The Arbitrum Orbit Stimulus Pilot [Request for Discussion]

[tnorm]

Hey @dk3 @JoJo @axlvaz_SEEDLATAM.eth, appreciate the quick responses and kind words! Fair questions and concerns across the board…Addressing ln-line below:

1. The Tooling

@JoJo

Now, this is only an example of course. What I would like to understand are the tools capabilities, flexbilities, and how this translates in complexity of implementation.

Both Llama protocol and Boost Protocol are live and open-source. Anyone can play around with the incentives creation tooling here and view the docs here.

For the purpose of the proposed program, Boost Protocol contracts will be deployed on each Orbit chain alongside custom plugins (which allow Boost contracts to verify actions) for key projects and actions on each Orbit Chain. This means, depending on the goals of a chain, the implementation and capacity of the full stack will vary. Certainly, the flexibility of the tooling is a benefit, in its current iteration the tooling would support the following actions: Swap, Bridge, Mint, Open a Position, and Stake.

Further, as you alluded to, the tools will evolve, and new strategies will become available as well. While not dependent pieces of this proposal, dynamic rewards, chained rewards, and third-party validation techniques (oracles, etc.) are modular additions that can be integrated in future protocol updates. Further, integrations with additional partners such as Gitcoin, Hedgey, Superfluid, Identity Protocols, etc. mean this tooling is just the first lego of an operational toolkit for Arbitrum chains.

2. Action-Based Incentives

@dk3

One thing I hate is single-action-based marketing campaigns. Odyssey got us 20k+ users over 3 days, of which zero ever returned. I see them as botnets that only cost the supporting project increased infrastructure costs (our increase was >5k that month).

It’s a fair critique that single-action marketing campaigns often prioritize short-term user acquisition (i.e. mercenary users) over sustainable engagement. “Quests” have largely manifested as bounty markets for metrics (transactions, daily active users, etc.). In contrast, this proposal aims to establish long-term tooling to facilitate exactly the opposite, while doubling down on user and action-centric incentives.

Analysts will assume a role of segmentation and profiling, which we believe can be leveraged using the protocol’s targeting strengths to apply strategies specifically for those examples you describe. Boost Studios will not run any of these campaigns in the proposal’s current setup.

Some analysts we’ve spoken with are already sitting on strategies and CAC metrics, user profiling, and segmentation. The dream scenario for a grantee is to graduate the Orbit Pilot with not only an increase in onchain metrics, but also with valuable user profiles of their existing demographics, robust tooling to directly access their users, and a blend of information regarding retention costs, migration costs, and general CAC-estimates for expanded growth campaigns.

A few examples of easy to deploy strategies using this tooling would include:

Conquest Campaign

• Objective: Target Gamers from Avalanche
• Action: Mint Game NFT
• Whitelist: Active Addresses of DeFi Kingdom, StarMech, and Battle.Tech.

Migration Campaign

• Objective: A DEX wants to bring wstETH liquidity from its Arbitrum One DEX to its Arbitrum Orbit Chain.
• Action: Bridge any amount of wstETH > 0.5 from Arbitrum One to Arbitrum Orbit Chain
• Whitelist: Include Users with LP token for desired position, wstETH holders on Arbitrum One

Retention Campaign

• Objective: Retain highest turnover profile of DEX users
• Action: Swap
• Whitelist: Include target Segment (Users generating between $20 - $30 USDC in monthly fees, with >10 swaps per month), Exclude users active in the last 72 hours

Further, one of the most interesting case studies we’ve seen is natural use of Zora boosts, where artists have found certain strategies can develop natural discovery using Zora algorithms, giving positive ROI based on an understanding of the Zora mint flywheel. Some more examples of alternative strategies from the RabbitHole STIP grant are here.

3. Incentive Managers and The Council

@JoJo

The secon main question I have is the relationship between council and managers: i see that managers are whitelisted by the council. Is not clear to me if this means, practically, that managers are selected internally by the council, or elected by the dao and ratified by the council, or elected by the dao and whitelisted in the tool by the council, or what is the framework underneath.

The proposed dynamic would place incentive managers behind a relatively low barrier for entry, with the idea being that the council is primarily responsible for “whitelisting” or approving incentive managers based on preliminary applications. Once approved, any Orbit chain will be able to then reach out and worth with an incentives manager to design custom strategies.

In short:

1. Incentive Managers Apply

2. Council reviews applications as an initial screen (w/ relatively light eligibility requirements - proof of ability, willingness to KYC, etc.)

3. Accepted Incentive Managers are whitelisted

4. Orbit Chains Apply for a Grant

5. Approved Orbit Chains reach out to Incentives Managers to create strategies

6. Council approves strategies

7. Incentives Managers execute strategies

Other:

@axlvaz_SEEDLATAM.eth

• For the election of board members, are there minimum requirements? We want to avoid a popularity contest.

While no formal guidelines have been established above, this is definitely something to consider. Personally I’d prefer to have a combination of growth experts, a representative of the larger Orbit Strategy (OCL/Arb Foundation rep), and folks w/ specific chain growth expertise (either from the protocol or network side).

@axlvaz_SEEDLATAM.eth

• Will the Boost protocol provide any support/workshops on the use of the Boost manager and plugin?

Yes! We will definitely provide training, workshops, and support for all Incentive Managers and Orbit Chains as they launch. It’s imperative that the tooling is accessible and well understood for the program to succeed.

@axlvaz_SEEDLATAM.eth

• For data provider and RPC, most Orbit chains use RaaS for chain maintenance and deployment. We think it would be better if we can agree with some of them, to provide this services, here an incomplete list (provided the chain uses some of these services):

• Caldera

• Coinduit

• AltLayer

• Gelato

• Zeeve

• Vistara

Perhaps a deeper analysis of the infra could be conducted w/ ARDC members as well…definitely will continue these conversations offline. Would love SeedLatam’s support!