Great to see the active discussion here, you’ve raised a lot of good points that we’d like to address.
The main goal of this program is to enable protocols with active usage on Optimism to participate in governance without self-delegating grants. It will also increase the votable supply, the importance of which has been raised by delegates several times. The goal is not to measure the relative value a protocol contributes to the ecosystem.
Given the above context, we’d like to get your feedback on an alternate design for the program:
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All qualifying protocols would receive the same amount of OP, rather than on a pro-rata basis.
- Protocols that are OP Native would receive a small multiplier on the flat rate
- Protocols that already have an Optimism delegate would receive a multiplier on the flat rate (slightly larger than the OP Native multiplier)
- Protocols may receive both multipliers, if they meet both criteria
As a reminder, delegations will be made up to a cap of 2M total OP delegated. That means that protocols that already have 2M OP delegated to them are not eligible to receive any additional delegation and protocol delegations will be capped at the point at which they would push a protocol’s delegation above 2M total delegated OP.
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We understand your concerns about the criteria to derive the list of qualifying protocols. It’s a challenging problem as most criteria are imperfect. We’ve very intentionally selected the criteria to be:
- Applicable across protocols
- Not easily gameable
- Objective (to limit the Foundation’s involvement in this process)
- Simple (given this is a temporary pilot program, lasting a maximum of 2 Seasons)
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We suggest the following alternative:
- The top 15 protocols, based on gas fees generated on Optimism, will receive delegation (flat distribution with multipliers, as described above). If any qualifying protocols have misused grant funding in the past, they will not be eligible.
- Protocols that have not qualified, can self-nominate for one of 8 additional spots in the program. The intent is to broaden the stakeholders that are represented and to take into account factors that cannot easily be quantified or standardized.
- The Token House would vote on the 8 protocols that are added to the program in Special Voting Cycle #9b. Self-nominations would run from Dec 21st - January 5th.
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As in the original design, all qualifying protocols will need to opt into the program in Season 3, creating a delegate commitment and agreeing to abide by the delegate code of conduct. Delegations will not be made without this commitment to participate. Protocols receiving delegation through this program must maintain >70% participation rate to continue to receive delegation in Season 4. Any protocol violating the code of conduct will have their delegation removed.
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This program is temporary and will be run for a maximum of 2 Seasons, after which point qualifying protocols will need to maintain their voting power via their own treasuries. Protocols that are active and engaged in the Optimism ecosystem, but that are not part of this program, may still participate in governance via their own treasuries or increase their delegation via other means.
We appreciate your feedback on these proposed changes. Final proposals for the Grants Council and the Protocol Delegation Program will be posted as new posts on the forum later this week.