In order to keep the application threads clear of discussions (to make it easier for committee members to read and score them), please use this thread for any and all questions and discussions of round 22 period of grant, bounty, and retrospective award applications.
Bounties
None dis round
Grants
Sponsor Of Institutional DeFi Season [May - July 2025]
I struggle with this kinda thing. Serious BD that made the case to institutions for rETH would be quite valuable. But the question is – do I believe this team can deliver based on what I can see in a handful of minutes? And here I ended unconvinced. There is no particular pitch or vision suggested – it feels one token/protocol is as good as any other first come first serve. If anything, there’s an NO lean, when rETH is by far the more important thing to push. While they listed previous work done, they’re not even trying to claim actual outcomes? Simply “many eyeballs hit this”, which I don’t think is that effective for us tbh.
Diamond Hands’ Rocket Boost Elevating Rocket Pool’s Brand for Mass Adoption!
Similar to the above. I will note I appreciate the energy, that this user came into discord a bit, and that they identified the basics “growing stakers, staked ETH, and market share” properly. I don’t think I’d go so far as the claimed “deep understanding” as (similar to the above) rETH is not the clear target. I think I’m still leaning “no” overall.
The Weekly Orbit
I try not to opine too much on the video stuff as it’s not a medium I use. That said – cheers on the long run and hope you get to sunset it like you want 
Retros
The Weekly Orbit
Continuity is good. Obviously better to avoid the gap, but no need to be too inflexible.
Rocket Watch Contributions
Support this. It’s a fair chunk of change and a fair chunk of work.
3 Likes
Hey Valdorff,
Thank you for your thoughtful feedback! I completely agree that rETH is the main target and this proposal is all about growing its adoption through strategic marketing, not any additional technological changes or something similar. Not even networking as BD somewhere like the previous proposal.
Rocket Pool is a product for people, and it deserves to be actively offered to them, not just passively discovered. By humanizing the brand (think about avatar or human faces) and creating engaging content, we can attract more stakers who are entering the Ethereum ecosystem. Even MetaMask rebranded and did huge updates and getting ready for the next wave of newcomers.
I can tell that marketing is one of the key elements to increase staked ETH, and grow Rocket Pool’s market share. I’d love to hear your thoughts on how we can refine my approach to better align with Rocket Pool’s vision.