This post provides a clear timeline for the STBP, outlines the processes and goals, and addresses questions about how the STBP will work alongside DEP.
Timeline
Below is a step-by-step overview of the timeline for STBP. The program will run in two cohorts (reduced from three in the original proposal). Each cohort will start with the community assigning funding to each of the three funding tracks, followed by an RFP phase, an evaluation phase, and finally, a poll. After that, grantees deliver on their milestones, and StableLab delivers monthly status reports. At the end of a cohort, StableLab and the Council evaluate the deliverables, and StableLab produces a report.
- Council of Experts nominations (now closing 2024-03-17)
- Deployment and test of the grants multisig
- On-chain poll for ratification of the council and the STBP (2024-03-19 to 2024-03-23)
- Multisig receives funds
- StableLab and Council develop Requests for Proposals for each of the three tracks. (two-week development time)
- Community poll on where to allocate the most funds to
- First cohort applications start (exp. 2024-04-08) running for two weeks
- Followed by a one-week comment and review phase
- The council screens applications and publishes a report with recommendations (exp 2024-04-30)
- Community poll to select candidates for each grant track. As many get funded as funds are available to each track (see below).
- On-chain poll to ratify community decision
- Monthly progress reports by every grantee, backed by analytics from StableLab where applicable.
- A first milestone must be delivered at the three-month mark, or work must conclude.
- StableLab develops an impact report for the community
- Community decides via a poll how to distribute funds to the three tracks
- Council and StableLab develop a Request for Proposals for the second cohort
- Second cohort starts (first cohort six months grants keep running)
- A first milestone must be delivered at the three-month mark, or work must conclude.
- StableLab develops an impact report for the community at the six-month mark
- Council of Experts and StableLab track deliverables and finalize payouts.
- StableLab develops a final report, and the grant program concludes
Grants Track Funding Allocation
Once the Council and STBP are successfully ratified via an on-chain poll, StableLab and the Council of Experts (CoE) will collaborate on creating three distinct Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for the Community, Tooling, and Governance grant tracks.
After publishing the RFPs on the forum, StableLab will host a one-week community forum poll where community members can vote on allocating half the $1M budget to the three tracks. Only accounts with one forum post or reply that existed before 2024-03-11 are eligible to vote; all other votes will not be counted.
Each track will receive:
Grantees can also propose a six-month grant. If the community elects their applications, half of their budget counts towards the first three months of the STBP and half towards the second three.
Requirements for Applicants
Once the RFPs are posted to the dYdX Forum, we encourage applicants that meet the following criteria to apply:
- Grantees must have existing knowledge of the dYdX ecosystem
- Grantees must outline a spending plan, provide a pro forma, and state the grant’s objective.
- Grantees must commit to providing data on all spending transactions and key metrics related to their deliverables.
- Grantees are expected to not encourage or partake in Sybil attacks against the forum to sway community opinion.
- Grantees must agree to comply with KYB / KYC requirements managed by StableLab, before receiving funds.
- Grantees must apply using the approved program application template (TBD)
- Grants will be paid out according to milestones. Every grant application with more than $20,000 requested must specify at least two sensible milestones.
The following criteria will immediately disqualify a grantee and forfeit all future payments by the STBP. We will also inform the DEP of grantees who get disqualified.
- Any use of funds not explicitly described in the grantee’s application
- Failure to comply with reporting standards
- Failure to meet milestones
- Failure to meet quality and deliverable requirements set out in the application
- Application to another dYdX grant program
- Any attempt at corruption or collusion involving StableLab or the council members
Application Guidelines
StableLab will prepare an application template. Only applications that use the template and fill it out correctly will be processed. Using the same template makes comparing applications easier for everyone and speeds up the process.
There will be a two-week application window after the RFPs have been published.
During the two-week window and for one week afterward, candidates should be open to answering community questions and fine-tuning their proposals.
After that, StableLab will support the council in screening applications and if necessary, exclude malicious or duplicate attempts. Every exclusion will be communicated on the forum.
The remaining applicants will be compiled into a community poll and will be published in a new thread on the forum, including the poll, which will run for one week.
Grant Allocation
All grants will be funded in $DYDX tokens, priced at the time of the on-chain vote for the STBP, with a fourteen-day rolling average of the $DYDX price at the time the poll was created.
Eligible applications will be put to an on-chain vote collectively. The available funding per track will be filled from the top-ranking proposal in the community poll on, until all funds are distributed. The council can rearrange candidates slightly to optimize capital allocation, but needs to communicate the decision.
Let’s look at how this will work using a hypothetical example:
Let’s say that the Grant Track Funding Allocation assigned $210,000 to the Community & Growth track for the first three months.
The top six projects in the community poll are:
- Project A - requesting $120,000 for six months
- Project B - requesting $50,000 for three months
- Project C - requesting $70,000 for three months
- Project D - requesting $200,000 for six months
- Project E - requesting $40,000 for one month
- Project F - requesting $20,000 for one month
The total available is $210,000 and six-months projects count for two cohorts, half to each cohort. The initial distribution will be:
- $60,000 to Project A for three months, with $60,000 earmarked for Cohort 2. $150,000 remaining.
- $50,000 to Project B. $100,000 remaining.
- $70,000 to Project C. $30,000 remaining.
- Nothing to Project D, because there is not enough funding left.
The council might then ask Project E if they can deliver for $30,000 by e.g., reducing scope. Or they can decide to prioritize Project F, distribute $20,000 to this applicant, and then put $10,000 back into the funding pool for the next cohort.
Every grant will be delivered upon successful completion of the milestones set out in the applications. We encourage applicants to reduce the amount of up-front funding required to the bare minimum and to provide clear reasoning as to why up-front payments are needed. Ideally, no funds get paid out before a milestone is delivered.
Milestones and KPIs
Applications seeking funding exceeding $20,000 must outline clear delivery milestones with specific, measurable KPIs. This ensures that grantees fulfill their commitments, allowing StableLab and council members to monitor progress effectively.
KPIs should be chosen so that they reflect the impact the grantee wants to have on the wider dYdX ecosystem. For community applications, these may include activity metrics. For governance applications, these may include validator distribution metrics or staked dYdX. These KPIs must reflect actual, tangible value for the community.
Software and development projects must specify which community pain points their product will address and the functionality they will deliver at a specific milestone.
Know Your Business Requirements
Successful grant applications chosen to receive funds must comply with KYB / KYC requirements. StableLab will work with applicants and request necessary documentation before funds can be paid out. Any disbursement will come from the STBP multisig and require 4 out of 5 signers to approve.
We’re happy to answer any questions you may have as a reply to this forum post or via DM.
Of course, suggestions on how to improve the program are welcome too.
