> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.keystonefi.xyz/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.keystonefi.xyz/changelog/roadmap.md).

# Roadmap

**ksUSD in one line:** deposit USDC, hold one token, earn carry. The yield comes from perp funding, jitoSOL staking, and USDC lending. No peg to defend, no position to manage.

This is the plain-English version of where we are and what's left before launch.

***

## How it earns

The vault holds two things at once. Staked SOL (jitoSOL), which earns a staking yield. And a short SOL position on a perp venue, which cancels out SOL's price swings and usually pays you to hold it. That payment is called funding.

So you collect the staking yield plus the funding, with almost none of SOL's volatility. When funding stops paying, the vault parks: it drops the short and holds plain USDC lent on Kamino until funding is worth it again. An on-chain signal decides when to switch and a bot does the work. You never touch it.

In v1 the hedge runs on Phoenix Perps, with margin posted through Ember.

> In a 24-month backtest the worst drawdown was **−0.3%**, through the toughest funding stretch of the period. Yield depends on the regime: about **5% net** when funding is thin like today, up to \~11% when it's rich. Phoenix pays \~0% funding right now, so the vault sits near its \~4% lending floor. *Simulated, not a promise.*

***

## Where we are

Most of the plumbing is built and tested.

* ✅ **Staking, lending, and swaps work.** jitoSOL (Jito), USDC lending (Kamino), and USDC↔jitoSOL swaps (Jupiter) are all wired up.
* ✅ **The vault is done.** One program, one vault, one token. We've run the full deposit → park → earn → redeem cycle on a copy of mainnet, against real protocol state.
* 🟡 **The hedge is the last piece.** The code to trade on Phoenix is written, and the live Phoenix program accepts it. It's waiting on one permission.

Until the hedge turns on, the vault runs safely in parked mode (USDC lending), which is fully proven. Adding the hedge is an addition, not a rewrite.

***

## What gates launch: the KEYSTONE grant

To place its hedge, the vault needs Phoenix to switch on trading permission for its account. Phoenix, from Ellipsis Labs, gates that behind a one-time builder approval. It's issued to Keystone, so we call it the KEYSTONE grant.

It's a single permission flip on Phoenix's side. It doesn't change our code. It just lets the account we already control post margin and trade. And we can rehearse the whole round-trip against a private copy of Phoenix before the real grant lands.

This is the critical path. Audit, beta, and launch all wait on this one relationship, not on more engineering. The plan is to be ready to go live the moment it arrives.

***

## Getting to mainnet

Three things line up, mostly in parallel:

1. **The KEYSTONE grant** turns the hedge on.
2. **A security audit** by a top Solana firm. This is the hard gate before real money, and good firms book months out, so we're shortlisting now.
3. **A seed raise** ($200–500K) to fund the audit and runway. A DAO treasury pre-committing capital de-risks it and seeds day-one deposits.

When those clear, we deploy with a **$400k launch cap** and open an invite-only private beta.

### Why $400k

$400k is the most the venue can hold today, and two limits point to the same number.

We're a permanent one-directional short. Past about 15% of Phoenix's SOL open interest, our own entry starts moving the funding we're trying to earn. 15% of today's \~$2.2M book is \~$330k. And exit matters: daily volume is \~$1.4M, so a clean exit is about a quarter of a day's flow, again \~$340k. Both land near $330–400k of short, which is roughly a $400k vault.

We publish the rule so it re-sizes as Phoenix grows: `min(15% of open interest, 25% of volume)`.

A bigger cap would make the product worse, not better. If only $330k of a $4M vault is hedged, the rest sits in lending and the blended yield falls below a plain Kamino deposit after fees. So the cap tracks what the hedge can hold. At $400k the vault runs about 5% net, roughly 120 bps over lending. It also self-corrects: if our size ever pushed funding below the line, it just parks, so it can't run itself into a loss.

***

## After launch

Once there's a real track record, two things scale it.

**Composability.** Get ksUSD accepted as collateral, starting with Kamino, so holding it earns carry and unlocks borrowing. That's what makes deposits sticky. It's the sUSDe playbook.

**Distribution.** A USDC↔ksUSD pool and Jupiter routing for one-click in and out, plus yield-marketplace listings and DAO-treasury allocations.

The cap ramps $400k → $1M → $5M → $25M, each step gated by the same `min(15% OI, 25% volume)` rule, not by demand.

***

## Timeline

| When           | What                                                                                      |
| -------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Now**        | KEYSTONE-grant outreach · audit-firm shortlist · seed raise · anchor conversations        |
| **Q3 2026**    | Full hedge round-trip proven, mainnet-ready pending the grant                             |
| **Q3–Q4 2026** | Audit done · private beta ($400k, ramping to $1M, invite-only)                            |
| **Q4 2026**    | Public launch ($5M → $25M) · USDC↔ksUSD pool + Jupiter routing · first collateral listing |
| **Q1 2027**    | \~$20M TVL                                                                                |

The dates ride on the grant, the audit slot, and the raise, not on the engineering.

***

## Not in v1

* Multiple staking tokens (mSOL, jupSOL): later.
* A second lending venue (Marginfi): later. v1 is Kamino only.

***

## Related

* [Download the full roadmap (PDF)](https://www.keystonefi.xyz/roadmap.pdf)
* [Strategy & Modes](/how-it-works/strategy-and-modes.md) · [Whitepaper](/reference/whitepaper.md) · [Version history](/changelog/versions.md)