Grants: Special Operations Roundtable

Abstract

To establish a Special Operations Roundtable to draft, ratify, & administer a large-scale recurring grant program for projects within the Arbitrum ecosystem, run by nine projects within the Arbitrum Ecosystem.

1. Hold elections to fill steward roles with 8 Arbitrum Projects + Lead.

2. Stewards to establish the framework and procedures to ratify with the Arbitrum DAO.

3. Submit framework as formal AIP ratification.

Post ratification, to execute according to plan and distribute throughout 2024.

Notion Detailing the Ideas & Direction thus far → 24https://specops.arb.vote/ 24 ←

Motivation

• No group exists driving a long-term vision for the Arbitrum DAO. Thought Leadership and Coordination are needed.
• The groups with the most to lose are the projects driving value to the Arbitrum Ecosystem. Thus, projects should be driving this initiative. No central point of failure should exist within this group.
• There is an opportunity cost to building on Arbitrum; other ecosystems are providing incentives like covering infra costs, funding development & investment, flagship representation & marketing, both in dollars, incentives, resourcing, and support. Projects do not want to leave Arbitrum; however, action is needed to remain competitive.
• Liquidity Incentives are nice, but projects need a mechanism to remove existing roadblocks to focus on building long-term value for the ecosystem.
• Peripheral service providers like research collectives, market makers, auditors (economic & security), marketing/growth/retention platforms, infrastructure providers, etc., want to get more involved with the ecosystem but are unsure how.
• The proposals hitting the forum are starting to get chaotic, and without proper focus and solid bedrock, we will continue to see growing governance fatigue. Teams are getting frustrated with the politics and time commitments, and we must cap the growing time waste and disdain.

Arbitrum can address these issues with a constructive and robust grant program.

We can architect an ecosystem grant program designed and overseen by elected project stewards to fund impactful projects and initiatives quickly and effectively. Constructed so that individual components can be hot-swapped when course correction is needed. This proposal aims to establish buy-in from the Arbitrum Community, elect the founding stewards, and get the process moving. The first deliverable will be the specifics of the frameworks, discussion, and submittal for ratification by formal vote.

Rationale

The roundtable model has precedent in Arbitrum’s governance through the Security Council’s and Data Availability Committee’s role in Administration. Thus, this is considered a just and fair mechanism for carrying out the process. The roundtable stewards and support team’s immediate focus would be to:

1. Onboard Support Team through RFP Process