pooltogether-community-ui VS protocol

First off, wanted to say thanks very much for posting this, primarily because I think it is an example that is straightforward and easy to understand. That said, I'm also thinking "if this is one of the best, straightforward examples people are talking about when referring to 'the value of smart contracts', then smart contracts are just nowhere near the important tech its boosters believe." (To be clear mteigers, not directing this at you, just saying this because what you've posted is probably the best example of a real-world use case I've seen).

In summary, what PoolTogether (https://pooltogether.com/) does is basically act like a normal savings account, except instead of you getting 4% interest a year or whatever, that interest is all pooled and then given out in big chunks at random - most people get nothing, but "winners" will get what is essentially everyone else's interest. Some notes:

1. I'm not clear what activity they're engaging in that actually generates interest (e.g. who they're lending to in order to generate a spread), but in fairness I didn't spend much going into the details. That said, if they really are generating income by lending, then I'm very curious how they can't suffer from some of the same negative edge-cases inherent in fractional reserve banking, like a run on the bank. If they are not generating real income from lending, I'm very suspect about how they can really be generating interest. Again, I didn't look much into this, so totally admit I could just not be understanding the details here.

2. I see absolutely no real benefit that comes from doing this as a smart contract vs. just doing this as any other kind of normal software (e.g. what core banking software provides), despite what their blurbs on the website say.

So still just dumbfounded by the lack of real utility in any of these smart contract examples I've seen.

Take a look: https://pooltogether.com

PoolTogether: Transforming Savings Games and Lotteries

How about defend a prize-linked savings program from an individual that placed around $12 into the protocol before immediately filing a lawsuit?

Have you checked out PoolTogether. You earn yield in the form of prizes and if you deposit on optimism you also earn OP tokens. It’s like a DeFi savings account for USDC. Worth looking into if you haven’t already.

Pooltogether uses their token for governance but you absolutely do not need to have it to use the product or participate in anything. It’s strictly used for voting in governance. No blockers

There's literally one project that I've seen being truly useful: https://pooltogether.com/

It's cool because it's not possible to do this without crypto (in terms of trust). But because it uses a smart contract you can be sure that when you put your money into it, it won't steal it.

We could easily incentivize no-loss lotteries like https://pooltogether.com/ I wonder how that affects problem gamblers? If there's no opportunity to actually lose anything do problem gamblers choose other options?

POOL - PoolTogether https://pooltogether.com/ Open source pooled savings account/lottery with twice weekly draws

🏀 Enzyme Finance - actively managed crypto funds (or ‘vaults’) with open track records and strategies for different risk tolerances

Enzyme is what you're looking for: https://enzyme.finance/

Cross-chain-compatible Vaults / Asset Management - Enzyme (https://enzyme.finance/) runs on Ethereum / Polygon, so this niche is a bit taken, but cross-chain vaults can be implemented with a non-tradeable vault-intrinsic token (or tokens). That is, the vault can still run on one chain and implement tokenized versions of strategies that any PM is taking. Enzyme is fairly limited due to only covering Ethereum DeFi.

Check out Enzyme (formerly known as Melon). They've been working on this for years.

If you are holding long term you can potentially earn more by staking it (it allows others to leverage it and pay you interest). It what exchanges do when you leave your crypto with them. There are still RISKS and I personal I don't do any of that. One place to start learning about it is https://enzyme.finance, I have a friend that runs a fund on their platform. There are others out there, this just happens to be the one I know about.

Thanks for information. I really don't know much about Mai. The system I propose doesn't transfer token to user wallet but it transfer to a secure fund where user can do anything he wants: like enzyme.finance. It will be really combination of aave protocol and enzyme without interest but profit sharing.

You could invest in one of the funds at enzyme.finance. You delegate your funds into a vault (smart-contract) managed by someone else but everything remains very much transparent and you can exit at any time.

Enzyme (MLN #332 CoinGecko 164M$ Mcap) - https://enzyme.finance/ - Enzyme is a decentralized asset management infrastructure built on Ethereum. Using Enzyme Smart Vaults, individuals and communities can build, scale and monetize investment strategies. - Enzyme empowers you to build and scale vaults based on the investment strategies of your choice like ETFs and markets. - Main product: https://app.enzyme.finance/depositor/leaderboard