Round 9 - GMC Call for Grant Applications - Deadline is February 11

[ShfRyn]

This thread is for applications for Rocket Pool’s January 14, 2024 - February 11, 2024 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 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 February 11, 2024 at 23:59 (11:59 PM) UTC will be considered. Any grants posted after that deadline will be carried over to the next award period.

This is the expected schedule for round 9:

• Application Period (January 14th - February 11th)
• Application Selection (February 11th - February 14th)
• Application Discussion Meetings - one for each subcommittee (February 15th - February 19th)
• Scoring Deadline (February 20th)
• Final Voting Amendments, Discussion and Finalization (February 20th - February 24th)
• Award Announcement (February 25th)

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

When evaluating grant applications, the GMC takes into account the following goals:

• 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

Grant Application Template

Please copy paste the template below into a reply. Answer the questions there, feel free to remove or add sections based on relevance.

## Name of Grant

### 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?



## Benefit

<please enter N/A where appropriate>

| Group | Benefits |
|---|---|
| Potential rETH holders | If the grant is successfully completed, how does this help people looking to stake ETH for rETH? |
| rETH holders | If the grant is successfully completed, how does this help rETH holders? |
| Potential NOs |  If the grant is successfully completed, how does this help people looking to run a Rocket Pool node for the first time? |
| NOs | If the grant is successfully completed, how does this help people already running a Rocket Pool node? |
| Community |  If the grant is successfully completed, how does this help the Rocket Pool community? |
| RPL holders |  If the grant is successfully completed, how does this help RPL holders? |

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



## Work

### 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?



## Costs

### 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?

### Is the applicant requesting RPL or LUSD?

### 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?

[glory.eth]

Grant Application - Halborn - Infrastructure Security Assessment

What is the work being proposed?

Halborn is seeking a grant to perform a comprehensive infrastructure audit for Rocketpool. We think this is particularly apropos considering the recent malicious actions against the official Rocketpool Twitter account.

Halborn is an award-winning, elite cybersecurity company for blockchain organizations founded in 2019 by renowned ethical hacker Steven Walbroehl and growth hacker Rob Behnke. We’ve been trusted by organizations such as Uniswap, Matter Labs, Circle, Solana, Dapper Labs, Polygon, Animoca Brands, Sushi, and many more.

Purpose & Motivation

Of the top 50 hacks, 40% have occurred beyond the confines of smart contracts, with hackers identifying vulnerabilities in web apps, wallets, bridges, and other points of intrusion. Annual infrastructure auditing is a critical feature of comprehensive security and will allow Rocketpool to take a proactive stance in identifying and addressing potential vulnerabilities and preventing future intrusions.

Infrastructuring auditing, also known as pen testing, is a critical feature of a robust and comprehensive cybersecurity plan. While many DAOs and Web3 companies are (rightly) focused on smart contract auditing as a key pillar of their security, infrastructure auditing is just as important, particularly for large protocols.

Whereas smart contract auditing focuses on the contracts themselves, infrastructure auditing targets the various “non-smart contract” attack surfaces - web apps, mobile apps, bridges, cryptocurrency wallets, cloud infrastructure and more. Proactively identifying vulnerabilities in these areas allows Rocketpool to repair potential weaknesses before they can be exploited by malicious actors.

According to our research, off-chain attacks are a growing threat and a significant source of losses. A closer examination of the top 50 attacks by loss reveals that off-chain attacks accounted for a staggering 40% of the total losses. This percentage has been steadily increasing over time, reaching 61% of losses and 70% of all attacks by type (on-chain vs. off-chain) in 2023 alone.

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?

Rocketpool has the option to make the final report public or private. If public, it will be published on our github.

Benefit

Group	Benefits
Potential rETH holders	This grant will help significantly increase the security for rETH holders by helping secure the platform/interfaces they use to interact with Rocketpool. This should draw incremental rETH holders into the ecosystem.
rETH holders	This grant will significantly increase security for the platform/interfaces that rETH holders use. The increase in confidence should allow the amount of holders, and the average amount held per holder, to increase.
Potential NOs	Robust security should have a positive effect on attracting new Node Operators
NOs	Increased security across the Rocketpool ecosystem should increase the amount of stakers in the ecosystem, having a positive impact for existing Node Operators
Community	Increased confidence in ecosystem security should allow more people to join the community, increasing participation and strengthening governance and decentralization.
RPL holders	Increased security should drive incremental positive growth across the entire ecosystem. Higher confidence in the ecosystem should drive additional stakers, additional Node Operators, which kicks off a positive flywheel that should drive value to the RPL token and its holders.

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

Increased security, even for just one protocol, helps improve the reputation and decentralization of crypto overall, which helps a vast array of protocols, projects, and individuals. It disincentivizes malicious actors and helps improve security broadly across the entire ecosystem.

Work

Who is doing the work?

Halborn’s infrastructure security team.

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

Halborn has played a significant role in enhancing the off-chain security of various protocols. While many of the reports remain confidential, some of our critical finds include detecting unauthorized access to sensitive data in the project database; secret exposure of the database’s admin secret key; potential SQL injection vulnerabilities in other databases and misconfigurations on a Firebase database that could allow an attacker mostly free range on it.

Among our public reports, we would like to highlight:

• The Aptos Wallet WebApp pentest.

  • We found a total of 6 critical vulnerabilities, including the possibility for an attacker to obtain the mnemonic passphrase from the clipboard storage; the ability of an attacker to execute malicious code using the exported wallet functions, triggering a Denial of Service on the extension and the Browser; race condition in the function used to sign messages as well as no confirmation required from the user and the possibility for an attacker who has compromised a user’s machine can exfiltrate and steal their mnemonic phrase as well as the password

• HBarSuite WebApp and SmartNode FrontEnd and BackEnd pentest

  • In this case, Halborn engineers discovered two critical vulnerabilities, which allowed an attacker to perform a Denial Of Service to the smart nodes and a vulnerability that caused a user to not be able to claim back the liquidity or observe the liquidity added into the different pools of the protocol.

These are just a few select examples. A more comprehensive list of our past work can be found in our public report repository.

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

Halborn will conduct penetration testing of Rocketpool’s non-smart contract threat surfaces such as web apps, cloud, infrastructure, and more. Halborn will use an active hands-on approach using deep security inspection to identify vulnerabilities. The penetration test will simulate the activities and tactics typically performed by threat actors. During the test, Halborn will update Rocketpool with necessary details or findings.

Halborn will perform the infrastructure audit following these steps or phases:

• Mapping Content and Functionality
• Configuration and deployment
• Identity Management flaws
• Authentication/Authorization Flaws
• Session handling
• Business logic flaws
• Rate Limitations tests
• Brute Force Attempts
• Input Handling
• Fuzzing of all input parameters
• Multiple Type of Injection (SQL/JSON/HTML/Command)
• Client-side testing
• Error handling
• Weak Cryptography
• Source Code Review

Timeline and scope differs based on each specific project, so a timeline will be established as part of the scoping process with GMC.

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

Most assessments are led by a full time Senior Engineer and supervised by a Technical Lead, and the VP of security is also involved during the QA process.

We develop test scenarios at the beginning of the audit and it’s an essential part of the QA process. We standardize our processes as much as we can and we follow a strict methodology for checking if every single attack vector was tested in order to minimize the chances of being attacked.

How will the work be maintained after delivery?

After testing, Halborn will create a report that provides details of all service areas covered, with risks, vulnerabilities, steps taken, and remediation recommendations.

Halborn will exercise due care in removing testing tools, payloads, and other files or artifacts used during the assessment after the completion of testing. Halborn will make every attempt to avoid business interruption during the course of the penetration test.

Costs

What is the acceptance criteria?

A final infrastructure assessment report.

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

Team will need to complete a scoping exercise in order to determine an accurate price, as projects are based on time, complexity, length of codebase, etc. We can get on a quick scoping call to make sure teams are aligned on what is in/out of scope.

Is the applicant requesting RPL or LUSD?

Preference for LUSD, but flexible.

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

GMC will have an assigned account manager with regular check-ins and calls as needed to ensure the delivery matches the agreed-upon cadence.

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?

The grant is for compensation to Halborn to complete the infrastructure security assessment.

Contact: [email protected]

[woh]

Name of Grant

Rocket Pool ETHDenver PizzaDAO event sponsorship

What is the work being proposed?

Rocket Pool will become a sponsor for one of the largest community events at ETHDenver on February 28th, 2024 from 6-9 PM

Is there any related work this builds off of?

No.

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

Benefit

Group	Benefits	Response
Potential rETH holders	If the grant is successfully completed, how does this help people looking to stake ETH for rETH?	The Rocket Poolers who attend will be able to share their enthusiasm of the project with other attendees at the event. The marketing outreach will give Rocket Pool more visibility
rETH holders	If the grant is successfully completed, how does this help rETH holders?	N/A
Potential NOs	If the grant is successfully completed, how does this help people looking to run a Rocket Pool node for the first time?	The Rocket Poolers who attend will be able to share their enthusiasm of the project with other attendees at the event. The marketing outreach will give Rocket Pool more visibility
NOs	If the grant is successfully completed, how does this help people already running a Rocket Pool node?	N/A
Community	If the grant is successfully completed, how does this help the Rocket Pool community?	The grant will provide a marketing opportunity for Rocket Pool which will put the project out in front of potential new node operators and Liquid Stakers. It also provided an opportunity for networking with the Rocket Pool community with others in the space. Quotes from members who attended last year: “Awesome times with good food and great people. A real chance to meet and connect with people in a casual and laid back setting. 8/8 would eat again!” SNG “2023 was my first ethdenver. The pizza party was one of my favourite events during the conference. Spending time with dozens of rocket poolers with great music, vibrant art, and the most delicious pizza Denver has to offer was amazing at helping me build stronger relationships with other RP community members. A great time was had by all.” - Waq
RPL holders	If the grant is successfully completed, how does this help RPL holders?	N/A

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

PizzaDAO

Work

Organizing marketing materials, presenters, twitter spaces, and Rocket Pool booth at the event.

Who is doing the work?

Woh and any volunteers I can wrangle.

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

I’ve cosponsored two events with PizzaDAO in the past with Luau DAO.

• The ETHDenver PizzaDAO event last year which many Rocket Pool community members attended
• The NFT NYC PizzaDAO Event in Manhattan last year

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

PizzaDAO will need to know by Wednesday if we’re in so that they can include us in their Social Media announcements.

They asked for sponsorship payment by the 21st of February. I know this doesn’t work with the GMC timelines but I can see if we can get some flexibility since I’ve sponsored with them in the past.

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

N/A

How will the work be maintained after delivery?

N/A

Costs

$5,000 for the Medium sponsorship or about $180 RPL at $27.9

What is the acceptance criteria?

We just need to tell the PizzaDAO leadership that we’re in.

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

Payment would need to be retroactive. I’d raise the money to front the costs and be reimbursed by the GMC.

Is the applicant requesting RPL or LUSD?

RPL

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

The GMC will be able to attend the event in ETHDenver in person and see the social media created up to and after the event.

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

The Rocket Pool team could consider a lower tier sponsorship package.

Conflict of Interest

No conflicts, it would all be volunteer based work.

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?

PizzaDAO will use the funds to pay for the event costs: venue, food & beverage, etc. Their event budgets are usually public and you can see what the actual costs are.

[ShfRyn]

Beaconcha.in Advertising

What is the work being proposed?

Purchasing 1~3 months of advertising space from beaconcha.in. The ads would target solo node operators in an effort to migrate them to Rocket Pool.

Is there any related work this builds off of?

There were some ads for Rocket Pool on the beaconcha.in website a long time ago that were graciously donated by Butta but no data or statistics were tracked.

Benefit

Group	Benefits
Potential rETH holders	There would be a greater rETH supply if new NOs are onboarded.
rETH holders	Their token’s respective protocol would grow.
Potential NOs	RP would have brand recognition and legitimacy.
NOs	More NOs = more decentralized protocol.
Community	Good sandbox for advertising data / results.
RPL holders	More NOs = higher RPL demand.

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

N/A

Work

Who is doing the work?

ShfRyn will draft the banner designs and have the GMC review and confirm them before submitting to beaconcha.in.

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

ShfRyn has a bachelor’s in Graphic Design, and beaconcha.in has an established advertising platform. The beaconcha.in website has an average of 5.6 M impressions, with a 0.03% click through rate.

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

Milestone 1: GMC approves banner designs. GMC formalizes tracking metrics.
Milestone 2: beaconcha.in is paid in full and advertising campaign starts.

(Upon the completion of milestone 1, the entire advertising budget would be sent to beaconcha.in to start the campaign.)

How will the work be maintained after delivery?

GMC will track impressions, clicks, and node operator growth during that period.

Costs

The GMC can reserve three-months without exclusivity for $6,000 total.
Or they can reserve one-month without exclusivity for $2,500.

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?

The money is requested after the designs have been approved. All of the budget is to be sent to beaconcha.in. ShfRyn will be designing the banners during his GMC administrative hours which are already compensated for.

Is the applicant requesting RPL or LUSD?

LUSD

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

There’s two cost options above, I can reach out for more if the GMC has any custom requests. ShfRyn is doing the banners during his GMC Admin hours. You could hire another designer such as Sleety however.

Conflict of Interest

Does the person or persons proposing the grant have any conflicts of interest to disclose?

I am the GMC Administrator but the entirety of funding for this grant is to be directed towards beaconcha.in. I will not be escrowing any of the money. I have no affiliation with beaconcha.in

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

[drdoofus]

This was originally going to be a bounty, but by the time I researched enough for the bounty, I realized I should just do it.

Name of Grant

Rocket Pool Merchandise Store

What is the work being proposed?

Create a professional quality Rocket Pool merchandise store worthy of a multi-billion dollar protocol.

My research into this is in another forum post (Merchandise Store Research). I looked into several options and in my opinion, the best approach for a high quality, professional, crypto accepting and international merchandise store is module based. Specifically, this means setting up an eCommerce store and website using Wordpress and Woocommerce together with an integrated Print on Demand (POD) and dropshipping service which can take crypto payments as well as traditional payments.

As part of setup, we will need branding for the website (which Dr Doofus, though artistically talented, is not well-suited for) and potentially help with creating the specific articles for sale. The building of the merchandise itself is tedious, but we can enlist help; this includes things like which brands/style/fabrics/colors will be available, as well as, what actual graphic designs to use on items. Note that Dr Doofus is knowledgeable in this process but might need help from people better capable of fashion decisions. In regards to designs on the merch itself, some will be obvious (Rocket Pool logo/name) and others might come from the talented artists in the community, either by request or via a contest.

Store management is the ongoing upkeep of the store (webite will need updates, the POD must be paid, if the store grows large enough, taxes must be collected, etc.). The grant recpient will take on responsibilty of store management (potentially with a co-manager) for the first year. This is included in the cost below. After that, we can determine if it should be a compensated position or not. This would largely depend on how much the store sales are.

Technically, this will involve creation of a business, most sensibly a sole-proprietorship via the store manager, but sales are expected to be low enough to fall outside most complex business rules. This also absolves any liabilities from the DAO (the DAO is not owner of the merch store). This can be altered if desired by the GMC/pDAO so that the DAO is the owner of the store.

Is there any related work this builds off of?

No

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?

No, in order to maintain customer privacy, the website will not be open source.

Benefit

<please enter N/A where appropriate>

Group	Benefits
Potential rETH holders	Advertising RP awareness with no negatives to potential rETH holders
rETH holders	Advertising RP awareness with no negatives to rETH holders
Potential NOs	Advertising RP awareness with no negatives to potential NOs
NOs	Advertising RP awareness with no negatives to NOs
Community	Community wants RP Merch, store generates income making cost possibilities utlimately zero (or net gain) to protocol
RPL holders	Advertising RP awareness with no negatives to RPL holders

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

The advertising and community bonding via swag speaks for itself. There are other benefits that might be obvious, but should still be stated. First, once the store is running, funds to keep it running are self-generated. If the store does a lot of business, it makes the store manager’s job harder, but there is money to compensate (discussed below). If the store does very little business, there is not much work for the manager to do, thus little/no compensation is needed. Second, after initial funding, small fees on the merchandise can pay the GMC back for the initial expenses. Third, there is no reason this store would not also sell non-RP merchandise (for example, Ethereum t-shirts, general crypto branded items, etc), potentially providing an income stream to the pDAO.

Work

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?

Dr Doofus has set up several Wordpress based websites and several eCommerce stores.

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

Milestone 1:

One month from approval to get a basic store up showcasing a sample t-shirt with RP logo.

Milestone 2:

Once that is shown to work, another month to get more artwork and merchandise uploaded/designed.

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

Testing is ongoing as site is built. Once complete, beta orderers will be needed to demonstrate working sales flow.

How will the work be maintained after delivery?

After delivery, there will need to be at least one store manager. The manager is responsible for:

1. Website updates
2. Adding merchandise
3. Paying the POD/dropshipper
4. Maintaining bank accounts and any business expenses/taxes that come along with that

The first year of management is included in the cost (as a line item so it can be negotiated seperately if needed). After the first years, it would be recommended to review if any changes to management and/or compensation were warranted.

Costs

What is the acceptance criteria?

Working website with single RP t-shirt for milestone 1. Fully functional store for milestone 2.

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

Payment breakdown as follows:

Milestone 1

$6500 - setup work ($5000) + first year store manager ($1000) + coordination of milestone 2 ($500)
a. Setup bank business account to accept credit card payments
b. Setup crypto commerce account to accept crypto payments
c. Create Wordpress with Woocommerce website including branding and integrating both payment types above
d. Integrate a Print on Demand and dropshipping service with store
e. Create dropshipper payment account (usually via a seperate PayPal account)

Milestone 2 (these would not be Dr Doofus, but I would pay these out unless GMC wants to directly)

$2000 - Art and Swag
a. Create art for Website - $500
b. Create designs for merchandise - $1000 (perhaps a contest, 10 prizes of $100 or something like that)
c. Design/Assemble/Compose items for sale - $500

Total $8500

*Payback to GMC
Although I feel the store should basically be not for profit, we can add some profit margin to merch (10%-30% per item, for example, depending on the item) to pay for ongoing operations (if the store gets big enough to need it) and to pay back the GMC for this grant. I feel that’s something the GMC should decide.

Is the applicant requesting RPL or LUSD?

RPL

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

GMC members can buy merch or solicit feedback from store customers.

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

Also available in the research report on the forum. A lower cost alternative is possible in the form of using an “All in One” service. This is a service where we can minimally brand an existing t-shirt online reseller but they run the entire store. Cost would be probably 1/3 of this grant. The disadvantages are:

1. Cannot take crypto payment
2. Merchandise is limited to what that shop sells
3. More expensive/limited international shipping (as seen from the U.S.)
4. Loss of control of customer addresses/emails in terms of unwanted advertising (the All in Ones consider buyers their customers and use your info as they see fit)

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).

Dr Doofus is a GMC member and would benefit finacially from this 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?

No

[ShfRyn]

What grant is being renewed?

ShfRyn’s POAPs

What work from the previous proposal was completed?

I proposed designing and distributing around 24 POAPs, with an average of 4 per month.
23 POAPs were designed and delivered. 1 POAP was designed for Rocket Split testers, but the project never reached the testing phase.

What work from the previous proposal is ongoing or pending?

There are 12 POAPs being designed for Rocket Fuel monthly contributions, which will bring the total amount of POAPs designed to 36.

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

After completing the Rocket Fuel POAPs, I will have completed an extra 12 POAPs.

I also ran a raffle that I self-funded 3 RPL for the winner. Participants were given raffle tickets for every successful node update quest. 64 people participated. You can see the participant list here.

What work is newly slated since the previous proposal?

I propose the same parameters as last time. 24 POAPs over a six-month period, with an average of 4 POAPs designed and delivered per month.

Are the results of this project entirely open source ([MIT]

No, I retain the PSD files.

Benefits - enter N/A where appropriate

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

The primary node operator upgrade project receives about 35~50 upgraders within a 24 hour period.

Other events were held such as:

• highlighting specific community members (dysby, mambosan, fornax)
• buying parties where tons of people participate in buying RPL for a POAP (el presidank, ramana)
• event participation (holesky, rocket split, rpip-30, gmc)

You can see a full breakdown of all the POAPs designed and distributed here.

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

POAP is an invaluable tool for community building. I am extremely active in the community and it’s important to have someone that can quickly organize POAP events when the opportunities arise.

Team

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

ShfRyn

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

ShfRyn encourages community members to view his progress and propose POAP event ideas here.

Payment and Verification

Have the acceptance criteria been met?

Yes.

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 $500/mo for six months.

Is there a measurable Return on Investment for the project?

NA

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

NA

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 the GMC administrator.

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]

What grant is being renewed?

The Weekly Orbit

What work from the previous proposal was completed?

Pat and Waq have published 40 episodes.

What work from the previous proposal is ongoing or pending?

Work on The Weekly Orbit continues weekly. This is an ongoing project.

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

This is not applicable to The Weekly Orbit.

What work is newly slated since the previous proposal?

Given that the show follows a news and discussion format, we propose that The Weekly Orbit hosts a panel debate on a future topic with significant differing opinions. The integration of Eigenlayer is a potential subject for the next six months that could benefit from a debate-style forum.

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

Not applicable. We’re willing to share content to anyone in the community.

Benefits - enter N/A where appropriate

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

During the grant period, The Weekly Orbit has amassed 106 YouTube subscribers, 15 podcast subscribers, 160 Twitter followers, and 120 Farcaster followers.

Screenshot of YouTube

Screenshot of YouTube analytics

Screenshot of Spotify analytics

Screenshot of Apple Podcast analytics

*Screenshot of Google Podcasts analytics

*Twitter screenshot

Farcaster screenshot

Viewership across all platforms ranges from 50 to 125 per week. We are confident that the show has laid the groundwork for future growth, given our increasing comfort and rhythm with each other.

We launched The Weekly Orbit shortly after Atlas. Since then, the market narrative of liquid staking has shifted focus to other things. The overall market significantly influences our viewership.

Anthony Sassano recently gave permission for us to post our show in the Daily Gwei discord. He also gave a shout out to both The Weekly Orbit and Rocket Fuel on his show 8 Feb 2024. We anticipate that the upcoming releases of Dencun, Houston, and the much anticipated NodeSet launch within the next six months will spark considerable interest in Rocket Pool. We’re prepared for this surge.

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

The Weekly Orbit provides weekly content for those interested in being a node operator, rETH, and DeFi integrations of RPL & rETH.

Distinguishing our show from other Rocket Pool media is our approach, which goes beyond merely reporting a handful of top stories each week. What sets us apart is our commitment to fostering a good two-way conversation. Waq, a seasoned crypto veteran with the wisdom gained from navigating three market cycles, joins forces with Pat, who, as a non-technical normie, provides a distinctive perspective shaped by a single market cycle experience. Our discussions cater to the diverse spectrum of our audience, ranging from beginners to advanced users.

In the fast-paced world of crypto, where attention spans are limited, it’s crucial for Rocket Pool to have multiple media outlets. This ensures engagement and effective communication of the exciting happenings within the Rocket Pool ecosystem. The Weekly Orbit plays a key role in contributing to public awareness.

Team

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

The team only consists of Pat and Waq.

How have the individual constituents of the team been compensated?

Pat and Waq have split the grant 80/20.

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

Maintenance is done by YouTube, Spotify, Apple, and Google.

Payment and Verification

Have the acceptance criteria been met?

The acceptance criteria has been met since the initial grant was given. We took off for one episode when Pat was in transit to Australia.

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 requests a similar framework presented in Round 4, August 2023 with one change: We are requesting an increase from 9 RPL per episode to 10 RPL, inline with the media grants to Rocket Fuel, Jasper, and Ken in Round 8. We will produce 26 episodes (one per week) with the caveat there might be a missed week for sickness or vacation. The monthly payment will continue to be split 80/20 between Pat and Waq, respectively.

26 episodes x 10 RPL = 260 RPL.
260/6mths = 43.33 RPL/mth
Pat (80% x 43.33) = 34.66 RPL/mth
Waq (20% x 43.33) = 8.66 RPL/mth

Is there a measurable Return on Investment for the project?

Quantifying the return on investment for The Weekly Orbit, like many media and community engagement initiatives, poses a challenge. However, its impact can be gauged qualitatively by noting the considerable positive influence it has had on both the existing Rocket Pool community and newcomers. It’s a positive contribution to Rocket Pool.

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

This is not applicable to The Weekly Orbit.

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 has no conflict of interest.

Waq is a member of the GMC. He has received donations in the form of RPL from anonymous and non-anonymous members of the community. He received money from a Gitcoin grants round the majority of which was distributed to the community. The gifts and donations have no impact on the content of The Weekly Orbit.

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 have no vested interests in other protocols. Rocket Pool is our only passion.

[ShfRyn]

Notice: This message marks the closing of the ninth round of Rocket Pool grant award applications. Any applications submitted after this will not be considered for this round. The GMC will announce the award recipients in a new thread here on the forums around February 25th. 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.