This project will make Optimism more stronger… Full support from me
2 Likes
This proposal fits into Gov Fund Phase 1 and the value-add to Optimism is solid: Voting Yes
Value-add: Medium - Some Users and liquidity
Amount: Ok
Op distribution: Okayish - mainly bribes
Co-incentives: Ok
This funding round’s goal is primarily in increasing liquidity and users on Optimism. Balancer is a top protocol on Ethereum with a community that is willing to leave liquidity in their pools for optimal yield management. We see value in incentivizing some of the money on Eth l1 & Fantom to flow to Optimism and we like your approach to kickstarting your Optimism deployment and veBal emissions.
Fyi, we are not the biggest fans of multiple layers of farming protocols to distribute revenues (bribing) and rather believe core protocols and their holders should manage revenue distribution with their long-term alignment and views. Nonetheless, this proposal is good for Optimism growth and we look forward to some sustainble incentives.
i dont know why this has balancer in its name when its not balancer and only has a partnership with them it seems an invalid proposal based on the name to try get everyone to vote yes
2 Likes
After the initial 2 month launch period the emissions (BAL) will be decided by veBAL voters. This is about as “Balancer” as you can be sir. But you are entitled to your fair opinion.
Voted : Yes
Positive track record: 
Tokens requested in range comparable to other projects:
Expected to grow Optimism ecosystem:
Great to see the Beethoven team’s expansion on Optimism and driving TVL. While spending 100% of the OP token allocation on bribes isn’t the most creative, it does align with the gov fund phase 1 objectives.
3 Likes
Interesting reading this now. I see some big problems with this actually and I really dont like it. This kind of behavior doesn’t go unnoticed in corporate America and for good reason.
AFAIK Optimism TVL is hurting and is down about 40% from ATHs and nothing seems to be changing here. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see quite simply:
Need more protocols and distribution of incentives to encourage bringing more people to L2. 
I did spend some significant time, having read every single other protocol’s proposal put forth, putting together a proposal myself that oddly enough was immediately pushed back on by @solarcurve and then cited a Proposal literally published by himself as the “right” way to make a Proposal.
I really believe in the Optimistic Vision still but the reality is that if the intent here is to keep aspiring protocols, looking to come and build here,
- out of Optimism - as opposed to the stated purpose of providing incentives to bootstrap growth, it’s logical to form the conclusion that the experiment that is Optimism does not end well. And more important; I think anyone taking the time to read through these forums is already demonstrating precisely who we all want to be in alignment with.
My point being work together. I think cooperation and collaboration is the answer right now.
4 Likes
I am going to vote a reluctant YES here.
PROS
- Established protocol.
- Good for Optimism as it will bring more users
- Good team
CONS
- Amount is on the high side.
- I am not a fan of mercenary usage. On the other hand I do understand how the veXXX model and that always needs bribes to work and the OP already explained that they intend to continue bribing even after OP incentives dry up from the protocol fees, so I can see how this could become sustainable.
1 Like
I voted yes on this proposal. Balancer is an established project in this space and I like that they are collaborating with BeethovenX along with directing earnings towards matching OP incentives.
2 Likes
I’ll vote YES
Project quality: High - well-known project with high TVL
Team quality: High
Amount requested: Reasonable
OP distribution: So, so. Not clear to me how is this better than LM.
1 Like
I am voting yes on this proposal. The project is well-articulated, provides value to the Optimism ecosystem, and will back tested projects. The grant size is large, but the ability for Balancer and Beethoven to provide scaling solutions within the Optimism ecosystem merits a larger grant size.
1 Like
Snapshot vote - Passed
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@solarcurve can you provide a Telegram handle or other contact method so the Optimism team can get in touch about paying out this grant 
Feel free to comment on this thread, DM, or email bobby@optimism.io.
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@solarcurve on telegram or solarcurve#5075 on discord 
Hi @solarcurve! It’s been a few months since the OP grant distribution, would you mind sharing a grant update with the community here?
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Hi @lavande
Thanks for reaching out! I am responding to you as I do the financial reporting for Beethoven X.
Our grant proposal allows us only to spend the grant money if we can match it with protocol fees.
We wanted to give back to the Optimism ecosystem so we decided to see if we could take things a step further. We have achieved this by using our protocol fees to buy $OP tokens on the open market. This enabled us to do the matching on a token level.
As of today, we have spent a net of 71k $OP tokens, which has been an important part of maintaining our TVL at around the $19m mark. We are very proud of how efficient this strategy has been in terms of $OP spent.
Below is a detailed breakdown of the activity.
Some partner protocols asked us to distribute their $OP grant on their behalf, which is included in both the inflow and outflow.
If you would like to verify these numbers, our Treasury multisig can be found here:
8 Likes
Greetings everyone, this post is an update to the Balancer & Beethoven X Phase 1 grant.
Original grant application
Grant update January 2023
Grant update July 2023
Grant update February 2024
The Phase 1 grant awarded Balancer & Beethoven X with 500,000 $OP tokens. The grant was set up with a long-term strategy with the focus on longevity and sustainability. The grant set that every $OP token used from the grant would be matched 1:1 in value from protocol fees. Due to this no specific timeframe could be set for the grant distribution, which was also stated in the initial application.
To further solidify a symbiotic relationship with the Optimism ecosystem, it was decided the protocol fees would be first used to buy $OP tokens from the open market and then paired with the grant $OP tokens 1:1 on an $OP token level. To our knowledge, this is the only grant where an equal share of $OP tokens have been bought from the open market.
The awarded OP tokens have been used as voting incentives on the Hidden Hand vlAURA market. As of today, a total of ~259,450 $OP tokens have been used with 240,550 $OP tokens left. A total of ~268,500 $OP tokens have been bought from the open market that have been paired with the $OP tokens from the grant.
Below are the detailed monthly breakdown of $OP activities on the Beethoven X treasury on Optimism. At this moment, all of the $OP tokens in the treasury are the remaining Phase I grant rewards. These number can be verified on the Beethoven X Optimism Treasury multisig.
Since the Phase 1 grant $OP funds can only be matched with protocol fees and the protocol fees are recycled back into pools that are eligible for the Balancer’s Core Pool system, then the Phase 1 grant $OP has also been used to further incentivize such pools. This means that the Phase 1 grant funds have been used to deepen the liquidity of various yield-bearing assets on the chain, such as wstETH, wrsETH, rETH, sfrxETH, weETH, ankrETH, sFRAX and assets paired with these in various pool setups.
It has been brought to our attention that the OP Council would like to see faster distribution and conclusion for the Phase 1 grant. We are now in contact with the OP Council and are looking into suitable options for repurposing that would give high efficiency for the remaining tokens while also providing a clear timeline for the distribution.
Hey everyone. As mentioned in the latest grant update, it has been brought to our attention that the OP Council would like to see faster distribution and conclusion for the Phase 1 grant. We have discussed suitable options for repurposing that would give high efficiency for the remaining tokens while also providing a clear timeline for their distribution, which we’re presenting in this post.
Please find the original grant application here:
Original Grant Application
And the previous updates to the grant here:
Update Jan 2023
Update Jul 2023
Update Feb 2024
Update Dec 2024
For a quick update, as of today, a total of ~294,214 $OP tokens have been used with 205,786 $OP tokens left. A total of ~303,507 $OP tokens have been additionally bought from the open market that have been paired with the $OP tokens from the grant.
Balancer v3 and Boosted pools
The successful passings of the proposals to deploy Balancer v3 on Optimism Mainnet on Balancer and Beets governance enable relaunching Boosted pools on Optimism. Boosted pools are passive, custom pools built on Balancer v3 that routes 100% of underlying Liquidity Providers (LP) liquidity to external yield markets to generate additional rewards while ensuring all liquidity remains available to facilitate and earn rewards from swaps. Since the underlying tokens are routed to external markets, then every $1 deposited that’s bridged and deposited to boosted pools will increase Optimism’s TVL by $2.
Aave is an example of an external yield market that would act as a possible partner for the boosted pools. Aave boosted pools are already live on Balancer v3 on Ethereum with total TVL over $70M. With Aave Optimism Market having a market size of over $165M, then launching similar pools on Optimism would definitely create lucrative options for users for providing liquidity. This would bring more rewards to Optimism and increase Optimism TVL, with every $1 deposited in a 100% boosted pool increasing the network’s TVL by $2. Other potential partners for boosted pools include protocols such as Compound, Moonwell and Euler.
Repurposed Grant Budget and Plan
Budget
The budget is equal to the amount unused from the initial Phase 1 grant (currently 205,786 $OP tokens). Since the Phase I grant is still on-going until the repurpose is approved, then that number will likely decrease a bit before then. A total of 199,000 $OP tokens is used for budget calculations, the actual final amount depends on when the repurpose is approved (if it is approved).
Grant Overview
Balancer has demonstrated its ability to execute on a similarly structured program and drive the growth of yield-bearing assets. The repurposed grant would use a straightforward distribution mechanism where the rewards are deposited based on the pool’s relative TVL compared to the total TVL of the boosted pools. A portion of tokens is set aside for pool bootstrapping incentives.
Grant Distribution Plan
Balancer plans to utilize the OP grant for liquidity incentives to bootstrap and accelerate growth of Boosted pools on Optimism using Balancer’s tech. The purpose of this grant is to generate economic activity on Optimism by building an autonomous mechanism for distributing incentives in the form of OP to incentivize boosted pools on Balancer.
The OP is distributed between eligible pools based on their relative TVL, which is found based on the TVL weight of the pool relative to total TVL of all the boosted pools. Pools that contain only boosted tokens receive a 1.5x multiplier for their TVL. The tokens are deposited on a weekly basis as direct LM incentives, with all the rewards distributed between the liquidity providers:
Extra Pool Bootstrapping Incentives
In addition to the OP grant distribution plan described before, a portion of the OP tokens will be used to bootstrap up to 5 new boosted pools with an initial bonus of 5000 OP tokens for 2 weeks (2500 OP weekly). In case not all bootstrapping incentives are used, these would be added as extra rewards to the last 2 weeks of the grant.
Token distribution timeline
The repurposed grant distribution would be evenly split across the grant period into weekly amounts to augment incentives on Balancer’s boosted pools on the Optimism chain. The grant is set to last for 12 weeks from the first distribution date. Thus the weekly OP incentives would be set to:
@PGov, please find our Phase 1 grant repurpose application posted above.