The GMC has reviewed currently running grants that have seen little to no progress or update in a while. When the GMC started they accepted a lot of grant applications “as-is”. Since then the committee has spent more time adjusting the applications and adding parameters to increase their chances of success. An example is that expiration dates have become more of a common practice.
The GMC has decided to close the following grants:
- Trustless Oracle
- Rocket School
- StakingPond
- RocketMevMonitor
- RocketPerf
- Forced Withdrawals Research Paper
Trustless Oracle
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Original Decision: Following discussions with the applicant and a representative from NodeSet, the GMC has reached a unanimous decision to provide complete funding for this application. The revised proposal is more aligned with the GMC’s values. The GMC has chosen to adhere to the payment milestones detailed within the project timeline, as outlined here.
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Last Update: The Milestone 1 payment was issued, and the GMC last communicated with the applicant on January 9, 2024. However, the applicant never submitted for Milestone 2.
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Reasoning: The applicant was unresponsive, and the space has advanced significantly, rendering this project outdated.
Rocket School
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Original Decision: The GMC has reached an agreement with the applicant where they have established clear monthly milestones for three months, each rewarded with USD $3333 upon successful completion. The total funding will be $9999. These funds are specifically allocated for website updates, video scripting and production, and course development.
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Background: They had a third of their budget remaining to complete the project. However, testing was not finalized, and the project experienced bugs for several months.
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Reasoning: The Rocket School content has become outdated, and the GMC has recently funded Cyfrin.
StakingPond
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Original Decision: There was no commentary. View the original application here.
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Background: The beta launch deadline was 5/1/24. Awardee said it’s going slow and that other projects are taking priority.
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Reasoning: The progress has been slow and the applicant is focusing on other projects.
RocketMevMonitor
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Original Decision: The GMC has chosen to fully support this initiative because it appears to be a valuable tool for effectively monitoring the “challenging” aspects of MEV theft, especially if it’s made accessible for anyone to utilize. This solution addresses a significant challenge in the uncertainty of the long-term availability of relayer data. Joe can envision myself integrating this tool into my regular reporting to the team, providing insights into the evolving landscape. The GMC has decided to fund the stretch goal as well, as it aligns with the type of resource we can reference in our research endeavors to better understand MEV trends.
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Background: Awardee stated they would have a write-up 2/21/24. There was no response to my request for update on 4/1/24.
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Reasoning: The scope overlaps with newer, ongoing MEV Theft reporting efforts, which seem more relevant and repeatable.
RocketPerf
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Original Decision: The GMC has approved this grant under the stipulations that a mockup will be added as the first milestone for the project. In the future they would like to see more detailed features and specifications on applications. But given this applications lower pricetag and history to perform high quality work, the GMC is approving this.
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Background: Awardee was stalled by a bug on 6/14/24.
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Reasoning: Its functionality is largely replaced by the Beaconcha.in v2 dashboard, which includes additional features. Awardee seems to somewhat agree with this.
Forced Withdrawals Research Paper
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Original Decision: There was no commentary. View the original application here.
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Background: Draft and feedback from the community was posted on 4/5/24 here.
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Reasoning: The draft was posted after the deadline, and the awardee did not respond to feedback. The paper’s utility and relevance were reduced due to the late submission.
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If any awardees feel they deserve compensation for the work they completed, the committee welcomes them to submit a retrospective award application.