The Grants Council has finished its review for Cycle 11. Cycle 11 presented an opportunity for the Grants Council and proposers to engage more deeply on applications, as each Sub-Committee provided forms for proposers that were designed to elicit information relevant to the rubrics used to assess projects.
During Cycle 11, the Grants Council focused on standardizing the intake process and improving consensus-based reviewing during the Preliminary and Final Review stages. The Council had the privilege of reviewing strong proposals that were made stronger as proposers iterated throughout the Cycle.
As we enter the reflection period, it is worth considering that the Grants Council reviewed more than 150 proposals during Season 3. We viewed each proposal stage (intake, preliminary, and final) as an opportunity to improve the process during both Cycles. By adopting an iterative mindset, we saw sustained progress and hope to refine the grants process in future Seasons.
And now, the Finalists.
Builders
Airgap Wallet (18k OP): secure and airgapped self-custody wallet solution which is completely open source and free to use
Chaintrap (10k OP): a simple dungeon game to be deployed on the Optimism testnet
CharmVerse (50k OP): a productivity tool for Web3 that enables communities to better coordinate and communicate
DeNotify (25k OP): a crypto alert system that allows users to create custom alerts that monitor blockchains 24/7 and trigger notifications receiving messages on various platforms
dm3 protocol (50k OP): a lightweight messaging protocol based on web3 technology, with a focus on secure end-2-end encryption, decentralization, scalability, and interoperability
Footprint (30k OP): a data platform blending web2 and web3 data with abstractions. We help analysts, builders, and investors turn blockchain data into insights with accessible visualization tools and a powerful multi-chain API
Herodotus (50k OP): storage-proof verifiers that will allow smart contracts deployed on Optimism to access current and historical Ethereum on-chain data in a trustless manner
Infinity Keys (25k OP): a platform for DaVinci Code-style challenges that create community engagement
Inverter (50k OP): streaming protocol aimed at enabling funders and projects to coordinate streamlining of milestone/KPI based grant & investment funding with integrated processes of one-stop funding management, active feedback loops, automated multi token funding & liquidation, and project & credentials database
Jiffyscan (46k OP): block explorer built for the EIP-4337 ecosystem, enabling account abstraction for EVM chains
Opti.domains (50k OP): an interoperable domain name for the OP Stack, aiming to enable each deployed chain to deploy its own web3 domain permissionlessly independently
Synpress (50k OP): an end-to-end testing framework for web applications based on Cypress.io and Playwright, with support for MetaMask
Growth Experiments
Another World (50k OP): a cross-NFT-community open-world game with playable L1/L2 (Optimism) NFTs
Bored Town (50k OP): art-focused Free Mint NFT project that is planning an art competition
dForce (200k OP): a set of DeFi protocols covering assets, lending, and trading, serving as DeFi infrastructure in Web3
Fairmint (250k OP): a software stack that empowers founders to passively receive investments from their biggest fans and grant equity to anyone that adds value
Geo Web (2k OP): public consensus for geospatial augmented reality
Giveth (40k OP): open, non-hierarchical global initiative empowering social, environmental, and humanistic impact projects with modern technologies
Metalswap (30k OP): decentralized hedging swap protocol that provides a tool for protecting assets from market volatility
Galxe (Oat) (200k OP): aims to build an open and collaborative credential data network that is accessible to all developers in Web3 by providing infrastructure for community members to curate and contribute digital credentials to a data network
Optiland Quests (20k OP): learn-to-earn program integrated with Optiland NFT community that is designed to educate Optimism users on Optimism dApps
Paytrie (50k OP): stablecoin on/off ramp serving users in Canada
Rabbit Hole (248.5k OP): token distribution platform that enables users to earn ERC20 tokens for completing on-chain tasks in various protocols
ShapeShift (200k OP): community-governed multi-wallet, multi-chain app is architected for complete decentralization, and is powered by an open-source stack
Threshold (200k OP): decentralized, permissionless, and censorship-resistant Bitcoin bridge
Vesper (75k OP): multi-chain yield aggregator offering users secure opportunities to generate yield on their crypto assets in a non-custodial manner
The finalists can expect outreach from the Foundation to handle KYC, distribution of the grants, and other details in the near term. As always, you can reach out to the Council with any questions at optimismgrantsops@gmail.com. Final milestones will be added as a comment to this post during the week of April 10. The pending draft will be visible here.
Note that the conferral of a grant is not an explicit or implicit promotion or endorsement of the projects, their representations, or their underlying products but rather an acknowledgement that the projects’ applications were deemed most suited to receive a grant given the parameters applied by the mandate of Season 3 governance.