1. User Segments & Conversion Insights for LTIPP DeFi protocols
1.1 Why is it important?
STIP program was a great way to incentivize DeFi protocol users and allowed to increase the most important ecosystem & protocol factors such as DAU, MAU, fees & TVL. The growth was seen across the whole DeFi segment in the ARB ecosystem and all DeFi protocols that took part in the program.
STIP uncovered however a number of challenges, both for DeFi protocols as well as the STIP Council & Advisors. Questions and challenges that were most commonly repeated are:
- What types of incentives were delivering the best results? Which DeFi protocols were most successful in attracting new users? (404 DAO, GMX/Saurabh, Wintermute)
- What was the wallet retention & activity after STIP? Did users stay in the ARB ecosystem or did they leave after receiving funds? (Vela, Karel, Furucombo)
- What was the real (normalized) influence of STIP-rewarded wallets on crucial metrics such as DAU, fees & TVL and how it compares to other chains? (Wintermute, Karel, Jones)
- How to discover new ways of incentivizing users to make LTIPP more efficient than STIP? Which user segments were most valuable? (SeriousPeople, Stryke, Wintermute, SEEDLatam)
- How to report and draw insights from an overwhelming number of bi-weekly statuses and data infrastructure? (Vela, Umami, Savvy)
We believe that these challenges stem from two issues:
DAO lacks one, universal source of decision-making insights based on easy-to-read comparable metrics for all supported DeFi protocols, enabling to compare them with DeFi segments in other ecosystems.
DeFi protocols lack solution to independently discover most valuable user segments and improve their incentivisation strategies on their own. Dune and in-house data tools don’t allow for quick and comfortable exploration of user segments & their conversions.
1.2 Solution for the DAO
With +100 DeFi protocols delivering status updates bi-weekly, it’s impossible for LTIPP Council & Advisors to make informed decisions. Dune is a great multi-tool but delivers raw data rather than insights, complicating decision-making even more.
Tokenguard delivers a simple growth leaderboard for all DeFi protocols in the LTIPP with all decision-making insights needed. It showcases the conversion of LTIPP funds into ARB ecosystem goals through a synthetic indicator comprising 6 predefined on-chain metrics, allowing for fast decision-making with regard to all protocols.
Decision-making metrics
- New TVL acquisition per $1k ARB spent
- Avg TVL retention
- New wallet acquisition per $1k ARB spent
- Avg wallet retention
- Volume increase per $1k ARB spent
- Avg volume
All metrics will be calculated in relative and absolute values and weighted in 50/50 ratio to accomodate for growth efficiency and ecosystem impact. Metrics can be modified and their number can be increased / decreased to meet LTIPP Council’s & Advisor’s requirements.
Current public version of the DAO interface:
https://app.tokenguard.io/crypto-growth
https://app.tokenguard.io/dapp-ranking?blockchain=moonbeam
The above metrics were suggested after multiple discussions with LTIPP stakeholders. These metrics will be displayed as an LTIPP leaderboard for each DeFi protocol in the program. A LTIPP Index (0-100) of all these averaged metrics will be calculated and:
- Projects above average (> 50) demonstrate higher efficiency in converting LTIPP funds into ARB ecosystem goals
- Projects below average (< 50) demonstrate lower efficiency in converting LTIPP funds and should receive help from Advisors & OpenBlock & Tokenguard to redesign their strategy
To accommodate for differences in DeFi team’s expertise and their brand’s awareness, Tokenguard will also display the information about protocol size to indicate whether it’s an early-stage or experienced project. This factor should be included by the LTIPP Council & Advisors while making decisions.
Exemplary insights & actions
- Having a single source of comparable metrics from all DeFi protocols included
- → Focusing Advisor’s & OpenBlock’s engagement on protocols that utilize LTIPP rewards less efficiently
- Calculating the ROI and LTIPP influence on crucial metrics compared to other ecosystems
- → Understanding if LTIPP should be continued in its existent form and observing the results of programs from other ecosystems
- Measuring TVL increase excluding rewarded ARB and understanding which user segments leave the ecosystem after being incentivized
- → Modification of LTIPP and future programs to focus on user segments that have have highest ROI long-term
1.3 DAO Report
[added on 06/13/2024 13:00 CET]
Taking into account the feedback regarding the goal of the DAO in connection with LTIPP, Tokenguard team will deliver 2 types of reports to the DAO:
Monthly Summary Reports: Alongside the real-time DAO Leaderboard insights, we will provide monthly summary reports highlighting key findings, trends, and recommendations to the DAO on how to improve wallet & TVL acquisition within LTIPP protocols by showcasing most and least efficient strategies used by protocols.
Final Summary Report: We will deliver a thorough research report that includes detailed analysis of different strategies that worked best or didn’t work during the LTIPP program, answering the most important questions:
-
Most valuable wallet segments for the ecosystem (Who to acquire?): An analysis with regard to wallet conversion and churn pathways. Such analysis can focus the scope of future programs to wallets that have the highest LTV for the ecosystem and will allow to discover new segments (eg. DeFi users moving to Gaming dApps; New wallets flowing to Arbitrum from Eth). Potential outcomes:
- ➝ Discovering the power-user segment responsible for generating most of the LTV in the ARB ecosystem
- ➝ Focusing the scope of LTIPP and future programs on users that bring in value not only in the DeFi sector but others as well (eg. gaming, NFT).
-
Acquisition strategies with highest New Wallets & TVL (How to acquire?): Analysing off and on-chain strategies used to acquire new wallets (including off-chain performance marketing and social media strategies) in order to answer how to acquire new wallets best. Potential outcomes:
- ➝ Understanding if off-chain marketing CAC is higher or lower than on-chain marketing CAC
- ➝ Discovering non-web3 user segments that could be acquired to ARB (eg. Forex traders, stock market traders, web2 gamers)
- ➝ Moving part of the future LTIPP budget to trackable web2 / web3 performance marketing campaigns (using tools such as HypeLab, Addressable)
-
Rewarding strategies with highest Avg TVL & Wallet Retention (How to retain them?): Analyzing behavior patterns of rewarded wallets vs strategies used to understand how to keep these wallets in the ecosystem.
- ➝ Implementing new incentivisation strategies (eg. long-term reward distribution, DeFi loyalty programs)
- ➝ Modification of DeFi architectures to improve wallet & TVL retention (eg. implementing Protocol-owned-Liquidity & bonding,
Answering these 3 most important questions will allow designing a new user inflow funnel and significantly improve LTIPP but also generate ideas on new incentivisation programs that will focus on newly discovered user segments that haven’t been targeted so far.
1.4 Solution for DeFi & dApps
Tokenguard solves DeFi & dApp challenges by delivering a standalone no-code user segmentation & conversion tool. With cross-protocol and cross-chain tracking, it allows discovering the most valuable user segments and their behavior within seconds, making it possible for DeFi & dApps to independently improve their strategies to increase revenue and minimize churn.
Workflow
- Add your protocol smart contract ABI files.
- Let Tokenguard map the ABI conversions (30 minutes).
- Build your own user segments based on:
- Date joined / last interacted / no. of interactions
- dApp interacted with
- Wallet size and source of funds (CeX, bridge, on-ramp)
- Interaction with specific smart contract (eg. LTIPP reward distribution)
- Choose units to compare (no. of wallets, tokens transferred, no. of interactions)
- Choose on-chain conversions from ABI (eg. adding liquidity, trading)
- Compare segments population and metrics
- Compare segments behavior within protocol and flow between protocols
User Segments workflow walkthrough available here:
Current public version of the DeFi & dApp interface: https://app.tokenguard.io/stellaswap/users
Exemplary insights & actions
- Identify which out of +10 common incentive types of $ARB in the LTIPP program provides the greatest value
- → Channeling higher % of LTIPP rewards to wallets with the most valuable conversions, thus increasing revenues and fees per DeFi
- Understanding the most common ways for wallets to churn and what % of awarded ARB is leaving the ecosystem after LTIPP
- → Minimizing churn by rewarding wallets that keep their funds in the ecosystem after LTIPP
- Identify the user segment that brings the highest TVL and shows the highest retention
- → Channeling a higher % of LTIPP rewards to user segments with the biggest value, thereby increasing long-term TVL and wallet activity
2. Research Team information
2.1 Team background
Tokenguard is an experienced team of 8 data analysts and developers who, through cooperation with several Layer 1 teams and by providing solutions for communities and dApps, have gained knowledge about the solutions needed to support the growth of individual DeFi protocol and, consequently, the entire ecosystem.
Founding team members:
- Kamil Gorski: Co-founder & CEO - Bootstrapped tech company to $1m revenue in less than a year; Former hacker & dev with 7+ yrs experience; Conducted +20 security audits of protocols. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/gorskikamil/)
- Jakub Rojek: Co-founder & CTO - Co-created web3 user engagement platform OpenLoyalty. Created blockchain products before Ethereum even existed. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakub-rojek-dev/)
- Damian Rolek: Co-founder & CDO - Implemented Al/ML conversion & churn algorithms for e-commerces as a Senior Data Scientist at PwC; Co-built a DeFi analytics platform for investors. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/damianrolek/)
Previous work includes i.a.:
- Polkadot - Delivering dApp & DeFi analytics for measuring user insights
- Astar - Delivering ecosystem analytics for tracking dApps activity and efficiency of grant programs
- Aleph Zero - Delivering dApp & DeFi analytics for tracking on-chain conversions
- Web3Foundation - Delivering open sourced, drag&drop analytics tool for dashboard creations
- Sygnum Bank - Delivering on-chain analytic reports on the status of specific coins & tokens
Blog posts about ecosystem activity:
- On-chain Analysis of Anomalies in Moonbeam Smart Contract Creation: (98.5% of Moonbeam's contracts are generated by a mysterious token)
- Efficiency in Tracking Ecosystem Grant Programs:
(How to maximize ROI & TVL from grant programs)
Accelerated by:
Outlier Ventures & Synergis Capital 18/09/2023: $200k pre-seed round
Finalist of AWS Global Fintech Accelerator 14/12/2023
Tokenguard App:
2.2 Why Tokenguard is the best fit to research this topic
Tokenguard is a specialized platform delivering actionable on-chain insights for Ecosystem Managers and DeFi protocol builders. Our experience in collaborating with teams in these areas streamlines the process of understanding what is important from both from the DAO perspective—allowing for more effective assessment of whether funds spent yield results—and supporting DeFi creators by providing a tool that helps increase the effectiveness of awarded rewards.
Cooperation with DeFi & dApps uncovered an unanswered need from their builders - to quickly discover most valuable user segments. Dune Analytics, DappRadar & Defillama are great tools but don’t allow for analysis of conversions and relative segments.
With Tokenguard, DeFi builders can create and explore tens of potential user segments in a matter of minutes with no engagement from the development team.
3. Budget
3.1 Requested amount
Total requested amount: 124 542 ARB ($117 070)
3.2 Cost breakdown
Milestones | Tasks | Cost |
---|---|---|
1 DAO Leaderboard | Building DAO custom metrics; Creation of DeFi protocol leaderboard; Leaderboard implementation | $34,400 |
2 DAO Report | Building DAO custom metrics; Creation of DeFi protocol leaderboard; Leaderboard implementation | $12,820 |
3 DeFi & dApp Interface | Arbitrum One data aggregation and transformation; Setting up and reservation of indexing infrastructure; Integrating 87 DeFi & dApps included in LTIPP; User Segments and Conversions Insights for DeFi & dApps | $69,850 |
Total | $117,070 |
The request amount needs to be paid upfront for implementation and data indexation.