BIP 104 - Badger Grant Program

BIP | Badger Improvement Proposals
1

TL;DR

Launch a $250k grants program for the second half of 2024, in order to broaden product offerings and attract new contributors.

Background

Our DAO is described on in a one-liner on its homepage: “BadgerDAO is a decentralized collective of builders supporting community driven growth for Bitcoin across DeFi.” This proposal wants to realign better to that credo, by broadening the horizons of the DAO, in terms of the products it offers and its contributors.

Our current primary product, eBTC, serves as a great primitive to bring Bitcoin to DeFi. However, for it to gain more traction and find broader adoption, it is going to need more use cases. There is ongoing development of more “native” features, such as a one-click leveraged position and a tokenised staked bitcoin, but there is so much more possible in the current DeFi ecosystem.

So much actually, that one could argue that it is impossible for one single team to conceive and build it all. Even outside of the eBTC product, there is much that could use more thought and work. E.g.: the $BADGER token itself (utility in the form of locking/staking, a possible points system, some smart combination with eBTC), renewed interest in $BADGER liquidity pools, collaborations with other treasuries, alternative ways of bringing Bitcoin to DeFi, building on native bitcoin itself, Bitcoin L2s and rollups, Bitcoin mining, etc.

In order to discover and incorporate new ideas and implementations, and to find ways for the DAO to form relationships with new talent, the DAO should launch a grants program. This will enable contributors to share their vision for a product or service, and for the DAO to evaluate these proposals and engage where deemed potentially viable.

Parameters

The program should start small and simple and make it easy to apply to. After some research into other existing grants programs, the proposal is for the grants program to be launched with the following parameters:

  • the grant program will last from July 1st to December 31st with a total budget of $250k
  • the usefulness, parameters and possible continuation of the program should be evaluated before the EOY
  • all applications should be made publicly on the forum—a appropriate section shall be created
  • this gives the community a chance to contribute around the idea and possibly improve it—or to express rejection
  • final evaluation of each project will be done by the Badger Treasury Council
  • there will be no waves, sprints or seasons: the program is open at any time for anyone
  • funds granted per project can range from $1k to $100k
  • payment will occur on the basis of delivered milestones—nothing upfront
  • treasury should buy $250k worth of eBTC on the market and pay out the grants in eBTC (but dollar denominated)
Earkmark $250k of treasury assets for a 2024 grants program
  • Yes
  • No
0 voters
5 Likes
2

To the proposal I’d add that Badger shall work with the grantee to identify the Badger contributors (Association, Community Council, Treasury Council) who will support the grantee:

  • Define/clarify solution (core tech integration, requirements, assumptions, issue resolution, marketing, etc.)
  • Approve / validate / test / integrate / market deliverables

I don’t believe we need to add new contributors to support this, but the grant does need support from the existing contributors.

4 Likes
3

Hey,

Head of Grants at Gitcoin here! I was excited to see your proposal for the Badger Grant Program and wanted to drop a reply.

At Gitcoin, we have extensive experience designing, implementing, and managing successful grant programs. We’ve helped many organizations launch grant programs similar to the one you’re proposing, and our expertise can greatly benefit BadgerDAO.

I’m personally very familiar with Badger and have been interacting with the protocol since the early days of the original DeFi summer. I’ve been consistently impressed by BadgerDAO’s commitment to supporting community-driven growth for Bitcoin across DeFi, and I believe that a well-structured grant program can play a crucial role in achieving this goal.

I support this proposal and would be open to exploring potential opportunities between Gitcoin and BadgerDAO to support your grant program’s success if greenlighted.

Best of luck!

3 Likes
4

Thank you for your feedback @Sov!

BadgerDAO indeed had a great partnership with Gitcoin in the early days. I know of a few projects and contributors that were a result of that!

This proposal can definitely be seen as an attempt at reviving those times :slight_smile:

Would love to (re)connect with you!

1 Like
5

Sure, I would welcome the opportunity to meet. ff to connect with me in DMs and we can coordinate a time to connect.

6

This proposal went to Snapshot voting with deadline June 14th 10:00 UTC and with ~40 hours left it is still 90% off the quorum.

In StableLab we have some interesting ideas for Badger and would be happy to apply to the grant program so we encourage all delegates and BADGER holders to vote and not let the proposal get dismissed by lack of quorum.

2 Likes
7

Voted YES, however I’m concerned about the use of the term “express rejection” that means the community has no voting rights over who receives the grants. It’s exclusively delegated to the Treasury Council.

While I like the idea of the grants (Investments are needed for growth) I don’t like the idea of the treasury council making all the decisions. One improvement I would like would be: Projects needs to be selected by the TC, but approved by the DAO. TC works as a first filter to ensure quality (given TC experience).

That’s it. LETS GO!

1 Like