Arbitrum's Short-Term Incentive Program (Arbitrum Improvement Proposal)

I played a role in leading a group of delegates and protocols to establish this basic framework. This was in response to the community’s inability to do so, which led to an urgent situation. Had we not intervened, protocols would have applied directly to the DAO, and more than likely leading to outcomes in line with Camelot, or an unfair distribution of incentives to only proposals that got visibility.

I think most agree the lack of support for protocols is deterring builders, and users, driving them towards chains like Optimism, which has flipped Arbitrum in Market Cap, Transactions, and appears to be securing major partnerships and strategic deployments such as Base, Farcaster, and more.

This proposal is a blatant interim solution - an imperfect band-aid intended to provide the DAO some time to devise a more sustainable approach. I’ve acknowledged this format’s faults, and I concede we will see some programs designed better than others. This proposal aims to mitigate that risk by empowering delegates to accept applications with a limited, pre-approved budget while being encouraged to review and judge proposals based on their discretion.

Furthermore, the proposal recommends a finite duration for the program to prevent prolonging any potential downsides. I urge you to voice any concerns about individual applications that may lead to problematic consequences.

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