OVERVIEW
What is Asterism?
Asterism is a permissionless asset-management protocol that packages ERC-20 assets into fully backed baskets. Each basket is itself an 18-decimal ERC-20 token representing a claim on a defined quantity of every constituent.
The protocol does not choose assets, approve publishers, custody user wallets, or depend on a price oracle. Publishers define an index; users decide whether its assets and rules are acceptable; and independent market participants execute composition changes through transparent onchain auctions.
Asterism is the Robinhood Chain evolution of the Kuiper protocol design. It retains permissionless publishing, in-kind issuance and redemption, and bonded oracleless rebalancing while updating the interface, deployment, and asset-market focus.
Stores index licenses, creates basket and auction clones, and manages global parameters.
Mints and burns the index token against its exact underlying composition.
Coordinates permissionless, bonded rebalances without external prices.
ROLES & LIFECYCLE
Open participation at every layer.
Proposes a basket’s initial assets, units, fee, name, symbol, and supply cap. After launch, the publisher may submit timelocked changes.
Any address may accept an unused proposal by supplying one basket’s constituents and calling createBasket.
Mints with the required constituents or burns basket tokens to receive the underlying assets directly.
Any market participant may bond and settle an auction, or settle atomically without first posting a bond.
- 1Propose
A publisher registers the index license.
- 2Launch
An issuer funds the first fully backed token.
- 3Mint & redeem
Supply expands and contracts in kind.
- 4Maintain
Publisher updates use timelocks and auctions.
CREATE A BASKET
Proposal first. Collateral second.
Launching is deliberately split into two transactions. The proposal publishes the rules without moving assets. The launch transaction creates the basket and auction contracts, deposits one complete unit of collateral, and issues the first basket token.
PUBLISHER TRANSACTION
Call proposeBasketLicense
The Factory assigns a proposal ID. Proposals are public, and the proposer becomes the basket publisher if the proposal is launched.
licenseFeeAnnual streaming fee, encoded with 18-decimal fixed-point precision. The current Factory minimum applies.tokenNameFull ERC-20 name for the basket token.tokenSymbolTicker symbol for the basket token.tokens[]Unique, non-zero constituent contract addresses.weights[]Raw token units required for one basket at an ibRatio of 1.maxSupplyMaximum basket-token supply. It must permit the one-token launch issuance.PERMISSIONLESS LAUNCH
Call createBasket(proposalId)
Anyone may launch an unused proposal. The caller approves and contributes each listed weight, then receives the first 1.0 basket token. A proposal can only be launched once.
The Publish flow resolves token decimals, records the proposal, requests constituent approvals, and issues the first basket after confirmation.
MINT, REDEEM & FEES
Every token remains redeemable in kind.
Mint
A minter supplies every constituent in proportion to the requested basket amount. The basket transfers those assets into its own contract before minting new basket tokens.
required = amount × weight[i] × ibRatioRedeem
A holder burns basket tokens and receives the corresponding quantities of every constituent directly from the basket contract.
returned = amount × weight[i] × ibRatioThe index-to-basket ratio
ibRatio tracks how much of each published weight backs one basket token. It begins at 1.0, declines as streaming fees are minted, and can improve when a favorable rebalance adds value for holders. This is an accounting ratio—not an external market-price oracle.
At first issuance
Per basket token
For mint or redemption
Streaming fees
License fees accrue against current basket supply and are realized when a mint, redemption, or auction burn triggers fee handling. Newly minted fee tokens are split between the publisher and protocol owner, and the backing ratio adjusts so aggregate collateral remains accounted for.
- Factory minimum0.10% at deployment; read live by the app
- Protocol share10% at deployment; governance-capped at 20% of fees
- Publisher fee changes1-day timelock; maximum 5 percentage-point movement per change
- Maximum supply changes1-day timelock; new cap must remain above current supply
ORACLELESS REBALANCING
Composition changes clear through the market.
A publisher proposes new assets, weights, and a minimum acceptable ibRatio. After a one-day review period, the publisher may start a Dutch auction. Minting and redemption pause while the auction is active.
New tokens, weights, and ratio floor become visible onchain.
Users and market participants can inspect the change before execution.
The offered execution ratio starts high and declines each block.
An executor accepts the economics and exchanges the required inventory.
How the Dutch auction moves
The auction starts from a multiple of the basket’s current backing ratio and reduces that target as blocks pass. This lets the market decide when the asset exchange is attractive enough without consulting a price feed.
With deployment defaults, the ratio starts at 2× the current ibRatio. The proposed minimum ratio acts as a hard floor: bonding and settlement cannot complete below it.
Bonded settlement
The executor posts basket tokens equal to the current supply divided by bondPercentDiv—0.25% with the default value of 400. Bonding locks the ratio and grants that address a 24-hour exclusive settlement window.
Atomic settlement
An executor may settle without bonding at the ratio for the current block. Because the ratio keeps moving, inventory requirements are rebuilt immediately before submission.
Settlement transfers missing target assets from the executor into the basket and returns excess or removed assets to the executor. The contract verifies that the final collateral satisfies every proposed weight at the accepted ratio before activating the new composition.
If the bonder does not settle within 24 hours, anyone may burn the bond. Burning reduces basket-token supply, ends the failed auction, and removes its pending proposal. The forfeiture is irreversible.
Bounties
Any interested party may add ERC-20 bounties to an auction. Successful executors can claim selected active bounties at settlement, allowing publishers or communities to subsidize difficult rebalances. Bounty management exists at the contract level and is not yet exposed in the current interface.
GOVERNANCE
Governance-minimized by design.
The Factory owner cannot select constituents, block publishers, seize basket collateral, or approve individual rebalances. Its authority is limited to protocol-wide economic parameters and ownership transfer.
Sets the fee floor for new proposals and later publisher fee changes.
Chooses the portion of fee issuance paid to the owner, with an immutable 20% ceiling.
Controls starting multiplier, per-block decrement, and required bond fraction.
May transfer the limited governance role to another address or future governance system.
Factory parameter updates use a five-day, two-step timelock. Basket-specific publisher actions—publisher transfer, license-fee changes, supply-cap changes, and new index proposals—use the basket’s one-day timelock.
CONTRACTS & AUDITS
Robinhood Chain deployment.
These addresses are the current application configuration for Robinhood Chain mainnet, chain ID 4663. Basket and auction instances are minimal-proxy clones created per launched proposal.
0x3ca5…075dBasket implementationFully backed ERC-20 basket logic0xe2Ad…eB07Auction implementationBonded Dutch-auction execution0x11bA…4788ETH ZapOptional ETH mint and redemption routing0xE445…2D65Audit provenance
The underlying Kuiper contract lineage was reviewed through three Code4rena competitions and a private mitigation review. The current Robinhood Chain deployment and newer integrations should be evaluated independently; historical review is not a guarantee of present security.
RISKS & FAQ
Permissionless does not mean riskless.
Asterism does not review token issuers, contract code, transfer restrictions, liquidity, custody arrangements, or legal status. A basket can be fully backed and still contain unsafe, frozen, illiquid, or worthless assets.
Which assets are compatible?+
The contracts are designed around conventional ERC-20 behavior. Rebasing assets, fee-on-transfer tokens, blocked transfers, unusual approval logic, or issuer-enforced restrictions can break expected minting, redemption, or auction behavior. Publishers and users must evaluate compatibility.
Does Asterism guarantee asset prices or index quality?+
No. The protocol accounts for token quantities and collateral balances. It does not provide valuation, due diligence, liquidity guarantees, or investment recommendations.
Can anyone publish or launch a basket?+
Yes. Publishing an index proposal is open, and any address with the required constituent balances and approvals can issue the first basket from an unused proposal.
Who controls a live basket?+
The publisher can submit limited, timelocked basket changes. Execution remains constrained by the contracts, and rebalances require market participants to accept and settle the auction economics.
Why are no price oracles required?+
Minting and redemption operate on exact constituent quantities. Rebalances use a declining execution ratio and permissionless competition, letting executors decide when the exchange is economically acceptable.