The Moonbeam community has approved a new round of Ecosystem Grants, driving a fresh wave of funding into the ecosystem that projects can use for user adoption and liquidity programs on Moonbeam. In the spirit of continuing to involve the community earlier in the grant process, this phase of grant funding first went to a Snapshot VoteGo to page https://docs.snapshot.org/readme before being finalized through an on-chain referendum. This allowed the community the opportunity to vote on not only which teams receive the funding, but how much of the grant budget is awarded to each applicant. This process of awarding grants will continue to be improved based on the community’s feedback.
March 12th marked the end of the previous round of ecosystem grants, which were awarded using the community-approved processGo to page https://moonbeam.polkassembly.network/referendum/51 outlined in the fall of 2022. This most recent grants processGo to page https://moonbeam.polkassembly.network/referendum/87 incorporated feedback from the community to allow earlier participation and change the grant allocations to a deadline-driven submission rather than first-come-first serve.
As a result, the new grants followed this process:
Feb 17: New grant process proposedGo to page https://moonbeam.polkassembly.network/referendum/87 on the community forum.
Mar 7: Following community feedback and revisions, the grant process is approved by the communityGo to page https://moonbeam.polkassembly.network/referendum/87.
Mar 7-13: Ecosystem projects submit proposals for tranche 1 Ecosystem Grant funding.
Mar 20-25: Ecosystem proposals that meet the minimum criteriaGo to page https://forum.moonbeam.foundation/t/results-of-the-ecosystem-grants-snapshot-vote/700 are included in a community-wide Snapshot VoteGo to page https://snapshot.org/#/moonbeam-foundation.eth/proposal/0x95accf9314fea45eed23344fdd03790101156078a8852a6e29e5bfa2f15bd843 to determine how the first tranche funding is allocated. Over 2,600 votes are cast.
Mar 27-Apr 3: The first tranche of Ecosystem Grants are voted upon and approvedGo to page https://moonbeam.polkassembly.network/referendum/91 by the community.
Here are the grants that were awarded by the community and their proposed uses, in alphabetical order:
- Beamswap will receive 657,900 GLMR to bring more active long-term loyal users to the Moonbeam ecosystem by providing liquidity for Beamswap’s newest product, Beamex, a decentralized perpetual exchange and concentrated liquidity AMM. Read Beamswap’s grant proposalGo to page https://forum.moonbeam.network/t/beamswap-ecosystem-grant-draft-proposal/558.
- DAM Finance will receive 728,550 GLMR to create incentivized pools with concentrated liquidity to accelerate the establishment of DAM’s stablecoin on Polkadot. Read DAM’s grant proposalGo to page https://forum.moonbeam.network/t/dam-finance-ecosystem-grant-draft-proposal/560.
- Prime Protocol will receive 1,337,100 GLMR to position Moonbeam as a cross-chain DeFi hub through a number of collaborations to foster community in the ecosystem. Read Prime’s grant proposalGo to page https://forum.moonbeam.network/t/prime-protocol-ecosystem-grant-draft-proposal/535.
- StellaSwap will receive 1,677,150 GLMR to deepen liquidity on its stable AMM and to drive the adoption of Pulsar, its concentrated liquidity protocol Read StellaSwap’s grant proposalGo to page https://forum.moonbeam.network/t/stellaswap-ecosystem-grant-draft-proposal/567.
DoDAO and Zircon Finance also submitted valid proposals by the deadline but did not receive the minimum required allocation of 609,756 GLMR ($250,000 USD at $0.41/GLMR, or 13.55% of the vote) in the Snapshot Vote, so their proposals were not included in the on-chain vote. The “leftover” amount, totaling 69,300 GLMR, was reallocated to Community Grants.
Next, funds will be distributed and the project recipients will roll out their plans.
The Moonbeam Foundation grant funds for this period were divided into two tranches, giving teams the option to apply for grants in one or both periods. In each group of allocations, a maximum of up to 2 million GLMR tokens can be distributed per project based on the amount allocated by the community during the Snapshot vote. The second tranche of Ecosystem Grants will follow a similar process prior to the July start date: there will be another call for applications, community discussion, snapshot vote, and on-chain vote to precede the tranche start date.
Evolution of the Moonbeam Community Grants Program
The Moonbeam Community ForumGo to page https://moonbeam.network/news/introducing-the-moonbeam-community-forum-a-space-open-for-community-discussion-proposals-and was launched last year to host discussions about grants and other governance proposals, and to serve as a dedicated space for the Moonbeam community to come together and participate in network decisions. The forum also provides opportunities for community members to weigh in on initiatives before they go up for vote, and for individual participants to drum up support on initiatives about which they are passionate.
The parameters of this iteration of the previous grant process expired on March 12, 2023, which provided an opportunity to rethink the way that the grants could be submitted and selected by the community. The Moonbeam Community Forum was used to propose and discuss the latest changes that were made to the grants programGo to page https://moonbeam.polkassembly.network/referendum/87.
The approved grants program was created by and for the Moonbeam community and included a streamlined process for submitting applications and proposals for funding. The previous on-chain voting for ecosystem grants provided valuable learning opportunities that were incorporated into the latest version of the process.
“Ecosystem Grants” are the largest grants available in the grants programGo to page https://d1e1m6jvqfoi0h.cloudfront.net/grants/ and must be approved directly by the community. The Community Grants CommitteeGo to page https://d1e1m6jvqfoi0h.cloudfront.net/grants/#committee helps determine the smaller community grants, which are typically awarded to builder teams in earlier stages of development.
Snapshot and On-Chain Vote to Allocate Community Grants
The Moonbeam Community shared their opinions in a meaningful way using snapshot voting. From March 20th to March 25th, the Moonbeam Community Ecosystem Grant Snapshot VoteGo to page https://snapshot.org/#/moonbeam-foundation.eth/proposal/0x95accf9314fea45eed23344fdd03790101156078a8852a6e29e5bfa2f15bd843 was open to collect sentiment regarding the amount of GLMR that should be allocated for each program proposed by a project team. The proposals from the applicants were available for comment and discussion on the Moonbeam Community ForumGo to page https://forum.moonbeam.foundation/c/governance/2.
SnapshotGo to page https://snapshot.org/#/moonbeam-foundation.eth is a decentralized governance platform that Web3 communities use for signal voting. Signal voting is an informal and off-chain governance process that allows the community to voice their opinions on a matter prior to an on-chain vote. In Ecosystem Grants decisions, community members holding GLMR in their wallets connect to the Snapshot app and determine the percentage of the overall available funds to the projects of their choice. The process is outlined in this tutorialGo to page https://moonbeam.network/news/voting-with-snapshot and the results can be viewed on snapshot.orgGo to page https://snapshot.org/#/moonbeam-foundation.eth/proposal/0x95accf9314fea45eed23344fdd03790101156078a8852a6e29e5bfa2f15bd843.
More Governance Upcoming
To keep up with the latest announcements and updates regarding the grants program, follow the grants-proposals topicGo to page https://forum.moonbeam.network/c/governance/grant-proposals/7 on the Moonbeam Community Forum and sign up for an account. You can update your notification settings to receive emails about new proposals and discussion activity.