Author
DeFi Dave
Summary
Increase grant allocation from $214.2k to $283.2k ($69k total) to account for additional activities of Flywheel. Change the receiving of funds from llama Pay stream and lump sum at the end of the year to monthly payout, basing the price of FXS on the 30-day TWAP average from Fraxswap.
Background
Since the passing of our grant renewal earlier this year, Flywheel has continued to provide intangible value to the Frax ecosystem. Along with staying consistent with our flagship media content, we have shepherded a number of initiatives including:
- Hosting events and increasing awareness of Frax around the world which has received wide acclaim from attendees. These events allow us to connect with builders and spread awareness of Frax to users.
- Organizing the Frax Ecosystem Education Program that has encouraged outsider contributors and researchers to proliferate Frax beyond Flywheel
- Organizing and leading the FraxBuild Hackathon. Along with rallying developers to build in the Frax ecosystem but also interact with the core team in a meaningful way through workshops and office hours.
A recent example Flywheel’s outsized impact to the Frax ecosystem was its key role in proliferating the Fraxchain news. What started as a conversation with Sam K on Flywheel we were able to package into a digestible story that was picked up by major news outlets and further discussed by key opinion leaders. Projects often hire whole marketing departments and PR firms in attempts to capture the same type of coverage yet Flywheel was able to do effortlessly due to the consistency of our content and firm long-term commitment to Frax.
Furthermore, as promised in our last grant, we have started to diversify our revenue streams. In April of this year we received an $18k education grant from Frax ecosystem partner Brain DAO, are in the beginnings of selling merch, and started consulting. We continue to actively look for education grants that align with our mission of promoting the Frax ecosystem.
Review of Current Use of Funds
- $104k to Flywheel
- Our flagship podcast Flywheel has continued to release episodes weekly. On this program, we have invited a wide-range of key opinion leaders ranging from builders to traders and everyone in between. Although this may not explicitly cover Frax, we perform what I like to call open-source advocacy with the guest whether it’s explaining Frax to them or brainstorming collaborations on air. We have been able to hire a professional editor to help us streamline the process.
- $52k to Frax Check
- We have stayed consistent with releasing weekly Frax Checks that review the performance of the protocol.
- $25k to IRL Events
- Flywheel has been consistent in hosting events around the world. So far we have hosted happy hours in Denver, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Seoul as well as a panel and workshop at Zuzalu. Coming up, we are planning events at Waterloo, Paris, and in NYC but after that our budget here will be almost if not depleted.
- $15.6k in business development representation
- Although The TIE shuttered its SigDev portal program, DeFi Dave has still led and assisted Frax in business development activities. These efforts range from introducing the core team to prospective projects who want to enter the Frax ecosystem to representing Frax in Twitter Spaces and at future conferences such as Stable Summit and ETHcc.
- $10k for Frax-branded merchandise
- Flywheel has created signature Frax merch for Denver and Tokyo and will continue to do so for future events. We will reallocate the money unused from Frax branded NFTs toward this category.
- $5.1k for art and content
- Flywheel has used these funds to help create memes and fund for our Frax 101 efforts (deep dives, tutorials, and explainers).
- $2.5k for Frax-branded NFTs
- After further research, we decided not to pursue this path. This money will be reallocated towards merch for the future.
Proposal Details
Items in Grant
- Events budget
- Events have proven to be an effective method of reaching out to the wide DeFi community and beyond in real life. Although we are halfway through the year, Flywheel has hosted 5 separate events and have 3 more planned in Waterloo (happening this week), Paris and New York.
- Although we have more events planned, we are asking for another $15000 with the aim of hosting at least 2 more events in Singapore for Token2049 and Istanbul for DevConnect (totaling 10 for the year). Any extra funds available will be used to fund future meetups that have not been planned yet.
- This Week in Frax
- Shortly after the passage of our last grant, we started releasing a new program called This Week in Frax which covers the events and conversations in the Frax Ecosystem over the past week.
- We propose to allocate $1000 per episode for This Week in Frax for past a future productions which totals $52000.
- SamKazBot
- Before Flywheel, SamKazBot was famously touted as the “only tool used for Frax marketing”. At the beginning of the year, the bot went offline due to maintenance issues. In light of this, Flywheel took the initiative to rebuild and launch SamKazBot in May 2023.
- For this work and future work, we propose to allocate $2000 for SamKazBot’s revival and maintenance.
- Implement KPIs for Flywheel Growth
- Originally proposed in previous proposals, we’d like to reintroduce the inclusion of social media growth incentives. These incentives will be paid in FXS:
- Social Media Account Growth
- Reach 5000 subscribers on YouTube, $1000. Reach 10000 subscribers on YouTube, $2500.
- Reach 5000 Followers on Twitter, $500. Reach 10000 followers on Twitter, $1000.
- Reach 1000 Followers on Instagram or TikTok, $250. Reach 5000 Followers on Instagram or TikTok, $500. Reach 10000 followers on Instagram or TikTok, $1000.
- Social Media Account Growth
- Originally proposed in previous proposals, we’d like to reintroduce the inclusion of social media growth incentives. These incentives will be paid in FXS:
Amendment of payout
- Change payment from LlamaPay and lump sum at the end of the year to monthly basis starting in July. Split payment between FRAX and FXS 50/50 and use a 30-day TWAP that is at the discretion of the Frax Core team.
Motivation
This proposal aims to help Flywheel continue to function effectively as the media extension of the Frax ecosystem. By amending the payout, it will help Flywheel to continue to operate without a hitch and compensate us for completed work and future iniatives for the rest of the year.
The FRAX allocated towards this proposal is well within Frax’s budget that has allocated $600k towards grants. In addition, we continue to align ourselves with the protocol by having half of the grant paid in FXS.
Proposal
- For: Increase Flywheel Grant and change to monthly payout
- Against: Do Nothing
