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🌪️ Corn Silo

Overview​

The Corn Silo enables users to deposit selected assets, earning points (KERNELS) in Phase 0 and seamlessly bridging these assets to the live Corn network in Phase 1. Inspired by the Blast Deposit vault but with distinct design choices, the Silo bootstraps the Corn network with key assets while gauging user demand.

  • Deposit assets, earn KERNELS: Users deposit approved ERC20 tokens and receive a non-tokenized receipt, preventing the composability of deposited positions.

  • Bootstrap the Bitcoin Clearing House: Deposits of cbBTC and wBTC mint BTCN on a 1:1 basis for the user. In Phase 1, these deposits will be bridgeable to the Corn network and converted to BTCN automatically through the Bitcoin Clearing House.

  • Simplified Yield Management: Yield-bearing assets like wstETH and sDAI are accepted directly, allowing users to keep all yield.

  • Flexible withdrawal: Users can withdraw freely, with no strict lock-ins.

  • One-click Bridging to Corn: Once the chain is live, governance will set the bridge address, enabling users to bridge all deposited assets in a single click.

Smart Contract Reference: Corn Silo Implementation

Architecture Notes​

Approved Assets​

The Corn Silo launches with a list of approved assets. Governance may append tokens to this list, though tokens cannot be removed. The list size is carefully managed to maintain user experience.

Several O(n) operations impact user-facing actions but won’t fundamentally break due to excessive list size. These include:

  • redeemAll(), redeemToken(), and redeemBitcorn(): Convenience functions for asset withdrawals.
  • bridgeAllTokens(), bridgeToken(), and bridgeBitcorn(): Enable asset bridging for users.

All assets must act as standard ERC20 tokens without rebase or fee-on-transfer behaviors. Vault-like tokens (e.g., wstETH or sDAI) function seamlessly, as yields remain user-owned and no pricing is required. Check the latest approved asset list here.

Bridging Assets to Maizenet: One-Time Setup​

Once, governance will configure the L1 bridge address (e.g., L1GatewayRouter for Arbitrum Nitro) to activate bridging. Users may then “push” their assets to the L2. Withdrawals remain available at any time, even after the bridge is enabled.

Cross-Chain Gas Processing​

Users must cover L1 and L2 gas fees when bridging. The Corn API will offer L2 gas estimations, which are dynamically included in function calls. Should L2 gas fees be underestimated, an automatic courtesy retry is subsidized on L2. Given the higher L1 fees already paid, there is minimal economic incentive for misuse.

cbBTC and wBTC Bridging​

When cbBTC and wBTC depositors bridge to Corn, they receive BTCN rather than the original asset. This cbBTC or wBTC will back the Bitcoin Clearing House in Phase 1. Before the Corn network is live, users can withdraw their cbBTC or wBTC as usual; any associated BTCN on Ethereum mainnet will be burned in this case.

Governance Notes​

The Silo is upgradable via the UUPS proxy pattern and includes several governance functions managed by the Corn team. These include setting the bridge address, approving new tokens, and emergency pausing.

Governance actions (except for emergency pause) are time-locked for transparency and to provide advance notice to users.

Pausing​

If paused by governance, all deposits, bridging, and governance functions are temporarily halted. When the Corn Maizenet bridge is opened, new deposits are permanently disabled to prevent further deposits, and users are encouraged to withdraw or bridge assets. Emergency withdrawals remain enabled during pauses to ensure assets are accessible.

Zap Integrations​

Multiple Zap pathways will support the atomic conversion of common assets to the approved forms within the Silo for user convenience. These Zaps support deposits only and follow a composable, disposable model that can be paused or disabled.

The initial CornSiloZap contract will support the conversion of common Ethereum assets to the accepted forms per the development principles.

Initial Silo & Zap Deposit Pathways​

Bitcoin Deposit​

All Bitcoin deposited converts to BTCN.

  • Zap Pathway: Thorchain Zap integration for native BTC.

Interest-Bearing Stablecoin Deposit​

All stablecoins are converted to sDAI.

  • Deposit USDT, which converts to DAI via a hardcoded 3CRV pool, then stakes for sDAI.
  • Deposit USDC, which goes through MakerDAO PSM to convert to DAI, then stakes for sDAI.
  • Directly deposit DAI and stake it for sDAI.

Ethereum LST Deposit​

The initial target asset is wstETH.

  • Deposit native ETH, converted to stETH and deposited as wstETH.
  • Direct stETH deposits convert to wstETH.
  • stETH with a permit also deposits as wstETH.