Intent 3: Season 4

Delegates 🏛
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Please add your suggestions for Intent #3 here.

Additionally, we will host a 1/2 hour call to facilitate brainstorming and discussion about Intent #3 on 17:30 GMT on April 20th (directly following the Foundation AMA.)

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My suggestion for Intent 3: “Make Optimism the Home of Regens”

Regenerative Finance is an approach to finance that aims to create an inclusive, transparent, and accessible financial system focused on nurturing environmental, social, and economic well-being. (For a comprehensive overview of ReFi, check out this article by Toucan: What is ReFi | Regenerative Finance explained)

At the heart of Optimism’s vision, culture, and ambition is of course a special emphasis on public goods. And what better public goods to focus on than the regenerative ones ?

As the world faces urgent environmental challenges, ReFi offers an opportunity to create positive change by transforming how our economic system operates. By integrating care for communities, living ecosystems, and the environment, ReFi has the potential to create a more equitable and sustainable world.

For me, this resonate 1000000% with Optimism’s Vision and Retro PGF.
RPGF mechanism can play a crucial role in supporting ReFi initiatives, demonstrating its power in addressing real-world issues. By embracing ReFi, Optimism can once again demonstrate its commitment to public goods and become a driving force for positive change

The Web3 ReFi ecosystem is currently in its nascent stages, with projects scattered across various blockchains. We have here an opportunity to become a hub for existing ReFi applications, encouraging their deployment on our Ecosystem, as well as inspiring the development of new, unique projects.

But, for me, this goes beyond the scope of Intent 2 (“innovative applications”) :
By fostering an entire ReFi ecosystem on Optimism – including educators, real-world projects, conferences, hackathons, partnerships, and encouraging DEXs to leverage ReFi – We could create a holistic and supportive environment for ReFi initiatives.

Exemples of missions for this Intent could be:

  • Develop ReFi-focused educational resources ;
  • Develop a dedicated grants program to support projects and teams that create and applications and initiatives on Optimism
  • Create or support ReFi-focused hackathons and Conferences
  • Incentivize DEX integration with ReFi projects
  • Support real-world ReFi projects

Well, this is it! It’s my first (and passionate) suggestion :sweat_smile:. What’s your take on it? As a new, and humble (tiny) delegate -latruite.eth, I have a tremendous desire to get involved and learn. I’m eager to hear your thoughts…

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Spitballing here. Governance accessibility kind of touches on it, but I’d like on of the intents to more clearly relate to political decentralization. We can be technically decentralized, but if the controller of the tech, or the direction of the tech, is politically centralized, then we undermine that effort. Not sure if this needs to be its own intent, perhaps the language of governance accessibility can be cleaned up to be more explicit.

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Full support for the Technical + Innovation + Governance focused Collective Intents. As I can’t make the brainstorming session due to timezone adding my two cents here…

People & Culture: Purposeful Shaping of Emergent Behaviour

Open questions: Besides funding…

  • How do we proactively design complex human systems for a diversity of perspectives and ease of participation?
  • Can we support knowledge sharing/building to embed skills for effective human interaction and coordination as part of our culture (i.e. constructive communication, decision-making, stewardship)?
  • What more can we do to support, recognise and celebrate, champion and retain all those that support and deliver on Vision, Missions & Collective Intents? (RFPG does a great job at this)

Recognise this is not “economically driven” in the financial sense of the term, but if I learned anything from studying business and a career within multiple start-ups - it’s that people are our greatest resource.

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Firstly, I really like @latruite.eth’s idea of an Intent to bring regen into the foreground even more, that’s the side of Optimism that got me interested in the first place and why I want to involved… but I thought it was still worth posting another alternative.

Rather than Public Goods, how about an Intent focused on Public Bads?!

This would fund Missions focused on identifying, understanding and minimizing the effects of possible future disasters in Optimism.

My background is in astrophysics, where a perfectly legitimate field of study is the risk of asteroid impacts. In astrophysics and astronomy this primarily means trying to identify all the Near Earth Objects, but other studies have looked at the best ways to deflect an asteroid (which is probably by ‘Gravity Tractor’, if you ever need to know…), long period comets, asteroid composition and other aspects of the danger.

A more obvious analogy to the kind of thing this Intent might resemble might be the IPCC and other organizations studying Climate Change. There is a big, existential risk to the planet, so we fund people to study it and come up with possible solutions. I’m suggesting we fund research into existential risks to the crypto ecosystem we’re playing in.

In Optimism’s context examples of different types of mission might include things like:

  • Identifying unsustainable DeFi applications for which a significant number of the participants misunderstand the risk (e.g. scenarios like Iron/Titan or Terra/Luna etc);

  • Subsidizing bug bounties for smaller projects with small budgets that have grown quickly and now have a significant potential reward vs effort for attackers;

  • Examine potentially exploitative interactions between otherwise safe projects and work with teams to generate solutions (similar to how OpenZepplin is used by Synthetix and others to reduce risk of things like flash loan attacks);

  • Explore L1 risks and fund L1 teams working on solutions, ranging from potential attestation capture of the Beacon Chain to regulatory changes causing mass validator exits and the associated reduced security for Ethereum;

  • Study and educate on specific L2 risks, answering questions like whether there is some unforeseen attack surface introduced with Cannon or whatever other future upgrades;

I’m sure you can think of loads more things on along the same vein, these are just illustrations of the kind of thing I mean.

I also think this idea fits well into the model of Collective Intents as it would naturally lead to broad spanning alliances between disparate groups and individuals. No one is an expert on every aspect of all the different dApps, and rollup construction, and L1 clients etc, so it should lead to interesting mixes of experts working together. This in turn may inspire interesting ideas for collaborations and future building, in addition to the immediate objectives associated with the Mission being worked on.

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Notes from Intent Brainstorm call (4/20/23)

Summary of delegate discussion as noted by lavande, apologies for any inaccuracies or misrepresentations of ideas

General notes

  • Intent specifies the “What,” Missions specify the “How”
    • Broader Intents could encompass more Missions in first iteration
    • But underspecifying the Intent could lead to poorly scoped Missions
  • Inspiration may come from ideas list

Suggestions

(Some delegates plan to post more fully formulated descriptions of the below concepts shortly)

  • Suggestion 1: Initiatives that promote the Optimism Collective’s mission / create discussions on public goods / create visibility for RetroPGFand grant funding opportunities

    • Would be an Intent that is more externally facing than all the others
    • Something like “Next 2 Billion Eyes on Optimism”
    • Promotion to builders is important and missing in the current intents
    • I think if you asked people outside of these calls, “What is Ether’s Phoenix?” very few would be able to answer, even though it’s a message that could resonate with a broad array of people
    • Optimism is not just another rollup, it’s a rollup with a vision (Optimistic Vision) that welcomes people of all crafts with certain value alignment. We should make the Optimism Collective widely known as an ecosystem that fosters public goods creation
    • Desired outcomes could include driving larger community, driving more applications for grants, driving awareness and users to the platform

  • Suggestion 2: Onboard (people that don’t’ normally interact with Web3)

    • There was discussion about whether “Awareness” or “Onboarding” was a better Intent to drive the desired outcomes

  • Suggestion 3: Draw more outside entities into the Collective. The Optimism Collective is validating that the RetroPGF model works, other entities may want to contribute and help fund RetroPGF (web3 and beyond web3)

    • Want the Optimism Collective to become the go-to place for people who care about public goods fundng
    • Something like “Empower the Next 1-Billion Optimistic Visions”

  • Suggesion 4: Optimism becomes the home for constructing DAOs in a more considered environment (utilizing Oxcart/OXCART-RESOURCES.md at main ¡ emjicy/Oxcart ¡ GitHub)

    • Would enable the best DAOs to be living and launched in Optimism ecosystem
    • Create something like token engineering economy for daos
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Okay building off that call, just had an idea.

I mentioned yesterday that these intents are temporary, essentially representing some step forward we want to take in some season.

I think to that end we should have one intent be about developing ways to support future intents.

Concretely, let’s have an intent be about driving value to $OP, or alternatively finding ways to resource future missions. This seems like a near term necessity not dependent on the broader crypto landscape.

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Each new iteration proposed by the foundation sounds great to me. I’m sure there are people in there who know what they’re doing, but as they say, “easier said than done.” This is a very complex problem no one has ever solved, and there is a unique moment in history when we can start trying these kinds of exciting experiments. Why not educate on this matter too instead of just how to use a wallet, etc.? UIs are going to change soon, but the underlying philosophy stays.

Suggestion 1: Initiatives that promote the Optimism Collective’s mission:
I think the diagnosis we can make from the past is that the percentage of Optimism users participating in governance is too low. The “philosophical” entry barrier is quite high due to the complexity of the problem we’re dealing with. Even the thread I posted trying to promote community action was misunderstood by people who should have known better if they truly grasped the mission of Optimism (but mostly supported and I agreed it was impossible to so, not so agree if it’s because of the early state of the project, but for the lack of trained people. But overall, the problem was the workload overload of the collective itself. In short, we need more trained and committed people with long-term values (the value must be extracted offchain and then brought onchain), and this leads us to the next point.

Suggestion 2: Onboard (people who don’t normally interact with Web3)
What we have often called onboarding no-coiners :joy:. This is absolutely necessary because once their barrier of mistrust is broken, they will be people who are not biased by the dynamics of recent years’ tokenomics and investment. Here the idea is to attract citizens rather than investors, as that mindset seems almost impossible to overcome. There is nothing wrong with investing; DeFi has brought a lot of capital for development, but if we don’t take a step further to extract that offchain value, all of this will not be sustainable.

Suggestion 4: Optimism becomes the home for constructing DAOs in a more considered environment (utilizing Oxcart/OXCART-RESOURCES.md at main · emjicy/Oxcart · GitHub) I need to check this interesting tool, but there’s a missing piece of the puzzle to create an alignment of incentives that has been lacking in recent years. Should all governance tokens be liquid on a DEX? I believe not, and that’s precisely what makes us distrustful of financing projects that later act based on other interests. The idea I have about this is to create a governance token for the funded project, which extracts its own value, but doesn’t have the power to manage its own liquidity. Instead, the project’s exit would be through redeeming those DAO governance tokens for Optimism (with a small percentage of penalty and also losing the benefits of being a member of the DAO itself). Moreover, those OPs that store these DAOs in their treasury could be participating in Optimism governance. Again, easier said than done.

I’d like to add another suggestion, which is to promote greater cultural diversity involvement, addressing the language barrier we discussed. It’s not just about translation, as many have pointed out. Instead, it’s about promoting values and encouraging direct participation in governance. This would help avoid the “community middleman” effect. I don’t believe this is currently happening, but in my opinion, it’s something that should be taken seriously to prevent it from occurring in the future.

Best wishes with this new iteration!

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My suggestion for Intent 3:

“Summoning the Ether Phoenix: Spreading Optimism’s Vision”

I’d like to propose a new, adapted suggestion for Intent 3, which is more encompassing than my initial suggestion (see my initial post), taking into account ideas shared during the brainstorming session.

This Intent, “Summoning the Ether Phoenix: Spreading Optimism’s Vision,” focuses on promoting Optimism’s distinctive vision and the “Ether Phoenix” concept, while keeping the aspect of regenerative finance in the background (but still included within the Ether Phoenix concept).

It aims to encourage initiatives that communicate the importance of public goods, RPGF, and Optimism’s vision beyond our bubble of Optimism enthusiasts.

This Intent could have the effect of onboarding people, DAOs, companies, and partners who are passionate about our vision and values, (also are outside the Web3 space.)

Currently, too many still think of Optimism as just another Layer 2 among others, but we are building much more than that, and we need to explain it to the outside world : Our vision is to help build a world where public goods are being rewarded in proportion to their impact. Let’s summon Ether’s phoenix. Let’s start a Retroactive public goods revolution.

This Intent could give rise to missions that help us showcase the transformative potential of Optimism and attract a more diverse audience interested in contributing to a sustainable and regenerative future.

Examples of missions for this Intent could be:

  • Develop educational resources and build awareness around Optimism’s Vision & the Ether Phoenix.
  • Build awareness of what has already been done by Optimism to support public goods.
  • Create or support Regenerative focused hackathons and conferences.
  • Support real-world Regenerative projects.

On a side note: the intent title “Summoning the Ether Phoenix” itself is intriguing and visually compelling.

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Greetings,
Well, I just enjoy reading your posts on different matters. The #intents-and-missions:intents which is something really exciting to talk about is one of them. One question that I have is why there is no social media or app that can make everyone involved in the Optimism Collective. I mean the Vision is brilliant, the idea, the developer team, and everything. But I think we need to have something that is easily understandable for the majority of people, exciting to get them involved in, and have several features to let them pass their time with it.

We are not into another coin introduction, and we are not a usual community behind a project to increase awareness about Optimism so the value goes up, and we get our share. We are here for something more serious.
If we want to have this project affect the majority of people, from different backgrounds, with different levels of education, income level, nationality, etc, we need to speak with them in a simple language and explain to them why Optimism is something that can make your life more meaningful, better and even simpler.

This is something that I believe in. Thanks.

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DAOSteward’s suggestion for Intent 3:

We really like the suggestion to “Onboard (people that don’t’ normally interact with Web3)”. This intent encompasses many intents stated earlier

In order for the crypto movement to grow, we need retail adoption more than institutional adoption since the former is more decentralized and gives power back to individuals vs the latter reinforces existing status quo. Ensuring that a diverse, global, multi-lingual audience represents the crypto movement helps build our case as a community to have the freedom to live out our sovereign values, agnostic of political boundaries.

We also want to second, ‘continuing to innovate on RPGF’ as a key part of this puzzle. All paradigm shifts in the past, whether it be from Roman Empire → The Church or from The Church → The Nation-state happened not because of the innovate technology of the latter, but the ability of the latter to more efficiently fund and build public infra when the incumbent was unable to do. Public trust, and thus adoption, comes from Public Good Funding.

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Intent:

Promote awareness of The Optimistic Vision and foster growth in the community of OP Stack users and builders who share this belief.

Specificity:

This intent targets individuals who resonate with The Optimistic Vision. Optimism’s unique vision sets it apart within the ecosystem, which is why many contributors, including myself, have chosen to devote our time to Optimism rather than other areas in the Ethereum Ecosystem. Users and builders who believe in The Optimistic Vision are more likely to contribute meaningfully to the ecosystem and remain engaged for the long term, as opposed to those solely seeking the highest yield or pursuing grants to develop subpar projects.

Breadth:

The intent is broad, encompassing both users and builders. Despite the debate during our call about which group is more important, I believe we don’t need to choose one over the other. The more robust the infrastructure and application layer, the more users will be attracted, and a growing user base will draw in more builders.

Feedback and Suggestions:

This first draft is based on our live discussion, and I welcome any feedback or suggestions to improve the intent!

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Upgrading to support innovation

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I would agree @jackanorak

I would love to see some sort of OP token integration to the protocol. Using extra ETH to buy OP on auction could be one direction… and I would love to work on that honestly, but honestly there are probably others!!!

In short, my suggestion for the 3rd intent would be:

Use the core protocol to bring value to the OP token.

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Intent 3: support educational institutions and help develop programs that support digital assets.

Goals:

  • Increase the number of students who are aware of and interested in digital assets and the optimism ecosystem.
  • Provide students with the skills and knowledge they need to participate in the digital asset and Optimism ecosystem.
  • Encourage students to explore the Optimism ecosystem and contribute to its development.

Strategies:

  • Provide funding for educational institutions to develop programs that support digital assets.
  • Partner with educational institutions to develop curriculum and resources on digital assets.
  • Host events and workshops on digital assets for students.
  • Provide mentorship and support to students who are interested in pursuing careers in the digital asset industry.

Expected Outcomes:

  • Increased awareness of digital assets and Optimism among students.
  • Increased skills and knowledge of digital assets among students.
  • Increased participation of students in the digital asset ecosystem post/pre graduation.
  • Increased number of students who pursue careers in the digital asset industry.

Benefits:

  • Increased talent pool for the Optimism ecosystem.
  • Increased innovation.
  • Increased adoption of Optimism.

Conclusion:

Supporting educational institutions and helping to develop programs that support digital assets is a great initiative. By investing in the next generation of students, we can help to ensure the continued growth and innovation of this exciting industry.

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Hi everyone, I am excited to share my proposal of intent for Optimism. My focus is on accessibility and education, and I believe that Optimism has a great culture and philosophy that make it stand out from other projects.

My first goal is to make it easier for people to use Optimism and share its culture with the world. I think this should not only apply to governance, but to Optimism in general. Through the retroPGF, Optimism has already made a lot of allies in the web3 ecosystem, especially in community and education. I believe that by inviting these allies to form alliances around the world, we can make Optimism more accessible to everyone.

Furthermore, I think that this focus on accessibility can open the door to new integrations on user experience (U/X) friendly apps. This can create a path for crypto enthusiasts to meet Optimism and understand why it is different from other L2 solutions.

Ultimately, my hope is to create a path for new users and grantees to join the Optimism community. I believe that with the right education and accessibility initiatives, we can share the unique culture of Optimism with the world and create a positive impact in the crypto ecosystem.

I look forward to working with the Optimism community towards these goals. Thank you.

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Hey optimistics!

I’m Lili, recently joined as delegate and I’m doing a lot of reserch.

My focus is to help more women develop products in the Optimism Collective. This arises from a problem that we see in hackathons, about 80% who participate are men, so we want to increase the percentage of participation and induction in web3 based on the feedback that girls can give from the user experience (UX) and then transfer it to product development.

It feels good that the collective supports these initiatives, I will continue my research and hopefully more doors will open for them.:rocket:

#keepOptimistic :v:t3:
Lili

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I really like what I’m reading!

I studied Environmental Management at university and I have been at Web3 for five years. I definitely think this is the way for ReFi.

I currently have my environmental community on Web2 called Clorofila, I am looking to bring it to Web3.

I think Optimism is the best path for this!

If you want to know more about Chlorophyll, I leave you our links: Clorofila 🌿

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