Hi Everyone,
I’m sharing an update for the Arbitrum Grants program Arbitrum Grants Program administered through Delegated Domain Allocation was launched on 6th May, 2024 and I am pleased to share the following updates with the Arbitrum community regarding the status of each proposal, this is a detailed report of the activities that has happened over the 2 months and the reasoning behind each projects acceptance.
Program Overview
- Total Proposals: 175
- Total Proposals approved: 42
- Proposals by domain
- Approved Proposals by domain
-
Gaming → 10
-
New Protocol Ideas → 9
-
Dev Tooling → 10
-
Education, Community and events → 13
- Grant Amounts committed by domain ($) - $973k allocated , $139k Paid out
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Gaming → 266k allocated, $35k paid out
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New Protocol Ideas → 197k allocated, $36k paid out
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Dev Tooling → 311k allocated , $39k paid out
-
Education, Community and events → 283k allocated, $29k paid out
Overview of accepted proposals →
- Education, Community and Events:
Domain Overview [Timestamp – Jun 27, 2024]
Number of Proposals: 46
Number of proposals accepted: 13
Number of Proposals rejected: 12
Number of Proposals in review: 21
Proposal Specific Updates
Name of Proposal Accepted: [Ludium] Road to Bangkok Proposal
Funding Approved for: $12.000
Milestones completed: 1/3
Reason for Approval as DA: We decided to approve the [Ludium] Road to Bangkok Proposals because of it’s strong potential to attract and develop top-tier developers for the Arbitrum ecosystem. The “Road to Bangkok” initiative promises to onboard new talent by providing extensive education, workshops, and a competitive platform to showcase their skills. This aligns well with Arbitrum’s goals of expanding its developer base and fostering innovation. The program’s structured approach, high-profile partnerships, and focus on tangible results ensure that it will deliver meaningful contributions to the ecosystem.
Name of Proposal Accepted: Arbitrum Arabia 2.0
Funding Approved for: $15.840
Milestones completed: 1/13
Reason for Approval as DA: We decided to approve the Arbitrum Arabia 2.0 proposal because it has a strong potential to expand Arbitrum’s reach in the MENA region by engaging Arabic-speaking users and developers. The initiative aims to provide educational content, courses, videos and webinars , and community-building activities to attract new users to the Arbitrum ecosystem. The team’s experience and the structured approach ensure that the project will deliver meaningful results and contribute to the ecosystem’s expansion.
Name of Proposal Accepted: Arbitrum HackerBoost Program
Funding Approved for: $24.800
Milestones completed: 1/5
Reason for Approval as DA: We decided to approve the “HackerBoost” proposal because it leverages DeFi Africa’s expertise in developer training to significantly increase the number of skilled developers in the Arbitrum ecosystem. This initiative not only addresses the high demand for proficient blockchain developers but also ensures continuous learning through an online platform. The structured bootcamp and hackathon will drive progress and create a strong community of developers dedicated to Arbitrum, thus fostering long-term growth and stability for the ecosystem.
Name of Proposal Accepted: Arbitrum Dapps over Apps
Funding Approved for: $15.100
Milestones completed: 1/6
Reason for Approval as DA: We decided to approve the “Arbitrum Dapps over Apps” proposal because it aims to engage developers and project founders at the grassroots level in Nigeria. This initiative will establish Arbitrum blockchain clubs in major universities, providing ongoing education and support. By targeting a diverse audience, including students, traditional developers, and blockchain enthusiasts, the project will try to foster a strong community and drive the adoption of Arbitrum technologies.
Name of Proposal Accepted: DeFi Mania Hacker House
Funding Approved for: $5.000
Milestones completed: 1/2
Reason for Approval as DA: We decided to approve DeFi Mania’s Hacker House because it has potential to significantly enhance Arbitrum’s visibility and developer engagement within the Indian DeFi community. By providing a structured, month-long program culminating in an intensive Hacker House, the initiative promises to attract top-tier development talent. The program’s emphasis on hands-on workshops, mentorship, and collaboration aligns well with fostering innovation and growth in the Arbitrum ecosystem. Additionally, DeFi Mania’s partnerships and focus on high-quality project output ensure that the initiative will contribute meaningful advancements to the Arbitrum platform.
Name of Proposal Accepted: Arbitrum Stylus Learning track & Co-learning camps & Arbitrum Mini hackathon
Funding Approved for: $15.000
Milestones completed: 0/4
Reason for Approval as DA: We decided to approve the “Arbitrum Stylus Learning Track” proposal because it aims to significantly reduce the barriers for Web2 developers transitioning to Web3, specifically on the Arbitrum platform. HackQuest’s comprehensive learning track, co-learning camps, and mini-hackathons will engage and train a diverse group of developers, fostering community growth and enhancing the skill set within the Arbitrum ecosystem.
Name of Proposal Accepted: Modular Crypto: Education, Events & University Study Group
Funding Approved for: $18.500
Milestones completed: 1/3
Reason for Approval as DA:
We decided to approve the Modular Crypto proposal because it aims to significantly boost blockchain education and community engagement in Brazil. By organizing governance study groups with top universities, hosting regional events, and producing educational content, we hope the initiative will deepen the understanding and adoption of Arbitrum among Brazilian users. The experienced team, strategic partnerships, and comprehensive approach ensure that this project can effectively promote Arbitrum’s ecosystem, fostering long-term growth and community involvement.
Name of Proposal Accepted: ETH Uruguay - Buildathon & Event
Funding Approved for: $5.000
Milestones completed: 1/2
Reason for Approval as DA:
We decided to approve the ETH Uruguay “Buildathon and Event” proposal because it offers an opportunity to expand Arbitrum’s presence and foster innovation in the Uruguayan and regional developer communities. Organizing a hybrid buildathon and a major event, this initiative can bring together diverse talents to create new web3 products using Arbitrum technology.
Name of Proposal Accepted: Online+IRL Hackathon focused on CollabTech
Funding Approved for: $35.720
Milestones completed: 0/5
Reason for Approval as DA:
We decided to approve the CollabTech-themed Hackathon proposal because it aims to attract talented developers to the Arbitrum ecosystem, focusing on high-impact areas like governance, operations, and community building. By targeting a less-competed vertical, the project can foster innovation and high transaction volumes, benefiting the Arbitrum infrastructure. The team’s extensive experience in innovation programs and collab tech ensures a well-executed event that aligns with Arbitrum’s goals of ecosystem growth and differentiation.
Name of Proposal Accepted: Support Arbitrum LATAM for the Next 4 Months
Funding Approved for: $19.788
Milestones completed: 0/4
Reason for Approval as DA: We decided to support the Arbitrum LATAM project because it effectively bridges the language and educational gap within the Latin American region, enhancing accessibility to the Arbitrum ecosystem for Spanish-speaking users. The project’s comprehensive approach includes educational content, university outreach, new communication channels, and collaboration with the Arbitrum Foundation and Ambassadors.
Name of Proposal Accepted: Stylus Build-a-thon
Funding Approved for: $16.000
Milestones completed: 0/4
Reason for Approval as DA: We decided to support the Stylus Build-a-thon project because it provides a unique and focused approach to educating developers on Arbitrum Stylus. The initiative includes a comprehensive one-month codejam and a 3-day hackathon, combining both physical and virtual sessions, which ensures a wide reach and effective learning. The team’s extensive experience in blockchain development and community management, coupled with their established connections with key tech universities, guarantees successful execution. This project will significantly drive the adoption of Arbitrum Stylus, fostering innovation and expanding the developer community within the Arbitrum ecosystem.
Name of Proposal Accepted: W3K Arbitrum Buidl Series
Funding Approved for: $14.550
Milestones completed: 0/4
Reason for Approval as DA: We decided to support the W3K Arbitrum Buidl Series because it effectively fosters a skilled developer base in Kerala, India, by conducting workshops across 15 colleges, thus enhancing the Arbitrum ecosystem. The initiative aims to educate over 1200 students about Arbitrum, fostering innovation and collaboration.
Name of Proposal Accepted: Arbitrum Governance and Development Initiative - Lampros Labs DAO
Funding Approved for: $16.200
Milestones completed: 0/4
Reason for Approval as DA: We decided to support the Arbitrum Governance and Development Initiative by Lampros Labs DAO because it strategically focuses on cultivating a skilled developer base in Gujarat, India. By conducting workshops across 18 colleges, this project will try to empower over 1,100 students with technical expertise in blockchain and Arbitrum’s Layer 2 solutions. The initiative not only promotes active participation in Arbitrum’s governance but also aligns with the ecosystem’s growth objectives by enhancing awareness, fostering innovation, and building a robust developer community.
- Gaming:
Domain Overview [Timestamp – Jun 21, 2024]
Number of Proposals: 50
Number of proposals accepted: 10
Number of Proposals rejected: 13
Number of Proposals in review: 27
Proposal Specific Updates
Name of Proposal Accepted: Drops: Creating viral UGC, referrals and gameplay in a competitive campaign
Funding Approved for: $19,000
Milestones completed: 1/3
Reason for Approval as DA: With a strong team, background and live platform, Drops is well positioned to add hype and interest to existing Arbitrum games. Most of the funding is going straight to users of the Drops platform as well, which brings more liquidity into the Arbitrum gaming ecosystem.
Name of Proposal Accepted: P2E Crew community activation
Funding Approved for: $18,000
Milestones completed: 1/3
Reason for Approval as DA: P2E Crew is well known in the web3 gaming space and has run multiple successful campaigns for Arbitrum games in the past. Their application shows an understanding of how to onboard gamers to web3 games. I expect they will not only help with UA for Arbitrum games, but retention as well.
Name of Proposal Accepted: SocialsRising: Amplifying ARB Games with a Personal 
and Creative Touch 
Funding Approved for: $18,000
Milestones completed: 0/3
Reason for Approval as DA: SocialsRising has also completed many web3 gaming campaigns across multiple chains. Their renewed focus on Arbitrum as a hotspot for future web3 game releases should help attract new community members to Arbitrum games as well as highlight upcoming events in both Discord and on X.
Name of Proposal Accepted: BharatGG Arbitrum Gaming Week Proposal
Funding Approved for: $21,000
Milestones completed: 1/2
Reason for Approval as DA: BharatGG has extensive connections with the burgeoning Indian Web3 gaming market, especially via mobile. By bringing dozens of guilds to Arbitrum games, they will help establish Arbitrum gaming as the de facto home for Indian web3 gamers.
Name of Proposal Accepted: Arbitrum Gaming Growth with New Game+
Funding Approved for: $37,500
Milestones completed: 0/3
Reason for Approval as DA: New Game+ has a stacked team and the experience in both traditional and web3 gaming to support a large grant allocation. I expect splashy campaigns and wide reach to follow.
Name of Proposal Accepted: Goatfather - Arbitrum Content Creator
Funding Approved for: $11,500
Milestones completed: 1/3
Reason for Approval as DA: Goatfather is a continuously relevant and engaging web3 gaming content creator. A long-term partnership between him, his editing studio and Arbitrum games will bring more awareness and engagement to our ecosystem.
Name of Proposal Accepted:Tracker Gaming
Funding Approved for: $20,000
Milestones completed: 0/3
Reason for Approval as DA: Tracker Gaming is another web3 gaming guild and community that has a strong presence in our industry. By aligning them long-term with Arbitrum games we should see a strong UA funnel + consistent retention.
Name of Proposal Accepted: UGC Campaign Bot with automated proportional rewards distribution on Arbitrum
Funding Approved for: $37,500
Milestones completed: 0/3
Reason for Approval as DA: The Smok3 bot has recently made waves and seems like a strong new UA platform for web3 games. Their presence in both web3 and web2 gaming servers should help drive new users and more activity within the Arbitrum Gaming ecosystem. Their existing network and the strength of their team warrants a substantial grant amount.
Name of Proposal Accepted: Creator Marketing Budget Match
Funding Approved for: $22,500
Milestones completed: 0/3
Reason for Approval as DA: Owned has run many successful marketing campaigns and knows how to garner attention on social media. By subsidizing some of their upcoming campaigns for Arbitrum games we can expect wider reach and a larger top of funnel for new UA.
Name of Proposal Accepted: ReadyPlayerDAO Community Activation Program
Funding Approved for: $22,000
Milestones completed: 1/3
Reason for Approval as DA: ReadyPlayerDAO has a strong brand association in web3 gaming and is making a resurgence as a go-to place for web3 gamers to congregate and play games. This activation will help re-establish them and create a strong association between their brand and Arbitrum games.
- New Protocol Ideas:
Domain Overview [Timestamp – Jun 26, 2024]
Number of Proposals: 40
Number of proposals accepted: 9
Number of Proposals rejected: 17
Number of Proposals in review: 7
Number of proposal in resubmission/others: 7
Proposal Specific Updates
Name of Proposal Accepted: Improve the Discoverability of Projects Receiving Growth Incentives Using FairAI
Funding Approved for: 20,000 USD
Milestones completed: 1/2
Reason for Approval as DA: The proposal aims to fill one of the gaps in our DAO—marketing—through the use of AI. While it is not necessarily revolutionary, the plan to integrate the bot with data for the upcoming incentive programs (STIP.b and LTIPP, ready to start in a few weeks) and the willingness to work with potential future initiatives (such as the 404 DAO marketing that unfortunately didn’t went through, or others in future) means that a project with potential average value can elevate itself to something more significant for both the team and the Arbitrum ecosystem.
This type of composability, the idea of plugging into the current context rather than an abstract one, is what teams should aim for to truly find product-market fit (PMF).
Name of Proposal Accepted: Utoken app
Funding Approved for: 14,500 USD
Milestones completed: 1/3
Reason for Approval as DA: While the application is not revolutionary, it is indeed solid. It can give people the ability to directly pay for bills and, potentially in the future, other goods through crypto, in specific African regions. This adds utility, removes friction, and enhances real use cases, especially in developing countries where traditional banking systems are not widely available.
The team is complete and has previously worked on and delivered other projects successfully. Adding Telegram integration will provide even more access. Considering the amount requested, it is fair and appropriate to grant the funding.
Name of Proposal Accepted: StationX on Arbitrum
Funding Approved for: 24,000 USD
Milestones completed: 0/3
Reason for Approval as DA: The application is fairly straightforward. The team wants to deploy a set of functionalities in Arbitrum (KYC for stations, spaces, and integration with some DeFi protocols) that have already been deployed on other chains.
The idea is to democratize participation in ventures, making them accessible to a broader set of users. This aligns well with the ethos of crypto, where reducing friction not only enhances user experience compared to traditional finance but also opens up more opportunities.
The team is well-versed in their product, having iterated on it for a couple of years, and they are expanding across several chains. Given the team’s proven track record and the alignment of their idea with crypto culture, it is worth pursuing.
Name of Proposal Accepted: Automated Reputation Scoring Platform Based on On-Chain Arbitrum Activity
Funding Approved for: 20,000 USD
Milestones completed: 0/2
Reason for Approval as DA: Reputation systems are gaining more traction over time. They have been around for a while, with usage typically limited to specific tasks. The hope is that with public goods like this, we will see increased integration of wallet reputation into core systems and dApps in general.
The idea is not necessarily novel, but it is well executed and robust, especially since the product will be a public good. The team has a solid track record that inspires confidence, and the founder has been very persistent in pursuing this grant. While the latter point is not necessarily within the scope of evaluation, driven founders are always a good indication of potential success.
For these reasons, we are awarding the grant to this proposal, hoping that the outcome will be a solid product usable by all Arbitrum users.
Name of Proposal Accepted: Sonica: Empowering RWA Tokenization with Arbitrum Integration
Funding Approved for: 18,000 USD
Milestones completed: 0/2
Reason for Approval as DA: This is an application that is not necessarily groundbreaking but is very solid. If well executed, it can effectively tap into several addressable market pockets that are currently not exploited. Combining Web2, Web3, tokenization, and RWA (real-world assets) could either be an exercise in style or something quite useful. If this is the evaluation, why is the application approved?
Because the Sonica team is approaching it in the right way, specifically through well-known Web2 methods: integration through API, security-oriented practices, and no-code solutions. These are characteristics that are essential in corporate reality when you want to start an integration with a new partner. If a tokenization, no-code platform is going to work effectively, the above is a robust and solid plan. The team was also able to reduce their request by almost 30%, which I highly appreciate.
Name of Proposal Accepted: Collabberry: Compensation for early stage teams with On-chain Project Points
Funding Approved for: 20,000 USD
Milestones completed: 0/5
Reason for Approval as DA: Collabberry presents an innovative approach to improving compensation models by addressing the pitfalls of existing solutions like Coordinape. The team has support from RnDAO and experienced members, though some team members are unspecified, indicating potential gaps in experience. This is effectively the biggest risk, but the idea is novel enough to warrant taking this risk.
The proposal is thorough, with clear objectives and detailed problem identification. The timeline and goals are feasible due to the team’s understanding of the product.
Interesting to note is that, probably, on another chain this product would not have the same value it has here. Arbitrum DAO is demonstrating, for better or worse, to be one of the most decentralized entities in the crypto world. Collabberry can indeed have a role as a tool for small and mid-sized teams, and potentially more in the future, to alleviate the issues of payment in what is effectively a horizontal world.
Name of Proposal Accepted: Complete Analytics of All Arbitrum NFTs on Degenz
Funding Approved for: 20,000 USD
Milestones completed: 1/3
Reason for Approval as DA: This is a project that is not very innovative but is solid.
As we all know, NFTs are a pain point in Arbitrum; they are also an asset class that has been almost forgotten by the market for now. However, forgotten doesn’t mean they won’t have a resurgence at some point. When that happens, we want to be ready in Arbitrum, infrastructure-wise. Degenz offers a very good platform, detail-oriented on NFTs and other topics of interest such as Friend Tech.
While it could be argued that the platform itself might not be totally focused on a single asset class or might lack a specific identity, there is indeed good work behind it, with a community of several tens of thousands on Twitter and very good informative dashboards. For this reason, financing an NFT dashboard specifically for Arbitrum feels like a good investment of resources because the experience of the team and the fact that they have been running their business for a few years significantly lowers the related risks.
Name of Proposal Accepted: DexPal.ai
Funding Approved for: 25,000 USD
Milestones completed: 1/3
Reason for Approval as DA: The proposal of DexPal is for a “good old DeFi analytical platform.” While Arbitrum is still largely the land of DeFi, we haven’t seen many of these types of proposals in Questbook lately, with folks wanting to experiment with more novel projects. So there was some curiosity to see an application that was a dashboard to aggregate perps.
There was a big difference between the initial application and the demo witnessed on a call. The proposal was a bit poor, but the demo was impressive, to the point that I advised the team to level up their ability in writing decks and materials for future investors.
It was surprising to see a platform similar to Oku, another DeFi platform oriented toward Uniswap and pool management/liquidity/swaps. Despite these important differences, the two applications are quite similar and face similar challenges: aggregating several sources (for Oku, pools; for DexPal, exchanges/perps), showing users specific data from these different sources, fetching a large amount of data, etc.
DexPal is on track to create a very good dApp that could potentially be key in the future of Arbitrum if they play their cards right. We couldn’t find a way to fit more developments into this specific proposal, but this grant is also preparatory for a future raise and to showcase abilities to investors. It can really be a good flywheel for the project.
- Dev Tooling:
Domain Overview [Timestamp – Jul 15, 2024]
Number of Proposals: 39
Number of proposals accepted: 10
Number of Proposals rejected: 7
Number of Proposals in review: 6
Proposal Specific Updates
Name of Proposal Accepted: Node Guardians: Backup Sequencer
Funding Approved for: $35,000 USD
Milestones completed: 2
Reason for Approval as DA: Stellar recommendations from members of the DAO followed by previous experience building sequencer infrastructure. Has future plans on letting the backup sequencer become a self-sustainable model.
Name of Proposal Accepted: Huddle 01: Bringing Real-Time Communication over Arbitrum
Funding Approved for: $15,000 USD
Milestones completed: 1
Reason for Approval as DA: Ramit has a strong background in launching Huddle01 in multiple ecosystems through iterations of grants programs to test the waters and user activity. Team is experienced and has human resources to pull this off followed by a capital round of several millions of dollars.
Name of Proposal Accepted: BuildSquad: Arbitrum C# SDK
Funding Approved for: $18,500 USD
Milestones completed: 4
Reason for Approval as DA: Amarildo updated monthly since the previous iteration of the grants program. There’s a strong necessity for SDKs in popular programming languages. Recommendations from other grant programs about BuildSquad’s strong delivery and commitment to the space.
Name of Proposal Accepted: Sapiens Node: Building on Arbitrum Orbit
Funding Approved for: $18,700 USD
Milestones completed: 2
Reason for Approval as DA: Experience designing and implementing similar programs. Focus on the remittance corridor (Central America) is a need to increase developer activity on EVMs for the real-use cases we are seeing in the region. Higher education institutions are also way more open to introduce cryptography and smart contract deployment workshops on Layer-2s and its derivatives.
Name of Proposal Accepted: Espacio Cripto: Builder program for LatAm.
Funding Approved for: $24,000 USD
Milestones completed: 1
Reason for Approval as DA: Espacio Cripto delivered a previous grant with impeccable results. Track record with grant programs from dYdX and solid team building the right content for LatAm crypto scene.
Name of Proposal Accepted: ChainRisk: Economic Risk Simulation
Funding Approved for: $25,000 USD
Milestones completed: 1
Reason for Approval as DA: ChainRisk applied since the previous iteration of the grants program and has worked with other Arbitrum DeFi protocols like Compound with stellar results. ChainRisk is a need for the ecosystem as it lets people see and address adversarial market vulnerabilities that happen in the Decentralized Finance space.
Name of Proposal Accepted: WalletConnect: Sponsoring Smart Account deployment costs
Funding Approved for: $10,000 USD
Milestones completed: 0
Reason for Approval as DA: The team at WalletConnect has a simple grant proposal to subsidize the cost of its new Smart Account product. Unit economics makes sense as long as it is explicitly used to subsidize deployment.
Name of Proposal Accepted: StylusSecure: AI-Powered Auditing for Stylus Smart Contracts
Funding Approved for: $25,000 USD
Milestones completed: 1
Reason for Approval as DA: Raphael introduced his idea with challenges he saw on the current Stylus SDK. The implementation of an AI auditor is a tool that the domain is willing to explore to see if it can incentivize more smart contract deployment on top of the trendiest conversation in Arbitrum DevTooling (Stylus).
Name of Proposal Accepted: Search Multichain Worlds on Arbitrum with Dora
Funding Approved for: $48,000 USD
Milestones completed: 0
Reason for Approval as DA: The Dora team has already running implementations and contracts with Arbitrum Orbit chains. A sustainable model and a solid way to capture data and instances happening in blockchains. The UI/UX is great and after this grant approval closed a several million dollar seed round led by Dragonfly and LemnisCap.
Name of Proposal Accepted: Layer4.app: Arbitrum Support
Funding Approved for: $22,500
Milestones completed: 1
Reason for Approval as DA: De Wet has already a running user-base and application. Has future plans of fundraising without token equity and is already handling intros to fully focus on growth for his ‘drag and drop’ smart contract dApp.
We’d love to get feedback from the community here on the proposals that have been accepted, and any of the other proposals that have been posted on Questbook. Happy to clear any doubts about the program, or proposals, either from Questbook or the domain allocators.