Below you’ll find a comprehensive update of the program so far, a breakdown of the applications and their status, and a progress report on the KPIs set forward in the original announcement of the program.
We also want to remind you that you can stay up to date with the status of each grant and the program as a whole through the public dashboard that we maintain.
Executive Summary
Applications Received: 10 (+5)
Applications Approved: 3 (+1)
Funds Allocated: $13,100 (+$3,500)
Funds Distributed: 3,700 (+$700)
Funds Remaining: $36,900 (-$3,500)
Consumer App Support Program by Tempe Techie
Status: Ongoing (until March 1st)
Grant Amount: $4,800
A grant to fund the work needed to evaluate the feasibility of launching a Consumer Apps Support Program (CASP), a new initiative aimed at attracting and supporting consumer mobile applications that can drive meaningful user activity and TVL to Arbitrum One. For the scope of the grant, the grantee will map 10-20 consumer apps, interview consumer-app builders to gather insights into their needs, and align with the Arbitrum Foundation ecosystem team and the Offchain Labs consumer app team.
The research will culminate in a feasibility report to inform whether a CASP has merit and should be pursued further. If the report’s findings are positive, the grantee will also publish a first draft of what such a program could look like.
You can read the entire application here.
Initial Evaluation
Tempe’s application scores high in the evaluation matrix as:
- There’s a clear outlined plan with defined steps (interview of teams, input from stakeholders, mapping of needs, culmination of insights) and a specific end-goal (a feasibility report, and a forum-ready proposal)
- Tempe has relevant experience as a software developer and founder of a consumer-facing business
- The application falls inside the categories defined by the program, specifically the builder support initiatives for verticals other than DeFi category
- Tempe is decently connected in the Arbitrum ecosystem and he’s already in contact with multiple builders from the Arbitrum ecosystem
- The size of the grant request is based on a more than fair market value for light research, communications and operations work ($30/hr).
- The potential impact of the grant is medium, as it will lead to a feasibility report that will determine whether or not a proposal will be pursued, after which it’s up to governance. It’s that uncertainty of the final outcome that leads to the ‘medium’ scoring.
KPIS
Here are the KPIs we’ve set together with Tempe to keep track of the progress of the grant, along with the progress so far under each.
- Interview at least 20 consumer app builders/teams
- 21 teams have already been interviewed (105%)
- Have at least 10 discovery calls with potential app participants and delegates
- 15 teams and 1 delegate have been interviewed (160%)
- Complete a clear mapping of consumer apps’ needs (technical and other)
- Completed and available here
- Feasibility assessment completed and published
- Report completed, under internal review. Will be made available soon.
- Forum-ready proposal delivered (only if feasibility assessment is positive)
- 4 options of potential CASP have been identified in the report. We will host a dedicated call after the report has been published to gauge the DAO’s interest in proceeding with any.
Changelog
You can find a changelog with frequent updates on the grant’s progress in the dashboard’s tracking page for this grant.
DAO Events Playbook by Tekr0x
Status: Ongoing (until March 1st)
Grant Amount: $30/hr (40hrs min, 160hrs max)
Hours worked so far: 91,5
A grant to fund the work needed to create simple, lightweight standards for how the Arbitrum DAO participates in events. The goal is to help the DAO show up consistently, professionally, and with clear intent, without adding unnecessary process or overhead.
For the creation of the playbook, Tekr0x will consult with the events team of Arbitrum Foundation and Offchain Labs, with different event organizers of events that the DAO has sponsored in the past, and with past grantees from the D.A.O program under the ‘Events’ domain. Then, in collaboration with Sinkas, the Program Manager of the OpCo, he’ll work on creating a playbook that can be used to inform event organization in the future and set the standards for the events that the DAO organizes or sponsors.
You can read the entire application here.
Initial Evaluation
Tekr0x’s application scores medium-to-high in the evaluation matrix as:
- There’s a clear outlined plan with defined steps (interviews with past grantees from D.A.O’s events domain, input from relevant stakeholders and mapping of current efforts, research of event activities in other ecosystems) and a specific end-goal (the DAO Events Playbook)
- Tekr0x is decently connected in the Arbitrum ecosystem and he’s already in contact with multiple stakeholders relevant to events
- Tekr0x has some event organization experience, which is enough to adequately cover the scope of the grant
- The application falls inside the categories defined by the program, specifically the ecosystem initiatives category. Additionally, the timing is really good as the OpCo has been working on a proposal about taking over events organization and management on behalf of the DAO.
- The size of the grant request is based on a more than fair market value for light research, communications and operations work ($30/hr)
- The potential impact of the grant is medium, as it will help us create a playbook to be used by the OpCo to help standardize events that the DAO sponsors or organizes. However, the impact of those events is often indirect, thus the medium scoring.
KPIs
Here are the KPIs we’ve set together with Tekr0x to keep track of the progress of the grant, along with the progress so far under each.
- Hold at least three calls with past grantees under the D.A.O program’s Events domain
- Completed
- Research event activities and standards from at least 2 other ecosystems
- Completed with Solana’s Superteam and available here
- In progress with the Ethereum Everywhere team
- Completed with Solana’s Superteam and available here
- Complete mapping of current event efforts, budgets, workflows, and overlaps
- Completed and available here
- Hold at least three calls with ambassadors from the Arbitrum Foundation’s ambassador program
- Completed with Gospel (Nigeria), TheLizardQueen (Argentina), Dee Emprexx (Nigeria), Kristee (Nigeria)
Changelog
You can find a changelog with frequent updates on the grant’s progress in the dashboard’s tracking page for this grant.
Arbitrum Yield & Risk Intelligence Layer by Today in DeFi
Status: In Review
Grant Request: $7,000
A grant to fund the research and development work needed to build the Arbitrum Yield & Risk Intelligence Layer, a specialized analytics dashboard and research hub focused on the critical “missing middle” of DeFi data: deep risk metrics and yield sustainability.
You can read the entire application here.
Initial Evaluation
The evaluation of the proposal is still ongoing. Based on the initial draft that TiD submitted, my initial review yielded the following:
- While there is a specific plan for the creation of the analytics dashboard with defined steps, there’s no specific end goal for the use of the dashboard. This can be attributed to the nature of data dashboards, but I’m unsure about an actionable result that access to the data that TiD wants to track will lead to.
- The team does have relevant expertise and experience, and they are decently connected within Arbitrum ecosystem.
- The proposal doesn’t strictly fall within one of the defined categories of the program, even though it’s submitted under the ‘Revenue’ category. I’m evaluating this as an ‘Open Track’ application, which means I want to have strong justification for funding it.
- The proposal does have strategic relevance, especially as Arbitrum, along with the broader crypto ecosystem, is getting more attention for TradFi and financial institutions who need deeper insights before deploying resources. The timing is also good.
- In terms of the grant size, the described work-hours and costs appear to be at a market rate, though this kind of work could be charged at a big premium.
- The impact of the grant can be considered high in the sense that it will fund the creation of the actual dashboards, and not some kind of research about the dashboards potential usefulness. However, the impact that the existence of the dashboards will have on Arbitrum is not something I can adequately gauge.
KPIs
As the proposal is still in review, there are no KPIs that have been set by the OpCo in coordination with the proposal author.
Changelog
You can find a changelog with frequent updates on the grant’s progress in the dashboard’s tracking page for this grant.
USD-backed ARB stablecoin and a decentralized micro-escrow system by David
Status: Rejected
Grant Request: $7,990
A grant to fund the work needed to build an SMS-based micro-escrow on Arbitrum allowing users to trade and secure funds without requiring internet data or smartphones.
You can read the entire application here.
Initial Evaluation
David’s evaluation scores low in the evaluation matrix as:
- While the creation of an SMS gateway that lets feature phones interact with Arbitrum via ERC-4337 and of the open source toolkit is the expected outcome, the proposal is lacking an overarching goal.
- The proposal does have a plan in terms of research and creating an MVP with defined steps.
- The applicant doesn’t necessarily have good positioning within Arbitrum as he’s not, to the best of my knowledge and what I managed to find out, well connected within the ecosystem, nor have they worked in the ecosystem in the past.
- From their application, it does seem that they have some relevant experience, and they do have references to prove it.
- The proposed initiative does have potential strategic relevance with some upcoming initiatives, but the timing is not optimal as the initiatives in mind are still underway.
- The grant request is competitive in terms of pricing, but the direct impact of the proposed initiative is relatively low.
KPIs
Since the proposal was rejected, the OpCo has not set any KPIs in coordination with the proposal author.
Changelog
You can find a changelog with frequent updates on the grant’s progress in the dashboard’s tracking page for this grant.
DAO Contributor Program by Rika Goldberg
Status: Ongoing
Grant Request: $35/hr (40hrs min, 100hrs max)
A grant to fund research and design a practical DAO Contributor Incentives Program. Building on Patrick’s discussion thread and delegate feedback, the research will create clearly defined pathways for contributors to support Arbitrum’s protocol growth through builder engagement and product feedback, and builder onboarding and ecosystem growth.
The deliverable is a comprehensive framework with standards, evaluation criteria, compensation models, and integration plans with existing Arbitrum initiatives—published to the forum for community review and feedback.
You can read the entire application here.
Initial Evaluation
The application from Rika scores medium-to-high in the evaluation matrix as:
- There’s a clearly outlined plan (validation of contributor incentives needed before designing a program), there are defined steps (interviews, stakeholder chats, and mapping), and a specific end goal in sight.
- The applicant has relevant expertise and good positioning within Arbitrum as they are already connected to a lot of the stakeholders that would need to be consulted for the validation.
- Delegates and contributors could potentially be leveraged in many ways as part of the existing initiatives, so potential strategic alignment does exist.
- The scope of the grant does fall within the defined categories, as a potential contributor reward program could be leveraged to assist in many different ecosystem initiatives.
- The timing is irrelevant, but it does come at a time after the ‘Rewarding Active Delegates’ program has been established, and a contributor program was something that was meant to be visited after RAD.
- In terms of grant size, the amount requested is at a fair market value for the work required to execute on the mandate.
- The impact of the grant will be moderate, as it will help unblock the DAO from the contributor incentives discussion, without however directly leading to a creation of a contributor program.
KPIs
Here are the KPIs we’ve set together with Rika to keep track of the progress of the grant, along with the progress so far under each.
- Conduct at least 10 interviews with stakeholders (AAEs, delegates, contributors, builders on Arbitrum)
- Map the existing compensation pathways and identify gaps, if any
- Complete the validation research report and publish it on the forum
- Circulate the validation research report to at least 10 delegates and ask for their feedback
Changelog
You can find a changelog with frequent updates on the grant’s progress in the dashboard’s tracking page for this grant.
Emerging Markets Stablecoin Adoption Feasibility Study by Agate
Status: In Review
Grant Request: $5,000
A grant to fund work that explores the feasibility of establishing Arbitrum as the leading stablecoin infrastructure for emerging markets (EM), focusing on regions like Nigeria, Latin America, and Southeast Asia
You can read the entire application here.
Initial Evaluation
The initial evaluation for this proposal is still ongoing. On the first look, the proposal looks AI-generated (checked with multiple different tools), and does not include any information on the person/team and why they are well positioned to carry out the initiative.
I left some comments on the original doc, but overall the proposal is of very poor quality and I can’t really evaluate it unless significant changes are made.
The proposal author wasn’t responsive for some time, until they got back to me on February 25. Please see the changelog below.
KPIs
As the proposal is still in review, there are no KPIs that have been set by the OpCo in coordination with the proposal author.
Changelog
You can find a changelog with frequent updates on the grant’s progress in the dashboard’s tracking page for this grant.
Exploring Bond Issuance as a Sustainable Funding Mechanism for Arbitrum by James McWhye
Status: Rejected
Grant Request: $10,000
A grant to conduct a targeted study into the feasibility of Arbitrum issuing and selling bonds (using locked ARB tokens) as a funding mechanism to cover operational costs, as an alternative to selling tokens on the open market.
You can read the entire application here.
Initial Evaluation
The proposal scores low on the evaluation matrix as:
- There’s no specific end goal in sight (even if the hypothesis for the bond sells holds true, the fundamental reason for doing it is to just shift sell pressure, there’s no material improvement or a creation of a new revenue stream), although a plan does exist to figure out if one exists.
- The applicants have relevant experience, but they’re not necessarily well-positioned in Arbitrum to execute on the initiative, without having significant buy in from existing stakeholders.
- The proposal does not come at a good time as any sort of time-locked bond would have to be sold at a discount and ARB is already at an all-time low.
- The proposal doesn’t directly fall within the defined categories, although it could be argued that reducing the cost-basis of covering OpEx could be loosely tied with increasing the revenue streams we currently have (by increasing margins).
- The grant size is not competitive for the kind of work described (mostly research and hypothesis validation)
- The impact of the grant could potentially be high, only if it’s followed by connection to institutional demand on the buy-side of the bonds, which is a long-shot from where we are currently.
KPIs
Since the proposal was rejected, the OpCo has not set any KPIs in coordination with the proposal author
Changelog
You can find a changelog with frequent updates on the grant’s progress in the dashboard’s tracking page for this grant.
DefiScan Arbitrum Coverage by DefiScan
Status: Rejected
Grant Request: $5,000
A grant to help DefiScan increase its coverage of the Arbitrum landscape and support genuinely decentralised protocols with appropriate liquidity management strategies.
There was no document linked, nor a complete application to share.
Initial Evaluation
I could not complete my evaluation due to inadequate information. After trying to reach the team through multiple different ways over multiple days, I’ve marked the application as ‘rejected’.
KPIs
Since the proposal was rejected, the OpCo has not set any KPIs in coordination with the proposal author.
Changelog
You can find a changelog with frequent updates on the grant’s progress in the dashboard’s tracking page for this grant.
Outcome Evaluation and Verification Tool by Disruption Joe
Status: Rejected
Grant Request: $10,000
A grant to fund an MVP where a cohort of reviewers uses our webapp to (1) rank outcomes by importance, (2) assess what work most contributed to each outcome, and (3) flag missing context or disagreement between different stakeholder groups, such as delegates/foundation/token holders.
You can read the entire application here.
Initial Evaluation
Disruption Joe’s application scores medium-to-low in the evaluation matrix as:
- While I can understand the goal the MVP hopes to achieve, it’s more of an exploration rather than a concrete goal with defined next steps. Both the plan as well as the final outcome are very fluid and based on too many variables.
- The applicant does have strong experience and expertise on deliberation mechanisms and governance, and he also has strong positioning within Arbitrum.
- The scope of work doesn’t directly align with or leverage any ongoing initiatives, but instead tackles something more fundamental.
- The timing is not the best as the basis of the problem the proposal tries to address might not be as relevant in the current landscape.
- The grant size is not competitive for the scope of work proposed.
- The expected impact of the grant is medium-to-low as the exact outcome is both hard to define and measure.
KPIs
Since the proposal was rejected, the OpCo has not set any KPIs in coordination with the proposal author.
Changelog
You can find a changelog with frequent updates on the grant’s progress in the dashboard’s tracking page for this grant.
Crypto Cities by Max Lomu
Status: In Review
Grant Request: $10,000
A grant to fund work to create, attract, and grow a portfolio of protocols that bring onchain their positive cashflow from real world activities.
You can read the entire application here.
Initial Evaluation
The evaluation of the proposal is still ongoing. Based on the initial draft that Max submitted, my initial review yielded the following:
- While there’s a plan to research, , talk with businesses, LPs, wallets and aggregators, there’s no specific, concrete end-goal in sight.
- The applicant does have relevant domain expertise and good positioning within Arbitrum
- The application does fall within one of the defined categories
- Timing is slightly irrelevant (it could be better, but that’s only due to market conditions). However, there’s no strong strategic alignment with any of the existing initiatives that the DAO or any of the AAEs are undertaking.
- Without knowing the time commitment for the duration of the grant, I cannot reasonably benchmark the requested amount against market rates.
- The impact of the grant is medium-to-low as the research could potentially lead to something, but it’s highly uncertain, and past explorations in this direction were not favored.
KPIs
As the proposal is still in review, there are no KPIs that have been set by the OpCo in coordination with the proposal author.
Changelog
You can find a changelog with frequent updates on the grant’s progress in the dashboard’s tracking page for this grant.[1]
If you want to apply to the Firestarters program, you can do so here.
Footnotes ↩︎