Hop Exchange Debuts New Grants Program and Seeks Request for Proposals

šŸ°Hop Ecosystem
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The Hop DAO is excited to announce the renewal and redesign of its HOP Grants Program. With a budget of 2,250,000 HOP tokens, the Grants Committee has outlined a series of priority projects that will support the growth and development of the Hop Protocol and its DAO. This initiative marks a significant step forward in enhancing the protocolā€™s functionality, expanding its reach, and strengthening community engagement.

Grant Program Overview

The HOP Grants Program aims to fund projects that provide tangible benefits to the Hop Protocol and its ecosystem. The Grants Committee has curated a Request for Proposals (RFP) list, reflecting key areas where innovation and development are most needed. However, this list is not exhaustive, and the Committee welcomes all applicants with innovative ideas that align with the protocolā€™s goals, even if their proposals are not explicitly mentioned in the RFP list.

RFP Categories

Developer Initiatives:

Hop v2 Enhancements: As Hop v2 approaches its public release, projects focusing on enhancements and interoperability are highly encouraged. These could include improvements in scalability, security, and user experience that ensure a smooth transition to the new version.

Marketing Efforts:

Community Awareness Campaigns: Proposals for campaigns that spread awareness about Hop, particularly highlighting that it currently offers the cheapest USDC routes, are needed. This could involve organizing ā€˜questā€™ campaigns to engage users or supporting large-scale crypto events to increase visibility.

Community Tools:

Automation Tools: Development of tools like a scanning tool for delegate incentive reporting or a Discord bot to automate minute-taking during bi-weekly calls.

Dashboard Creation: A maintainable Dune dashboard or similar tool that tracks all relevant Hop Protocol metrics, including fees, unique users, and daily transactions.

Governance Enhancements: Proposals that aim to decentralize governance, such as an effective way to migrate Tally votes off the L1 network, or other tools to motivate users to redelegate tokens to active delegates.

Cross-Protocol Innovations:

Airdrop Tracker: A tool to track airdrops across various networks and projects, with integration capabilities for Hop.

How to Apply

Interested applicants are encouraged to submit their proposals through the designated thread in the Hop DAO forum. The application should include a detailed description of the project, its anticipated impact on the Hop Protocol, and a budget outline. The Grants Committee will review all submissions and provide feedback, with decisions communicated directly to the applicants. Please see the below RFP details required for submission.

This RFP list is subject to change based on community feedback and any updates to the Hop Protocol. The Committee also invites the community to suggest additional RFPs that could further benefit the Hop ecosystem.

This is a unique opportunity for developers, marketers, and community members to contribute to the future of Hop. We look forward to receiving your innovative proposals and supporting projects that will drive the protocol forward.

For more information, visit the Hop DAO forum and stay tuned for updates. Questions can also be directed to the Hop Discord community or X account. For questions on the Grant program, or to get feedback on your proposal before submitting, reach out in the grants channel in Discord or DM grant committee members on @BobRossiETH, @rxpwnz, or @ManyFaceChase on X.

Required RFP Submission Details:

Project Name:

Project Description:

Project Links:

Team Member Roles & Background: (Provide applicant background and relevant ecosystem contributions)

Contact Information:

RFP Category:

Requested Grant Size & Justification: (Justify funding alignment with projectā€™s scope)

Grant Objectives & Purpose: (Clearly align the proposal with protocol and/or DAO goals)

Project Benefit to Protocol or DAO: (Explain strategic relevance and potential impact)

Proof of Concept/MVP: (Demonstrate feasibility, if applicable)

Grant Execution Strategy:

  • Methodology:
  • Milestone Plans: (Breakdown deliverables and timelines)
  • Risk Assessment: (Identify challenges and mitigation strategies)
  • Metrics for Success: (Define measurable KPIs)

Additional Information, If Needed:

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Hey there,

Iā€™m excited to see the redesign of the HOP Grants Program and the outlined priorities - congrats on all the work that went into this.

At Gitcoin, we have experience helping DAOs like Hop allocate grants and connect with qualified builders and weā€™d love to explore a potential partnership to support your grants program.

Our team could help attract attention and manage the grant allocation process. If you would be interested I would welcome the opportunity to discuss how we can collaborate.

Thanks for your time!

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Project Description:

Create a high quality commercial video series that drives awareness to Hop and highlights USDC routes.

Funny, creative commercials like Solanaā€™s are a great way to go viral, capture mindshare, and find new users. Additionally, we can film with known figures from Crypto Twitter to gain more traction.

I believe with my experience leading creative video campaigns at LI.FI & Jumper.exchange we can achieve the goals the Hop DAO has set.

Team Member Roles & Background:
I previously worked at LIFI and Jumper.exchange on the marketing team running socials and creating videos.
Contact Information: Telegram @ arbitrumalex Twitter @arbitrumalex
RFP Category: Marketing Efforts
Requested Grant Size: 350,000 HOP ($7,000 @ current 0.02 per HOP)
Justification: Viral video campaigns drive volume and increase awareness

  • Time (each commercial takes around 10-12 hours to produce x 8 videos)
  • Tools and equipment (video software, voice actors, etc,
  • Experience in shooting commercials and creating viral campaigns

Grant Objectives & Purpose:

  • Increase awareness about Hop and position it as the best and cheapest bridge to move USDC between chains.
  • Increase users and drive volume.
  • Positive community engagment

Project Benefit to Protocol or DAO:

  • Remind crypto twitter Hop is still around and is the cheapest bridge.
  • Drive more users and volume
  • Brand awareness
  • Community engagement

Proof of Concept/MVP: Can check some of my previous work here Arbitrum Alex
Grant Execution Strategy:

  • Methodology: Create 1 commercial per week and track analytics and engagments. 1) impressions 2) likes & comments 3) Are users converting?
  • Milestone Plans: Month 1: Create and post 4 commercials, 1 per week with at least 60,000 impressions total on Twitter.
    Month 2: Create and post 4 commercials surpassing 100,000 impressions, add someone from Crypto Twitter in a commercial.
  • Risk Assessment: n/a
  • Metrics for Success: Surpass 100,000 impressions on Twitter, new users + more volume, positive community feedback (what are the users saying?)
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[Grant Proposal] Automated Community Call Minute Taking

Project Description:

Hop community calls occur every two weeks and are essential for effective governance and community engagement within the Hop Protocol. Accurate and timely meeting minutes are crucial for transparency and ensuring that all community members, regardless of attendance, have access to the discussions and decisions made.

Since May 2023, I have been responsible for recording these minutes. This involves:

  • Attending calls to record the audio.
  • Transcribing audio recordings into text with whisper
  • Correcting for acronyms, industry-specific terms, and lingo unique to our community (e.g., RXPWNS, L2, LP, DEX, ARB, OP, rETH, DAOs).
  • Summarizing the content with ChatGPT.
  • Reviewing and refining the summaries for accuracy and clarity against what was discussed.
  • Posting the finalized minutes to our social channels and forums.

The proposal aims to continue providing this service while progressively automating the process wherever practical. By implementing automation tools, we can enhance efficiency, reduce the potential for human error, and ultimately eliminate reliance on a single individualā€”thereby removing a single point of failure.

Project Links:
previous meeting minutes: Hop Community Call Meeting Minutes

Team Member Roles & Background:
Iā€™m a long-standing community member, early liquidity provider, Hop delegate, and Hop user since 2021.

Contact Information: Telegram: @thegreg_0 Discord: thegreg.eth

RFP Category: Community Tools

Requested Grant Size & Justification: 135,000 HOP (~$1620 @ current $0.012 per HOP)

Justification:

  • Time Commitment: Each meeting requires about 30 minutes to produce the minutes. Over 12 months (approximately 24 meetings), this amounts to 12 hours of work.
  • Automation Development including:
    • Exploring Discord frameworks for automated bot recording.
    • Exploring compute and storage options for processing and to make audio recordings available for a short period.
    • Creating a programmatic solution for audio transcription.
    • Implementing tools to recognize and correctly transcribe community-specific terminology.
    • Evaluating appropriate LLM API for summarizing minutes
    • Automating the posting of approved minutes to various platforms.

Grant Objectives & Purpose:

  • Accurate Records: Ensure all governance meetings are recorded and accurately documented.
  • Process Automation: Automate the minute-taking process to increase efficiency and reliability.
  • Redundancy Elimination: Remove dependence on a single individual to prevent any single point of failure.
  • Community Engagement: Enhance transparency and accessibility for all community members.

Project Benefit to Protocol or DAO:

  • Transparency: Provides clear and accessible records of governance discussions and decisions.
  • Efficiency: Streamlines the minute-taking process, allowing for quicker dissemination of information.
  • Community Trust: Builds trust through consistent and accurate communication.
  • Sustainability: Establishes a robust system that can operate independently of individual contributors.

Proof of Concept/MVP: N/A

Grant Execution Strategy:

Methodology:

  1. Continuation of Current Practices: Maintain the current standard of minute-taking while developing automation tools.

  2. Automation Development:

  • Research, develop and implement Discord bot for automated recording.
  • Develop a solution for transcribing audio to text.
  • Incorporate learning algorithms to handle specific acronyms and terms.
  • Set up systems to post minutes to the Hop Forum, Discord, X, and Farcaster.
  • Explore options for posting from official Hop Protocol social accounts.
  1. Community Review Process:
  • Establish a process for community members to review iterations.

Milestone Plans:

  • Months 1-2:
    • Research and select appropriate automation tools.
    • Begin testing Discord libraries and transcription software or APIs
  • Months 3-4:
    • Develop and refine transcription solutions.
    • Create a database of community-specific terminology and handles for accurate transcription.
    • Automate the posting of minutes to all designated platforms.
  • Ongoing:
    • Monitor and adjust the system for accuracy and efficiency.
    • Provide regular updates to the community on progress and improvements.

Risk Assessment:

  • Technical Challenges:
    • Challenge: Accurately transcribing specialized terminology.
    • Mitigation: Continuously update the transcription software with new terms and acronyms.
  • Reliance on Technology:
    • Challenge: Potential failures in automated systems.
    • Mitigation: Maintain manual oversight and have contingency plans in place.
  • Community Adoption:
    • Challenge: Ensuring community members embrace the new process.
    • Mitigation: Involve the community in development and provide clear communication about changes.

Metrics for Success:

  • Meeting Coverage: Achieve at least 95% coverage of community call meetings captured and summarized.
  • Efficiency Gains: Reduce the time required to produce minutes by 50% within six months.
  • Accuracy: Maintain a high level of accuracy in transcriptions and summaries, verified by community feedback.
  • Timeliness: Post minutes to all platforms within 24 hours of the meeting.

Additional Information:

  • Expense Management: Any expenses to operate compute or tooling will be carefully reviewed to ensure cost-effectiveness, with a preference for open-source or crypto-supported options where possible (Venice.AI, Akash, etc).
  • Long-Term Vision: Establish a sustainable and scalable system that can be a model for other community-driven projects within the Ethereum ecosystem.
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Hey everyone, super excited to so see applications trickle in! Some quick updates on behalf of the grants council:

Approval / Rejection Dates

In order to operate the grant program more effectively and consistently, the council will be reviewing and approving/rejecting applicants every other Friday going forward. Our hope is that this more rigid timeline will make for a smoother process for the applicants. In order to give the council ample time to review and ask questions, we ask that applicants apply at least 3 days before the approval/rejection date. If posted during that 3 day window, the decision will be made the follow period. Going forward:

  • All outstanding grants and grants submitted by end of day Monday, November 18th will be reviewed and confirmed approved/rejected by Friday, November 22nd.
  • All future grants submitted before end of day Monday, December 2nd will be reviewed and confirmed approved/rejected by Friday, December 6th
  • All future grants submitted before end of day Monday, December 16th will be reviewed and confirmed approved/rejected by Friday, December 20th
  • And so onā€¦"

Application Process

In order to better track and communicate with applicants, we will be creating a separate sub-category for Grants posts. That is not live as of this (will update when ready), but a heads up this is coming.

Dune Dashboard Creators

For any applicants applying for the Dune Dashboard RFP, please note: It was discussed on the 11/13/2024 community call that with the launch of v2, gathering v1 data will be less important going forward. It was recommended that any applicants for the Dashboard be aware of that. Expectation would be to still apply now so the council can set aside funds, however actual work would not start until nearer to v2 launch.

@thegreg.eth / @arbitrumalex / @Sov / @titey

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