Alphas

What is an Alpha?

Most fundamentally, the Alpha is a role granted by the Atomist. The privilege that an Alpha has is preparing and executing transactions on behalf of the Plasma Vault. Alphas can be smart contracts, EOAs, or automated services that hold their private keys. Each vault can have multiple Alphas so it is important that, if multiple Alphas are connected to a particular vault, they are coordinated so that they don't interfere with one another.

Manual Alpha Operations

The simplest case of Alpha is appointing an EOA to run the operations to manually using the interface.

The app.ipor.io website has an interface for interacting with smart contracts via widgets. Widgets abstract the fuse functionality and provide a consistent interface for executing transactions.

If the interface is unavailable for the fuse you want to interact with, you can always build the transaction by hand. Fusion implements a diamond proxy pattern so that the vault implements the function calls from the connected fuses.

Automated Alpha

The core philosophy of IPOR Fusion is to build the vaults in such a way as to enable automation without sacrificing transparency and security.

In principle, there is no difference between a manual and an automated Alpha. They both have the same privileges and from the perspective of the vault so there is no difference whatsoever. The main difference is the interface through which management is done. Since the automated Alpha doesn't need UI it needs to build all its transactions via the provided SDK, or by communicating directly with smart contracts.

When operating an Alpha there are certain security precautions one needs to take. Because the Alpha has direct access to the vault, albeit limited by the fuses and validations, it can still manage the assets freely. Natively, the Alpha architecture does not require any form of consensus. Of course, if this is your choice, you may implement the logic the have the decision-making process decentralised and more sophisticated.

IPOR Fusion Alpha SDK

the convenient IPOR Fusion can be accessed directly via smart contracts. However, IPOR Labs also maintains an SDK that makes the process of building your own automation easier. The SDK's role is to provide a convenient interface for managing the vault. As more types of Fuses are developed, the SDK will be expanded to cover different use cases.

Java SDK

Below you can find the SDK with simple documentation. https://github.com/IPOR-Labs/ipor-fusion-sdk-java

Python SDK

A Python SDK can be made available upon request.

Handling Points

One particular scenario when operating vaults as Alpha is accounting for points.

Thanks to the structure of Fusion, all the points are accrued by the vault. If you need to distribute those points or rewards based on those points it has to be handled by your backend logic.

Since points often require integration with an off-chain component, it's a perfect case to manage this process by an Alpha.

If you need to show points on your vault's page on the IPOR web app, and this particular type of points is not yet supported, reach out to the IPOR DAO via Discord, where you can request adding that integration. It's up to the individual Atomist/Alpha.

Alpha Marketplace

The IPOR DAO has built an Alpha highly specialized in managing assets on credit markets. If you'd like your vault to be managed by this alpha, reach out to IPOR DAO via Discord.

Currently, IPOR DAO and the network of its partners can provide service running automation according to your specifications in the following areas:

• Credit market liquidity provision - IPOR DAO,

• Leveraged looping - IPOR DAO,

• Liquidity provisioning on Uniswap-v3-like DEXes - Clearstar

Supported blockchains:

• Ethereum

• Arbitrum

• Base - coming soon

If you want to provide automation services, please contact the IPOR DAO via Discord.