The Wealth Mountain stablecoin protocol stealth-launched in July 2022 with a novel and refreshingly simple approach that gave people the potential to earn 23% profit in just 3 weeks…that was version ‘V1' and it wasn't profitable for everyone, myself included. However, I'm hopeful for their longer term V2 plan of portfolio profit share.
I discovered Wealth Mountain late August 2022 when researching interest-bearing stablecoins and, although it takes a completely different approach (it is not a stablecoin), I was impressed by its functionality and swift progress.
Nov 2022 update: still not much info on V2. This was an experimental investment, I probably won't update this post much further unless anything significant happens.
June 2023: thought I'd do a quick check in on their Discord. Still alive, and apparently generating rewards. Might be worth looking at when the bull kicks back in.
Wealth Mountain is not a token, nor a stablecoin but a high yield protocol for stablecoins. It already had two audits by the time I discovered it and, compared to other DeFi ‘passive income' opportunities it was really simple. Although as of September and then 25th October, everything changed….
IMPORTANT NOTE: I have updated this article with ‘V1' and ‘V2' markers. When more information is provided about V2 I will fully update the article to reflect what Wealth Mountain currently “is”. Very briefly, as of 25th October all network V1 contracts are depleted and being mored to V2 which is a ‘proportional profit-share' system…not much further info has been shared. See 25th October tweet below;
V1: Why I liked Wealth Mountain initially (simplicity!)
There were several reasons to like Wealth Mountain initially (V1);
- Cross-chain stablecoin staking
- Earn 1-5% per day
- 10% flat-fee on staking
- 2-10% fee on unstaking
- No lockups – unstake at any time
- Two external audits
- No token (no reliance on token price)
- However, what I really liked was the simplicity.
- Stake.
- Unstake.
- That’s it!
- No token to purchase.
- Nothing to set up.
- Nothing else to do.
That’s right; there was literally nothing to do after you stake. You don’t need to go and compound or claim or do any of that stuff.
It’s simple. It’s easy to understand.
Which is refreshing when compared to something like Furio crypto ecosystem (FUR) which I’m also currently testing (and impressed by!) and other passive income / DeFi as a Service projects.
V1: However…
There should have been more clarity around ‘V1'…
They released on 5 networks late July. The contracts on the ‘smaller' networks (ones with less staking volume eg. Polygon, Fantom, Avalanche) depleted quickly — September. Many of us did not earn any rewards and did not get to unstake — our deposited funds are all currently locked for V2 migration….for which you need to submit a migration form. 🙁 Not exactly as passive or ‘safe' as we'd been led to believe through initial materials eg. unstake at any time, sustainability and initial not being at risk (the Wealth Mountain FAQs have since been updated).
Note that Wealth Mountain are very active and I'm really hoping V2 and the sustainable route is successful, I just wish the information they shared regarding ‘V1' in July and August was more, er….accurate 😉
V1: How Wealth Mountain works (worked!)
NOTE: this is re V1 which as of October 25th ended for all networks (BSC was the last one standing – more on that later!)
Stake either BUSD or USDC and earn 1-5% per day. The longer you stake, the more you earn. You can unstake at any time. There is no compounding (if you ‘compound' it resets your staking period).
- The longer your crypto remains staked, the more you earn.
- Flat-rate 10% fee to stake.
- Sliding scale fee 10-2% to unstake.
See image below for a visual representation.
As you can see, the fee to stake stays fixed at 10% (Yellow line), The fee to unstake reduces over time, from 10% to 2% (Pink line) and the daily % yield increases over time, from 1% to 5% per day by day 50 (Blue line)….although the pink line should really start dropping at Day 11 (assume this is a graphical error!).
One important thing to understand is the retroactive daily % rewards. More on that later.
V1: Wealth Mountain rewards and fees
The Wealth Mountain fees and rewards are pretty easy to understand…
V1: Rewards
Rewards, aka earnings are based on days staked – the daily % increases the longer you remain staked. Note this is a retroactive rewards system….see next section for details!
- Day 1-20: 1% per day
- Day 21-30: 2% per day
- Day 31-40: 3% per day
- Day 41-50: 4% per day
- Day 51+: 5% per day
V1: Fees: staking
This is the fee that is deducted each time you stake your stablecoins.
- Flat fee on all stakes: 10%
V1: Fees: unstaking
Similar to rewards, unstaking fees are based on days staked – the % decreases the longer you remain staked.
- Day 1-10: 10%
- Day 11-20: 8%
- Day 21-30: 5%
- Day 31+: 2%
Although you can unstake any time, it pays to remain staked longer. Obviously, 51+ days works out the best, however you may be more comfortable with a 31-day strategy, which is great as unstaking fees drop to 2%. *See Wealth Mountain loophole
V1: Retroactive rewards explained
Rewards are ‘retroactive’ which is a new and interesting concept.
Basically, when you reach the next ‘level' (e.g. Day 21, Day 31…), it will be as if all earnings prior were at that level and your rewards total will update accordingly.
Example:
You stake $1,000 and earn $10 per day ($1,000 * 1%) for the first 20 days. At the end of day 20, you will have accumulated $200 in rewards (20 days * $10).
You may think that on day 21 your rewards total should be $220 (ie the $200 you have earned + 2% ie. $20 on day 21), however, that’s NOT the case…
On day 21 your rate changes to 2% and is applied retroactively to all previous days; you now have accumulated 21 days at 2% ($20 per day) and so your total rewards become $420 (21 days * $20)!!!
#wow!
Yes – once you reach 50 days, the rewards will be 50 days * 5% (50 days * $50 = $2,500).
#crazy!
Each stake is separate
One thing to take a quick note of is that each stake is treated separately. As soon as your stablecoins are staked, that stake begins its journey starting at Day 1.
- You can unstake a single stake and it will not effect the other stakes.
- You cannot add to a stake — depositing more funds will create new stakes.
- Collecting (claiming) or compounding resets ALL stakes.
This will make more sense as you read on and/or test the platform.
V1: Wealth Mountain calculator
The guys have added a simple calculator at the bottom of the dApp.
As you can see, $1,000 invested would earn $4,500 in rewards over 100 days…
It is as if 5% had been earned every day on $900 staked (remember there is a 10% staking fee — that’s why the rewards work out to be $4,500….because only $900 of the $1,000 was actually staked!).
Note that there would be an unstaking fee of 2%.
Not bad!
What’s the catch?
I guess the main ‘catch' is lack of compounding — by compounding (or collecting/claiming) earnings from rewards you will reset all stakes back to the beginning!
Yes, that’s right – if you’re sitting on a nice 5% and decide to claim or compound, your stake will go right back to day 1 and start again at 1% (which still isn’t bad!). Unstaking does not have effect other stakes…however, the rates are different.
V1: Game theory kept (fairly) simple
The game theory in Wealth Mountain is simple, but it works.
Every way you look at it, you are encouraged to continue staking…..without the need for a crazy, convoluted ‘node’ system or something else that has you jumping through hoops.
#refreshing
V1: 23% profit in 3 weeks?
Whilst there are multiple ways to play, what you really need to understand is that, you need to hit 21+ days with Wealth Mountain to make profit. And it's good profit — 23% profit in just 3 weeks…around 30% per month!
This is due to the 10% staking fee and variable unstaking fees…which reduce to 5% on day 21 e.g.
- $1,000 invested would be $900 staked (10% staking fee).
- 21 days would give you the 2% per day rate & 5% unstake fee.
- 2% of $900 = $18 per day, 21 days = $378 earnings
- Staked + rewards = $900 + 378 = $1,278
- Unstake fee = $900 * 5% = $45
- Profit = $1,278 – $1000 ($900 staked + $100 staking fee) – $45 (unstaking fee)
- Profit in 21 days = $233
If you were to stake for 1 day less, the results would be very different. Why? Because you remain in the 1% per day bracket and the unstake fee is 8%; $1,000 deposited = $900 staked, $180 earnings, $72 unstake fee.
Profit in 20 days = $8!
In Wealth Mountain, 1 day can make a big difference!
And, remember; you can unstake at ANY time. However,*
- * see October update
Yes, you might take a bit of a hit if you unstake early due to fees, but you won't loose everything unlike some other passive income projects.
Scroll down to My Wealth Mountain Strategy and find out you you could gain 180% profit in 6 weeks.
Wealth Mountain is (was?) cross-network
Wealth Mountain is one of the few projects that launched cross-platform and at time of writing is available on five;
You can participate in any or multiple.
UPDATE: 8th Oct '22 – BSC is probably your best bet; Polygon and Avalanche have ‘closed' and are moving to V2….BSC seems to have most TVL. See updates further down for more info.
UPDATE: 25th Oct '22 – all have now lost TVL and are migrating to V2.
Who has audited Wealth Mountain? (V1)
Two audits have been completed on the V1 contracts:
- Safu audit – https://safuaudit.com/audit-reports/WealthMountain.pdf
- Solid Proof – https://app.solidproof.io/projects/wealth-mountain
They had talked about aiming for 4 audits in order to cover all bases. Safu was on 18th July 2022 and SolidProof on 22nd August, so possibly we'll see another in September.
Is Wealth Mountain doxxed?
Not yet.
However, they did say that after the audits are completed it is something they will consider. So, keep an eye out.
Is the contract (V1) renounced?
No. However, according to Safu audit the owner has “no privileged functions”…which apparently has the same effect as being “renounced”; it cannot be edited.
And, according to Discord and the Wealth Mountain website, nothing can be updated.
V1: Wealth Mountain loopholes / exploit opportunities
Two ‘loopholes' were discovered during the audits;
- Unstaking at Day 41 gives the user their max 5% (it should not be 5% until Day 51).
- Their 3% ‘win-win' referral system could be abused by contract owner to drain funds.
#1 is self-explanatory — picked up in the SolidProof audit and if you know about it, then Day 41 might be a better option to de-risk than waiting to day 51.
Let's take a look at #2…
The 3% referral is not too likely to be abused by the public due to the 10% staking and variable unstaking fees — it wouldn't make it worth their while, but it is a ‘bug' or opportunity for exploit by the contract owner.
The ‘exploit' opportunity explained…
Whilst this might not be overly exploitable by the public, because these fees go to a “contract owner” wallet, it means that from this “owner” perspective, there are zero fees. In theory, they could setup 2 personal wallets and constantly refer back and forth, staking and unstaking (fees go to the “contract owner” wallet), eventually draining the smart contracts.
Wealth Mountain were transparent about this and made announcements within Discord and Twitter (also ensuring people know that this opportunity for exploit would exist in any forks).
They also provided red flags to watch out for; large numbers of “stake-withdraw-withdraw bonus” transactions on the smart contract and large transfers from the contract owner wallet in a similar timefram.
How does Wealth Mountain make money? (V2)
This is the bit where trust is required; Wealth Mountain does not currently make money…or at least, not beyond the 10% staking fees and 10-2% unstaking fees.
Their plan is to be a ‘Diversified Investment Fund', using fees generated to invest and create revenue. In September 2022 their plan is to shift focus from the dApp development to V2, “wealth”; partnerships, protocols and the Wealth Combinator (a play on Y Combinator I assume!).
The aim is ultimately for the investment wallet yield to increase and eventually reach a point whereby more yield is earned by the protocol than is paid out in rewards.
An early-stage investments dashboard is expected mid-September 2022.
Wealth Mountain claims to have around 2 years of runway within the protocol itself.
Wealth investment dashboard
Only released on Sunday 11th September, the Wealth Portfolio Dashboard provides an overview of Wealth Mountain's investments. I have not had the chance to look at this properly but thought I'd pop a screenshot here so you know it exists.
Will update this over the coming week when I get the chance to look properly!
Concerns about Wealth Mountain
Whilst new, innovative and simple, Wealth Mountain is very new and we don’t know much about them yet. The usual DeFi risks and concerns exist.
- Who are they?
- Are they genuine? (will they rug me?!)
- Can they create something sustainable?
- Is the contract safe?
Certainly, they seem to be moving fast and keeping active, which they need to – getting past the first few months is critical. It’s an excellent sign that they prioritised and have 2 audits already (they intend on having 4). It’s an early stage protocol and it takes time to build trust and transparency. But can it actually sustain itself? Are they genuine in terms of building the revenue streams that can support it?
The (V1) contract has no ownership permissions and cannot be changed, which is good. Or at least, sounds like had good intentions; obviously the aforementioned “loopholes” are not that great and this is a bug of sorts or something that would be exploitable by the owner! But ultimately they have been transparent about these issues and how to monitor for them.
This is definitely a very early stage and high-risk project….but one I’m prepared to take a bet on 🙂
If they messed up, they would need to deploy a V2 contract…
The Wealth Mountain app in pictures (V1)
Below is an overview of what to expect within the app…
How to stake
If you're used to staking, it's a fairly standard process; choose your network (BSC, MATIC, AVAX, FTM, or ETH) approve the contract and stake.
- First, you will need to APPROVE the contract. A request to approve will load in MetaMask.
Update; below is a new screenshot (using Polygon / USDC); you need to input an amount to APPROVE.
- After the approval has processed, the Wealth Mountain app will display the total in your wallet & approved (see red box in above screenshot).
- Next, you need to STAKE — this will be a second transaction to approve in MetaMask.
Below are a few screenshots of my deposit, rewards and claim. I used a 3% referral link and immediately staked the extra 3%.
Above was my first test stake – I input $200 using a referral link to get the extra 3%.
I then staked the $5.94 bonus, bringing my total staked to $203.94.
You can see each ‘stake' is separate – my main stake, and staking of my 3% referral bonus.
Six days later, this is how it looks…
As you can see, I have not staked any more, claimed or compounded; my total staked balance is still $203.94: My earnings are separate.
If I where to input a new stake, a new row would appear in that table and ‘Days to Max' would be 50 for that stake only ie. each stake is treated separately.
In addition to the staking and calculator, the app as a cool stats section.
Note that currently the stats are ‘per network', so if you are connected with BSC, you will see BSC stats…if you are connected with AVAX, you'll see stats only for the AVAX/Avalanche network.
V1: My Wealth Mountain Strategy
Although Wealth Mountain is quite simple, once you really start thinking about it, there are many different strategies. My initial strategy is to stake, hold and unstake…
Unstaking strategy:
At this early stage my plan would be 41 Days to get the 4% per day, ie. 5% assuming loophole remains, then unstake at a 2% fee. I will split this over a few stakes so I can unstake one or two early if I feel the need and/or to de-risk (unstaking does not effect other stakes).
I also have staked on multiple networks. This also allows me to unstake without effecting other stakes but offers more flexibility when it comes to claiming.
Using $1,000 (so you can also compare to the the 21 day example further above), 41 days would produce $1,827 profit
Math:
$1,000=$900 staked. At 5%/day =$45/day earnings for 41 days = $1,845. Unstake fee at 2% of $900 = $18.
Yes; that's potentially $1,845 profit from $1,000 in just 6 weeks!
(184.5% profit!)
If you do that in multiple wallets or networks (or even just as multiple stakes), it gives you the flexibility to cash in some to de-risk, and leave others running to maximise profit.
After de-risking somewhat, I may consider a collecting &/or compounding strategy using a few wallets or networks.
Ultimately, a long-term staking strategy is best for the protocol and overall win-win for all. However, given how early this project is, it's always a good idea to reduce risk ASAP. I'll monitor and re-assess strategy as time goes on.
Wealth Mountain is an early-stage platform. DYOR – read their docs, join their Discord.
Updates
- I added stakes on Avalanche and Polygon (my first tests were on BSC).
- The BSC stake (first stake) has hit its first milestone of 21 days & the % jumped.
- Oct 2nd: (more in monthly update): things going as advertised, all stakes increasing.
- Oct 8th FAIL: My strategy failed! Avalanche and Polygon drained by unstaking. Contracts are moving to ‘V2'. What exactly this means is unclear to me at this time…and yes; my main stakes were on Avalanche and Polygon! #grrr Whilst Fantom is holding on, it seems BSC and ETH are the best bets. Will update once I know more, meanwhile check the app and Discord if you staked on Avalanche/Poly; there is a form to complete.
- Oct 11th: They are having a ‘vote' to decide what to do re V2 migrations. Information is unclear and will likely remain unclear until after 20th Oct. I have unstaked what little I had on BSC to offset some of the risk/uncertainty around Polygon/Avalanche which, for now, cannot be unstaked and are not accruing any rewards. 🙁 Best to check in on Discord for latest info.
- Oct 25th: All contracts on all networks have now been depleted and are migrating to V2. Not much information is available. #WatchThisSpace (although probably faster if you just check their Twitter/Discord!)
Wealth Mountain referral links (+3%)
A Wealth Mountain referral link earns you an instant 3% on your deposit. Here's the network links;
See updates further above regarding strikethroughs. Seems like Binance (BSC) is best bet but keep an eye on the TVL (I put mine into Polygon and Avalanche — earned zero rewards as got depleted quickly).
You can add this 3% bonus to your deposit or withdraw it!
I'm not sure how long the bonuses are available for, they had said it was some sort of launch bonus.
Roundup (V1)
Wealth Mountain is very new. I'm very skeptical about if they can make 5% per day sustainable long-term but only time will tell. The first few months are critical as we see the %'s hit those milestones right up to day 50. It will be interesting to see what happens in terms of the Wealth Combinator and other proposed methods of revenue generation as this is the key.
They seem to be doing a lot right, especially getting audits as a priority.
The fact that they cannot alter the contracts is a good thing and leads me to believe team intentions are good, however only time will tell if the contracts support it. They have been transparent about two loopholes and how to monitor them for abuse / exploit by owner (or take advantage of them!).
They are forthcoming on Discord.
Their 3% bonus for referring or being referred is generous, although I'd have concerns of it being abused.
Either way, I've deposited a small sum and will see how it goes! In all likelihood, I'll be adding another stake in a week or so.😉
Wealth Mountain V2:
s of 25th October not much information is available on what V2 is and how it will work, other than it's a profit-share (you can see their current portfolio within the dashboard).
I will update when more information is available and confirmed.
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