Round 12 - GMC Community Discussion of Submitted Applications

OpenUX

Original Commentary:

The GMC and the applicant have collaboratively negotiated the project with a revised budget of $33,300. This budget adjustment aims to facilitate the GMC’s assessment of whether the research outcomes can be effectively leveraged to enhance the protocol. Furthermore, the GMC has expressed a keen interest in doubling the number of node operators within a six-month timeframe. To achieve this goal, they have closely collaborated with the applicant to develop a project designed to enhance various metrics, including node operator growth. If the project is successful, the GMC has expressed a strong inclination towards providing additional funding for future research projects initiated by the applicant.

Souce: Sep 1-9 2023 Grants/Bounties/Retrospective Awards Round Results

The survey was intended to complement the primary metric of achieving a 2x node operator growth within six months. It’s purpose, was in the event of a scenario where the GMC received valuable actionable items but faced constraints such as negligence or time limitations, hindering prompt action on the proposed ideas.

(Disclaimer: The following views are solely my own and do not reflect those of the grants and management committee.)

I believe the primary consensus was that the GMC didn’t receive anything groundbreaking that they hadn’t already discussed or was not already working on.

Here are the five major suggestions they outlined in their report (page 65 - 70). These are mainly discussed in the context of the GMC. Valdorff had a more detailed write-up for each of these:

  • NO Intro Course
    Shortly before the publishing of the report, the GMC had recently funded Rocket School, and Rocket Pool University. It didn’t make sense to put more funding into education when there were already multiple projects funded and underway.

  • Decentralization Scoreboard
    The GMC funded a bounty for (BA062304) RP Scorecard which is still actively being worked on.

  • Conference Countdown Collaborations
    Rocket Pool’s primary conference footprint is at ETH Denver. We made a huge step forward hosting and funding an entire side-event, Rocket Lift-Off, this year.

  • Personalized Learning Journey
    Shortly before the publishing of the report, the GMC had recently funded Rocket School, and Rocket Pool University.

  • ROI Calculator, incl. Investment ROI & Tax Guide
    We have some calculators here. IMO a tax guide would be extremely difficult due to the various tax jurisdictions and probably a liability to try and give clear advice.

  • Email Newsletter Extended Onboarding
    I don’t think we ever got past how to handle the privacy roadblock with this? Maybe the recent smartnode notifications feature and how communication will be handled will give us a better idea?

The GMC did convene with OpenUX to discuss actionable items. However, it appeared that the primary emphasis was on educational resources, which felt adequately addressed by the recent funding of Rocket School and Rocket University.

It’s important to note the amount of funding delivered over time in USD value. $50,000 was requested originally, and $33,300 was granted in RPL when RPL was $21. The grant was paid out as OpenUX hit milestones, and due to the way GMC handles price-locking, $21/RPL price was used moving forward.

Here was the USD value of payments at the time of payment:

Date RPL RPL Price Payment in USD Notes
November 17, 2023 396.5 $28 $11,102 milestone 1
December 16, 2023 396.50 $27 $10,706 milestone 2
January 15, 2024 793 $34 $26,962 milestone 3

The total USD paid (at time of payment) was $48,770.

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