Integration Grants Application '26: Crucible

#1

Integration Grants Application '26: Crucible

Application Introduction

Name of the project: Crucible

Problem statement and proposed solution:

The Conflux DeFi ecosystem currently lacks one of the most fundamental primitives in decentralized finance: a native, overcollateralized stablecoin. Users on Conflux eSpace have no way to mint a decentralized USD-pegged stablecoin against their CFX holdings. This creates several downstream problems:

  • CFX holders who want stable-value exposure must bridge to other chains or rely entirely on centralized stablecoin issuers.
  • The DeFi ecosystem cannot develop meaningful lending, borrowing, or yield infrastructure without a native stable asset to anchor against.
  • DEX liquidity pools lack a decentralized stablecoin pairing, limiting trading pair diversity and capital efficiency.
  • AxCNH (Conflux’s offshore RMB stablecoin) has no decentralized counterpart on the USD side, leaving a gap in the stablecoin toolkit.

Crucible solves this by deploying a CDP (Collateralized Debt Position) stablecoin protocol on Conflux eSpace. Users deposit CFX (and eventually other whitelisted collateral assets) into vaults, and mint fxUSD, a USD-pegged stablecoin, against that collateral. The protocol enforces overcollateralization (minimum 150% collateral ratio), and positions that fall below the liquidation threshold are liquidated by third-party liquidators who earn a discount on seized collateral.

This is the same proven model that underpins MakerDAO (DAI), Liquity (LUSD), and other battle-tested CDP protocols, adapted specifically for the Conflux ecosystem with AxCNH integration as a differentiator.

Alignment with the Conflux Network:

Crucible directly addresses three of the four stated goals of the Conflux Grants program:

  1. Creating an ecosystem that is diverse and attracts liquidity: A native stablecoin is a liquidity magnet. Every DeFi user needs stable-value assets, and every DEX needs stablecoin pairs. fxUSD would become a core trading pair on Swappi and any future Conflux DEXs.
  2. Increasing liveliness of the Conflux Network: CDP protocols generate continuous on-chain activity: vault openings, collateral deposits, stablecoin minting/burning, liquidations, and redemptions. Each user interaction is a transaction.
  3. Building out the Conflux technology stack: The protocol’s open-source smart contracts (vault management, liquidation engine, price oracle integration) become reusable infrastructure for other DeFi builders on Conflux.

Additionally, Crucible will integrate AxCNH as a settlement and trading pair. A fxUSD/AxCNH pool would create the first decentralized USD/CNH forex pair on Conflux, which aligns with Conflux’s strategic positioning as the compliant blockchain bridging Chinese and global markets.

Benefit to the Conflux Ecosystem:

  • TVL growth: Every dollar of fxUSD minted requires at least $1.50 in CFX locked as collateral, directly increasing on-chain TVL. A modest $500K in minted stablecoins translates to $750K+ in locked collateral.
  • Developer benefit: Open-source Solidity contracts (MIT licensed) that other teams can fork, extend, or integrate. Any lending protocol deploying on Conflux (such as Nysa) could list fxUSD as a supported asset.
  • Economic benefit: Minting fees (one-time), stability fees (ongoing, accrued on outstanding debt), and liquidation penalties all generate protocol revenue and on-chain transaction volume.
  • User retention: Users who lock CFX in vaults have a financial reason to stay engaged with the Conflux ecosystem rather than bridging assets elsewhere.

Competitive edge:

No overcollateralized stablecoin protocol currently exists on Conflux. Crucible would be first-to-market with a proven DeFi primitive. The protocol is being built by a developer who has already designed, architected, and is actively building a CDP stablecoin protocol (Rumi Protocol, minting icUSD) on Internet Computer Protocol. The core protocol design (vault mechanics, liquidation logic, collateral ratio management, oracle integration, risk parameters) has already been solved. This is not a theoretical whitepaper; it is a deployment of working knowledge to a new chain.

Links:

Conflux eSpace grant recipient wallet address: 0x3E5DaBD06F3050DEBb6DbDE9d9471Ce60adaE2D9

Are you an incorporated startup? Yes. Crucible is developed by Rumi Labs LLC, a Wyoming LLC (filed January 2025, EIN 33-2759974). Robert Ripley is the sole member. Rumi Labs also develops Rumi Protocol (CDP stablecoin on ICP).

Technical Introduction

Functional goals:

Crucible is a minimal, secure CDP stablecoin protocol with the following functional goals:

  • Allow users to open vaults by depositing CFX as collateral
  • Allow users to mint fxUSD (ERC-20, USD-pegged) against their collateral at a minimum collateral ratio of 150%
  • Enable users to repay debt and withdraw collateral at any time
  • Liquidate undercollateralized positions (below 110-120% CR depending on final risk parameters) with a liquidation penalty that incentivizes third-party liquidators
  • Provide a redemption mechanism allowing fxUSD holders to redeem stablecoins for underlying collateral at face value, maintaining the peg
  • Integrate with a price oracle (Pyth Network or Witnet, both available on Conflux eSpace) for CFX/USD price feeds
  • Deploy a fxUSD/CFX and fxUSD/AxCNH liquidity pool on Swappi

Existing solutions:

There are no existing CDP or stablecoin-minting protocols on Conflux eSpace. On other EVM chains, well-known implementations include:

  • MakerDAO (Ethereum): Multi-collateral CDP protocol, $8B+ DAI minted. Complex governance structure.
  • Liquity (Ethereum): Governance-minimized, immutable CDP protocol. Single collateral (ETH). Elegant liquidation mechanism using a Stability Pool.
  • Prisma Finance (Ethereum): CDP backed by liquid staking tokens.

Crucible draws most heavily from Liquity’s design philosophy: governance-minimized, simple, and focused on a clean liquidation mechanism. The Liquity V2 model (user-set interest rates, multiple collateral types) is being evaluated as the target architecture.

Feasibility: High. The protocol design is well-understood (CDP stablecoins have existed since 2017), the developer has direct experience building one, and Conflux eSpace’s EVM compatibility means standard Solidity tooling (Hardhat, OpenZeppelin) works out of the box.

Purpose of the system: To provide Conflux with its first native decentralized stablecoin, enabling CFX holders to access stable-value liquidity without leaving the ecosystem.

Scope of the system:

In scope (grant period):

  • Core CDP smart contracts (Vault Manager, Stablecoin Token, Price Feed integration, Liquidation Engine, Stability Pool)
  • Basic frontend for vault management (open, deposit, mint, repay, withdraw)
  • Liquidity pool deployment on Swappi (fxUSD/CFX, fxUSD/AxCNH)
  • Security audit by independent firm
  • Mainnet deployment on Conflux eSpace

Out of scope (future roadmap):

  • Multi-collateral support (bridged WETH, WBTC)
  • Governance token
  • Advanced frontend analytics and portfolio tracking
  • Cross-chain deployments

Objectives and success criteria:

Objective Success Criteria
Testnet deployment All core contracts deployed and verified on Conflux eSpace testnet, 100+ test transactions
Security audit Professional audit completed with 0 critical/high vulnerabilities remaining
Mainnet launch Contracts deployed and verified on Conflux eSpace mainnet
Initial adoption $100K+ TVL within 60 days of mainnet launch
Liquidity Active fxUSD/CFX pool on Swappi with $50K+ liquidity
AxCNH integration Live fxUSD/AxCNH trading pair

Definitions:

  • CDP: Collateralized Debt Position. A smart contract vault where users lock collateral to mint stablecoins.
  • CR: Collateral Ratio. The value of collateral divided by outstanding debt. Must exceed minimum threshold.
  • Liquidation: Forced closure of a vault whose CR falls below the liquidation threshold.
  • Stability Pool: A pool of fxUSD deposited by users that absorbs liquidated debt in exchange for discounted collateral.
  • Redemption: The mechanism by which any fxUSD holder can exchange stablecoins for underlying collateral at face value, providing a hard peg floor.

Technical Proposal

Functional overview:

The protocol consists of five core smart contracts:

  1. VaultManager.sol - The central contract managing all user vaults. Handles vault creation, collateral deposits/withdrawals, stablecoin minting/repayment, and tracks each vault’s collateral ratio. Enforces minimum collateral ratio on all operations.

  2. StablecoinToken.sol - ERC-20 token contract for fxUSD. Minting is restricted to VaultManager (on debt issuance) and burning occurs on repayment or redemption. Standard ERC-20 interface for compatibility with all Conflux eSpace DEXs and protocols.

  3. PriceFeed.sol - Oracle integration contract that fetches CFX/USD price data. Primary oracle: Pyth Network (already deployed on Conflux eSpace). Fallback: Witnet or TWAP from Swappi CFX/USDT pool. Includes staleness checks and deviation thresholds.

  4. LiquidationEngine.sol - Manages the liquidation process. When a vault’s CR drops below the liquidation threshold, any user can trigger liquidation. The Stability Pool absorbs the debt, and liquidators receive the vault’s collateral at a discount (typically 5-10%). If the Stability Pool is empty, redistribution of debt and collateral occurs across remaining vaults.

  5. StabilityPool.sol - Users deposit fxUSD into the Stability Pool to earn liquidation gains. When a liquidation occurs, the pool’s fxUSD is burned to cover the liquidated vault’s debt, and the pool depositors receive the liquidated collateral proportionally. This creates a natural incentive loop: depositors earn discounted CFX, and the protocol maintains solvency.

Additional components:

  • RedemptionModule (integrated into VaultManager): Allows any fxUSD holder to redeem stablecoins for CFX at the current oracle price, minus a redemption fee. Redemptions close the lowest-CR vaults first, creating a hard price floor for the stablecoin. This is the primary peg maintenance mechanism.
  • Frontend: React + Wagmi/Viem for wallet connection (Fluent Wallet support), vault dashboard, Stability Pool interface, and protocol analytics.

Security model:

  • All contracts use OpenZeppelin libraries (ReentrancyGuard, Pausable, AccessControl)
  • Emergency pause functionality controlled by deployer multisig (to be transitioned to governance or burned post-stability period)
  • Professional security audit before mainnet deployment
  • Immutable core contracts (no proxy upgradability on vault logic) to minimize trust assumptions

Legal/licensing:

  • All smart contracts open-sourced under MIT License
  • No token sale, no securities issuance
  • fxUSD is a decentralized stablecoin minted by users against their own collateral; the protocol does not custody funds
  • No KYC required for protocol usage (permissionless)

Non-functional overview:

  • Usability: Clean, minimal frontend focused on the core user flow: deposit collateral, mint stablecoins, manage vault. No unnecessary complexity.
  • Reliability: Immutable smart contracts (no admin keys on core vault logic post-launch), oracle failsafes with fallback price feeds, circuit breakers for extreme market conditions.
  • Performance: All smart contracts optimized for gas efficiency on Conflux eSpace. Target <100K gas per vault operation. Conflux’s low gas fees (~$0.01/tx) make the protocol accessible to small positions.
  • User interface: Responsive web app (Next.js), mobile-friendly, Fluent Wallet integration with fallback to MetaMask/WalletConnect.

Total Budget

Grant Size Requested: $27,000 USD

Justification and breakdown:

Category Amount Description
Smart contract development $10,000 Solidity development of core CDP contracts (VaultManager, StablecoinToken, PriceFeed, LiquidationEngine, StabilityPool). Includes Solidity contractor support for audit-readiness and gas optimization.
Security audit $8,000 Professional smart contract audit from a recognized firm (PeckShield, Hashlock, or comparable). This is non-negotiable for a protocol that holds user funds.
Frontend development $3,000 React frontend for vault management, Stability Pool, and protocol dashboard. Fluent Wallet integration.
Infrastructure $2,000 Hosting (Vercel/AWS), RPC node access, oracle subscription fees, domain, testnet deployment costs.
Liquidity bootstrapping $2,500 Initial liquidity for fxUSD/CFX and fxUSD/AxCNH pools on Swappi to enable trading from day one.
Marketing and documentation $1,500 Technical documentation, user guides, launch announcement, community engagement (Twitter Spaces, Conflux Discord/Telegram).
Total $27,000

The budget is lean by design. Core protocol development leverages existing CDP architecture knowledge from Rumi Protocol (ICP), significantly reducing engineering time. The largest single expense is the security audit, which is the minimum responsible standard for any protocol holding user collateral.

Development Roadmap

Milestone 1: Testnet Deployment (Weeks 1-6)

Funding requested: $10,000

Deliverables:

  • All five core smart contracts (VaultManager, StablecoinToken, PriceFeed, LiquidationEngine, StabilityPool) deployed and verified on Conflux eSpace testnet
  • Contracts verified on ConfluxScan with source code
  • 100+ test transactions demonstrating: vault creation, collateral deposit, stablecoin minting, repayment, withdrawal, liquidation, Stability Pool deposit/withdrawal, and redemption
  • Unit test suite with >90% code coverage (Hardhat + Chai)
  • Basic frontend deployed (vault management, Stability Pool interface) connected to testnet
  • GitHub repository public with MIT license
  • Technical documentation (architecture overview, contract specifications, risk parameters)

Timeline: 6 weeks from grant approval

Milestone 2: Security Audit and Beta (Weeks 7-10)

Funding requested: $10,000

Deliverables:

  • Professional security audit completed by recognized firm
  • All critical and high-severity findings remediated
  • Audit report published publicly
  • Beta testing period with 20+ community testers on testnet
  • Frontend refined based on beta feedback
  • Oracle integration stress-tested (price feed reliability, staleness handling, fallback mechanism)
  • Gas optimization pass (target <100K gas per core operation)

Timeline: 4 weeks

Milestone 3: Mainnet Launch and AxCNH Integration (Weeks 11-14)

Funding requested: $5,000

Deliverables:

  • All contracts deployed and verified on Conflux eSpace mainnet
  • Frontend live at crucible.money
  • fxUSD/CFX liquidity pool live on Swappi
  • fxUSD/AxCNH liquidity pool live on Swappi
  • Launch announcement and community campaign
  • User documentation and FAQ published
  • Public grant progress report posted to forum

Timeline: 4 weeks

Total timeline: 14 weeks (approximately 3.5 months) from grant approval to mainnet.

Team

Robert Ripley - Founder and Protocol Designer

  • Role: Protocol architecture, smart contract development, frontend, project management. Solidity contractor management for audit preparation and optimization.
  • Relevant experience: DeFi analyst and independent DeFi consultant since 2012. Currently designing and building Rumi Protocol, a CDP stablecoin protocol minting icUSD on Internet Computer Protocol (Rust/Motoko). Deep domain knowledge of CDP mechanics including vault management, liquidation engines, oracle integration, collateral risk parameters, and peg stability mechanisms. Working knowledge of Solidity, with primary experience in Rust and Motoko. Professional background includes DeFi instruction at two crypto education companies and independent consulting for clients deploying capital in DeFi.
  • X (personal): https://x.com/robvector
  • X (Rumi Protocol): https://x.com/rumilabsxyz
  • Rumi Protocol (live): https://app.rumiprotocol.com
  • Website: https://robripley.com
  • GitHub: https://github.com/RobRipley
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-ripley-junior/

Contractor Support:

  • Solidity auditor/contractor (to be engaged): Code review, gas optimization, and audit preparation for core contracts. Budget allocated from smart contract development line item.
  • Security audit firm (to be engaged): Professional audit of all deployed contracts. Specific firm to be confirmed during Milestone 1 (evaluating PeckShield, Hashlock, and others).

Terms of Use

I agree to all of the following terms of use in applying to a Conflux Ecosystem Grant:

  • I have read and understood the Conflux Grants Ecosystem Overview
  • I have read about and understood that the Conflux Technical Grants are subject to a No-Sale rule
  • I agree to provide KYC information to the Conflux Foundation for the sake of overall ecosystem security
  • I understand that I will be required to follow public grant reporting requirements
#2

Dear Crucible Team,

Thank you for submitting your application for the Crucible integration grant. I will review it in detail and follow up with any questions. You can expect to hear back from us on a decision timeline within the coming month.

Thanks again for your interest and for contributing to the Conflux ecosystem.

Best regards,

Máté
Head of Grants | Conflux Network

#3

Hello :slight_smile:
Just checking in to see if there’s any interest here

#4

Dear Crucible Team,

Thank you for the detailed proposal and apologies for the delayed response.

After reviewing the application internally, we believe the proposal is directionally interesting and addresses a real gap within the Conflux DeFi ecosystem. A native overcollateralized stablecoin could become an important primitive for the broader DeFi stack on Conflux eSpace, particularly regarding lending, liquidity, and long-term TVL growth.

We also appreciate that the proposal includes:

  • a relatively clear technical architecture,
  • realistic protocol design references (MakerDAO / Liquity),
  • a security audit allocation,
  • and measurable deployment milestones.

That said, before moving forward, we would like to request additional clarification on several areas:

  1. Liquidity & Peg Sustainability
  • Beyond the initial liquidity bootstrapping, how does the team plan to maintain long-term liquidity and peg stability for fxUSD?
  • Are there any discussions with market makers, LP partners, or ecosystem protocols regarding liquidity support?
  • What are the expected incentives for users to hold/use fxUSD instead of existing stablecoins?
  1. Oracle & Liquidation Risk
  • Please elaborate further on the oracle fallback logic and how the system handles oracle manipulation/extreme volatility scenarios.
  • How does the protocol behave during rapid CFX price drawdowns and cascading liquidations?
  • Has the team modeled stress scenarios similar to March 2020 / Terra-style market conditions?
  1. Adoption & Ecosystem Integration
  • Besides Swappi pools, are there already discussions with other Conflux ecosystem projects regarding fxUSD integrations?
  • What is the expected user acquisition strategy during the first 3–6 months post-launch?
  • How does the team plan to drive actual usage beyond speculative minting?
  1. KPI & Growth Expectations
    The committee would also like to better understand:
  • projected active user numbers,
  • expected stablecoin circulation,
  • expected TVL after 6 months,
  • and targeted transaction activity.

While the proposal mentions $100K+ TVL within 60 days, we would appreciate a more detailed breakdown explaining how this target is expected to be achieved.

  1. Team & Solidity Experience
    While we understand the broader DeFi experience and the work done on Rumi Protocol, could the team elaborate further on:
  • direct Solidity production deployment experience,
  • prior smart contract audits,
  • and the planned contractor/security review structure?

Lastly, while the requested budget is not unreasonable relative to the scope, the committee generally prefers milestone structures with very clear ecosystem KPIs and measurable adoption metrics tied directly to payments.

We look forward to your responses and additional clarification.

Best regards,
Máté
Head of Grants | Conflux Network

#5

Dear Maté and the Grants Committee,

Thanks for the careful review. Working through your points in order.

1. Liquidity & Peg Sustainability

Long-term peg stability rests on three layered mechanisms.

Stability Pool: fxUSD depositors absorb liquidations at a discount, receiving CFX collateral below market price in exchange for retiring outstanding debt. The mechanism is stress-aligned. The worse the market gets, the more attractive the pool becomes to deposit into, which creates a structural buyer of fxUSD precisely when the peg needs the most support.

Redemption arbitrage: any user can redeem 1 fxUSD for $1 of CFX collateral from the riskiest open vaults at any time, paying a small fee. This is the hard price floor.

Liquidity layering: post-launch, the plan is to extend incentives to additional Conflux venues as they are identified and to seed an fxUSD/USDT pair that gives arbitrageurs a clean route between fxUSD and existing dollar liquidity on Conflux.

On market makers and liquidity providers: I have an existing relationship with Xender Labs, who previously discussed sourcing liquidity for Rumi at a scale that exceeded what we needed there. They may be a fit for Crucible in the $500k to $1M range, where the cost of capital can be carried by protocol fees. Beyond that contact, Foundation introductions to Conflux-native LP partners would meaningfully accelerate the rollout.

Why hold fxUSD instead of bridged stables. Bridged and fiat-backed stablecoins require existing dollar liquidity to be brought in from somewhere else. They depend on bridges and external issuers. Crucible lets users create new on-chain dollar liquidity from native assets they already hold.

That has practical consequences for the whole ecosystem. If borrowing USDT against CFX on a Conflux lending market gets expensive because demand spikes, fxUSD offers an alternative borrow rate that does not fluctuate with pool utilization. The cost is set by the user’s collateral ratio, not by external demand. That arbitrages rates across Conflux DeFi and unlocks liquidity that would otherwise sit idle. A long-term CFX holder who does not want to sell can collateralize, mint fxUSD, and put it to work in the stability pool, in LP positions, or in other on-chain markets, without giving up their CFX position.

The structural value is not “another stablecoin.” It is a primitive for converting native CFX into productive dollar liquidity inside Conflux, with no bridge risk, no external issuer, and no dependence on outside capital flows.

2. Oracle & Liquidation Risk

Decided:

  • Primary plus fallback oracle architecture: a push-based primary source, a second independent source, and circuit-breaker logic that activates on stale data, large deviation, or aggregator failure.
  • Liquidation engine: when a vault drops below MCR, it is liquidated against the stability pool first (instant, no auction), with debt redistribution to remaining vaults as a backstop.

Milestone 1 deliverables in this area:

  • Final oracle selection between Pyth Network, Chainlink (if available at the required quality on Conflux eSpace), and Conflux’s internal feed, evaluated on uptime, deviation history, and latency under load. Selection rationale published.
  • A stress test model run against three CDP-relevant scenarios: a Black Thursday style fast collateral drawdown (50%+ in 24 hours with simultaneous gas congestion), a sustained multi-week CFX bear case with slow vault unwind, and an oracle manipulation attack of the type that took down Mango Markets.

On Terra-style market conditions specifically. An overcollateralized CDP does not have the reflexive mint mechanism that drove UST’s collapse. fxUSD supply only expands when a user deposits collateral and only contracts on repayment or redemption, so there is no death-spiral feedback loop between the stablecoin and an algorithmic reserve token. The more relevant historical failure modes for a CDP are oracle compromise, liquidation cascades that exhaust the stability pool, and gas congestion that prevents liquidations from clearing in fast crashes. Those are what the stress tests are built to target.

Rapid CFX drawdowns. The stability pool is the first defense. As long as it holds fxUSD, liquidations execute against the pool rather than into thin AMM books. If the pool drains, debt redistribution kicks in, which mechanically raises every surviving vault’s collateral ratio and dampens the cascade.

3. Adoption & Ecosystem Integration

Honest state: Swappi is the planned bootstrap venue. The broader integration map is what milestones 1 and 2 build out, accelerated meaningfully by Foundation introductions.

Concrete plan:

  • Warm intros to Goledo and other Conflux lending protocols. The use case is fxUSD as a supply asset, where lenders earn yield by supplying fxUSD to borrowers who post their own collateral. This gives fxUSD productive demand outside our protocol and helps equalize stablecoin borrow rates across the Conflux DeFi stack.
  • A stability pool launch campaign with yield rewards for early depositors. Stablecoin yield is a proven wedge for attracting users from outside an existing DeFi base.
  • Public stress test results, oracle selection rationale, and an open analytics dashboard at launch, so integrators and users can verify what they are using.

User acquisition for months 1 through 3 is technical credibility plus distribution: clear documentation, public stress tests, seeded DEX liquidity on Swappi (fxUSD/USDT and fxUSD/CFX), and direct outreach into both Conflux and the broader EVM CDP audience that follows new stablecoin launches.

4. KPI & Growth Expectations

Targets:

Metric 60 days post-mainnet 6 months post-mainnet
TVL (CFX collateral) $250k to $500k $1.5M to $3M
fxUSD circulating $150k to $300k $750k to $1.5M
Unique vault addresses 75 to 150 400 to 800
Stability pool depositors 25+ 100+
Protocol interactions per day 20 to 50 100 to 250

The $100k TVL number from the original application is the M3 release gate floor, not the growth target. Real growth is driven by seeded DEX liquidity on Swappi, the Xender Labs liquidity option scoped to Conflux economics, Foundation-supported ecosystem integrations, and the stability pool yield campaign.

5. Team & Solidity Experience

Rumi Protocol is the proof of execution. It is live on ICP mainnet, has real TVL, and ships every piece of the architecture proposed for Crucible: the CDP, oracle integration, liquidation engine, and stability pool are all implemented and functioning today. The mechanism design and incident-modeling work is already done. Crucible is that same model on EVM.

Background:

  • Three years working as a DeFi analyst, with daily Solidity exposure across major EVM protocols. Reading, reviewing, and tracing contracts is the day job.
  • Two Solidity courses (2021 fundamentals, later self-directed work on Remix, OpenZeppelin patterns, and contract authoring).
  • Built and shipped Rumi on the Internet Computer using Rust and Motoko. ICP canister development is meaningfully more complex than EVM Solidity in terms of async message handling, stable memory management, and upgrade safety. Shipping a working CDP stablecoin in that environment is the harder version of the same job.

For Crucible’s deployment:

  • Architecture mirrors Liquity v2 closely. That reference is intentional. A battle-tested CDP design with documented behavior under stress is the right starting point for a new chain, not a rewrite.
  • $1.5k allocated for Solidity production deployment review by a Solidity specialist.
  • $8k for the security audit. Block Apex is the primary candidate, and there is an existing contact in place. The audit is complemented by AI-augmented static analysis tooling and a public bug bounty period before mainnet. Audit is non-optional, full stop, and must complete before mainnet deployment.
  • Transparency note on Rumi: that security review was performed via AVAI, an AI-driven analysis tool. Useful for catching certain bug classes. Crucible’s plan combines a traditional human firm engagement with AI tooling and a community bounty, which is the current best-practice stack for a new stablecoin.

6. Budget restructured to milestone-tied KPIs

Milestone Funding Release contingent on
M1: Testnet Deployment (Weeks 1 to 6) $10,000 All 5 contracts deployed and verified on testnet, 100+ test transactions executed end to end, oracle selection rationale published, stress test results published
M2: Security Audit & Beta (Weeks 7 to 10) $12,000 Block Apex audit report published, all critical and high findings remediated, testnet beta open with 25+ external test users, at least one ecosystem integration announced
M3: Mainnet Launch + Initial Growth (Weeks 11 to 14, with 60-day grace window) $5,000 All contracts deployed and verified on Conflux eSpace mainnet, Fluent Wallet integration live, fxUSD/USDT and fxUSD/CFX pairs seeded on Swappi, $100k+ TVL achieved within 60 days of mainnet
Total $27,000

Each milestone payment is gated on committee verification of the listed KPIs. If a milestone slips or a KPI misses, the conversation pauses and we align on what changed before further funding flows.

7. One additional note

Since the original proposal was submitted two months ago, Rumi Labs has continued research and development that has surfaced an alternative architecture for Crucible worth flagging. Using ICP’s Chainfusion tech, the core protocol logic stays on ICP while Conflux serves as the collateral chain and the user-facing frontend. The Conflux-side stablecoin would be minted as a standard ERC-20 via threshold signatures.

The trade-offs versus the Solidity-native build above:

  • Estimated delivery of 4 to 6 weeks rather than 14 weeks
  • Leverages oracle integration (DFINITY’s XRC canister), the liquidation bot, and the stability pool implementation that are already built and live on Rumi
  • Genuine cross-chain interoperability: the Conflux-side stablecoin is redeemable for ICP-side collateral through the canister, creating a single multi-chain protocol rather than two unrelated CDPs
  • A novel Chainfusion-based deployment on Conflux, which to our knowledge would be the first of its kind on the chain

The Solidity-native build above remains the primary path and is ready to execute. We are flagging the alternative in case the committee sees strategic value in a faster integration timeline, a cross-chain stablecoin design, or both. Happy to scope either direction in more detail or to schedule a call.

Happy to go deeper on oracle methodology, the Rumi precedent, the milestone gating, or the cross-chain alternative, and to schedule a call if useful.

Best,
Rob Ripley