Strengthening GCP's Commitment to the DAO: Introducing Castle Labs as Our DAO Relations Partner and Addressing Feedback

DAO Programs & Initiatives Gaming Catalyst Program (GCP)
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Dear Arbitrum DAO Delegates,

We hear the feedback and understand the concerns raised regarding the consistency of The Gaming Catalyst updates. We shared an extensive update at the EthDenver Arbitrum Delegate Day, and took it as a very important action item from delegate feedback to improve DAO communications. This collaboration is a direct response to your feedback and signifies our renewed focus on fostering a more transparent, engaged, and collaborative relationship with the Arbitrum DAO.

To demonstrate our commitment to transparency and better engagement, we are excited to announce two key actions:

  • Castle Labs (@castlecapital) has joined the Gaming Catalyst Program (GCP) as our dedicated DAO Relations partner.
  • The GCP is also hiring a Content Strategist to proactively support communications around program progress, portfolio updates, and broader industry insights, complementing Castle’s DAO-focused work and rounding out the GCP comms stack.

Addressing Your Feedback

  • Consistent Updates: Castle Labs will implement a structured communication calendar to ensure timely, clear, and recurring updates.
  • Direct Engagement: Castle will help facilitate two-way engagement channels between GCP and the DAO to ensure questions and feedback are heard and addressed promptly.

Who Is Castle Labs?

Castle Labs is a research and advisory collective at the forefront of crypto-native research, governance, and content strategy. As a long-term Arbitrum DAO delegate, Castle Labs already plays a pivotal role in the DAO’s operations, serving as the Research Member within the ARDC and a Domain Allocator for the D.A.O. Grants Program. Their deep integration into the Arbitrum ecosystem and builder community, coupled with their consistent advocacy and educational efforts since launch, makes them an ideal partner for the GCP.

Meet the Team:

  • Insomniac (@insomniac), Governance Lead: Insomniac brings a diverse background in loyalty program management and software development to the crypto space, fueled by a passion for the industry. He now leads DAO initiatives at Castle Labs, championing interoperability and fostering effective governance.
  • Atomist (@atomist), Founder & CEO: With a background in chemical engineering, Atomist transitioned into crypto research and growth marketing, driving Castle Labs’ growth and contributing significantly to various DeFi protocols on Arbitrum. His leadership and expertise will be invaluable in shaping our DAO relations strategy.

In our upcoming March/Q1 update, we will provide:

  • A detailed overview of the GCP’s current processes, team updates, progress and key milestones.
  • An introduction to the structured communication implemented by Castle Labs, highlighting our new process for consistent updates.
  • A clear outline of the communication strategy designed to enhance transparency and address your feedback.

We are confident that Castle Labs’ expertise and deep understanding of the Arbitrum ecosystem will significantly enhance our engagement with the DAO. We encourage you to connect with Atomist, Insomniac, and the GCP team.

For any questions, please tag @Insomniac, @Atomist, or @Djinn.

We look forward to a strong and transparent partnership.

Thanks,

The Gaming Catalyst Program Team.

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I like that you responded to the proposal quite quickly.

Of course, openness and transparency are what our community needs. And this is the first step towards improvement.

I hope that in the upcoming report we will see:

  • the transfer of funds that so excited many delegates
  • investment plans, the main task of the GCP
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Food for thought:

Would it make sense for @atomist and the team to develop a structured communication approach and maybe some templates in Notion and Google Sheets that can be reused across initiatives?

This would be a first step towards standardization of reporting/agreeing on what a bare minimum of reporting is while

  • ensuring that not every initiative is reinventing the wheel and can build upon an existing structures
  • delegates get used to where to find what type of information
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Hi tamara, we will be looking at improvements along those lines but have not decided what they are yet. First on our priority is the coming update for delegates and potentially a restructure of GCP’s section in the forum to make information more easily accessible.

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We’re a fan of Castle Lab’s research and look forward to them helping improve the GCP’s transparency and help the DAO understand their operations and progress.

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This is much needed to get trust back or at least convince people that the GCP is capable of doing its job and real progress can be seen. I do hope and expect Castle Labs to regulary make a post about developement in a dedicated thread the DAO can follow.

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Cross-posting the GCP Strategic Update (March 2025) here for all those following this thread.

We encourage everyone to follow the link and digest the full update.

@EzR3aL