We plan to vote Abstain on this proposal.
Overall, we agree that setting up an audit program would be valuable, as lowering one of the most prohibitive costs that early-stage teams face can be a great way to attract more projects to the ecosystem and help them reach mainnet faster/safer. We also appreciate the Foundation’s plan to include exclusivity clauses so that funded projects are committed to keep building on Arbitrum.
That said, while we understand that audits can be costly, the $10M budget seems high compared to similar programs. We’re also not fully convinced that negotiating with auditors on a one-off basis for each approved project is the best approach in terms of both price and scheduling.
Have you considered purchasing bulk audit packages with select auditors upfront? Based on our experience running similar programs, these pre-negotiated deals often come with significant discounts (10–30% below standard rates) and let you reserve audit slots months in advance. This can be especially useful given that audit firms typically have lengthy wait times, which can stall project launches.