What is a Cellar-Creator?

A cellar-creator is responsible for conceptualizing and testing of the financial strategies that will eventually lead to a cellar being coded into a smart contract. Before a cellar (as a smart contract) is integrated into the the Sommelier infrastructure, the cellar will have to be accepted by Sommelier governance. As a means to protect against bad performing strategies, or by spamming the Sommelier system, a cellar-creator will need to show metrics for how successful the strategy has performed in back tests when submitting a cellar to be accepted by Sommelier governance. If the cellar strategy is appropriate, then the cellar will be accepted by governance, and integrated into the Sommelier chain.

How do I get started as a Cellar-Creator?

We are evaluating the path where a cellar-creator may submit a simple request to create a Cellar at any time through our website or the website of any Sommelier-affiliated front end operator. However, to incentivize the engagement of Cellar Creators in the network, those who are able to submit an investment thesis and strategy for their Cellar as part of their request to be a Cellar Creator will receive SOMM tokens as a seed amount for their new Cellar. Such an application will be reviewed by a Cellars Committee of SOMM tokenholders empowered to perform this function by the wider community of token holders on an annual basis. The cellars committee can be replaced by governance as an alternative but the idea is still being decided on.

What fees do I earn as a Cellar-Creator?

They currently earn a management fee or a performance fee of the cellar, which is decided by the cellar-creator. However, too outrageous of a fee may result in the cellar not passing governance or may result in users not inputting their liquidity into the cellar-creators cellar, resulting in poor returns because of the undesirably high fee.

Can I contribute to a Cellar even if I’m not the cellar-creator?

Yes. If you have investment ideas for a Cellar that has already been created, we encourage you to contact the Strategy Provider through the Cellar portal. Should the Strategy Provider want to work with you to realize those ideas, they can designate you as a Cellar Strategist for that Cellar and apportion a percentage of their fees as compensation.