CCG - Compensation Proposal & New Membership

Real World Assets Centrifuge Credit Group
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Hi Centrifuge Community,

This post aims to provide further color on the proposed usage of the Credit Group’s quarterly budget (previously voted on here: Poll: Formation of Credit Group) and also invites new credit experts to be a part of the expanding group. The group will be constituted by experienced credit professionals (typically 5+ years of work experience at top-tier institutions) that will act as a decentralized group of unbiased analysts, who can leverage their credit and sector expertise to analyze newly proposed credit opportunities via the Centrifuge protocol.

How work is performed: After performing a pre-screen, the Credit Group Facilitator will assign an appropriate credit expert to analyze issuers and create a credit review report. The reports will typically be 3-10 pages in length and are expected to take ~5-15 hours to complete. Following the review, the report will be posted to the Centrifuge forum, as well as other community forums if the proposed pools are relevant to them. The credit report process is expected to take ~2-4 weeks to complete, but the timeline can vary based on the due diligence process and support of required information by the issuer.

Year to date commentary: In 2023, the Credit Group formally established its Charter and grew in membership to eight credit experts. After formalizing the group’s strategy and governance, the team helped to draft a credit report template that aims to provide key credit strengths and concerns in a digestible format. The team started pre-screening new Centrifuge pool proposals and is actively working on its first credit report as a proof of concept. The team aims to iterate on report content depending on community feedback and looks forward to evaluating future pools as broader capital markets regain momentum.

How to become a part of the Credit Group: The team is actively looking to expand in size and diversify in expertise. We generally seek credit experts with at least 5+ yrs of experience at reputable traditional finance institutions who have experience in short duration structured credit products (both publics and privates) but welcome a broad range of backgrounds. To propose your involvement, please respond to this forum post with 1) a history of your credit background and relevant industry qualifications, 2) a list of asset classes, industries and credit products you are most experienced in, and 3) a brief commentary on your motivation for joining the Credit Group.

Pricing schema:

  • Monthly compensation in either CFG or USD denominated stablecoin (USDC, DAI) for
    • Facilitator of $5k
    • Advisers of $500
  • POP review compensation in either CFG or USD denominated stablecoin (USDC, DAI) per report (further details in the table below)

Quarterly Budget Proposal and Estimate:

  • $24k estimated quarterly costs
  • $18k fixed costs for 1 Facilitator and 2 Advisors
  • $6k estimated variable cost (avg 3 reviews per quarter) with flexibility to increase subject to demand - funds not used in a given quarter will be rolled over to the following quarter
  • Roles and responsibilities of members are further outlined in the Credit Group Charter

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How funding is requested: Formal revised funding request will come roughly 30 days before the previous quarter’s treasury of $12,500 is expected to be depleted. Funding requests will be in accordance with the CP2 Proposal Framework: https://github.com/centrifuge/cps/blob/main/cps/CP2/CP2.md

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Hi all — I’m Matt Wagoner and am interested in joining the Credit Group.

TradFi Experience

I worked at RBC Capital Markets in a variety of credit trading roles for 10 years. I started on the Money Market trading desk issuing & trading Commercial Paper and Certificates of Deposit for over 175 issuers, while structuring asset-backed (Auto, Credit Card, Insurance) & option-oriented (callable, putable, & extendible) products for bank issuers. I specialized in trading and structuring USD floating rate debt, substantially growing revenues, expanding our primary issuance business, and making RBC a top three liquidity provider globally in the space.

During the last five years of my career at RBC, I expanded my focus to front-end fixed-rate IG credit, as well USD Covered Bonds (mortgage-backed Yankee bank debt), developing cross-currency relative value models and doubling RBC’s revenues in the USD Covered space.

I left RBC at the end of 2021 and have spent the last 18 months working with Endeavor as a Venture Consultant, developing methodology to evaluate & rank over 100 Great Lakes Region seed to series E stage companies to join Endeavor’s mission to promote entrepreneurship and transform economies in developing and underserved markets.

Additionally, throughout the last decade, I’ve been a partner at wCapital, sourcing and vetting early-stage investments for a multi-strategy family office focused on digital assets, mobility, & SaaS.

I graduated from Duke University in 2012 with a B.A in Innovation & Entrepreneurial Studies.

Asset Specialization: Mortgages & USD Covered Bond Trading, & Public ABS Trading; Proficient in Autos, Credit Cards, & Insurance

Blockchain & Digital Asset Experience

Advised, marketed, raised capital, & invested in four syndicates to launch a $5mm Bitcoin mining operation powered by renewable energy, and three $1-3mm investments in top digital asset multi-strategy funds: Pantera & Polychain.

Previously wrote a weekly substack, Wags Weekly, to stay up-to-date on digital assets, blockchain tech, markets, macro, and venture capital, as well as forge relationships in the crypto space.

And of course, I’ve remained active as an individual experimenting and using different protocols across the multiple Layer 0 & 1 ecosystems.

Why I’m Interested in the Credit Group

For nearly a decade, I’ve learned first-hand the ways in which our traditional financial systems need an update. Based on that experience, I don’t believe that update will come from inside our legacy institutions, but instead from a disruptive outsider like Centrifuge. While we’re only at the beginning of this update process, I see bringing RWAs on-chain as an important next step and an opportunity to not only improve transparency and efficiency but also to democratize borrowing and lending across markets. I’m excited about the opportunity to work with one of the largest players in the RWA space and offer my expertise to the Credit Group to help support the DAO’s mission.

Happy to answer any questions you all might have and looking forward to connecting more.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-wagoner-wmwags

Twitter: @wmwags

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Hi Matt - thanks for adding in this context. I’ll reach out to find some time to sync up 1-1.

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Looking forward to it – thanks Mark

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Hello Mark,

My name is Cynthia Zhang. I’m based in NYC and interested in joining the Credit Group as well.

History of Credit Background and Relevant Industry Qualifications

I’m currently working at Wells Fargo Corporate and Investment Banking responsible for credit underwriting for more than 5 years. My focus is agency CMBS, fixed-rate and floater. Up to date, I have underwritten and closed approx. $1.2bn individually and $4.4bn collectively (complex portfolios) mortgages. Prior to Wells Fargo, I worked at a variety of small-cap bank and mid-cap banks for about 3 years. I was responsible for credit underwriting and portfolio management (relationship management). In addition, my responsibilities also included on-boarding clients (BSA, KYC, AML, etc.), loan closing/funding and liaison with treasury management.

Prior to NYC, I worked at CBRE Capital Market – China Desk. I was co-head of a small team of four members. I was responsible for cross-border equity and debt investment and financing in APAC and US. Responsibilities included client relationships, market research, capital market, deal sourcing/structuring, due diligence, financial modeling, financial analysis of equity and debt investments in connection with core assets, value-added assets, and opportunistic assets.

Passionate about blockchain technology, digital assets, on-chain data analysis, and overall cryptocurrency ecosystem since 2018. Over the past years, through market research (CT, Messari, Bankless, CoinGecko, The Defiant, TradingView, etc.), on-chain data analysis (Dune, Nansen, Artemis, etc.), trading (using wallets, DEXs, CEXs), and networking (attending in-person and virtual industry conferences), I have developed a deeper understanding and involvement in the evolution of cryptocurrency and web3 in general.

I passed CFA level 2 in 2019 and failed CFA level 3 in 2021. Currently I’m scheduled to take CFA level 3 in 2024. In addition, I also passed Securities Industry Essentials® (SIE®) and ARGUS Software Certified (ASC) - Valuation (DCF).

List of Asset Classes, Industries and Credit Products

Agency CMBS structuring and credit underwriting; Commercial real estate (multifamily properties, mixed-use properties, offices, and hotels etc.); commercial mortgages, bridge loans, syndication, land loans, and construction loans etc., fixed-rate, floater, and swap-rate hedging.

Motivation for Joining the Credit Group

I’m a true believer of Decentralized Finance and Centrifuge. The legacy financial institutions are slow at adopting new technologies and new concepts. The traditional financial system is selective and lacks transparency and efficiency. It excludes the underserved communities, particularly those in developing countries or with limited access to financial services, from the system. As the first protocol to bring real-world assets on-chain, Centrifuge is building a better financial system, providing transparency, equal & open participation, diversification, lower cost of capital, DeFi liquidity access and security. I’m passionate about the opportunity and would like to contribute to the group.

Please let me know if you have any questions. I’m looking forward to further discussion.

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Amazing intro - thanks for the depth and detail.

Any LinkedIn / public details you can point to?

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Good morning and thank you for getting back to me. Would it be possible that I can direct message you my LinkedIn? Thanks!

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Of course! Or linkedin with me :slight_smile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cunninghamcolin/

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Thank you and just sent an invite to connect on LinkedIn.

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Hi all, not sure if the credit group is still looking for members, but I am interested in getting involved. I have 12 years of TradFi experience across sell-side and buy-side firms, and now interested in bringing that expertise to the DeFi world.

History of credit background and relevant industry qualifications
I have a combined 12 years experience across TradFi sell-side and buy-side firms, focused on the securitization industry:

  • 2 years at Wells Fargo’s asset backed finance group - securitization analyst helping cover RMBS and ABS originators
  • 6 years at Barclays’ asset backed finance group - VP responsible for originating, negotiating, and structuring securitizations and financing facilities across RMBS and consumer ABS asset classes
  • 4 years at Waterfall Asset Management ($10 billion structured products focused hedge fund) - VP responsible for modeling and pricing mortgage whole loans, as well as leading and negotiating securitizations and financing facilities for $1bn resi portfolio.

List of asset classes, industries and credit products you are most experienced in
I am intimately familiar with the RMBS and consumer ABS asset classes, with experience:

  • Modeling cashflows to price individual loans and pools of loans
  • Analyzing historical data sets to project future loan performance and running pricing sensitivity curves
  • Conducting originator diligence and credit reviews

Motivation for joining the Credit Group
Having spent my entire career in TradFi, I’ve seen first-hand the inefficiencies in the “modern” day securitization process. While most industries tend to get more time and cost efficient over time, the securitization process has seemingly only gotten more and more complex since it was invented in the 1980s, while at the same time the technology used to run the industry hasn’t progressed at all, and multi-billion dollar deals are still run off excel spreadsheets stored on someone’s hard drive. Now admittedly, I haven’t always been a believer in blockchain and tokenization as the solution to some or all these problems, but after having spent time getting more involved in the space and learning about the technologies that companies like Centrifuge are building, I see that bringing securitization on chain is the future of the industry. And because I believe Centrifuge is at the forefront of this transition to on chain securitization, I would like to get involved with the Credit Group so that I can bring my TradFi securitization experience to the Group. I believe with my background, I can bring to the Group: 1) a deep understanding of asset originators from having performed credit and financial reviews on a wide spectrum of securitization sponsors; 2) deep experience pricing various types of loans and pools of loans, including sensitivities across macro and loan performance scenarios; 3) end to end understanding of the securitization process, including structuring deals, working through legal issues, and ongoing monitoring of loan performance; 4) and having worked at both buy-side and sell-side firms, understanding and balancing the concerns of both originators and investors.

I look forward to joining the group and getting involved with the community!

LinkedIn: Niresh Shukla - Waterfall Asset Management LLC | LinkedIn

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@mark_hergen - I have 20 years experience in credit and credit analysis. I started my career at ING and then moved to CSFB. My speciality was WE high yield analysis. I moved on to work on a hedge fund focused on Emerging Markets and I ran a book of EM sovereign and corporate credits. I also ran a WE HY book for the Erste Group. For the past 10 years I focused on private credit, mainly with small and medium sized enterprises. I can add value to your initiative and would be happy to have a discussion with you at earliest convenience. You might touch base with @ErikMayo or @MartinQuensel. I’ve been discussing credit proposals with them so they might be familiar with my background. Kind regards, Michael Sonenshine

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This proposal offers a great opportunity for Centrifuge to strengthen its credit analysis capabilities and leverage the expertise of seasoned professionals to evaluate new credit opportunities. The clarity provided around the structure, responsibilities, and compensation within the Credit Group demonstrates a well-thought-out approach to ensuring high-quality credit assessments.

I’m particularly excited about how this initiative encourages the expansion of the Credit Group. Bringing in professionals with diverse backgrounds and expertise will significantly enhance the group’s ability to assess a wide range of credit products. The pre-screening and reporting process you’ve outlined will ensure a consistent and transparent review, which is essential for community trust.

The progress made so far in 2023, including drafting the credit report template and starting the pre-screening process, is a solid foundation for the group’s future. Iterating on this process based on community feedback will ensure continuous improvement, which is key in such a dynamic field.

For anyone considering joining the Credit Group, this is an exciting opportunity to contribute meaningfully to Centrifuge’s mission of decentralizing credit. The flexibility in compensation and recognition of the time commitment shows that the community values the work being done. I’m eager to see how this initiative evolves as capital markets regain momentum, and I look forward to reading the upcoming credit reports.

Let’s keep building!

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I am most definitely interested in joining the credit group. I have 20+ years experience in credit, mainly in High Yield, but also in EM and private instruments. Having been through 3 economic cycles, going back to 1996, and having done due diligence on prospective issuers, I can add value here. Who should I contact?