July 2023 GMC Call for Grant Applications - Deadline is July 15th

ShfRyn · 30 June 2023 16:13

This thread is for applications for Rocket Pool’s July 2023 (Round 3) grants. Please only post grant applications in this thread. If you would like to discuss and/or ask questions about any applications you see in this thread, we ask that you do so in this separate forum thread (link) which has been established for all community discussions related to this round of applications. Only those grant applications that are posted in this thread and timestamped by July 15, 2023 at 23:59 (11:59 PM) UTC will be considered.

Please note the following differences between grants and bounties. Grants are intended to be applied for by those who are wishing to carry out the work themselves. Bounties are open-ended goals that could be met by anyone, including those other than the proposing party. In other words, if I believed that Rocket Pool needed a fifty-foot paper mache orange rocket for publicity purposes and I wanted to be the one to built it, I would apply for a grant. If I instead thought Rocket Pool needed a fifty-foot paper mache orange rocket for publicity purposes but I wanted it to be open to whoever built it first to claim the reward (similar to a prize), then I’d apply for a bounty.

To guide you in your application, the GMC has established the following goals and the following scoring rubric:

GMC Goals

Grants, bounties, and retrospective awards should make it easier and/or more attractive to do one or more of the following:

become a node operator

operate a node, mint rETH

hold or use rETH

improve the quality of life for the protocol and its community.

Grants Rubric

The Grants rubric involves scoring each of the three categories from 1 to 5:

If the application is successful, to what extent does it further the GMC goals?

To what extent can the application be feasibly carried out by the person(s) proposed to complete it?

If the application is successful, how large is the benefit to the protocol relative to the size of the proposed costs

The maximum score is 15 and the minimum is 3.

Grants Application

Please copy paste the template below into a reply. Answer the questions there, entering N/A where appropriate:

## Grants Application
## Project: Name of Project

### What is the work being proposed?

### Is there any related work this builds off of?

### Will the results of this project be entirely open source ([MIT](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT), [GPL](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html), [Apache](https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0), [CC BY](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) license or similar)? If not, which parts will not be, why, and under what license will they be published?

## Benefits - enter N/A where appropriate

### How does this help people looking to stake ETH for rETH?

### How does this help rETH holders?

### How does this help people looking to run a Rocket Pool node for the first time?

### How does this help people already running a Rocket Pool node?

### How does this help the Rocket Pool community?

### How does this help RPL holders?

### What other non-RPL protocols, DAOs, projects, or individuals, would stand to benefit from this grant?

### Will the resulting project be open source?

## Team

### Who is doing the work?

### What is the background of the person(s) doing the work? What experience do they have with such projects in the past?

### What is the breakdown of the proposed work, in terms of milestones and/or deadlines?

### How is the work being tested? Is testing included in the schedule?

### How will the work be maintained after delivery?

## Payment and Verification

### What is the acceptance criteria?

### What is the proposed payment schedule for the grant? How much USD $ and over what period of time is the applicant requesting?

### How will the GMC verify that the work delivered matches the proposed cadence?

### What alternatives or options have been considered in order to save costs for the proposed project?

## Conflict of Interest

### Does the person or persons proposing the grant have any conflicts of interest to disclose? (Please disclose here if you are a member of the GMC or if any member of the GMC would benefit directly financially from the grant).

### Will the recipient of the grant, or any protocol or project in which the recipient has a vested interest (other than Rocket Pool), benefit financially if the grant is successful?```

polarpunklabs · 1 July 2023 12:55

=== Project ===

What is the work being proposed?

Rocket Pool Case Study: Managing Decentralized Staking

The Rocket Pool case study is part of a series of case studies for use in my classroom, but released on an open source licence on GitHub for general use. It is part of my Level3: Web3 Educational Case Studies project: GitHub - polarpunklabs/levelthree: Level Three is a Web3 Education Case Studies open source repository.

It will include the following sections:

Overview of Ethereum Proof-of-Stake (PoS).
History of Rocket Pool.
Rocket Pool products overview.
Case Study problem.

The case study starts is situated in our current 2023 environment. Students are presented with the emergent conditions around decentralised staking pools. It explains how Rocket Pool competes in this hyper-competitive environment, how Rocket Pool is structured as a DAO, and what Rocket Pool’s future plans are.

The case study includes a set of discussion questions toward the end that challenge them to think through a scenario. I intend to ask Rocket Pool members to help me form a suitable and realistic scenario that teaches students how to think in a consistent and authentically decentralised manner.

Is there any related work this builds off of?

My first case study was funded by Aave Grants DAO under the title: Aave Case Study: Building Trust in Decentralised Finance (DeFi). Over time, I hope to expand the range of case studies until there is a comprehensive set of educational resources for the Web3 industry going forward. Currently no such resources exist.

Will the results of this project be entirely open source (MIT, GPL, Apache, CC BY license or similar)? If not, which parts will not be, why, and under what license will they be published?

Yes, completely open source under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence.

=== Benefits ===

How does this help people looking to stake ETH for rETH?

It will include a discussion of how staking in Rocket Pool works. There are already resources like this, but hopefully its use in classrooms would teach students the broad contours of staking.

How does this help rETH holders?

N/A

How does this help people looking to run a Rocket Pool node for the first time?

N/A

How does this help people already running a Rocket Pool node?

N/A

How does this help the Rocket Pool community?

I hope it would present Rocket Pool as a forward-thinking community dedicated to long-term education around staking.

The case will be positive in tone. It is not about problems with Rocket Pool, but uses Rocket Pool as a successful model students can emulate in order to prepare them for the Web3 industry (such as interviews, conferences, networking, etc.).

Since the case study is open source, it will then also be used in other classrooms and courses, compounding the impact over the long term. Some students may be encouraged to participate in Rocket Pool and its services through exposure.

How does this help RPL holders?

N/A

What other non-RPL protocols, DAOs, projects, or individuals, would stand to benefit from this grant?

My classes hopefully contribute to the next generation of Web3. Many of my students have gone on to work in the Web3 industry.

Will the resulting project be open source?

Yes. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).

=== Team ===

Who is doing the work?

My name is Dr. Paul Dylan-Ennis (also known as polarpunklabs on Twitter).

What is the background of the person(s) doing the work? What experience do they have with such projects in the past?

I am a Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Management Information Systems (MIS) in the College of Business, University College Dublin. My research interests are Bitcoin, Ethereum, DAOs, DeFi and NFTs. I argue Web3 is best understood as a form of cultural expression with associated micro-economies.
I am a CoinDesk columnist, ethereum.org contributor and a Founding Member of the Blockchain Association of Ireland. I created one of the earliest modules on cryptocurrencies in 2016 and the first module on Ethereum internationally in 2021.
For a complete reference for the above, including my modules see https://people.ucd.ie/paul.dylan-ennis

Social media: twitter.com/polarpunklabs (approx. 16,000 followers).

What is the breakdown of the proposed work, in terms of milestones and/or deadlines?

The project has one milestone: a 3,000 word case study to be delivered by December 2023. The timing here places me close to the first module I intend to test the case study in: The Ethereum Ecosystem: https://hub.ucd.ie/usis/!W_HU_MENU.P_PUBLISH?p_tag=MODULE&MODULE=MIS41220 This is a relatively simple milestone and one I have reached already with Aave.

How is the work being tested? Is testing included in the schedule?
No testing required.

How will the work be maintained after delivery?
No maintenance required.

=== Payment and Verification ===

What is the acceptance criteria?

Happy to answer, but I do not understand this question.

What is the proposed payment schedule for the grant? How much RPL and over what period of time is the applicant requesting?

I am seeking $3,000 in RPL to be paid when beginning the project (whenever grant results are announced), but no further payment is required after this point. The timeline will be approximately six months, deliverable in December 2023.

$2,000 – Research assistant.
$500 – Editor.
$500 – Sundries.

How will the GMC verify that the work’s deliveries match the proposed cadence?

The output is a simple PDF document that the DAO can assess.

What alternatives or options have been considered in order to save costs for the proposed project?

I have reduced the grant figure from what I had presumed costs would be with the previous Aave case study. I received a $5,500 grant there, but have trimmed down to $3,000 here.

=== Conflict of Interest ===

Does the person or persons proposing the grant have any conflicts of interest to disclose? (Please disclose here if you are a member of the GMC or if any member of the GMC would benefit directly financially from the grant).

No.
Will the recipient of the grant, or any protocol or project in which the recipient has a vested interest (other than Rocket Pool), benefit financially if the grant is successful?

No.

Patches · 2 July 2023 18:55

NB: This is a renewal

I’m using my draft template from: Draft Grant Renewal Application Template

What grant is being renewed?

Rocket Rescue Node - January 2023 GMC Call for Grant Applications - Deadline is January 15th - #3 by Patches

What work from the previous proposal was completed?

The original tech spec (https://gist.github.com/jshufro/a22724f06702c8342b5d1b29ee0a6190) was completed in full, and the Rescue Node launched on mainnet 2023-02-28

Additionally, from the Nice-To-Haves section of the tech spec, we have implemented the following:

Monitoring
Frontend

What work from the previous proposal is ongoing or pending?

None of the minimum viable requirements were left ongoing or pending. These remaining nice-to-haves are not completed:

Checkpoint Sync
- Honestly, it fell off our radar, as there are so many checkpointz endpoints readily available.
- I think I personally would prefer to move this to non-requirement, as there is some complexity with how prysm handles checkpoint urls.
Treegen
- The original motivation was to automate preview generation, which was accomplished in a separate project (sprocketpool).
Non-mev-boost solo validator credential piggy-backing
- Some research went into this. It should be feasible in certain circumstances, and will potentially be added in the future.

What work was not originally planned, but completed, if any?

We added support for lodestar
We created a public metrics/status dashboard at https://stats.rescuenode.com
We broke the core component of our mev-theft protection code into a library at GitHub - Rocket-Rescue-Node/guarded-beacon-proxy: A golang library to create access-controlled beacon nodes
- This enables other protocols with well-known fee recipients to build rescue-node-like services without having to re-solve some of the same problems we initially faced.

What work is newly slated since the previous proposal?

I have tentative plans to add support for solo validators. This may manifest as a separate bounty proposal, as it would not change ongoing costs, but I’m also not sure what the scope of the work is, and if there is an appetite to do the development pro bono. Early research suggests changes across three of the github projects- rescue-ui, rescue-api, and rescue-proxy.

Are the results of this project entirely open source (MIT, GPL, Apache, CC BY license or similar)? If not, which parts are not, and why not?

AGPLv3
- rescue-proxy
- guarded-beacon-proxy
- rescue-api
MIT
- rescue-ui
Closed Source
- infrastructure
- secrets

Our infrastructure library remains closed source. Initially this was to make sure we didn’t create an attack vector, but I think we’re satisfied that we could open source it if there was a strong desire to do so. It provides little benefit to do so, except perhaps as a form of continuity planning.

Our secrets repo is closed-source and encrypted, and will remain so, for existential security reasons.

Benefits - enter N/A where appropriate

What metrics can you share on the success of the project?

Since launch, the rescue node has been used quite a bit to help node operators out of sticky situations. We haven’t retained a full history of metrics, however, there is 7 days available at https://stats.rescuenode.com

In less specific terms, how has this project improved the Rocket Pool ecosystem or benefited the Ethereum ecosystem?

We believe we’ve delivered on improving the node operator experience and protecting the rETH downside. We’ve seen marketing resources circulate touting the rescue node as a reason to join the Rocket Pool ecosystem, and our usage metrics support the narrative of its utility.

Team

Who has done the work, and have there been any changes to the team?

No changes have been made to the team:

@ken is our general manager, and a ‘maintainer’
@poupas is a ‘developer’ and ‘maintainer’
@Patches is a ‘developer’ and ‘maintainer’
@hanniabu is a ‘developer’
@sleety still tolerates our antics, and has contributed to marketing materials pertaining to the rescue node since the original grant.

‘developer’ here means someone who contributed code
‘maintainer’ here means someone who has SSH access to the rescue nodes (i.e. a trusted party with regards to mev theft).

Poupas and I have handled the maintenance tasks pertaining to the infrastructure, and Ken contributes to the non-infra administrative side.

How have the individual constituents of the team been compensated?

Our original grant included a retroactive portion that was overpaid by the GMC. We were grateful for the vote of confidence. The funds were first used to compensate costs for poupas and myself that were incurred before the grant, and the remaining amount of the retroactive sum was split proportionate to the breakdown in the original request.

The ongoing portion of the grant has been held in a multisig and used to reimburse ongoing costs only. We are compensated more than the real cost of the infrastructure, so we carry a balance in this multisig, but intend to return it to the GMC when either the project winds down or we’ve established a healthy runway.

Here’s a full breakdown:

Retroactive Development:
- Poupas - 86.49 RPL
- Patches - 86.49 RPL
- Hanniabu - 51.90 RPL
- Sleety - 25.95 RPL
Retroactive reimbursement
- Poupas - 15.29 RPL
- Patches - 10.88 RPL
Ongoing infrastructure costs
- Our only infrastructure provider that doesn’t give us a free plan is OVH. We have 5 baremetals and 1 VPS with them to run the client pairs and api/ui respectively.
- Patches pays the bills
  - 2023-4-1 $418.90 - 9.57 RPL
  - 2023-5-1 $418.90 - 8.98 RPL
  - 2023-6-1 $508.90 - 10.41 RPL
  - 2023-7-1 $616.90 - 16.90 RPL*
- The rising USD-denominated infra costs are due to the addition of lodestar and the VPS used for the api/ui
- The fluctuations in RPL-denominated costs are due to the fluctuation in the RPL/USD price and the rising infrastructure cost as we’ve added features.

* EDIT 7/7: OVH just emailed us saying they overbilled us by $90 in July, which in retrospect makes sense. The 2023-7-1 bill should have been $526.90 and we received a credit. Ongoing costs will actually be $520 a month, as July’s invoice also contained a small proration amount.

The multisig (0x685bD857797306D030d53920C321d4d117aE3137) has 19.64 RPL and 1,524.45 USDC remaining as of this writing, which provides us with a 3-4 month runway, at today’s prices/costs.

How has maintenance been performed since the delivery of the project?

We perform the sysadmin tasks pro bono
Development has been pro bono since the retroactive payments, and will continue to be unless superceded by a bounty. We’ll avoid RAs so this can be an ongoing discussion.

Payment and Verification

Have the acceptance criteria been met?

Yes, we believe so. The criterion provided by the GMC was “Evidence of upkeep of rescue node”, and we believe we have been extremely transparent. See @rescue_node on twitter for historical insights.

What is the proposed payment schedule for the grant? How much RPL and over what period of time is the applicant requesting? Does this differ from the original approved amount?

We would like to keep the parameters the same- Originally we were approved for $900 in RPL (23.66 RPL) per month, and that has given us the necessary discretion to improve the infrastructure as needed.

Is there a measurable Return on Investment for the project?

Using the previous grant application’s cost modeling, we found that the protocol breaks even when at least 1-2 validators are connected. As of this writing, there are 175 validators connected, and anecdotally, I’ve seen as many as 400 and as few as 10, which puts the ROI in the range of 5x → 200x. That is to say, for every RPL spent on the rescue node so far, somewhere between 5 RPL and 200 RPL in value has been retained by the protocol instead of lost due to validator inactivity leak. NB, this includes the node operator share.

What is the breakdown of spending on development for the original grant vs. maintenance?

100% of ongoing funds are put towards reimbursing costs. Development originally cost 250.83 RPL, and maintenance (retroactive and ongoing) has cost 72.6 RPL.

With the launch out of the way, we can reasonably expect the costs of maintenance to be the majority of future spend, barring additional bounties.

Conflict of Interest

Does the person or persons proposing the grant have any conflicts of interest to disclose? (Please disclose here if you are a member of the GMC or if any member of the GMC would benefit directly financially from the grant).

Ken serves on the GMC. He does not stand to benefit financially from this grant, and has not benefited financially from the rescue node at any point.

Will the recipient of the grant, or any protocol or project in which the recipient has a vested interest (other than Rocket Pool), benefit financially if the grant is successful?

No, we continue to treat maintenance pro bono and only spend RPL as reimbursement for infrastructure costs.

LIBlockchain · 6 July 2023 01:21

## Grants Application

Project: RocketSplit

### What is the work being proposed?

A RocketSplit contract is a tool designed for a Node Operator and a RPL Contributor to split the rewards of a Rocket Pool Validator.

After a Node is configured and registered with Rocket Pool, they will (1) identify the node on Rocketsplit.xyz, (2) set the end-point wallet address for each user, (3) set the financial terms between the Node Operator and the RPL Contributor, (4) create the contract.

The last step is to set your Rocket Pool Node’s Withdrawal Address as the newly created RocketSplit contract.

### Is there any related work this builds off of?

The smart contract is similar to the “whale marriage” splitter contracts used for community members like markobarko/worthalter’s nodes, or ramana/waq’s “dolphin marriage”.

### Will the results of this project be entirely open source (MIT, GPL, Apache, CC BY license or similar)? If not, which parts will not be, why, and under what license will they be published?

Open source

## Benefits - enter N/A where appropriate

### How does this help people looking to stake ETH for rETH?

This provides new tools for Node Operators to collaborate with other parties, potentially attracting new NO’s.

### How does this help rETH holders?

rETH will become more in demand if more Node Operators are onboarded.

### How does this help people looking to run a Rocket Pool node for the first time?

Allows new users to collaborate with other parties in a trustless manner.

### How does this help people already running a Rocket Pool node?

Existing Rocket Pool nodes can change their withdrawal address to a RocketSplit contract. This could offer opportunities for a Node Operator to sell available RPL Collateral space, or reach the minimum collateral during times of RPL market instability.

### How does this help the Rocket Pool community?

This tool supports Node Operators and RPL Holders in earning more rewards.

### How does this help RPL holders?

This tool supports Node Operators and RPL Holders in earning more rewards.

### What other non-RPL protocols, DAOs, projects, or individuals, would stand to benefit from this grant?

N/A

### Will the resulting project be open source?

Yes, fully open sourced.

## Team

### Who is doing the work?

@Ramana @Direct(LIBC) @Rudes(LIBC)

### What is the background of the person(s) doing the work? What experience do they have with such projects in the past?

@Ramana developed the in-production smart contract of the “whale marriage” and “dolphin marriage” as identified earlier. LI Blockchain offers learning tutorials for setting up and maintaining a Rocket Pool validator (Long Island Blockchain - YouTube) and provides non-custodial staking services/web3 development.

### What is the breakdown of the proposed work, in terms of milestones and/or deadlines?

Early versions of the smart contract have already been in production.

New refactored smart contract and new front end are hosted on https://rocketsplit.surge.sh/ using the Goerli network and are available for community testing while development continues through functional completeness.

UX/UI demonstration videos to be produced and test environments to remain open to the community for feedback.

Soliciting GMC feedback for audit needs. The Rocket Split factory will be deployed to Ethereum mainnet after completion of testing and or audits.

### How is the work being tested? Is testing included in the schedule?

As discussed above, it is currently on Goerli and can be sent for formal audit as needed.

### How will the work be maintained after delivery?

Front end bug fixes to be made as needed. Any adjustment or new feature requests such as greater than 2 person agreements will be considered for a version 2 development

## Payment and Verification

### What is the acceptance criteria?

Users can utilize the front end on rocketsplit.xyz to configure their desired financial agreement between Node Operator and RPL Contributor (e.g a portion of one party’s rewards collected as fees by the other party) and generate a smart contract address.

Users can set the node’s Withdrawal address as the RocketSplit contract. Users can receive their rewards to their final-stop wallet.

Users can use manage an existing Rocket Split contract (Change address, Add/Update ENS, or Claim)

### What is the proposed payment schedule for the grant? How much RPL and over what period of time is the applicant requesting?

Requesting 500 RPL which includes the development of the project, demonstration and support knowledge materials, and continued community support and feature request administration.

Requirements for formal audit and costs of audit not included.

### How will the GMC verify that the work’s deliveries match the proposed cadence?

A partial prototype of RocketSplit is deployed to https://rocketsplit.surge.sh/ and the github repo can be found at GitHub - xrchz/rocketsplit: Withdrawal address contract for splitting Rocket Pool node rewards.

Development will continue in the open for GMC to inspect in detail at any point.

Work will be completed when it is deployed to Mainnet Ethereum.

### What alternatives or options have been considered in order to save costs for the proposed project?

None

## Conflict of Interest

### Does the person or persons proposing the grant have any conflicts of interest to disclose? (Please disclose here if you are a member of the GMC or if any member of the GMC would benefit directly financially from the grant).

N/A

### Will the recipient of the grant, or any protocol or project in which the recipient has a vested interest (other than Rocket Pool), benefit financially if the grant is successful?```

N/A

ShfRyn · 6 July 2023 20:13

Grants Application

Project: ShfRyn’s POAPs

What is the work being proposed?

During Round 2, I submitted an application to design a POAP for each smartnode update, as well as six additional POAPs for random events over a three-month period. The application was accepted for a one-moth term. The committee expressed concerns regarding the lack of clarity regarding the number of POAPs that would be delivered. In this revised application, I have streamlined the proposal to provide a clear indication of the exact number of POAPs that will be delivered.

I propose:

Designing and distributing 4 POAPs / month over a six month period
POAP for every smartnode update
24 POAPs total

There’s so many ways to utilize POAP to drive engagement within our community. Examples include: memorializing special events, driving more participants to chit-chat, incentivizing timely node updates, etc. My goal is to setup a system that takes advantage of those opportunities.

Is there any related work this builds off of?

Yes, it builds off of my POAP designs and distributions for the community application from the first period. During that month I designed and distributed the following:

Update to 1.9.4
76 people received this POAP
It encouraged upgrading Rocket Pool software within 24 hours.
Chit-Chat
25 people received this POAP
I believe the chit-chat had a lot more attendees than usual
This is Fine
89 people received this POAP
During a day of pretty bad news, it incentivized RPL holders to look on the bright side
Update to 1.9.5
67 people received this POAP
It encouraged upgrading Rocket Pool software within 24 hours.
Update to 1.9.6
54 people received this POAP
It encouraged upgrading Rocket Pool software within 24 hours.

Will the results of this project be entirely open source (MIT, GPL, Apache, CC BY license or similar)? If not, which parts will not be, why, and under what license will they be published?

N/A

Benefits - enter N/A where appropriate

How does this help the Rocket Pool community?

The Rocket Pool community has consistently demonstrated a strong enthusiasm for POAPs. By leveraging the power of POAPs, we can effectively generate interest in community events, incentivize prompt node upgrades, elevate morale, and foster increased engagement on Discord.

How does this help RPL holders?

N/A

What other non-RPL protocols, DAOs, projects, or individuals, would stand to benefit from this grant?

N/A

Will the resulting project be open source?

N/A

Team

Who is doing the work?

ShfRyn

What is the background of the person(s) doing the work? What experience do they have with such projects in the past?

I did a one-month term for POAP designs approved by the GMC, and I’ve designed over 50 unique POAPs for the Rocket Pool community over the last year.

What is the breakdown of the proposed work, in terms of milestones and/or deadlines?

~4 POAPs/mo. I wanted to leave some room for flexibility here. I.E. if I go over or under during certain months it’s acceptable as long as I hit the 24 total at the end of the six-month period.

How is the work being tested? Is testing included in the schedule?

Threads will be created for each POAP where engagement and participation can be viewed.

How will the work be maintained after delivery?

N/A

Payment and Verification

What is the acceptance criteria?

24 total POAPs which can be verified on the official POAP website.

What is the proposed payment schedule for the grant? How much RPL and over what period of time is the applicant requesting?

$500/month. Six months. $3000 total

Conflict of Interest

Does the person or persons proposing the grant have any conflicts of interest to disclose? (Please disclose here if you are a member of the GMC or if any member of the GMC would benefit directly financially from the grant).

I am a non-voting administrator of the GMC.

Will the recipient of the grant, or any protocol or project in which the recipient has a vested interest (other than Rocket Pool), benefit financially if the grant is successful?

No

Valdorff · 7 July 2023 21:09

GMC_lite fund

What is the work being proposed?

Fund an L2 multisig that can be used for small awards (as little bounties or little retrostpective awards)
The L2 multisig should have the same owners as the mainnet GMC wallet
I suggest funding it with 200 RPL as a starting point and getting community feedback before refilling it
I suggest limiting to 10 RPL, and preferring 0.5-2 range
I suggest requiring 3 signatures for this multisig as a reasonable tradeoff between convenience and safety - a quick reward feels nicer for recipients
There should be a thread for #GMC_lite where GMC members post why someone received tokens
Rocket Scientists are not eligible (they are already paid for essentially random help)

I’m thinking stuff like a 0.5 RPL tip as a thank you for a dune dashboard update, documentation cleanup, etc.

Similarly it can be used as a quick bounty: “Looks like query is no longer being maintained and it would help answer some questions on an active Aave proposal - can someone fix it and bring it up to date? 3 RPL bounty from #GMC_lite.” I suggest a convention of honoring offers like this except in cases where there is something egregiously off.

The GMC should keep an eye on GMC_lite work so they can tweak it. “hey maybe we should reward X less often”, “hey - Val keeps doing meh work and getting tips”, etc. Despite being 3-vote at the specific award level, the strategy should be steered by the majority.

Is there any related work this builds off of?

The GMC? haha

Will the results of this project be entirely open source (MIT, GPL, Apache, CC BY license or similar)? If not, which parts will not be, why, and under what license will they be published?

Benefits - enter N/A where appropriate

The benefits depend entirely on the things that are funded. At a high level, I’m hoping this spurs activity and community vibes.

Team

Who is doing the work?

The GMC.

What is the background of the person(s) doing the work? What experience do they have with such projects in the past?

They do the same work at larger/longer scale. This is probably a much funner version of it.

What is the breakdown of the proposed work, in terms of milestones and/or deadlines?

No particular timeline. Once funds are low, the community should be asked how it’s gone so we can determine if we want to be more aggressive/conservative, if there are concerns with what’s being awarded, etc.

How is the work being tested? Is testing included in the schedule?

N/A

How will the work be maintained after delivery?

N/A

Payment and Verification

What is the acceptance criteria?

GMC interest and able to get 3 votes.

What is the proposed payment schedule for the grant? How much RPL and over what period of time is the applicant requesting?

Payment to the fund is up front (at least until a potential renewal, with community feedback before that)

How will the GMC verify that the work delivered matches the proposed cadence?

No cadence proposed.

What alternatives or options have been considered in order to save costs for the proposed project?

N/A

Conflict of Interest

Does the person or persons proposing the grant have any conflicts of interest to disclose? (Please disclose here if you are a member of the GMC or if any member of the GMC would benefit directly financially from the grant).

No

Will the recipient of the grant, or any protocol or project in which the recipient has a vested interest (other than Rocket Pool), benefit financially if the grant is successful?

No

jasperthegovghost · 12 July 2023 22:06

Grants Application

Project

What is the work being proposed?

The proposed work is to continue hosting bi-weekly twitter space calls of 1-2 hrs in length in which we regularly feature a business/marketing partner and also inform the community on major news topics with weigh-in from the core Rocket Pool team.

Is there any related work this builds off of?

-N/A-

Will the results of this project be entirely open source (MIT, GPL, Apache, CC BY license or similar)? If not, which parts will not be, why, and under what license will they be published?

All Twitter spaces are re-uploaded on YouTube by @maverick.

Benefits - enter N/A where appropriate

How does this help people looking to stake ETH for rETH?

Increases awareness of rETH and what users can do with it.

How does this help rETH holders?

Keeps holders up to date with the protocol and ecosystem so that they can make informed decisions. A majority of guest protocols are protocols that either allow or will allow the use of rETH within them.

How does this help people looking to run a Rocket Pool node for the first time?

Provides an avenue for users to engage with the team and informed speakers to ask questions as well as provides a regular space for interaction.

How does this help people already running a Rocket Pool node?

Keeps node operators informed on protocol updates as they pertain to the Smartnode and smart contracts.

How does this help the Rocket Pool community?

It is one of the largest and only regular forms of engagement between the community. Further, Twitter Spaces represent official forums to talk to the core developer team about the protocol.

How does this help RPL holders?

They can learn what RPL is used for and potential new DeFi developments.

What other non-RPL protocols, DAOs, projects, or individuals, would stand to benefit from this grant?

Many teams approach Nick for Twitter Spaces and gain value through our audience. These protocols in the ecosystem use us as a conduit for updates.

Will the resulting project be open source?

Yes

Team

Who is doing the work?

Myself

What is the background of the person(s) doing the work? What experience do they have with such projects in the past?

We have been doing these Twitter Spaces since Feb of 2022. Occasionally, one fills in when the other cannot host, but we’ve by and large been very consistent. For qualifications, I have worked on a majority of rETH’s DeFi integrations in some capacity and have become very familiar with the entire ecosystem stack. See my RA history for more.

What is the breakdown of the proposed work, in terms of milestones and/or deadlines?

I do 1 Space on alternating weeks, optionally covering for the other until such a time as it is no longer valuable. Sometimes Nick will have bonus calls and I will join if I have the availability and it can go above the regular cadence, however, this is rare.

How is the work being tested? Is testing included in the schedule?

How badly #trading dunks on us.

How will the work be maintained after delivery?

YouTube hosting on the official channel.

Payment and Verification

What is the acceptance criteria?

Hosting a well-prepared Twitter Space of approximately 1-2 hrs length that focuses on educating the community.

What is the proposed payment schedule for the grant? How much RPL and over what period of time is the applicant requesting?

The average payment the RP core team gave me was 9 RPL every other week. During this time period, the value of RPL was, on average, $30 USD. As such, a quoted rate of $270 per Twitter Space is what I am requesting moving forward.

With an avg. length of 3 hrs including preparation per Twitter Space, this amounts to $90/hr. Relative to the very niche skill set of being intimately familiar with Rocket Pool’s DeFi ecosystem, I believe this is fair as consulting rates in the industry are quite high, regularly in the $200/hr range.

I would like to lock this in for 6 months and then review it at the end. As I am beginning medical school I may or may not be able to renew it at the end.

How will the GMC verify that the work deliveries match the proposed cadence?

Twitter Spaces are scheduled in advance and can be verified on the Discord events page.

What alternatives or options have been considered in order to save costs for the proposed project?

It would be more expensive to hire someone professionally who has the requisite knowledge. Consulting rates would be even more expensive.

Conflict of Interest

Does the person or persons proposing the grant have any conflicts of interest to disclose? (Please disclose here if you are a member of the GMC or if any member of the GMC would benefit directly financially from the grant).

No.

Will the recipient of the grant, or any protocol or project in which the recipient has a vested interest (other than Rocket Pool), benefit financially if the grant is successful?

No.

waqwaqattack · 13 July 2023 02:43

What grant is being renewed?

Rocket Fuel - Waq

What work from the previous proposal was completed?

Since applying for my first grant, I have produced 105 episodes of Rocket Fuel.

What work from the previous proposal is ongoing or pending?

Work continues for Rocket Fuel on a daily basis. This is an open-ended ongoing project.

What work was not originally planned, but completed, if any?

Additional work completed includes seven episodes of Launch Pad, two Take Off Into DeFi episodes, two episodes of ETHDenver coverage, two weekly recap episodes, and one Atlas bullcast episode.

What work is newly slated since the previous proposal?

There is currently no planned new work outside of the daily Rocket Fuel episodes. Launch Pad and Take Off Into DeFi episodes will continue as and when the situation arises along with any other special episodes.

Are the results of this project entirely open source (MIT, GPL, Apache, CC BY license or similar)? If not, which parts are not, and why not?

N/A.However, I am willing to share content with the community in a no-questions-asked way.

Benefits - enter N/A where appropriate

What metrics can you share on the success of the project?

The Rocket Fuel channel has amassed 776 subscribers on YouTube, 1189 followers on Twitter, and 95 followers on Spotify alone (other podcast platform information is not available).

(screenshot of YouTube subscribers)

(this number is artificially low due to me taking time off for paternity leave)

(The number of unique viewers is on par with channels much bigger than Rocket Fuel - Compare to Defi Dad who has 32,000 subscribers on YouTube (DeFi Dad - YouTube) and 152,000 Twitter followers (https://twitter.com/DeFi_Dad) but recently averages 350-500 views per video on YouTube. This suggests high subscriber engagement and loyal, consistent viewership.)

(screenshot of Twitter info)

(screenshot of Spotify dashboard)

This makes Rocket Fuel the largest Rocket Pool-specific YouTube channel, the largest Rocket Pool Podcast, and one of the largest Rocket Pool dedicated Twitter accounts that does not belong to the team or team members.

Rocket Fuel is the most widely consumed regular Rocket Pool-related media. The average Rocket Fuel episode has 200 views on Youtube and 60 listens on Spotify alone. As a comparison, the average Rocket Pool Twitter space/community call has 100 listeners on Twitter and 50 views of the recordings on YouTube.

During periods of strong price action, Rocket Fuel’s viewership frequently doubles or more in size. For example, episode 127 for Feb 10th had 354 views on YouTube (Rocket Fuel - February 10th - Episode 127) and 80 listens on Spotify. On April 17th, Episode 164 has 379 views on YouTube (Rocket Fuel - April 17th - Episode 164) and 106 listens on Spotify. Special episodes frequently have many multiples in terms of views. The Atlas Bullcast episode has 814 views on YouTube (Rocket Fuel - Atlas Bullcast) and 173 listens on Spotify. During an upcoming bull run, I expect Rocket Fuel to grow astronomically and awareness of Rocket Pool with it. The foundations laid now will pay tremendous dividends later in addition to all of the benefits Rocket Fuel currently provides to the community.

In less specific terms, how has this project improved the Rocket Pool ecosystem or benefited the Ethereum ecosystem?

Rocket Fuel has become an invaluable tool for the Rocket Pool protocol and community. There is a thriving Rocket Fuel community with fifty people a month contributing content to the show. On top of that, other protocols have noticed my passion and high-quality content for Rocket Pool and have reached out for their content in partnership to be covered on the show. All such content happens without any payment and the strictest selection criteria is used.

Rocket Fuel is often the first media newcomers to Rocket Pool come across. Rocket Fuel’s lack of advertisements and focus on the news in a matter-of-fact manner without hype, embellishment, or clickbait tactics is a welcoming and informative introduction to Rocket Pool. In this way, Rocket Fuel significantly contributes to Rocket Pool’s credibility. No comparable DeFI project, or even many alt layer-1s, have a similar dedicated media outlet, nor do they have media and community-building programs that are this cost-effective to produce for the pDAO.

Rocket Fuel’s value is recognised by many prominent members of the Rocket Pool community. Some have provided testimonials for Rocket Fuel’s worth for them. Below is a sample of some of these testimonials:

superphiz:

Rocket Fuel has positioned itself as a critical information distribution tool in the super fast paced Rocket Pool community. We all acknowledge that there’s simply too much information for anyone to keep up with and Rocket Fuel is the glue that lets our community sync up and push forward. The information provided by Rocket Fuel translates into added value for new users and old trolls by giving high quality free access to the cutting edge of information without having to wade through thousands of comments.

Marceau:

Rocket Pool is lucky to have such a vibrant and active community, to the point that staying on top of all the discussion is onerous. Waq and Rocket Fuel provide a huge amount of value by aggregating the key points into a video format with timestamps. Thanks!

Mambosan:

To me, Rocket Fuel is vital because it disseminates information and news regarding the protocol and happenings within the community; many of us aren’t on discord all the time, so it is difficult to keep up with on our own. Rocket Fuel keeps me more connected and up-to-date to the protocol and the community, and I’m sure many others feel the same.

Shfryn:

I have been an avid viewer of Rocket Fuel since its inception, and I must say that it has become an indispensable resource for staying up to date with the ever-evolving Rocket Pool ecosystem. Our protocol needs a reliable source of information on a daily basis.

Beyond being an outstanding source of information, Rocket Fuel serves to legitimize our protocol to potential new node operators. I would imagine there are a ton of potential node operators that would not stop to give the product a chance if it were not for the information Rocket Fuel provides.

Beyond bringing legitimacy, Rocket Fuel has personally played a pivotal role in my journey. It served as the bridge that connected me to the community and fueled my motivation to contribute more. Unlike aimlessly reading random conversations in a Discord server, Rocket Fuel provided me with a tangible connection to others who share my passion.

In essence, Rocket Fuel not only delivers invaluable news and updates but also lends credibility to the Rocket Pool product. Furthermore, it fosters a sense of engagement and connection within the community, enhancing the overall experience for all participants. It is a beacon of inspiration, propelling individuals like me to actively participate and contribute towards the shared vision.

Woofa

Waq is well informed and passionate about varying projects in the crypto space. He is a mentor for the community while providing unbiased information through Rocket Fuel.

As a node operator, Rocket Fuel helps me stay updated on current events I would otherwise have missed.

This has helped me become more involved in the community through events that affect the rocket pool and ethereum ecosystem in a positive and organic way.

Sneaky

With all the constant madness in the Rocket Pool discord, Rocket Fuel is sort of a home base that brings everything together in an easy to watch show. It embodies a community that I have grown to love and brings about a natural camaraderie amongst Rocket Poolers! This is what I love and appreciate about Rocket Fuel…that it brings us all a bit closer.

Dave Marley

Rocket Fuel is an incredibly important resource to me as a node operator. Even though I run an Avado (which should auto-update regularly) I’ve come to rely on Waq’s daily report to notify me about all the recent and upcoming upgrades to the smart node stack and the protocol in general. To take a small example, post-Atlas, Avado’s RP package did not automatically update the minipool delegate to allow for distributions from the minipool contract to the withdrawal address. I was aware of the “delegate update” issue from Rocket Fuel and, as a result, didn’t freak out when the Avado package didn’t automatically send withdrawals post-Atlas.

I also find it incredible that Waq regularly packs in 30 minutes of daily coverage, equivalent to the amount of daily content that Anthony Sassano produces on the entire Ethereum ecosystem. Rocket Fuel’s coverage of RP is extensive and I feel like I don’t need to go to any other resources to keep up with both the technical and the social sides of RP. I’m not aware of any other project that has such a dedicated and consistent content producer - it’s a testament to Waq and the Rocket Pool community itself.

Langers

In order for DAOs to thrive, its participants have to stay in the loop and be well-informed. Within the vibrant Rocket Pool community, there are many simultaneous conversations, decision-making processes, and initiatives happening. To ensure everyone can easily access and digest important information, we’ve got Rocket Fuel—an awesome resource that delivers timely updates in a friendly and approachable manner. And let’s not forget about Waq, who brings a touch of personality and warmth to our inclusive community culture.

Patches

Rocket Fuel provides an invaluable service to those of us who work to build for the Rocket Pool ecosystem. In the fast paced Ethereum world, it is impossible to stay up to date on everything transpiring on twitter and discord and be a productive builder at the same time- that is, without the help of Rocket Fuel. Waq’s YouTube videos, and especially their content timestamping, drastically improve the signal-to-noise ratio from social media, and help me stay focused, productive, and engaged with the community.

jagansignup

The ‘Rocket Fuel’ YouTube channel has been an invaluable resource for me as a new member of the Rocket Pool community. The videos provide comprehensive, up-to-date information on all events related to Rocket Pool, making it an exceptional tool for staying abreast of developments. The ‘Launch Pad’ episodes are an insightful look into the community, offering a unique learning experience about the workings and interactions within Rocket Pool. Furthermore, I truly appreciate how the channel encourages community engagement - allowing content submissions means that pertinent and interesting subjects are brought to the forefront by members themselves. This inclusive approach enhances my participation in the community and makes ‘Rocket Fuel’ all the more important to my experience with Rocket Pool.

Rhett (founder of Gravita)

Waq’s coverage of Gravita on Rocket Fuel as well as the launchpad has been extremely helpful for us in connecting with the rocketpool community and the ethereum community as a whole. He’s also been a pleasure to work with and a great interviewer. He’s the kind of content creator we need more of.

Team

Who has done the work, and have there been any changes to the team?

The content production work is all done by me, Waq. However, Rocket Fuel would not be possible without the content contributors who assist me with research for each episode. I pay a monthly amount of $1,000 for this help that is provided to me in the form of a raffle.

This amount was not covered in my previous grant. The amount of the previous grant was too low for me to dedicate the number of hours required to make a single episode - it frequently took me over 8 hours of work to produce a single episode. That amount of work was unsustainable, so the idea to pay for community support was born.

Without the contributors, and the $1,000 I pay them, Rocket Fuel would not be possible.

How have the individual constituents of the team been compensated?

The payment has gone to me. I also use money that comes to me for Rocket Fuel to pay contributors $1,000 every month.

How has maintenance been performed since the delivery of the project?

Maintenance is done by YouTube and podcast content hosting services and has required minimal effort from me.

Payment and Verification

Have the acceptance criteria been met?

The acceptance criteria have been met and significantly exceeded. I have produced more than the number of episodes indicated in the original grant. On top of that, the reach of Rocket Fuel has grown massively in the previous six months in terms of viewers, followers, and subscribers.

What is the proposed payment schedule for the grant? How much RPL and over what period of time is the applicant requesting? Does this differ from the original approved amount?

This grant is requesting a significant pay reevaluation informed by multiple considerations.

The first consideration is that this work should be compensated in line with other similar work accomplished by other grantees. The payment received by Jasper and Ken for the Rocket Pool Twitter Spaces and Community Calls offers some data to support this commensuration. Jasper calculated that they each received $270 dollars for each unit of media output on average (9 RPL at an average of $30) (See Jasper’s grant application above).

For comparison, Rocket Fuel currently receives 96.5 RPL per month (this equals $3400 per month or $154 per unit of media output). Furthermore, this amount was vastly lower than the originally requested amount in the January grant. I would struggle to continue Rocket Fuel if it was rewarded at the same rate going forward. Members of the Rocket Pool community frequently comment on the underpayment of Rocket Fuel.

Another consideration is Rocket Fuel’s consistency, growth, and increasing production value. Rocket Fuel’s value to the protocol and community has grown significantly in the last six months, and the compensation should reflect the excellent standard of work done for the project as well as the considerable time commitment required to attain this standard while maintaining the depth and breadth of coverage.

For these reasons, I am requesting $6,000 (170 RPL/$35.50 - at $270 per episode for 22 episodes) a month for Rocket Fuel. As this is a full-time commitment, I would like to request allowances for time off for sickness and vacation. I have produced the show continuously over the last 11 months and have taken very limited personal time despite the birth of a child and other extenuating circumstances. I am very committed to my community and will continue to be, and I want to be sure that I have adequate time off to ensure I can do my best work. I request that the GMC considers this request and does not decrease my grant for days missed. I can discuss this further with the GMC if required.

Is there a measurable Return on Investment for the project?

As with all media and community engagement endeavors, Rocket Fuel return on investment is not easily quantified. Despite this, the return can be assessed qualitatively by observing the significant positive impact that Rocket Fuel has had on the community and newcomers to the community.

What is the breakdown of spending on development for the original grant vs. maintenance?

This is not applicable to Rocket Fuel.

Conflict of Interest

Does the person or persons proposing the grant have any conflicts of interest to disclose? (Please disclose here if you are a member of the GMC or if any member of the GMC would benefit directly financially from the grant).

I am a member of the GMC. I also receive donations in the form of RPL from anonymous and non-anonymous members of the community. I was also given a small gift from the Ethereum Foundation recently. The gifts and donations have no impact on the content of Rocket Fuel as I have sole editorial control.

Will the recipient of the grant, or any protocol or project in which the recipient has a vested interest (other than Rocket Pool), benefit financially if the grant is successful?

No. I am not involved in any other protocols, so they would not directly benefit. However, I do cover news of other staking services such as Lido, Stader, Diva, Stakwise, and more when it is relevant. I recently was given a large “OG” airdrop (likely for my work on Rocket Fuel) of Diva tokens (100,000 tokens with other tokens airdropped similarly to other Rocket Pool node operators for a total of 130,000 tokens), but I have repeatedly iterated that Rocket Pool, Rocket Fuel, and Ethereum will come first for me. These tokens will almost definitely be sold.

drdoofus · 14 July 2023 15:30

Grants Application

Project

Rocket Pool University
Website for a Rocket Pool related catalog of courses with quizzes and NFT (POAP) certification.
Focus on EE (Education and Engagement) with both the Rocket Pool community and the broader crypto community.

What is the work being proposed?

Development of a framework for hosting Rocket Pool oriented courses along the lines of the now-defunct Ethereum Studymaster. Courses can be created by anyone (but as of this application must be uploaded by either myself or potentially a select list of co-developers). A user (i.e., a connected wallet), reads through the lessons for a course and takes a quiz after designated lessons within that course. The user has limited chances to pass each quiz. Passing all quizzes for a course is required to pass the course and obtain the POAP or potentially other digital certification.

This grant application covers:

Frontend, written in NextJS 13 with TypeScript and TailwindCSS
Wallet sign-in via rainbowkit and wagmi
Laravel Database for user course and quiz information storage
A basic “Introduction to Rocket Pool” course
POAP Delivery mechanism for course completion (might be manual at first)

Last application, I gave out a rough draft of this website. I can provide again if it helps the decision making process.

Is there any related work this builds off of?

Other than being inspired by Ethereum Studymaster, this is being built from the ground up.

Will the results of this project be entirely open source (MIT, GPL, Apache, CC BY license or similar)? If not, which parts will not be, why, and under what license will they be published?

Probably/Possibly MIT, but unsure. If it affects funding, then I’ll license it however GMC prefers.

Benefits - enter N/A where appropriate

How does this help people looking to stake ETH for rETH/rETH holders/people looking to run a Rocket Pool node for the first time/people already running a Rocket Pool node/RPL holders?

The included “Basics of Rocket Pool” course and potential for future classes on this topic:

Adds a new strategy for disseminating introductory Rocket Pool information that appeals to many of the types of people in the crypto community, including future/current stakers and investors, via self-learning, quizzes and POAPs.
Creates a unique vector for marketing Rocket Pool.
Offers a location for sharing Rocket Pool information, training (potential support training certification), introductory protocol information, etc., to increase staking and protocol comprehension.

The Ethereum Studymaster course was a proven success as many in this ecosystem enjoy the format of learning via study/quiz taking/certification feedback.

How does this help the Rocket Pool community?

First, what RPU is NOT:

It is not an attempt to replace/replicate the excellent official docs. In fact, the included first course references the docs and guides the student to using them.
It is not a tutorial for setting up Nodes/Staking ETH, etc. Although things like that could be included.

Rocket Pool University prompts users to learn more about various aspects of Rocket Pool via classes and POAP collection, but also will make distributing and contributing knowledge easier and more fluid. This is about Education, Engagement, and Outreach.

In my opinion, one area we need covered most is in positive educational outreach to the rest of cryptoland. This is one step on that path. This effort can also serve to encourage other attempts at education and outreach, as well as, allowing others to contribute to this effort with their own tutorials and courses.

The included initial course, Basics of Rocket Pool, is not meant to replace the official documentation, it is a high level overview of the documentation; an easily digestible cliff notes version written from the ground up to give a different perspective on what parts are needed for novices to garner a quick but encompassing vision of the protocol. NOT, a quick understanding of how to set up a node or monitor progress. In many cases, it references the docs and via the quizzes teaches students how to reference them.

It is important to offer several variants of education on the protocol, since people learn by many different methods. Furthermore, much of the language used in large scale projects, like RP, tends to repeat obscure phrases and buzzwords that are confusing to newcomers and, all too often, much of the existing community. Different wordings and summaries can open up minds to concepts previously not fully grasped.

We correctly have focused a lot on internal contract and monitoring work. Outreach to the community by a community driven protocol is also essential. Jasper and Ken doing twitter spaces, Jasper’s extensive twitter presence, and Waq with Rocket Fuel are shining examples of this outreach. More variants on outreach are critical, however. RPU provides another marketing touch point of a different type to reach more people.

This framework is easily expandable as new courses can be added anytime. Somewhere down the line, this could even be an approach for such things as RP support training and I am already working on an outline for a “Competitors of Rocket Pool” course to give overviews of what the LST landscape looks like at the moment and a “Rocket Pool Resources” to show people how to find the information they need among the vast numbers of links, websites and bots our community has created.

What other non-RPL protocols, DAOs, projects, or individuals, would stand to benefit from this grant?

The Basics of Rocket Pool course benefits anyone else who wants to understand how RP functions. Others, beyond RP, could potentially be allowed to add content explaining how to use their apps within a Rocket Pool context.

Will the resulting project be open source?

Likely, yes.

Team

Who is doing the work?

Dr Doofus

What is the background of the person(s) doing the work? What experience do they have with such projects in the past?

I’ve done a lot of website creation work, including databases. I’ve also written a lot of tutorial type and instructional material for physics and math courses over my years in the field.

What is the breakdown of the proposed work, in terms of milestones and/or deadlines?

The breakdown is in two main parts with goal for completion noted. Work has already begun and a proof of concept is available for GMC to view if desired.

The base website framework (Est time to complete: 250 hr) - Est completed by Sept 1, 2023
The “Basics of Rocket Pool” course (Est time to complete: 70 hr ) - Est completed bySept 1, 2023

How is the work being tested? Is testing included in the schedule?

Initial Testing - Dr Doofus
Beta Testing - Will select a few community/GMC members

How will the work be maintained after delivery?

I will maintain the website after creation. I will enable select other community members to access the site in the event I can not continue in the future.

Payment and Verification

What is the acceptance criteria?

A fully functional website with at least one full course - Basics of Rocket Pool - with at least seven lessons, each of which has an associated quiz. Mechanism to deliver a certificate (likely in the form of a POAP) upon course completion. Profile page for a wallet showing what courses the user has passed.

What is the proposed payment schedule for the grant? How much RPL and over what period of time is the applicant requesting?

Task: Website Framework
Request: $9000 (250 RPL @$36)
Comment: Although this is a large amount of work,
I also understand that it is not a critical feature for the protocol,
thus rate is not what I would normally ask.

Task: Basics of Rocket Pool course
Request: $0 (0 RPL @ $36) *included*
Comment: The course will consist of roughly seven lessons
with subsections and seven quizzes of roughly ten questions each.

Total: $9000 (250 RPL @ $36)

For the first year, maintenance is built into the cost above. I suspect I will continue to maintain for free in subsequent years, but if it ends up being wildly successful, I might request another grant for yearly maintenance.

All payment sent on GMC verification of completed tasks listed above to drdoofus.eth. Estimated to be complete in September, 2023.

How will the GMC verify that the work?

A number of GMC members will need to take the course and verify it works as intended.

What alternatives or options have been considered in order to save costs for the proposed project?

It is purely a work of labor, so reducing the cost is at the discretion of the GMC. My pricing, although already discounted for this amount of work, does not take into account the value that the GMC assess the project to have. I am open to alterations.

Conflict of Interest

Does the person or persons proposing the grant have any conflicts of interest to disclose? (Please disclose here if you are a member of the GMC or if any member of the GMC would benefit directly financially from the grant).

None

Will the recipient of the grant, or any protocol or project in which the recipient has a vested interest (other than Rocket Pool), benefit financially if the grant is successful?

No

sleety · 14 July 2023 20:07

What grant is being renewed?

Rocket Pool Animations // Grant Application #23 by me (Sleety) here

What work from the previous proposal was completed?

I have completed 4 out of 6 proposed animations so far.

[1/6] Rocket Pool Protocol Overview Thread [link]
[2/6] Atlas Upgrade Overview Thread [link]
[3/6] Guide to Node Operation animated thread [link]
[4/6] Guide to rETH animated thread [link]

What work from the previous proposal is ongoing or pending?

Ongoing, 2 more animated threads scheduled complete within the next 45 days.

[5/6] July
[6/6] August

What work was not originally planned, but completed, if any?

I originally proposed 8 animated GIFs per thread, which would have been 32 GIFs in total to date, but I have actually completed 59 GIFs in 4 threads. I found that summarising a topic in 8 short animations was overly ambitious and I needed to produce more to cover these topics thoroughly.

Guide to rETH animated thread (14 animations)
Guide to Node Operation animated thread (16 animations)
Atlas Upgrade Overview Thread (13 animations)
Rocket Pool Protocol Overview Thread (16 animations)

What work is newly slated since the previous proposal?

I am proposing renewal of the grant for 6 additional months of Animation Threads (12 months in total). I have covered the obvious topics of Rocket Pool 101, rETH, Node Operation and the Atlas Upgrade. I can explore lots more topics if my grant is renewed.

Future topics include areas such as RPL reward mechanism, Deposit Pool mechanism, Rocket Pool metrics, community tools, DeFi integrations, oDAO/pDAO mechanics, upcoming protocol upgrades (Saturn?)

Are the results of this project entirely open source (MIT, GPL, Apache, CC BY license or similar)? If not, which parts are not, and why not?

Yes

Benefits - enter N/A where appropriate

What metrics can you share on the success of the project?

To date the project has earned 100,000 impressions on Twitter and has a remarkably high average engagement rate of 4.6% (0.5-1% is average, 1% is excellent).

Collage of Twitter metrics:

In less specific terms, how has this project improved the Rocket Pool ecosystem or benefited the Ethereum ecosystem?

I believe these animations and their accompanying tweets have been effectively shared throughout Crypto Twitter and reached many people who were unaware, curious or uninformed about Rocket Pool.

The threads so far have been high-level / 101-type beginner guides and can serve as a resource for anyone looking to become a node operator, liquid staker or share protocol concepts with interested parties.

Selection of Twitter Comments:

My god I love these animations. Such a nice visual for covering DeFi topics like this thread on Rocket Pool - @Defi_Dad

These animations should be embedded into the rocket pool website. - @ ethMaxi

Phenomenal animations! - @ Jasper

Great thread as allways! - @ lame.eth

This is THE greatest succinct explanation of RocketPool-based staking vs other options. - @ LogicBeach

Great thread, love the animations - @ rumseth

This is some of the best info on Rocket Pool - @ Waq

Super cool thread explaining @Rocket Pool. Awesome Job! - @ direct

Se volete approfondire nel dettaglio Rocket Pool ATLAS vi consiglio la lettura di questo thread - @ crypto_ita2

Gorgeous visual representation of how it all works to create a harmonious decentralized staking solution. - @ Jasper

A beautiful, animated explainer on how rETH works and its advantages. Please share. - @ pat_mcnichol

Visual learners are very happy today. - @ Digitized_Eric

I wish I was this creative – what an awesome thread. Bookmark this for whenever you need to explain how Rocket Pool works. - @ eth_wise

Team

Who has done the work, and have there been any changes to the team?

Sleety

How have the individual constituents of the team been compensated?

$1250 per month / 33 RPL

How has maintenance been performed since the delivery of the project?

N/A

Payment and Verification

Have the acceptance criteria been met?

I believe I have met and exceeded the acceptance criteria so far.

What is the proposed payment schedule for the grant? How much RPL and over what period of time is the applicant requesting? Does this differ from the original approved amount?

I am requesting the same payment & payment schedule. $1250 per month for an additional 6 months.

Is there a measurable Return on Investment for the project?

N/A

What is the breakdown of spending on development for the original grant vs. maintenance?

N/A

Conflict of Interest

N/A

Does the person or persons proposing the grant have any conflicts of interest to disclose? (Please disclose here if you are a member of the GMC or if any member of the GMC would benefit directly financially from the grant).

No

Will the recipient of the grant, or any protocol or project in which the recipient has a vested interest (other than Rocket Pool), benefit financially if the grant is successful?

No

lutro · 15 July 2023 01:45

Grants Application

Project: Frontend (“Staking Pond”) V2

NB: I am helping Ramana resubmit his Grant Application which was rejected in the previous round.

What is the work being proposed?

An open source decentralised website interface to the Rocket Pool protocol, for liquid stakers and node operators.
The following features will be included:

Base website:

Mint/burn rETH
- Automatically uses a choice of routers in case the DP is full/empty
- Alerts the user in case there is a significant depeg, or the gas price is making it not economically viable for the size (e.g. “you will need 6 months of rewards to break-even on this transaction”)
Dashboard to show accumulated rETH rewards/profit, usable by anyone
Reward estimate calculator
List of DeFI opportunities for rETH, showing pool, chain, apy, liquidity
Confirm withdrawal address
Migrate RPL v1 to v2
Stake RPL on behalf of a node

Stretch goal:

Smartnode alternative: register a node, set node timezone, set node withdrawal address, stake RPL, set voting delegate, claim (and optionally restake) rewards, deposit a minipool, etc.

The MVP will focus primarily on functionality, rather than design. Designer contributions are welcome from additional team members should they wish to join.

Is there any related work this builds off of?

It is similar to stake.rocketpool.net, and to some beta versions of rocketscan. The idea of having decentralized frontends is similar to the approach of Liquity.

Will the results of this project be entirely open source (MIT, GPL, Apache, CC BY license or similar)? If not, which parts will not be, why, and under what license will they be published?

Yes 100% pure free and open source software. GPL or AGPL as appropriate.

Benefits - enter N/A where appropriate

How does this help people looking to stake ETH for rETH?

It provides a convenient interface for staking, that can be verified by inspection for security and trustworthiness, and run locally for the security-conscious.

Having a fallback from the official stake.rocketpool.net would make Rocket Pool more resilient (e.g. in case the primary is down), and it could implement faster features requested by the community.

How does this help rETH holders?

The base version would include a dashboard showing rewards and the defi opportunities with rETH

How does this help people looking to run a Rocket Pool node for the first time?

N/A for the base version

Depending on the stretch goal: It offers a convenient and verifiable interface for registering their node, although it will need to be documented how to import the node account into the smartnode later if they want to use that.

How does this help people already running a Rocket Pool node?

It offers a convenient and verifiable interface for managing their node.

How does this help the Rocket Pool community?

It grows the community to welcome the security-conscious advocates of free and open source websites. It allows faster feedback to implement requested features

How does this help RPL holders?

It can help them migrate their tokens in a trustworthy verifiable convenient interface.

What other non-RPL protocols, DAOs, projects, or individuals, would stand to benefit from this grant?

None, unless the website implementation turns out to be reusable in some ways.

Will the resulting project be open source?

Of course. How could it not be?

Team

Who is doing the work?

Ramana, Lutro ( supporting with coordination and coding where required).
We welcome team contributors, especially for additional design or testing work.

What is the background of the person(s) doing the work? What experience do they have with such projects in the past?

Ramana has previous experience in website development, such as games, and is currently working on a dapp: Decentralised Texas Hold’em Poker for Ethereum

Lutro contributed to building Gravita.

What is the breakdown of the proposed work, in terms of milestones and/or deadlines?

The features listed above can each be considered a milestone. There are also basic features like wallet integration to do first.

How is the work being tested? Is testing included in the schedule?

We would enact standard practices for deploying a web3 website.

How will the work be maintained after delivery?

The grant does not cover maintenance, but we intend to respond to upgrades and add new features as appropriate, and to incorporate improvements or fixes from the community.

Payment and Verification

We propose 250 RPL for the base features and 100 RPL for the stretch goal. We are very open to negotiation from the GMC on these numbers.

What is the acceptance criteria?

All the functions listed above are usable.

What is the proposed payment schedule for the grant? How much RPL and over what period of time is the applicant requesting?

Whenever is suitable, as long as full payment is received in a timely manner after all features are complete. The stretch goal will be accounted for separately.

How will the GMC verify that the work’s deliveries match the proposed cadence?

All development will be in a public git repo.

What alternatives or options have been considered in order to save costs for the proposed project?

None.

Conflict of Interest

Does the person or persons proposing the grant have any conflicts of interest to disclose? (Please disclose here if you are a member of the GMC or if any member of the GMC would benefit directly financially from the grant).

No.

Will the recipient of the grant, or any protocol or project in which the recipient has a vested interest (other than Rocket Pool), benefit financially if the grant is successful?

Ramana: no
Lutro: I have a vested interest in Gravita, a platform that uses rETH as collateral. The proposed list of DeFi uses for rETH could potentially include borrowing options in Gravita or GRAI-rETH Liquidity Pools

lutro · 15 July 2023 02:05

Grant Application

Project: RocketProof V2

Note: I am helping Ramana resubmit his Grant Application which was rejected in the previous round.
We changed the submission to an exploratory research article

What is the work being proposed?

Publish a research document on:

What are the steps to build a formal model of the Rocket Pool protocol (the smart contracts) and its execution environment (Ethereum) in higher-order logic.
Which components are suitable for formal verification, and what kinds of properties we can hope to verify in this style.
Estimate the feasibility and/or resource requirements for different levels of verification.

Is there any related work this builds off of?

No, although we will use existing generic tooling and libraries e.g. https://hol-theorem-prover.org 2.

Will the results of this project be entirely open source (MIT, GPL, Apache, CC BY license or similar)? If not, which parts will not be, why, and under what license will they be published?

Pure unadulterated free software. 100% GPL.

Benefits - enter N/A where appropriate

How does this benefit Rocket Pool?

A formal model verification would bring:

Machine-checked confidence in the safety and security of the protocol.
A unique marketing opportunity: that the protocol has been formally verified to the proposed degree of thoroughness.
In case any bug bounties are found to be claimable during the course of the verification, these will be claimed and mitigated, which further enhances the quality and security of the protocol. 10% of all bug bounties claimed will be donated back to the GMC budget.

What other non-RPL protocols, DAOs, projects, or individuals, would stand to benefit from this grant?

The Ethereum (both execution and consensus layer) protocol model will be reusable for other verification projects. And the methodology for smart contract protocol verification may also be reusable.

Will the resulting project be open source?

How could it possibly not be?

Team

Who is doing the work?

Ramana, Lutro

What is the background of the person(s) doing the work? What experience do they have with such projects in the past?

Ramana:

Rocket Pool node operator, and holder of rETH and RPL
Has an award-winning PhD in formal verification, and is a primary author of a large project in this area (cakeml.org), amongst other theorem-proving projects.

What is the breakdown of the proposed work, in terms of milestones and/or deadlines?

A research document describing the steps to build a formal model of Rocket Pool. It should take around 1 or 2 weeks depending on Ramana’s schedule.

How is the work being tested? Is testing included in the schedule?

N/A

How will the work be maintained after delivery?

N/A

Payment and Verification

We propose a budget 2000$ (around 55 RPL at today’s prices) for the feasibility paper.

What is the acceptance criteria?

Probably the best approach would be to have a meeting with the GMC and/or the RocketPool’s teams to go over the expectations for the article.

What is the proposed payment schedule for the grant? How much RPL and over what period of time is the applicant requesting?

Open to whatever the GMC suggests on this point.

How will the GMC verify that the work’s deliveries match the proposed cadence?

All development will be in a public git repository, and the team will make themselves available for Q&A as desired (within reason).

What alternatives or options have been considered in order to save costs for the proposed project?

N/A

Conflict of Interest

Does the person or persons proposing the grant have any conflicts of interest to disclose? (Please disclose here if you are a member of the GMC or if any member of the GMC would benefit directly financially from the grant).

No

Will the recipient of the grant, or any protocol or project in which the recipient has a vested interest (other than Rocket Pool), benefit financially if the grant is successful?

No

peteris · 15 July 2023 12:55

Grants Application

Project: Rocketscan Node UI

What is the work being proposed?

Build a web-based user interface for node operators.

It will be visually similar to Rocketscan and the node operator will be able to register a node, stake RPL, join the smoothing pool, launch minipools, claim rewards and perform other interactions with Rocket Pool smart contracts that can today be done with Smartnode.

It will be possible for the node wallet to be a hardware wallet, Gnosis Safe and to be used with MetaMask.

It is not a replacement of Smartnode. It does not have any functionality to automate the installation of Smartnode, manage EL/CL clients or manage services running in Docker on the machine. It’s an alternative interface that lets you interact with Rocket Pool smart contracts without Smartnode.

It will be a standalone web page with static assets and no backend that can be run locally or easily hosted on IPFS.

Is there any related work this builds off of?

I already have a working prototype. It can register a node, stake RPL, join the smoothing pool, launch 8-ETH and 16-ETH minipools, validator keys can be imported into Smartnode. It also works with Gnosis Safe.

I will reuse some UI components from Rocketscan so it will look visually similar.

It’d use my Rocket Pool smart contract TypeScript + ethers.js library which is out of scope as it’ll be open sourced separately.

Will the results of this project be entirely open source?

Yes, under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later.

Benefits

How does this help people looking to stake ETH for rETH?

N/A - this is for node operators.

How does this help rETH holders?

N/A - this is for node operators.

How does this help people looking to run a Rocket Pool node for the first time?

Being able to use MetaMask to interact with smart contracts may be attractive to some potential node operators.

Node operators can also use a Gnosis Safe or a hardware wallet as the node wallet.

How does this help people already running a Rocket Pool node?

Node operators will be able do perform various actions such as execute the stake transaction for prelaunch minipools.

How does this help the Rocket Pool community?

Screenshots and videos of the visual interface can be used in marketing materials.

How does this help RPL holders?

N/A - this is for node operators.

What other non-RPL protocols, DAOs, projects, or individuals, would stand to benefit from this grant?

There’s code to launch validators from the browser. It may be useful to other staking projects.

React components may be useful in other projects, although I hope they don’t copy the Rocketscan style & branding.

Will the resulting project be open source?

Yes, under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later.

Team

Who is doing the work?

It’s me.

What is the background of the person(s) doing the work? What experience do they have with such projects in the past?

I have studied rocket contracts. I have already built a similar project (Rocketscan). I already have a full working end-to-end prototype.

What is the breakdown of the proposed work, in terms of milestones and/or deadlines?

Milestone 1 - basic features

Wallet connection management (MetaMask, Gnosis Safe)
Register a node
Change the withdrawal address
Stake RPL
Join the smoothing pool
View node & minipool details

Milestone 2 - main validator related functionality

Launch and stake a minipool
Convert from 16 ETH to 8 ETH
Convert a validator
Validator key management

Milestone 3 - all other remaining functionality

Claim rewards
Unstake RPL
Stake RPL whitelist
Distribute fees
Node refund
Delegate upgrades/rollbacks
Rescue dissolved minipool
Close and exit minipool
Change timezone
Migrate old RPL to new RPL

Milestone 4 - extra features

Run node UI in a Docker container as a Smartnode add-on
Web-based Smartnode configuration screen as an alternative to the TUI
Some common stats from Prometheus so you don’t also need to check Grafana

How is the work being tested? Is testing included in the schedule?

It will be manually tested on Goerli.

How will the work be maintained after delivery?

It will be open source, anyone can add features and fix bugs. Anyone can also fork it and maintain their own version.

Payment and Verification

What is the acceptance criteria?

There’s a public git repository on GitHub with the source code
GMC can build and run it locally by following the instructions
Features work on Goerli with an EOA and a Gnosis Safe wallet

What is the proposed payment schedule for the grant? How much RPL and over what period of time is the applicant requesting?

$200k

It will take a few months to implement all milestones. I can work on it part-time at first and full-time later.

I am aware this is much much more than what the GMC has awarded in the past. However, if I am to build it then this is how much I’m requesting.

Milestone 1 - $50k
Milestone 2 - $50k
Milestone 3 - $50k
Milestone 4 - $50k

How will the GMC verify that the work’s deliveries match the proposed cadence?

GMC members can test the features of each milestone on Goerli.

What alternatives or options have been considered in order to save costs for the proposed project?

GMC may consider funding the Staking Pond project with its stretch goals for 350 RPL instead. It is much cheaper and would have many more features.

Conflict of Interest

Does the person or persons proposing the grant have any conflicts of interest to disclose? (Please disclose here if you are a member of the GMC or if any member of the GMC would benefit directly financially from the grant).

I am a Rocket Scientist.

I promised to build this in my oDAO application but it’s going nowhere so I’m going to withdraw it.

Will the recipient of the grant, or any protocol or project in which the recipient has a vested interest (other than Rocket Pool), benefit financially if the grant is successful?

No.

Pat_The_Weekly_Orbit · 15 July 2023 15:11

Grants Application

Project: The Weekly Orbit

What is the work being proposed?

The proposed work is to continue producing the video and audio podcast, The Weekly Orbit.

The show, which is about 30 minutes long, is published on a weekly basis and provides viewers and listeners with a summary of Rocket Pool news. It’s tailored to those with a basic to moderate understanding of Rocket Pool (although those with advanced knowledge may also find it interesting).

Is there any related work this builds off of?

Yes, the show builds off the success of Waq’s Rocket Fuel. However, many people do not have the time to watch a daily show. The Weekly Orbit solves this problem by providing the top stories for the week. It uses a co-host format that differentiates itself from Rocket Fuel, allowing for back-and-forth conversation that sets it apart.

Will the results of this project be entirely open source license or similar? If not, which parts will not be, why, and under what license will they be published?

Yes. All shows are uploaded to YouTube and an RSS feed which streams the audio podcast to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher.

Benefits - enter N/A where appropriate

How does this help people looking to stake ETH for rETH?

The Weekly Orbit is a show that provides viewers and listeners with news about Rocket Pool staking and new DeFi integrations for rETH (and soon RPL).

One of the regular segments covered in the show is “Stats,” which breaks down the analytics of the protocol. Pat and Waq report and discuss the Deposit Pool, RPL/ETH ratio, number of node operators and minipools, RPL distribution, the Smoothing Pool, and other statistics using great community-developed sites like rocketscan and Dr Worm’s Dune analytics page.

We also regularly talk about new DeFi protocols integrating rETH. For example, we covered the launch of Gravita, Eigenlayer, and Aave emode. We’ve also reported on the rETH HOP bridge and rETH on zksync.

How does this help rETH holders?

The Weekly Orbit keeps rETH holders updated with the latest rETH integrations. In addition, Valdorff’s Rocket Pool DeFi Opportunities document has been featured.

How does this help people looking to run a Rocket Pool node for the first time?

The show updates viewers and listeners on the latest Rocket Pool staking news. It extensively covers Atlas and the new LEB8’s. A future episode will feature an “unboxing” of the Proteus machine, while other episodes will cover the latest information on Rocket Pool node operation.

Special filler episodes will be produced for a vacation week using Token Motion’s (Sleety) animated tweet thread to explain becoming a node operator. Another episode will be done on the Token Motion rETH explainer, featuring a recent newcomer to Rocket Pool and their live reaction.

How does this help people already running a Rocket Pool node?

The Weekly Orbit aims to showcase some of the great work contributed by community members to the protocol.

The show has provided node operators with news about client diversity. We have covered the Rocket Pool client diversity challenge, which was initiated by ShfRyn, several times. The show has also reported on Hodja’s excellent heat map for the best times to convert LEB16’s to LEB8’s.

The show will continue highlighting news and research that will benefit node operators.

How does this help the Rocket Pool community?

Effective communication and marketing is crucial, especially in a fast-moving market like the crypto industry. To fill this space with new and fresh content, Twitter Spaces, Rocket Fuel, and The Weekly Orbit regularly post and retweet updates, raising awareness about Rocket Pool and providing its community with the latest news and updates.

How does this help RPL holders?

The show has regularly covered the RPL/ETH ratio and will soon cover RPL integrations now that RPL has a Chainlink oracle.

What other non-RPL protocols, DAOs, projects, or individuals, would stand to benefit from this grant?

Rocket Pool community members and their projects are regularly featured on the show, and will continue to be an important component for future episodes. We highlight them because their work is central to Rocket Pool, and we want to showcase the incredible work and brainpower that the community consistently demonstrates.

Will the resulting project be open source?

N/A

Team

Who is doing the work?

Pat and Waq.

What is the background of the person(s) doing the work? What experience do they have with such projects in the past?

Pat has been producing The Weekly Orbit since April 2023.
Waq has been producing Rocket Fuel since August 2022.

What is the breakdown of the proposed work, in terms of milestones and/or deadlines?

The show is produced on a weekly cadence and published to YouTube and the RSS feed is sent to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher.

How is the work being tested? Is testing included in the schedule?

Over the first 11 episodes, The Weekly Orbit has nearly 1,000 views on YouTube and at least 221 podcast listens. The show was built from scratch and continues to grow. The show will be well positioned when the bull market eventually returns.

How will the work be maintained after delivery?

The work is maintained on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher.

Payment and Verification

What is the acceptance criteria?

A well prepared and produced 30 minute weekly show on Rocket Pool news.

What is the proposed payment schedule for the grant? How much USD $ and over what period of time is the applicant requesting?

The compensation for Jasper and Ken for the Rocket Pool Twitter Spaces and Community Calls provides some comparables. Jasper calculated that on average, they each received $270 per episode (9 RPL at an average of $30) (refer to Jasper’s grant application above).

It takes an average of four hours per episode, which includes preparation, production, editing, uploading, and posting to social media. This amounts to $67.5 per hour, split 80/20 between Pat and Waq (excluding costs).

We are requesting 9 RPL per episode (26 total episodes) for six months.

How will the GMC verify that the work delivered matches the proposed cadence?

The Weekly Orbit is published weekly on YouTube and on an RSS feed.

What alternatives or options have been considered in order to save costs for the proposed project?

The show is currently produced using Riverside.fm which costs $20/mth. The plan is to transition to using OBS which is free, however, it’s more complex and is taking time to master.

Conflict of Interest

Does the person or persons proposing the grant have any conflicts of interest to disclose? (Please disclose here if you are a member of the GMC or if any member of the GMC would benefit directly financially from the grant).

Pat: No.
Waq: Member of GMC.

Will the recipient of the grant, or any protocol or project in which the recipient has a vested interest (other than Rocket Pool), benefit financially if the grant is successful?```

No.

zahary · 15 July 2023 17:43

Due to a limitation in the number of links I can include in a post as a new user, I’m submitting our proposal with all external links removed. Please visit the following hackmd document for the original version of the proposal:

DendrETH: A trustless oracle for liquid staking protocols

What is the work being proposed?

The DendrETH project has implemented a zero-knowledge circuit capable of proving successful state transitions based on the beacon chain light client sync protocol. The project is currently aiming to implement a zero-knowledge circuit capable of proving the Casper finality conditions by processing the attestation messages of the entire Ethereum validator set. This work has led us to explore efficient constructs for implementing recursive zero-knowledge circuits for BLS aggregation, validator set membership tracking, validator duties tracking and more.

We believe that these building blocks are well-suited for solving a pressing problem that all liquid staking protocols face: How can a smart contract keep track of the on-chain performance of the created validators without relying on a set of trusted oracles that inevitably introduce additional security risks and economic overhead to the protocol?

In particular, after the introduction of EIP-4788, all liquid staking protocols will benefit from the presence of security-audited zero-knowledge circuits proving the following proofs:

1. Proof of Total Locked Value

Given a merkle accumulator containing all public keys of the validators created by the liquid staking protocol, provide a proof for the sum of the balances of all validators at the last finalized epoch.

2. Proof of Total Rewards Potential

Given a merkle accumulator containing a set of validator public keys (this scales from a single validator to the entire set of validators created by the liquid staking protocol), provide a proof that indicates the maximum number of rewards that the set of validators were eligible for within the canonical finalized history. This takes into account the block proposal duties and the sync committee duties of the validators.

Since the maximum possible profit from a block cannot be determined without knowledge of all attestations that were broadcast in the network, we assume that the potential reward is equal to a running average of the last N blocks leading up to the slot of the proposal.

Similarly, since the maximum MEV profit from a block cannot be known, we can model it as a public input for the circuit which can be set by the liquid staking protocol (and potentially managed dynamically).

Please note that the circuit can verify the presence of a transaction within the block that distributes the MEV rewards to the liquid staking protocol, but unfortunately this doesn’t rule out the possibility that the proposer was paid some additional sum by the builder out-of-band. Some of these difficulties in the tracking of MEV rewards are likely to be resolved in the planned Proposer-Builder Seperation upgrade of Ethereum that will enshrine the MEV distribution within the base protocol.

3. Proof of Poor Validator Performance

Given a Proof 2 obtained for a particular validator as described above, provide a proof that the validator has earned less than a target percentage of the maximum rewards (e.g. 90%). Such a proof can be used to penalize or evict particular operators from the protocol. The circuit compares all recorded withdrawals of the validator to the total rewards potential to determine whether the validator is meeting the target performance.

Rationale

The development of the proposed zero-knowledge circuits is motivated by several key factors and considerations.

Firstly, the reliance on trusted oracles in liquid staking protocols poses a significant risk. These oracles have the power to influence token prices within the protocols, potentially favoring certain users and shifting profits disproportionately. This centralized control contradicts the fundamental principles of decentralization and trustlessness that underpin blockchain technology.

Secondly, the oracles in question control a substantial amount of funds within the protocol. To ensure their continued participation and prevent potential defection, it is essential to provide them with adequate compensation. Additionally, given the substantial power they possess, the oracles become prime targets for hackers. This necessitates significant investment in maintaining their security infrastructure, further contributing to the overhead associated with the existing liquid staking protocols.

In practice, the current costs associated with oracles in the already deployed liquid staking protocols have been subject to criticism, raising concerns regarding the economic efficiency and viability of the protocols. Therefore, it becomes crucial to explore alternative approaches that can address these concerns and potentially reduce costs while enhancing overall security and trustlessness.

The zero-knowledge circuits envisioned in this proposal can be developed as a public good - a reusable solution that can potentially replace the use of trusted oracles in all existing and future liquid staking protocols. When leveraged, this solution will eliminate the variable costs associated with trusted oracles in favor of the fixed cost of verifying zero-knowledge proofs on chain (expected to be less than 500K gas per update).

By introducing these trust-minimized oracle alternatives, the DendrETH team aims to enhance the security, decentralization, and economic efficiency of liquid staking protocols. The reduction in reliance on trusted oracles and the associated costs can lead to a more robust and sustainable ecosystem, fostering greater user confidence and participation.

Technical details

For futher technical details, please refer to the following document:

Is there any related work this builds off of?

A project stating similar goals have been explored in the LIDO ecosystem:
[link-removed]

The DendrETH project expands on the scope and utility of the proposed solution, aiming to make it fully reusable across all liquid staking protocols.

Recent research by @knoshua explores the possibilities to use Fault proofs as an alternative trust minimizing mechanism for replacing the current Oracle requirements of the RocketPool protocol. We plan to leverage a lot of these findings when designing our zero-knowledge circuits

Will the results of this project be entirely open source MIT, GPL, Apache, CC BY? If not, which parts will not be, why, and under what license will they be published?

All components of the system will be fully open source (GPLv3). We will strive to provide comprehensive guides for operating instances of our proof generators and relay nodes, as well as easy-to-use packages for most operating systems (i.e. docker images).

Benefits - enter N/A where appropriate

How does this help people looking to stake ETH for rETH?

N/A

How does this help rETH holders?

By reducing the overhead and risk associated with oracles in the protocol, it should be possible to increase the effective ROI for all rETH holders. This solution also insulates rETH holders from potentially catastrophic rETH price reports from a compromised oDAO.

How does this help people looking to run a Rocket Pool node for the first time?

N/A

How does this help people already running a Rocket Pool node?

N/A

How does this help the Rocket Pool community?

By introducing these trust-minimized oracle alternatives, the DendrETH team aims to enhance the security, decentralization, and economic efficiency of liquid staking protocols. The reduction in reliance on trusted oracles and the associated costs can lead to a more robust and sustainable ecosystem, fostering greater user confidence and participation.

How does this help RPL holders?

The benefits for rETH and RPL holders are similar.

What other non-RPL protocols, DAOs, projects, or individuals, would stand to benefit from this grant?

We aim to create a solution that will be applicable in all current and future liquid staking protocols, as well as RPL-adjacent projects such as NodeSet, which is building liquid staking infrastructure to power the scaling of Rocket Pool and would benefit from a trustless oracle for xrETH/xRPL price reporting, as well as operator performance monitoring.

Furthermore, certain components of our solution such as the generalized commitment mapper will enable the development of a wide range of projects that aim to take advantage of the functionality introduced in EIP-4788.

Finally, the work delivered under this grant will certainly enhance the quality of all components developed by the DendrETH team in the pursuit of wider goals such as implementing zero-knowledge proofs for the Casper finality conditions in order to create more secure cross-chain bridges and one-shot syncing solutions for highly convenient and secure Ethereum clients.

Will the resulting project be open source?

Yes, see above (“Will the results of this project be entirely open source?”).

Team

Who is doing the work?

The work will be carried out by the existing DendrETH team, consisting of (in alphabetical orer):

Dimo Dimov
Emil Ivanichkov
Kristin Kirkov
Petar Kirov
Simeon Armenchev
Stefan Nikolov
Yordan Miladinov
Zahary Karadjov

What is the background of the person(s) doing the work? What experience do they have with such projects in the past?

Zahary Karadjov is the current team lead of the Nimbus project. Petar Kirov is a former CTO of Jarvis Network. The rest of the team has accumulated a lot of relevant experience during their work on the DendrETH project so far.

What is the breakdown of the proposed work, in terms of milestones and/or deadlines?

The DendrETH team aims to deliver a production-ready version of the “Total Locked Value” proof before the upcoming Cancun-Deneb hard-fork, including the software for proof generation and on-chain proof publishing.

In Q1 and Q2 2024, we hope to deliver the remaining proofs for “Total Rewards Potential” and “Poor Validator Performance”.

How is the work being tested? Is testing included in the schedule?

Testing is performed on an ongoing basis. We plan to spend the final three months of development before our mainnet release in increased testing efforts, as well as conducting internal and external audits of our codebase.

How will the work be maintained after delivery?

We believe the components developed by the DendrETH team will be widely used in critical cross-blockchain communication infrastructure in the future, which will ensure their continued development and maintenance.

Payment and Verification

What is the acceptance criteria?

There is ready-to-use and well documented software for the creation and verification of the proofs proposed in this document.

What is the proposed payment schedule for the grant? How much USD $ and over what period of time is the applicant requesting?

We are requesting the equivalent of 50,000 USD from the RocketPool community. We believe our work should be funded by a wider consortium of liquid staking protocols and we plan to seek similar grants from other interested parties.

How will the GMC verify that the work delivered matches the proposed cadence?

We will produce regular technical demos and proof-of-concept deployments of our work as soon as we reach each milestone.

What alternatives or options have been considered in order to save costs for the proposed project?

We believe we are already working in extremely cost-effective manner, seeking synergies between multiple project goals and optimizing our work for as wider adoption as possible (in order to reduce the burden on each individual community that benefits from it).

Conflict of Interest

Does the person or persons proposing the grant have any conflicts of interest to disclose? (Please disclose here if you are a member of the GMC or if any member of the GMC would benefit directly financially from the grant).

The Nimbus team, lead by Zahary Karadjov, is a current beneficiary of the oracle rewards issued by the RocketPool protocol. The Nimbus team fully supports the recently proposed ethical charter stating that all oDAO members should seek to minimize their role in the protocol and this proposal provides evidence that our position is sincere.

Will the recipient of the grant, or any protocol or project in which the recipient has a vested interest (other than Rocket Pool), benefit financially if the grant is successful?

No.

lutro · 15 July 2023 21:01

Grants Application

Project: rpUSD (feasibility article)

What is the work being proposed?

Starting from a tweet from Marceau, there has been some discussion in #trading about creating an immutable Liquity fork that exclusively supports rETH as collateral. In light of this, I propose to write an article that explores:

The key parameters involved and their potential default values, such as borrowing/redemption fee, redemption floor, and fee structure.
The pros and cons of implementing a revenue-sharing token (analogous to Liquity’s LQTY) versus it being purely tokenless.
A preliminary estimation of the liquidity incentives required to sustain the peg.

There have been already some concerns about this project shared by community members:

there a significant market need for an immutable CDP platform, given that Rocket Pool is not immutable? The associated risk is constructing an irrelevant or unused platform.
Would it be able to incentivize liquidity?

While I may not be able to provide definitive answers, I aim to elaborate on these points in the article.

Is there any related work this builds off of?

It would be based on my experience on Gravita and other CDP platforms

Will the results of this project be entirely open source?

The published article will be available to the public.

Benefits

How does this help people looking to stake ETH for rETH?

I imagine the protocol would allow to convert ETH to rETH and borrow rpUSD in one tx.

How does this help rETH holders?

The protocol would provide an additional rETH defi use

How does this help people looking to run a Rocket Pool node for the first time?

N/A

How does this help people already running a Rocket Pool node?

N/A

How does this help the Rocket Pool community?

It could lead to an immutable project that would be unique in the LST space

How does this help RPL holders?

N/A

What other non-RPL protocols, DAOs, projects, or individuals, would stand to benefit from this grant?

It would be easy for other LST projects to fork their own version of rpUSD

Will the resulting project be open source?

N/A

Team

Who is doing the work?

I will do it.

The rest of the Gravita’s team is also available to provide advice.

What is the background of the person(s) doing the work? What experience do they have with such projects in the past?

I helped to build Gravita, a friendly Liquity fork that allows to borrow against LSTs (rETH included).

What is the breakdown of the proposed work, in terms of milestones and/or deadlines?

N/A

How is the work being tested? Is testing included in the schedule?

N/A

How will the work be maintained after delivery?

N/A

Payment and Verification

What is the acceptance criteria?

A feasibility article deemed acceptable by the GMC

What is the proposed payment schedule for the grant? How much RPL and over what period of time is the applicant requesting?

I propose 2000$ in RPL after submission of the article.

How will the GMC verify that the work’s deliveries match the proposed cadence?

N/A

What alternatives or options have been considered in order to save costs for the proposed project?

N/A

Conflict of Interest

Does the person or persons proposing the grant have any conflicts of interest to disclose? (Please disclose here if you are a member of the GMC or if any member of the GMC would benefit directly financially from the grant).

I’m open to converting this application to a bounty application if there are concerns about potential conflicts of interest due to my involvement with Gravita.

Will the recipient of the grant, or any protocol or project in which the recipient has a vested interest (other than Rocket Pool), benefit financially if the grant is successful?

No.

ken · 15 July 2023 21:05

Grants Application

Project

Resubmital / Renewal for RP Community Call Hosting on Twitter Spaces.

What is the work being proposed?

The proposed work is to continue hosting bi-weekly Rocket Pool Community calls hosted on Twitter space of 1-2 hrs in length in which we regularly feature a business/marketing partner and also inform the community on significant news topics with weigh-in from the core Rocket Pool team.

Is there any related work this builds off of?

Yes. This is a renewal/resubmittal of RA012312 requested by the GMC to separate the scope to just the Twitter space.

Will the results of this project be entirely open source (MIT, GPL, Apache, CC BY license or similar)? If not, which parts will not be, why, and under what license will they be published?

All Twitter spaces are re-uploaded on YouTube by @maverick.

Benefits - enter N/A where appropriate

How does this help people looking to stake ETH for rETH?

Increases awareness of rETH and what users can do with it. It’s a weekly (and sometime multiple times a week) live Twitter space that covers topics of interest to rETH holders and NOs alike.

How does this help rETH holders?

Keeps holders up to date with the protocol and ecosystem so that they can make informed decisions. Most guest protocols are protocols that either allow or will allow the use of rETH within them.

How does this help people looking to run a Rocket Pool node for the first time?

Provides an avenue for users to engage with the team and informed speakers to ask questions and provides a regular space for interaction.

How does this help people already running a Rocket Pool node?

Keeps node operators informed on protocol updates pertaining to the Smartnode and smart contracts.

How does this help the Rocket Pool community?

It is one of the largest and only regular community engagement forms. Further, Twitter Spaces represent official forums to talk to the core developer team about the protocol.

How does this help RPL holders?

They can learn what RPL is used for and potential new DeFi developments.

What other non-RPL protocols, DAOs, projects, or individuals, would stand to benefit from this grant?

Many teams approach Nick for Twitter Spaces and gain value through our audience. These protocols in the ecosystem use us as a conduit for updates.

Will the resulting project be open source?

Yes

Team

Who is doing the work?

Myself (Jasper has submitted a similar application for his contributions)

What is the background of the person(s) doing the work? What experience do they have with such projects in the past?

Jasper and I have been doing these Twitter Spaces since Feb of 2022. Occasionally, one fills in when the other cannot host, but we’ve, by and large, been remarkably consistent. For qualifications, I have been a long-term community member of RP and serve as a Rocket Scientist.

What is the breakdown of the proposed work in terms of milestones and/or deadlines?

I host/moderate one Space on alternating weeks, optionally covering for the other until such a time as it is no longer valuable. Sometimes Nick will have bonus calls, and I will join if I have the availability, and it can go above the regular cadence.

How is the work being tested? Is testing included in the schedule?

We routinely monitor #trading and solicit input before the shows, during the live spaces call, and afterward to ensure the relevant questions and topics are raised.

How will the work be maintained after delivery?

YouTube hosting on the official channel.

Payment and Verification

What is the acceptance criteria?

The successful hosting of a well-prepared Twitter Space of approximately 1-2 hrs length that focuses on educating the community.

What is the proposed payment schedule for the grant? How much RPL and over what period of time is the applicant requesting?

The average payment the RP core team paid and the amount of the previous grant was 9 RPL every other week. During the initial offer period, the value of RPL was, on average, $30 USD. I am seeking a similar enumeration as the previous grant awarded and one that would be equitable to other community-hosted media grants.

I would prefer to have the grant awarded for a 6-month period to limit the frequency of grant renewal deadlines.

How will the GMC verify that the work deliveries match the proposed cadence?

Twitter Spaces are scheduled in advance and can be verified on the Discord events page.

What alternatives or options have been considered in order to save costs for the proposed project?

It would be more expensive to hire someone professionally who has the requisite knowledge. Consulting rates would be even more expensive.

Conflict of Interest

Does the person or persons proposing the grant have any conflicts of interest to disclose? (Please disclose here if you are a member of the GMC or if any member of the GMC would benefit directly financially from the grant).

Yes. I serve as a member of the GMC, and per the current RPIP-18, I will need to recuse myself from all the grant deliberations submitted during this period. (see the ongoing community discussion regarding conflict of interest https://github.com/rocket-pool/RPIPs/blob/main/RPIPs/RPIP-18.md

Will the recipient of the grant, or any protocol or project in which the recipient has a vested interest (other than Rocket Pool), benefit financially if the grant is successful?

No.

ShfRyn · 16 July 2023 10:54

This message marks the closing of the third round of RP grants. Any applications submitted after this will not be considered for this round, but those individuals who are still interested in applying are encouraged to check back on the forums. We are currently working on implementing a new awards process which will let people apply whenever they want, you can view that here. The GMC will announce the award recipients in a new thread here on the forums on or before July 31 (likely on, not before). The community will then have two weeks to issue any challenges before funds are disbursed. Thank you to all who applied and thank you to everyone who has followed along. Anyone who would like to comment on existing applications is encouraged to do so in this thread.