[Mission Request] - Research capital migration to the Superchain

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Delegate Mission Request Summary: This request is a moonshot; it is dedicated to strategically facilitating the migration of Mainnet capital onto the Superchain, aiming to position Optimism as the most promising and secure destination for this capital shift. This is not mere liquidity mining going after mercenary capital; this task is a major, holistic one geared specifically to getting capital permanently onto the Superchain.

S6 Intent Intent 3

Proposing Delegate: Jack Anorak

Total grant amount: The grant amount proposed is 100k OP, which is a sizeable but well tuned investment in courting the $31b in total value locked and 300b in Ether market cap alone.

Should this Foundation Mission be fulfilled by one or multiple applicants: Unlimited applicants up to budget.

How will this Delegate Mission Request help accomplish the above Intent?

One of my longest-held theses has been that from a competitive standpoint, one of the biggest determinants of an L2’s success with developers will be the migration of risk-averse Mainnet capital onto an L2. To date most capital has remained on L1 for security reasons; L2s are, to many, way too unproven to test the many risks bridging onto an L2 entails.

I believe that when this body of capital is ready to migrate, much of it is going to move to the L2 that presents significant promise and safety. And I think most of that capital moves only once. So we need to be that L2.

Optimism is now getting to a place where we can credibly attract much of this Mainnet capital. Fault proofs are here, crosschain specs are taking shape, we have major players on our side. I think it’s now time to start making moves to attract this capital.

As mentioned above, the idea here is not simply to provide incentives to pull capital over. That may be part of the solution, assuming there is adequate justification. But in crypto we’ve tried this many times to little effect.

What is required to execute this Delegate Mission Request?

Phase 1

  1. Research to understand the identities, risk profiles and needs of Mainnet capital holders and protocols as well as possible pull solutions
    This research must include information on:
  • User interviews with large capital holders revealing their opinions about L2 migration
  • Breakdown of capital ownership on Mainnet and characterization of entity type and propensity to migrate
  • Potential short-term means of attracting Mainnet capital
  1. Research and incentives to bring over the 31b of protocol TVL on Mainnet, which is inherently stickier than user capital.

Phase 2
May include but not limited to:

  • Preliminary infrastructural work not already underway to facilitate capital migration
  • OP incentives to facilitate active, permanent migration of capital
  • Commitments by Superchain partners to use their own resources to bring capital over
  • Other initiatives

How should governance participants measure impact upon completion of this Mission?

Milestones:

  • End of Phase 1 should produce an actionable report that can be used to inform Phase 2
  • Research should be publicly posted as it is generated and edited
  • Phase 2 work varies but in general there should be periodic updates of spend, uses, and mapping to project plans.

Metrics: In order to standardize evaluation, it is recommended that metrics for success and milestones tie back to the target metrics listed under each Intent as much as possible.

  • Amount of specific ‘targetable’ TVL relative to total TVL on Mainnet and potentially other ecosystems
  • Individual wallets/entities identified
  • Rating of plan’s novelty and likely effectiveness by Grant Council
    Impact: These measures should be focused on performance and may be used to assess your Misson’s impact in the next round of Retro Funding
  • Large wallet migration
  • Capital migration
  • Meaningful infrastructural improvement that is noticeable on, e.g., L2Beat

Has anyone other than the Proposing Delegate contributed to this Mission Request?
No

Which metric will the success of this Mission Request be evaluated against?

The North star metric against which this Mission Request should be evaluated is TVL, because the initiatives outlined above aim to attract an influx of additional assets. This metric was suggested by the foundation and approved by the Grants Council.

4 Likes
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Hey @jackanorak, it seems you are refering to S5 Intent 2 in this MR

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i’m just getting this stuff in under deadline

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Yeah, I imagine it was due doing it in a rush, just letting you know as the fix should be a quick edit :slight_smile:

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A North Star Metric has been added at the bottom of this Mission Request in an effort to enable the Collective to make data-driven decisions. By using a single metric for each Mission Request, the Collective is better able to evaluate the performance of all the Season 6 missions in a standardized manner, which will be critical when the Collective makes decisions about Intents, budgets, or other critical components of governance.

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Hey @jackanorak Thanks for this Mission request.

We are a team of Data analysts and researchers. We are trying to figure out best possible POA to this MR.

We have few question, it would be helpful if you can help us with those.

  1. Are we only thinking bridges/bridge aggregators user risk propensity model or proposing changes/introducing incentive mechanisms for optimism?
  2. What are the expectations for the format and frequency of public reporting on research and progress?
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Re: 1, I’d follow your instinct on what is relevant. The scope is intentionally left vague for you to develop and chase hypotheses.

2: Biweekly updates would be ideal

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Hi @jackanorak I have a question, if we are interesting in pursuing this MR when and where are we supposed to apply by? Do we have to submit our proposals of action items then execute or just show our interest, execute our proposal then apply?

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Delphi Creative, the consulting arm of Delphi Digital, is pleased to submit our interest in researching the potential for capital migration from Ethereum L1 to the Superchain. We have significant experience working with DAOs and project teams – and the core of our organization is rooted in deep yet concise research.

Our proposed plan of action includes a slight change to the way the overall scope is laid out in this Mission Request. The following is our idea for how we would go about doing this:

Phase 1.1

  • Mapping out the state of L2 inflow/outflows. Key questions: who is bridging (what user cohorts), how much are they bridging, and what kind of assets are being bridged?

  • The state of dApps on L1. Key questions: what kinds of users are LPs on L1 dApps, what are the qualitative reasons they remain on L1 over L2, what kinds of dApps/assets are an easy target for the Superchain to incentivize a migration for?

Conclusion and key inferences from our findings, including previously collected insight on generalized behavior on L2s. Key steps the Optimism Collective should consider to move this effort forward.

Phase 1.2

  • Developing a survey designed to extract actionable insight from whales – including individuals, unaffiliated/unknown entities, and known entities. Survey and results will be categorical and anonymized.

  • Interviews with the above cohort of survey respondents to better understand what would move the needle for them to consider migrating their capital to L2s (in general).

  • Observing a limited sample size of whale wallets: half that have been active on L2s, half that have stayed on L1. Key questions: what are the behavioral differences between the cohorts, what are the differences in what they do on L1, what kinds of reinforcement seem most apt to make the L1-only whales more amenable to L2 capital migration?

  • Actionable steps for the Optimism Collective based on survey results, interviews, and on-chain samples.

We are seeking the full grant size of 100k OP for Phase 1, and aim to deliver our work in the form of bi-weekly updates.

Contact person: Ashwath – Head of Consulting, Delphi Creative

Email: ashwath@delphidigital.io

Twitter/X: @ ashwathbk

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Hi Bixbite!
For Season 6, Submissions are continuously open.
You can Apply here and see the deadlines for the App to make it in each Cycle here. If you have not joined the space previously, here is the link.

For normal Grants, you would request a grant and present your whole plan (via an Application) for the Grant Council to Review and vote. If the proposal is approved, you later get funded.

Cycle 27 is about to begin, and you have almost a week to submit a proposal and for it to make ti to this Cycle.