s ascent as a vampire attack.
It’s a charged statement, especially given Bouteloup’s disputed status as a Curve developer. Why “disputed”? Well, a few months back, observers conducted a thorough study casting doubt on his technical bona fides.
The findings were disputed by Bouteloup, citing that most of his commits are to private repositories.
It’s not terribly compelling drama. Whether coding or leading, Bouteloup’s always proudly flown the Curve banner.
Some in the Curve community attributed his charges of a Vampire Attack to jealousy that Convex succeeded where Bouteloup’s StakeDAO did not gain traction.
In the thread, Bouteloup attempted to parse these issues and raise alarm nonetheless.
At the moment the community remains broadly sympathetic to Convex. If vampires are indeed about, then they already walk amongst us.
Not enough time for today’s newsletter, but over the weekend keep your eyes on the 1 bps saga!
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