Optimizing Grant Incentives with Gauntlet – A New Moonbeam Rising

TL;DR:

• Partnered with Gauntlet, a DeFi-native quantitative research firm, to analyze and optimize the grant incentive program.
• Developing a data-driven framework to measure the impact of grant recipients based on metrics.
• Fostering community alignment, setting growth expectations, and evaluating grant recipients against consistent metrics.
• The partnership is part of Moonbeam’s broader transformation, encompassing tokenomics, vision, mission, and product roadmap while fostering an ecosystem supporting Web3 builders in driving real-world change.

Introduction

At Moonbeam, we’re committed to fostering a vibrant and sustainable ecosystem that empowers builders to create real-world impact with decentralized technology. As our ecosystem grows, we have recognized the necessity to reevaluate our incentive structures to ensure they align with our mission and drive long-term success.

We’ve partnered with Gauntlet, a leading DeFi-native quantitative research firm, to comprehensively analyze our previous grant programs. Together, we aim to develop a more robust framework for measuring their impact, improving community alignment around funding decisions, and ensuring our grant allocations fuel sustainable ecosystem growth. Through this collaboration, Gauntlet has provided invaluable insights by diving deep into the performance of our past grant tranches.

About Gauntlet

Gauntlet is a DeFi-native quantitative research firm specializing in risk management, incentive optimization, and mechanism design. They use battle-tested techniques from the algorithmic trading industry to help protocols manage risk, optimize revenue, and design better incentives. Their simulation models inform parameter decisions for protocols of all sizes, covering over 25% of aggregate DeFi TVL.

A Data-Driven Approach to Grant Impact Measurement

Gauntlet has helped Moonbeam identify key areas for improvement, such as establishing a unified impact measurement methodology, fostering better community consensus, and optimizing our funding allocations. One of the core deliverables from our partnership with Gauntlet is a tailored grant impact measurement framework. This framework considers multiple key metrics, including TVL, daily active users, trading volume, fees generated, and capital efficiency – all adjusted for broader market trends and protocol growth expectations.

Grant applicants must specify how they will provide the required data after the program concludes. This could involve providing the data directly or, preferably, outlining a method for the community to access and verify the data independently. Acceptable methods may include providing API access, publishing data to a public dashboard, or integrating with analytics platforms.

By adopting this data-driven approach, we can objectively assess the performance of our grant recipients against a consistent set of criteria. This promotes transparency and accountability and ensures that our funding decisions directly contribute to the long-term health and diversity of the Moonbeam ecosystem.

Fostering Community Alignment

Effective tokenomics and incentive structures require alignment from the broader community. Through our work with Gauntlet, we’ve identified strategies to streamline community alignment, including:

• Establishing consensus on the framework’s structure and key metrics
• Setting default growth expectations for each metric based on the protocol’s lifecycle stage
• Evaluating grant recipients against a consistent set of metrics while considering overall market conditions

By fostering transparency and involving the community in the grant process, we aim to ensure that funding decisions reflect the collective vision and priorities of the Moonbeam ecosystem.

Operational Recommendations

Gauntlet has also provided valuable operational recommendations to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of our grant impact assessments. This includes defining consistent “before” and “after” periods for measuring grant performance and guiding grant recipients to provide and expose the necessary data.

A New Future for Moonbeam

This partnership with Gauntlet is the first step in Moonbeam’s broader evolution. In the coming weeks, we’ll unveil comprehensive initiatives encompassing our tokenomics, vision, mission, product roadmap, and more.

At the center of this transformation is our belief in the power of decentralized technology to drive real-world change. We envision a future where the wonders of this innovation are accessible to everyone and which inspires builders to push the boundaries of what’s possible. By optimizing our tokenomics and aligning our incentives, we aim to foster an ecosystem that actively encourages and supports web3 builders working towards this vision. Our efforts have already gained significant traction in several areas:

• In Brazil, our partnership with Transferro, DUX, W3Blok, and Gotas delivers a variety of use cases, from new fiat stablecoins to Web3 solutions. Fan programs such as DidicoVerse, The Castle of Enaldinho, or the Curta gaming influencer network cater to millions of viewers. Food loyalty programs are built using Moonbeams’ infrastructure through Grupo Rao and Zuka.
• With RWA, we see an increasing number of the world’s assets getting tokenized. Carbon-offset programs like ReFiHub, Carbify, and federal/state/municipal debt settlements via Tokeniza are leading the way.
• Moonbeam is making a major push in gaming with newcomers, such as Animo and Heroes Battle Arena, and more games developed behind the scenes. In addition, better gaming development infrastructure is underway on Moonbeam.

Per the latest Messari report, daily active wallets more than doubled quarter over quarter, and Moonbeam now has more than half of all active addresses across the Polkadot ecosystem. In the same period, cross-chain messaging also more than doubled. With the promising numbers, the traction we’re seeing, and the upcoming changes, we’re more excited than ever about what’s to come.

Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to evolve and strengthen our foundation, paving the way for a future where the true potential of this transformative technology is realized!