Golem Foundation

Public Goods Funding in Open Source Networks: Lessons from Traditional Donation Crowdfunding

Fri, 05 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

When I was introduced to the web3 space, I noticed numerous discussions about incentivizing people to join and participate in community projects. It sometimes sounds like a key solution to all problems - if we find the right incentives, everything will fall into place, and our project will be successful.

Although I may not have extensive experience in technology, I believe I possess a solid understanding of how communities and social movements function, and how to engage people in supporting causes. Therefore, I’ve decided to share some thoughts on this topic.

Currently, I am the CEO of one of the most popular donation-based crowdfunding platforms in the world. My journey in traditional donation crowdfunding began in 2012 when I founded a farmed animal advocacy organization in Poland. This organization later expanded to several European countries, including Ukraine and the UK, and was recognized as one of the world’s most effective animal charities.

I mention this because growing a charity requires attracting donor funding. Convincing people to support animal welfare might seem straightforward, but it was a formidable challenge when our focus was on combating factory farming in a country that’s among the leading producers of fur animals and one of Europe’s top exporters of broiler chickens. To thrive, we really had to excel at persuading people to contribute to our cause. This means I had to learn what motivates people to give.

So, what really motivates people to give?

Firstly, they actually buy happiness.

Research shows that donating money to the causes we believe in increases our happiness. In fact, giving some amount of money to a cause that is important to us results in a greater increase in happiness than receiving the same amount. So, if you are running a charity that tries to solve important problems or a platform that funds public goods, then you are in the business of selling happiness, because giving makes people happy.

This says something really cool about humanity. We care about others and are happy to support them in need. We like to buy and get cool stuff, but sometimes we are even more excited about giving to see some meaningful change in the world. Or, if we can’t change the world, at least helping to change it for this one person or animal.

Most people associate crowdfunding with platforms such as Kickstarter, where certain niches, such as gaming, have integrated it into their business models, essentially pre-selling products during crowdfunding campaigns. This approach is intuitively appealing: the company receives funds while clients obtain products, aligning with conventional commerce expectations.

However, the largest crowdfunding platform globally is not Kickstarter, but GoFundMe, which focuses on voluntary donations for a wide range of philanthropic endeavors, from healthcare expenses to memorials and crisis relief. This suggests that people are often more inclined to support causes they care about without expecting anything in return.

People donate because they want to help bring about the world you envision. They believe in your vision and wish to make a statement about it. Consider this: much of our daily consumption is about expressing our beliefs, not just consumption itself. Often, the coffee we drink, the clothes we wear, or the computer we use serve as ways to communicate who we are and what we stand for. The same principle applies to donations.

There is also something we saw clearly in our platform’s data. In the past, people could start a fundraiser and offer rewards for donations or collect donations without giving any rewards. Our data analysis showed that, overall, you collect more money when you just ask people to support you, without giving anything in return. This would not work for Kickstarter-type fundraisers, but for charity-like projects on our platform it seems to work. It is counterintuitive for many, as a large part of our belief system is based on the assumption that to get something, we need to give something in return.

And maybe we actually do, but it doesn’t have to be a T-shirt, or even an NFT.

As mentioned previously, what people might want to get is happiness, being part of something bigger than themselves, and contributing to the world they want to see. Giving is emotional, so the last thing you want is to shift the mindset from contributing to a greater good to being transactional. Once we start thinking in terms of transactions, additional doubts arise - is it worth it? Do I want the perk? Is it the best value for my effort? Is someone else offering better stuff?

It doesn’t mean that I think financial incentives don’t work

They absolutely do, and that’s why we need to approach them with caution.

Let’s dive right in: are we attracting the right kind of people to the web3 space? It’s a relatively new field and has already become a magnet for those chasing quick, short-term profits. For many who haven’t yet experienced the creative and collaborative essence of web3, blockchain might seem like nothing more than a high-stakes gamble or a scam, needing strict control or even outright banning.

If we genuinely want to encourage people to BUIDL and develop this space in a way that’s beneficial and socially constructive, we’ve got to figure out how to attract people who resonate with the challenges we’re trying to address—people who might stick around for the long haul to help us solve these issues. Those who don’t bother to learn about the space will likely back the politicians calling for a crackdown every time there’s new crypto drama.

Now, if our community or project is attracting people primarily for the freebies, we need to stop and think: are these the people we want or need right now? Remember, the individuals you bring in aren’t just numbers for a progress report; they are the future of what you’re building.

The nature and quality of the communities and individuals we engage with today are pivotal because they set the trajectory for the future. What would this future look like if the majority, or even a significant part of your community, only cared about the incentives? Are they here for the long haul? Or will they push for solutions that mostly serve their financial interest? The phenomenon of mission drift is very real and shouldn’t be brushed aside lightly.

I strongly believe that excessive focus on incentivizing people in web3 boils down to a fundamental issue: a lack of belief in the potential for success and in the ability to create something truly new and valuable.

If you’re under the impression that everyone who could be interested in web3 is already involved, you see it as a ‘red ocean’ scenario, where you’re constantly battling to sway people to your side. But consider this: it’s still a really new and tiny space that is becoming more user-friendly, so it’s not only about the people who are already here, but about those that this niche can attract. Who are the people you really want to join your project? Those you need to incentivize with money or promise of profits, or those who actually want to do something good with you (and treat potential future profits as a nice bonus)? What you advertise is what you get.

So, why do we believe in incentives so much?

I believe this issue stems from a bias we have when viewing others. Chip Heath conducted a study revealing a consistent overestimation of how much others are motivated by pay. Heath found that “participants listed an extrinsic incentive in the top position for themselves only 22% of the time, but they predicted that customer service representatives would list an extrinsic incentive in the top slot 85% of the time” [1]. This suggests that while we see ourselves as driven by passion, community, vision, learning, and growth, we assume others are primarily motivated by money. Even if money wasn’t our main attraction to a field, we often think it’s a key motivator for others.

Having been an activist for most of my life, I’ve realized that optimism about humanity is essential for continuing down this path, and I consider myself an optimist. It’s always surprising, and somewhat disheartening, to see that many people hold a rather bleak view of others. This perspective might be a significant source of problems in the world. If only we could recognize more of our own doubts and hopes in others.

I’m not suggesting that incentives are entirely ineffective. It’s about acknowledging our humanity, not claiming we’re angels. In your projects, there’s certainly room for a well-designed incentive system that encourages positive behaviors and discourages negative ones. However, before resorting to rewards as a panacea for all issues, why not explore strategies that have proven successful in traditional fundraising and crowdfunding fields for decades?

What you might focus on instead

Remember that giving is emotional. It’s all about how much we care about the issue and how supporting it makes us feel about ourselves. In my opinion, too much communication in this space speaks only to our rational selves, which probably reflects the current demographic. Yet, even the most rational people likely give more to charities than to support public goods projects (as valuable as they might be to the whole world), and my guess is that these charity donations weren’t made after reading a paper with a cost-benefit analysis of the problem at hand. My take here is that we should try to describe the projects and ideas in this space in ways that speak to both parts of ourselves - it’s both rational and emotional parts that make us human. This probably means that you need to attract or hire more people with a background in communication - and actually listen to what they say.
Create compelling stories and show real people. We understand and remember better when we hear stories. This is the main reason that in the past, people created sagas - even laws were easier to remember when told in the form of a story. We give to people and we trust people. Don’t hide behind the logo of the project and the avatar; start speaking to people. It doesn’t have to be very polished because people value sincerity. Yes, this might actually be uncomfortable, just like most important things in life.
Make people feel that they are part of something bigger than themselves. The field of public goods can be a perfect space to create this feeling of belonging and doing something valuable for the community. And this should be the focus of the communication for those projects. Make people understand why their help matters and how together we are changing how the world works. For the good!
Do things that people actually care about. Not every idea has a chance to spark interest in others, especially if you do not invest enough time and effort into explaining why it is important. This is one of the problems I see in many projects - often, founders spend years mulling over ideas in their heads, but then expect others to intuitively understand them after reading a few lines on the website. People have their own passions, problems, and interests, and they won’t care about your project unless you make them stop, think about it, and show them why they should care.

[1] Heath, Chip. “On the Social Psychology of Agency Relationships: Lay Theories of Motivation Overemphasize Extrinsic Incentives,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 78 (1999): 25–62.

This text is based on my talk “Can we learn from traditional donation crowdfunding about what motivates people to give?” prepared for Funding the Commons conference in Taipei, 2023.

**Interested in diving deeper into the web3 public goods funding ecosystem? Sign up for our free Octant newsletter.

Octant announces up to 100k ETH with Diva Staking for Public Goods Funding

Tue, 05 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

We’re thrilled to announce a new partnership between Octant and Diva Staking, uniting our efforts to decentralize Ethereum’s staking landscape.

We started Octant with a dual purpose: to enhance Ethereum public goods funding and to bring added value to GLM & the Golem ecosystem. Our vision is to make Octant a model for regenerative financing, empowering communities to fund what is critical to them.

To fund Octant, the Golem Foundation operates 3125 validators. Since our launch in 2023, our solo staking setup has emerged as one of the top 20 staking pools. Our focus on minority clients, such as Nimbus, underlines our strong commitment to Ethereum’s decentralized values.

When you lock GLM into Octant, you regeneratively earn ETH staking rewards in proportion to your lock. A one time lock in will continue to bring rewards every epoch (90 days) until you decide to unlock. Each epoch users are presented a choice; keep their rewards, or donate to some or all of those ETH rewards to participating public goods. Donations are substantially amplified through a matching pool, with the first round witnessing an average multiplier of 41 times! So your money goes much further if you donate, versus if you keep.

Addressing Staking Ecosystem Challenges

The current Ethereum staking ecosystem has revealed a worrying trend: the top three pools control over 50% of the staking power.

Worse still, 91% of this is either permissioned or centralized, leaving a meager 9% for decentralized options.

As for on-chain LST (Liquid Staking Tokens) dynamics, Lido dominates with 85%. The picture is clear: there’s an urgent need for new on-chain alternatives.

The Diva Staking-Octant Synergy

Octant’s commitment to Ethereum’s positive growth perfectly aligns with Diva Staking’s ambition to build the first unstoppable, permissionless LST, a ‘layer 2 for staking.’ Diva Staking’s vision of a 33/33/33% ecosystem balance mirrors our values.

Diva Staking is pioneering DVT-powered Liquid Staking with several key innovations:

Allowing Liquid Staking with divETH
Empowering anyone to run a node from only 1 ETH
Removing single points of failure with Distributed Validation
Using non-upgradable smart contracts that provide long-term guarantees

We’re thrilled to utilize Diva Staking’s DVT solution, amplifying the voices of those advocating for diminishing centralized dominance. Our partnership is our proactive response to these calls for change.

Allocating up to 100k ETH to Diva Staking

The Golem Foundation is planning a phased transition of its validators to Diva’s DVT, contingent on the maturity and extensive testing of their technology.

Our partnership with Diva Staking will unlock new ways to engage with Octant, including Liquid Staking and innovative methods to enhance your user rewards and public goods funding impact.

This change aims to create a more efficient and effective Octant ecosystem, while also contributing to the growth of the Ethereum network by welcoming a diverse array of node operators. It’s a pivotal move towards a more decentralized and balanced web3 future.

Curious to learn more?

Join us for a live YouTube event on Wednesday, December 13th, at 6pm CET / 9am PST to discuss this exciting announcement.

Join our call on Dec 13th at 6 pm CET /9 am PST.

We’re committed to engaging with our community and will soon share detailed plans to ensure a seamless transition and ongoing progress.

We encourage you to participate in the discussion on both the Octant and Diva Discord channels and community calls. Be a part of shaping the Ethereum ecosystem alongside Diva Staking and Octant.

Epoch One Allocation Window: A Look Back and What’s Ahead

Fri, 10 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The Epoch One Allocation window has concluded, marking two exhilarating weeks! The Octant community has allocated a total of 330.25 ETH in rewards and in the process supported 19 high-impact public goods projects. Massive thanks to everyone who jumped in on this exciting part of our journey! Take a deep dive with us into how things went, what we’ve learned, and where we are heading next (If you’re looking for a TL;DR, just take a look at the graphs and read the sections in bold).

Epoch One Overview

The Epoch One Allocation window was open to participants who locked at least 100 GLM into Octant’s smart contract and maintained their lock-in long enough to qualify for rewards by the end of the epoch.

Users in control of 515 addresses were eligible to participate in the allocation of Octant’s budget for Epoch One. The holders of these addresses were tasked with distributing 330.25 ETH in Total Rewards, with 101.66 ETH allocated towards Individual Rewards and 228.59 ETH directed to the Octant Matching Fund.

Octant mandates active participation: to have a claim on individual rewards, eligible users needed to log into the Octant app with their GLM-locking address while the allocation window was active (i.e. during the two weeks from October 19th to November 2nd) and decide how to allocate their share of the rewards.

They had three choices: to claim the rewards for themselves, donate partially or entirely to pre-approved public good projects, or to contribute the full amount to the Octant Matching Fund through Patron Mode. Inaction would result in the forfeiture of user rewards, which would then go back to the Golem Foundation.

User Engagement and Impact

By the close of the Allocation Window, users managing 363 addresses had made allocation decisions. 152 did not act and thus forfeited their rewards.

Of the 101.66 ETH in Individual Rewards:

69% were claimed by users,
16% were directed to the Matching Fund,
6% were donated to public goods projects,
9% (~9.5 ETH) went unclaimed and returned to the Golem Foundation.

To incentivize contributions to public goods projects, Octant employs an ingeniously designed matching funding mechanism. The leverage of Octant’s matching funds inversely correlates with the community’s donation rate. This means a lower rate of donations triggers a higher boost for individual contributions, ensuring that each donation remains impactful, even if numerous users opt to retain their rewards. In Epoch One, individual donations to shortlisted projects were amplified by an average factor of 41!

It is important to note, however, that this matching funding was exclusively applied to projects that met the minimum funding threshold. Presently, this threshold is set at 1/2n, where ‘n’ represents the number of shortlisted projects. With 24 projects in the running for Epoch One, each needed to secure at least 1/48th of the total donations to be eligible for matching funds from the Octant Matching Fund. The final funding threshold was established at 0.1151 ETH.

A crucial factor in securing community funding was the ability of Octant users to adjust their allocations dynamically during the active allocation window. Community members were encouraged to regularly monitor the progress of their chosen projects and reallocate funds as necessary to help their favored initiatives exceed the funding threshold. Among the participants, individuals overseeing 117 wallets elected to revise their allocations at least once. Eleven users made two changes to their allocations, six made three, another six made four, and a handful of users adjusted their allocations over 10 times since their initial distribution. The most involved participant remarkably altered their allocation a total of 39 times!

The Funded Projects

Ultimately, 19 out of 24 projects hit the funding threshold and received community donations in Epoch One. Detailed descriptions of each project can be found in the Octant app. As part of the application process, all projects applying for Octant community funding had to outline to the community their intended use of the requested funds. Their proposals can be found on the Octant Discourse forum.

Below is the list of Epoch One’s funded projects and their respective amounts raised:

Protocol Guild: 43.5192 ETH
Rotki: 33.9164 ETH
Hypercerts: 27.72 ETH
Tor Project: 26.1932 ETH
Giveth: 13.8307 ETH
Drips: 13.2587 ETH
OnionDAO: 10.3996 ETH
Gitcoin: 8.1771 ETH
Ethereum Cat Herders: 8.0409 ETH
Dao Drops: 7.443 ETH
Kernel: 6.911 ETH
EthStaker: 6.8226 ETH
BrightID: 6.5221 ETH
Clr.fund: 6.4618 ETH
MetaGame: 6.3599 ETH
PublicHAUS: 6.3502 ETH
Pairwise: 6.0523 ETH
Praise: 5.9665 ETH
Glo Dollar: 5.7655 ETH

Deciding Factors in Securing Octant Funding

As you can see on the graph below, two pivotal factors contributed to successful funding: the number of donors and the magnitude of their donations. Having a wide community backing proved pivotal, as projects with numerous donors generally saw a higher sum of contributions. The impact of the average donation size was equally telling; a smaller pool of donors contributing more generously could propel a project to achieve substantial total donations. However, for some projects, a support base on par with successful ones wasn’t enough — their average donation sizes were simply too modest to reach the financial threshold necessary for funding.

Continuous community engagement emerged as another critical element for acquiring Octant funding. Given the allocation process’s fluid nature, it was imperative for projects to keep a vigilant eye on their standing and actively encourage their Octant backers, ensuring they met and maintained the threshold throughout the allocation window.

The leaderboard was subject to numerous changes during the two-week window, with some projects enduring a tumultuous journey. Remarkably, at least three projects surpassed the funding threshold only in the allocation window’s final 48 hours!

What’s next for Octant?

The Epoch One allocation window is in the books, but Octant is just getting started. Epoch Two is already underway, and those who have locked a minimum of 100 GLM into Octant’s smart contract are accruing user rewards.

If you haven’t yet locked in your GLM, it’s advisable to do so as soon as possible. The sooner and more substantial your commitment, the heftier your potential rewards and the greater your sway in the forthcoming allocation window set to commence on January 17, 2024, at 5:00 PM CET.

We will announce the next round of submissions for public goods projects seeking Octant community funding shortly. If you are affiliated with or aware of a project that could captivate the interest of Octant’s community, we encourage you to review our eligibility criteria and tips for potential beneficiaries.

All projects that received funding in Epoch One are automatically eligible for participation in Epoch Two’s allocation window, provided they update their Discourse submission with details on how they are planning to spend their Octant funds.

For those projects that participated in Epoch One but fell short of the funding threshold, a reevaluation is in order. These projects must once again engage in community temp-check, soliciting input on how they can enhance their appeal for Epoch Two.

Projects opting out of the next funding cycle do not have to take any action.

A Special Thank You Note

Your participation in our first allocation window was invaluable, and we are keen to incorporate your insights and recommendations to refine the process. We invite you to share your experiences and thoughts on Octant by joining our Discord for real-time conversations or engaging in more detailed discussions on our Discourse forum.

We wish to express our gratitude to those who generously allocated their share of the Individual Rewards to the selected causes or contributed to the Octant Matching Fund by offering a special token of our appreciation: a unique, one-time POAP that you can claim for free at https://www.poap.delivery/octantepoch1.

First Octant Allocation Window Starts Today!

Thu, 19 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The Epoch One Allocation window starts today! Now’s your chance to determine the distribution of your user rewards and champion the causes you hold dear.

Each of Octant’s allocation windows spans two weeks. For Epoch One, the allocation period is set from October 19, 2023, 18:00:00 GMT+0200 (Central European Summer Time) to November 2, 2023, 17:00:00 GMT+0100 (Central European Time).

During these two weeks, Octant users with rewards from Epoch One will decide how to distribute their ETH rewards. If you’ve locked a substantial amount of GLM and kept it in Octant long enough, you can:

Keep your reward for yourself
Support shortlisted projects
Send your rewards to the Octant Matching Pool (more on this later).

It’s crucial to take action. Rewards not allocated by the end of the window will be returned to the Golem Foundation.

How to Use the App

To allocate your User Rewards, log into the Octant app using your GLM-locking address. In the Allocate view, you’ll see the amount of User Rewards you earned in Epoch One. This is your personal budget available for this Allocation window.

Some of you may have locked in smaller amounts of GLM or locked them in later in the epoch, resulting in no user rewards. Don’t get discouraged. The GLM you’ve locked is already earning rewards for Epoch Two! Additionally, a new app feature, which we will describe later in this post, lets you estimate your rewards, aiding you in making informed locking choices.

If you earned rewards in Epoch One, you’ll see a slider in the Allocate view. This slider allows you to determine how much of the funds you’d like to retain for yourself and how much you’d like to donate. Adjust the slider to choose the option that suits you best. Don’t worry if you change your mind later - you can modify your choice throughout the duration of the allocation window.

Once you’ve decided how much you want to donate, head to the Projects view and browse through the list of 24 public goods causes shortlisted with the help of the Octant community for Epoch One funding.

If you find a project you want to support, click the Heart button next to it. All projects you consider for allocation will then appear in the Allocate tab.

In the Allocate view, you’ll find the projects you’ve personally shortlisted, complemented by relevant metrics to guide your allocation choices.

Below each project’s name, you’ll see two figures: the total funds required for the project to be funded and the amount already donated by Octant users. If the community’s donated amount is in red, it indicates the project hasn’t yet met its funding threshold.

How the Matching Funding Works

When deciding which projects to support, remember that each contribution gets a boost from the Octant Matching Pool. The size of this boost depends on the community’s overall donation rate.

Here’s the magic: the leverage operates in contrast to the donation rate. A lower donation rate from the community means a larger boost for your donation! This ensures your contribution is still impactful even if many users decide to keep their rewards.

No donation is too small in Octant! Every bit you give can make a significant impact.

Minimum Funding Threshold for Projects

Projects need to achieve a specific funding level to receive their funds. The required amount is based on the total number of shortlisted projects. With 24 projects this round, each one needs 1/48th of the total donations from Epoch One.

If a project falls short of the required donations, the funds are returned to the Golem Foundation.

You can modify your allocation decisions as often as you like while the decision window is open.

Remember, you’re part of a dynamic community where everyone is making allocation choices. To truly amplify the impact of your donations observe the collective pulse, keep a close watch on your chosen projects, and adopt a flexible approach. Say a project you’ve backed has comfortably exceeded the minimum funding threshold; why not pivot your donation to another project on the cusp of that threshold?

Keep in mind that others may also change their preferences, so it’s beneficial to check frequently! Worried about gas fees when allocating? Don’t be! Allocations to projects are off-chain and free.

New Features in Octant

We’ve added two new features! First, as hinted earlier, we’ve introduced a Reward Calculator. This tool estimates potential rewards based on your GLM amount and the lock-in duration. To use it, click on the calculator icon at the top of the Locked Balance tile.

Secondly, we’re introducing Patron Mode. When active, all your rewards automatically go to the Octant Matching Pool, thereby amplifying community funding efforts through an increased donation multiplier.

It’s vital to be aware of certain nuances associated with this feature. If you turn on this mode:

You can’t claim or distribute rewards yourself.
Previous allocation choices are voided.
Patron mode stays on for future allocation windows until turned off.

To toggle Patron mode on or off, simply navigate to the Settings view within the Octant app and use the provided toggle.

How to Withdraw Rewards

If you’ve opted to claim a portion or the entirety of your User Rewards, you’ll be able to withdraw the claimed ETH to your wallet after the allocation window concludes (i.e., after November 2, 2023).

For security reasons, the Octant team will manually activate the withdrawal function after the allocation period. Keep an eye on our Twitter and Discord for updates.

It’s important to note that, unlike allocations, withdrawals transpire on-chain. Consequently, you’ll be responsible for any associated gas fees. But, there’s no rush. You can withdraw your rewards when it’s best for you.

What’s Next for Octant?

As you engage with Octant in the next two weeks, remember that this is just the beginning. Octant is here for the long haul, supporting transformative causes.

Every 90 days, Octant’s reward pool is replenished with a portion of the Golem Foundation’s 100,000 ETH stake reward, ensuring sustainable funding.

Your locked tokens in Octant are already earning ETH rewards for Epoch Two! Unlike platforms that rely on one-off donations and constantly seek new funding, Octant operates on a recurring rewards system.

At the end of every epoch, active users receive ETH rewards based on the amount of GLM locked into Octant. This allows them to support public goods projects every quarter without incurring additional out-of-pocket costs.

Shortly after this allocation window concludes, we’ll begin a fresh round of project submissions for the Octant beneficiaries pool. If you know a worthy public goods project, check our eligibility criteria and refer them to our submission process.

Remember, Octant is more than just an app; it’s a community effort to support high-impact causes. Your involvement will amplify our impact as we move forward.

So, dive in, engage, and make a difference!

Octant Community Project Submission Process: Funding Public Goods through Decentralized Governance

Mon, 11 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In the ever-evolving landscape of decentralized governance, Octant stands as a beacon of opportunity for projects that aim to make a positive impact on the world of public goods. Octant is your partner in funding innovative projects, including you!

We’re excited to unveil the Octant Community Project Submission Proposal Process. This process streamlines funding, ensuring that projects aligned with our mission receive the support they deserve. We are sharing the steps below.

Step 1: Join the Octant Discord Server

Before diving into the application process, immerse yourself in the Octant community by joining our Discord server. Here, you’ll find an interactive space to discuss your ideas, clarify doubts, and initiate preliminary discussions about your project. It’s where collaboration begins. It’s important that your project is active in engaging with the Octant community during the course of the given Epoch.

Step 2: Initial Discussion

Use our Discord for initial feedback. Engage with the community to gauge how well your project aligns with Octant’s Project Eligibility criteria. Ensure your project resonates with community interests and is likely to secure funding. Feel free to ask any questions or seek guidance from fellow community members. We’re here to help you succeed.

Step 3: Complete Submission Form

Ready to formalize your proposal? Below you’ll find our standardized submission form. Please provide the essential details, including:

Project Name:
Project Description and why it’s classified as a Public Good:
Main Project Funding Sources:
Seeking project-specific funding or funding for general operations:
Project Roadmap and Milestones (only for project-specific funding):
Funding Request and Budget (only for project-specific funding):
Team Information, including backgrounds and roles:
Social Credibility (development progress, awards, notable GitHub commits, referrals):
Discord contact:

Eligibility Criteria are also essential, so make sure to review them to ensure that your project aligns with what’s listed below:

Do you have a commitment to open-source (i.e. every open-source license accepted by the Open-Source Initiative) technology and sharing results publicly?
Have you provided transparency about how exactly funding will be used?
Are you advancing values of freedom and privacy (no surveillance and handling of personal data)?
Are you supporting decentralization in various fields (for example building Web3 projects)?
Have you provided social media channels to the extent that we can confirm social proof of your project?

Once your form is complete, submit it for initial review as a message to the Octant_Submissions Discord account. The Octant team will assess your proposal’s alignment with our mission. The application process is iterative, evolving as we encounter various projects and edge cases.

Step 4: Q&A On Your Project

After your project clears our initial review, you’ll be directed to submit it on our Discourse and Discord. It’s important you stay engaged with the Octant community discussion following this submission. It’s your space to address feedback, answer questions, and further refine your proposal. Building community support is a crucial step in the process.

In addition, we will offer potential beneficiaries the opportunity to present their projects in live Q&A sessions before the Allocation Window begins. For Epoch 1, these sessions will take place during two time frames: the first from September 29th to October 8th, and the second from October 9th to October 18th.

Step 5: Community Voting

If we receive more submissions than there are available spots in the pool of potential beneficiaries for the upcoming Allocation Window, a Snapshot vote will be organized to determine the final shortlist. Only users who have locked their GLM into Octant before the start of the Snapshot poll will be eligible to participate.

Epoch One and Deadlines

We are currently in Epoch One, which will conclude on October 19th. This will be followed by a two-week Allocation Window that ends on November 2nd. During this window, GLM token holders who have locked their tokens into the Octant app will have the opportunity to decide how the rewards are distributed.

Our goal is to add up to 10 more projects to the existing pool of potential beneficiaries before the first Allocation Window begins. If you’re considering submitting a project, please complete your Submission Form (as detailed in Step 3) by September 28th, three weeks before the end of Epoch One. Should we receive more than 10 submissions, we will organize a Snapshot vote to determine the shortlist. This potential Snapshot vote is slated to begin on September 29th and conclude on October 5th.

FAQs and Extra Information

If you still have questions about certain aspects of how Octant operates, please refer to our FAQ for answers to common queries. A review of our Documentation page may also be helpful in gaining a deeper understanding of Octant’s rationale, mechanics, and goals.

For questions specifically related to the new project submission process, please message user Octant_Submissions in the Octant Discord.

Octant is your partner in the advance of funding public goods. Join us in this revolutionary journey. Let’s create a sustainable future together.

Note: This blog outlines the proposal process and the eligibility criteria, both of which are subject to updates.

Unlocking the Mystery: How GLM-locking Mechanism Works in Octant

Fri, 11 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

We are so excited that Octant v1 is live!

In this post, we would like to present an overview of the Octant locking mechanism and share some implementation details. Our goal is to enhance clarity regarding how this mechanism operates and why it was designed this way.

Octant is a platform for experiments in decentralized governance and community engagement. One of its primary objectives is to test hypotheses around user control, community engagement and participatory public goods funding. The first experiment is centered around the distribution of the ETH rewards, generated from the 100,000 ETH staked by the Golem Foundation. To participate in the governance process, individuals are required to “lock” some amount of GLM tokens (100 or more) in the Octant Deposits smart contract.

GLM Locking Design

The idea behind the design of the Deposits locking contract is to make it as simple as possible and minimize any additional manipulations with GLM tokens. It is transparent and easy to understand, even for users who may not be tech-savvy.

The GLM Deposits contract only does two things:

“Lock” by depositing GLM tokens into the contract.
“Unlock” by withdrawing them back to the wallet.

The name is derived from the idea that you lock them into the contract for a specific duration. It’s not staking in the traditional sense.

The Octant locking mechanism is non-custodial. It does not put the tokens into a pool or mint Liquidity Provider tokens for a user, nor does it engage in any other form of manipulation. Users retain complete control and can “unlock” the tokens at any moment without any losses or penalties (you can trace all GLM-locking and unlocking transactions directly on Etherscan).

The purpose of this contract is to simply track how many GLM tokens users deposited. It gives them proportional voting power in the Octant public goods funding process, and the ability to claim rewards from the ETH staked by Golem Foundation.

GLM Locking Strategies

Octant operates in epochs. An epoch is a designated time period (currently set at 90 days). During an epoch, Octant generates ETH staking rewards and monitors user-deposited GLM tokens. Starting from the Epoch Two the locking mechanism uses a “minimal value strategy”, which means that a user receives voting power that is proportional to the minimum amount of GLM tokens locked in each epoch. Users who maintain GLM tokens locked throughout the entire epoch have a right to vote on the funds’ distribution and ETH claims based on that amount.

In Epoch One, which is designed as an onboarding phase, the locking mechanism operates differently. Users will receive voting power proportionally to the period of time for which they have locked GLM tokens during that epoch.

If a user locks 100 GLM at the beginning of Epoch One and later adds 1000 GLM in the middle of that epoch, their resulting voting power will be proportional to 600 GLM.

600 GLM = 100 GLM * 1 + 1000 GLM * 0.5

The same scenario in Epoch Two and subsequent epochs will lead to voting power proportional to 100 GLM.

100 GLM = MIN(100 GLM, 1100 GLM)

So if a user unlocks GLM tokens within an epoch, they’ll lose some voting power and ETH rewards based on the above strategy, but they’ll receive back the same amount of GLM they initially locked.

You can learn more about how Octant works here.

Deposits Contract

The deposit contract’s lock function performs three essential actions:

It tracks the current user’s deposit.
It deposits GLM tokens from the user’s wallet into the contract.
It emits an event detailing the current and previous locked amounts.

/// @notice GLM token contract address
ERC20 public immutable glm;

/// ...

/// @notice Lock GLM to enable participation in Octant experiment.
/// This can be done at any time, 
/// but it is most capital effective 
/// at the end of the epoch.
/// @param amount Amount of GLM to be locked.
function lock(uint256 amount) external {
    require(amount != 0, CommonErrors.INVALID_ARGUMENT);

    uint256 oldDeposit = deposits[msg.sender];
    deposits[msg.sender] = oldDeposit + amount;
    require(
        glm.transferFrom(msg.sender, address(this), amount),
        DepositsErrors.GLM_TRANSFER_FAILED
    );
    emit Locked(oldDeposit, amount, block.timestamp, msg.sender);
}

The unlock function performs the opposite role:

It reduces the current user’s deposit in the contract.
It transfers the tokens back to the user’s wallet.
It emits an event detailing the previous and the current locked amounts.

/// @notice Unlock GLM. This can be done at any time, 
/// but it is most capital effective at the beginning of the epoch.
/// @param amount Amount of GLM to be unlocked.
function unlock(uint256 amount) external {
    uint256 oldDeposit = deposits[msg.sender];
    require(oldDeposit >= amount, DepositsErrors.DEPOSIT_IS_TO_SMALL);
    deposits[msg.sender] = oldDeposit - amount;
    require(glm.transfer(msg.sender, amount));
    emit Unlocked(oldDeposit, amount, block.timestamp, msg.sender);
}

That’s it, really. As simple as it gets!

Octant v1 also includes other smart contracts that manage proposals for public goods funding projects, epochs, and more. Feel free to explore the code on your own:Octant repo. You can also familiarize yourself with the results of the Least Authority audit of the Octant’s smart contracts, which are available at their website.

In upcoming versions of Octant, we will expand the functionality and the experimental scope of community governance and public goods funding.

Join us!

Octant website: https://octant.build
Octant app: https://octant.app
Octant documentation: https://docs.octant.app
Octant newsletter: https://octant.substack.com
Octant Discord server: https://discord.gg/octant
Octant Twitter: https://twitter.com/OctantApp

Announcing Octant

Tue, 08 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

It’s here! After a very successful pre-launch event, comes the release of the Octant app.

We are really excited to introduce you all to Octant and invite you to take part in this thrilling initiative. If you voted in the Epoch Zero Snapshot poll, we also have a special thank-you waiting for you in the app, about which you can read more later in the post!

Octant, developed and funded by Golem Foundation as a new, practical use-case for GLM (an ERC-20 token, native to the Golem Network), is a platform designed to test various hypotheses around user control, community engagement, and participatory public goods funding. This real-life environment facilitates running various governance experiments and rewards active user participation with ETH.

How does Octant work?

To finance the platform, Golem Foundation stakes 100,000 ETH from its own treasury and allocates a predefined amount of its staking rewards to the Octant reward pool, creating a budget for experimentation. (Please note that not all our validators are online yet. We tested our solo-staking setup with a limited set of 64 validators and we are currently in the validator queue with over 3000 more of them. The expected deployment date is between September 1-4 2023. Octant’s FAQ provides you with instructions on how you can keep track of the status of our validators in real-time.)

Octant’s reward pool, fueled by returns from staking, will consist of two parts: User Rewards and Matched Rewards.

To participate in the distribution of Octant funds, users must lock at least 100 GLM with Octant for a 90-day epoch. The more GLM someone locks in, the more rewards they will earn, and the greater voting power they gain in token-weighted polls. Essentially, the rewards a user receives are directly proportional to the amount of GLM they lock. For example, locking in 1% of the total GLM supply means you receive 1% of the staking reward.

Please remember to only lock your funds using the official Octant web App, and make sure that you are sending funds to the following address: 0x879133Fd79b7F48CE1c368b0fCA9ea168eaF117c. Do not lock your GLM with any other address or any ENS! We will not be able to assist you with unlocking your tokens if you send your funds to the wrong address!

Octant’s GLM time-locking mechanism is non-custodial. The tokens locked into Octant by users are not pooled together with other users’ funds, and each user can unlock their tokens at any time. However, full participation in governance requires keeping your GLM locked for the entire epoch.

Once the epoch ends, users with valid lock-ins can either claim their User Rewards for themselves or donate their share of Octant rewards, partially or entirely, to eligible public goods projects. If they choose to donate part of their rewards, their contributions will be amplified from the Matched Rewards pool.

The Epoch One list of potential beneficiaries will initially include all the projects that received funding during Octant’s pre-launch Epoch Zero event. Before the first allocation window starts, we will add additional projects to the pool, taking into consideration the input of the Octant community.

We will describe the details of the submission and review process in a future post. In the meantime, if you are interested in this subject, please check the “Propose a project” section in the Octant docs, where we outline the eligibility criteria and the selection process.

What’s unique about Octant?

While on the surface Octant’s design might look simple and straightforward, we’ve introduced some important twists to its mechanics that make it much more engaging:

To be able to claim a part of the rewards from staking, Octant users will not only need to lock GLM with us but also be active during the allocation windows. They can either claim rewards for themselves, or donate them to eligible public goods causes; otherwise, their share of the rewards will go back to Octant and be used for restaking.
Similarly, for projects to be eligible for receiving community donations, they must pass a predefined threshold of community contributions. Rewards allocated to projects that don’t meet the funding threshold will return to Octant and be used for restaking.

These design choices turn Octant into a multiplayer game. Users will need to observe what other “players” are doing, keep an eye on how their favorite projects are faring, and react accordingly.

No allocation decision will be final until the Allocation window closes. Users can change their allocations as many times as they wish while the decision window is open and move their donations from project to project based on the popularity of their preferred choices with the rest of the community. (To enable this, all allocation decisions will happen off-chain, with no gas fees involved).

To attract donations, public goods projects included in the funding round will need to engage with the Octant community, promote their projects and missions, and actively contribute to the vibrant discussions.

This dynamic approach adds an interactive element to Octant, encouraging users to actively participate in the allocation process and creates an ecosystem of continuous engagement.

How does Epoch One differ from Octant’s subsequent epochs?

There are three important differences between Epoch One and the subsequent epochs in Octant, all designed to maximize the impact of Octant and create a dynamic and inclusive platform.

Firstly, we’re thrilled with the overwhelming interest Octant has received from the web3 community. To maintain this momentum, we’re planning to open the first allocation window earlier than the usual 90-day period after launch. The exact date will be determined based on the amount of GLM locked into Octant, our staking returns, and the expected User Rewards. Rest assured, we’ll provide advance notice of the opening date to keep you informed!

Secondly, to jumpstart the platform, Golem Foundation will turn over all of its staking rewards (minus the operational costs) collected during Epoch One to Octant, instead of following the usual formula for calculating the Total Rewards budget. This change will enable us to open the first allocation window earlier while still providing a significant budget for Octant.

Thirdly, we will calculate User Rewards differently. As a rule, to be eligible to receive User Rewards, you need to keep your GLM locked in Octant throughout the whole epoch (i.e., from the very first to the last day of the epoch). Since we are just launching Octant, and not all users will lock their GLM on the release day, we decided to calculate user rewards for the first epoch based on the time-weighted average of a user’s lock-in value. This way more people will be eligible to receive User Rewards and participate in the first Allocation window (if we followed the rule mentioned earlier, Octant users who locked their funds after the launch date would be able to claim User Rewards only after Epoch Two was over).

And, as a special bonus…

A special Epoch One Octant feature awaits all 656 people who voted in the Epoch Zero Snapshot poll. We appreciate your active engagement in our web3 public goods funding efforts, and we warmly welcome you to the Octant community with a special bonus. Connect the Octant app to the wallet address you used for voting in the Epoch Zero Snapshot poll, and claim 1000 GLM from the Golem Foundation! This feature will only be available until the end of Epoch One, so ensure you claim your GLM before the deadline.

We hope you will choose to lock these funds into Octant and, at the end of the epoch, consider donating at least part of the rewards to your favorite public goods projects. While Epoch Zero was a one-time-only event, Octant continues as an experiment in sustainable public goods funding, and your ongoing support plays a vital role in shaping its future and supporting the causes that matter to you the most.

Why are we building Octant?

Golem Foundation has been actively working on various projects that involve innovative technological and economic solutions, and require real-world testing in decentralized systems.

With Octant, our goal is to engage the existing GLM community, as well as anyone interested in joining, in a series of experiments aimed at finding sustainable funding models for public goods, increasing participation in governance, and improving polling methods to better reflect the values and goals of diverse communities.

The resulting empirical data will enable us, as well as outside researchers to explore and develop effective decentralized governance solutions that can be deployed at scale in different contexts, both within and outside the Web3 ecosystem.

Web3 is a vast and uncharted territory, providing fertile ground for experimentation, and we hope that Octant will help us navigate through it and lead us towards better governance.

Go deeper and stay up to date with Octant!

This announcement post only scratches the surface of what Octant is and what it can become in the future. For those of you who would like to delve deeper into Octant’s design, its relationship with Golem, our staking setup, etc., we’ve created a handy FAQ that covers most of the basics.

We also offer comprehensive documentation where you’ll find articles on Octant’s rationale, mechanism design, the math behind calculating User Rewards and Matched Rewards, and many other foundational issues.

If you still have more questions or would like to connect with the Octant team, please join our Discord server. Also, consider following us on Twitter and signing up for our Substack newsletter to get the latest updates on the project.

Lastly, please remain vigilant. Unfortunately, significant project launches in the crypto space often attract scammers and fraudulent individuals. Always use the official Octant app and trust only the information released on our official channels. We will not contact Octant users through Direct Messages with any special offers, there won’t be a “GLM-launch sale”, and there won’t be any release of an Octant “governance token”. If you are unsure whether the message you see regarding Octant is true, please always verify it with someone from the Octant Team on our official Discord server.

Thank you for being a part of our community! Enjoy the journey ahead with Octant!

Regens have spoken! Epoch Zero results are in

Fri, 28 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Back in June we were really excited to announce Epoch Zero: a special pre-launch event for Octant, an upcoming platform for experiments in decentralized governance which is funded and developed by Golem Foundation.

Today we’re even more stoked to be announcing the results of the Epoch Zero poll. Together, we distributed $1M worth of ETH among 10 high-impact web3 public goods projects with an excellent track record!

How the vote worked

Golem Foundation provided a reward pool for Epoch Zero from its own treasury and invited the Ethereum community to assist in distributing the funds among ten potential beneficiaries through a gated Snapshot poll. These beneficiaries were chosen with the help of the Octant community, based on the importance of their mission and positive impact on the web3 space.

The poll took place from July 21st to July 28th, 2023. To participate, individuals had to acquire an Epoch Zero Token (EZT) from Octant. The EZT is a non-speculative POAP token that could be minted by active members of the early Octant community, participants in Octant’s Twitter spaces events, and visitors at Octant’s booths during Funding the Commons (July 15-16) and EthCC (July 17-20) in Paris.

The poll implemented a weighted voting system, allowing participants to distribute their voting power across the ten curated public goods projects: Clr.fund, DAO Drops, Drips, EthStaker, Ethereum Cat Herders, Giveth, Gitcoin, Kernel, Protocol Guild, and Supermodular.xyz.

Over 2000 people minted the POAP, and 656 of them voted in the poll. Below, you can see the results of the vote along with information on towards what the Epoch Zero funds will go.

The results of the vote

The results of the Epoch Zero poll on Snapshot

Gitcoin - with 47.88% of the vote receives 256.20 ETH (~478,850 USD) in Epoch Zero donations.

The funds received from Epoch Zero will be split 50/50 between:

the Gitcoin matching pool - these funds are exclusively reserved for Gitcoin Grants and the grantees participating in the program,
the Gitcoin treasury which powers the program and ensures continuous building of the technology that enables it.

Giveth - with 18.06% of the vote receives 96.61 ETH (~180,560 USD) in Epoch Zero donations.

The team will allocate the funds received from Epoch Zero as follows:

30%: Giveth operations,
70%: Quadratic Funding (QF) matching pools, benefiting Giveth recipients.

ETHStaker - with 7.96% of the vote receives 42.60 ETH (~79,630 USD) in Epoch Zero donations.

The Epoch Zero funds will go towards two initiatives:

Funding educational content and incentivizing community members to continue creating content that helps the community as a whole,
Live events.

Kernel - with 6.53% of the vote receives 34.93 ETH (~65,280 USD) in Epoch Zero donations.

The funding will be directed towards enhancing Kernel’s educational experience, fostering collaboration, and enabling participants to contribute to building a better web.

DAO Drops - with 5.9% of the vote receives 31.56 ETH (~59,000 USD) in Epoch Zero donations.

DAO Drops plan to use the funds from Epoch Zero for a mix of development and operational costs of running the DAO Drops Round 2 and for the distribution pool itself.

Clr.fund - with 4.4% of the vote receives 23.54 ETH (~44,000 USD) in Epoch Zero donations.

Clr.fund intend to use the funds allocated in Epoch Zero to further improve the deployment of quadratic funding rounds and the onboarding process for round participants and donors.

Protocol Guild - with 3.56% of the vote receives 19.05 ETH (~35,600 USD) in Epoch Zero donations.

Funding from Epoch Zero will directly support the ongoing Protocol Guild mission to find a fair and secure way to fund those who contribute to the core Ethereum protocol, ensuring its ongoing development and success.

Ethereum Cat Herders - with 2.09% of the vote receives 11.16 ETH (~20,860 USD) in Epoch Zero donations.

Funds from Epoch Zero will go towards:

Creating educational content such as PEEPanEIP,
Funding EIP Editors,
Developing & maintaining bots to support EIPs GitHub repository,
Documenting Ethereum’s public meeting notes.

Supermodular - with 1.86% of the vote receives 9.97 ETH (~18,640 USD) in Epoch Zero donations.

Supermodular will direct Epoch Zero funds to finance its core mission of cultivating a more regenerative digital frontier, fostering positive-sum outcomes and collaboration within the web3 ecosystem.

Drips - with 1.76% of the vote receives 9.39 ETH (~17,550 USD) in Epoch Zero donations.

The Epoch Zero funds will be allocated to the dependencies of candidate projects in the current Drips round. Drips intends to demonstrate how dependency funding can work with its system, ensuring all funds are allocated to chosen dependencies, fostering new cultural norms in the crypto space.

Thank you to all participants for taking part in the poll and showing support for these important web3 public goods projects. We will soon transfer the funds to the recipients, and you will be able to track the donations on Etherscan.

What’s next for Octant?

Epoch Zero is just the beginning for Octant, paving the way for something even more engaging, impactful, and thrilling that lies ahead. Our upcoming web App release will serve as the platform for future Octant distribution rounds, offering exciting new features and possibilities for innovative governance experiments.

This new platform will be funded by Golem Foundation, utilizing the rewards from staking up to 100,000 ETH. We will no longer be issuing access tokens in the form of a POAP. Instead, governance over Octant’s funds will be open to anyone who time-locks a minimum of 100 GLM with us for a 90-day epoch.

Octant’s GLM-locking mechanism is non-custodial, allowing community members to withdraw their tokens at any time. Those who keep their tokens locked for a whole epoch will be eligible to receive ETH rewards. Once the epoch ends, they will have the option to claim their rewards for themselves or donate part or all of it to eligible public goods causes. Higher lock-ins will result in higher rewards and greater opportunities to support public goods causes. Every donation made to eligible projects will be amplified through Octant’s matching rewards system, multiplying its impact.

The process will be iterated every 90 days, allowing for continuous contributions and sustainable funding over longer time frames. Each epoch will also provide the Octant community with an opportunity to run various experiments in novel governance mechanics that can impact the distribution of the funds.

Octant’s experimental playground, fueled by real resources, will mirror authentic organizational scenarios. This will enable Golem Foundation and external researchers to accumulate invaluable empirical evidence, which can be utilized across the Web3 space to improve decentralized governance and elevate the whole ecosystem.

Stay in touch with Octant, exciting announcements ahead!

If you would like to join us on this exciting quest, please follow us on Twitter and join our Discord server where we will soon announce Octant’s mainnet launch.

Let’s fund something impactful together! Announcing Octant’s Epoch Zero

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

We’re happy to announce Octant’s Epoch Zero: a special pre-launch event for a new project funded and developed by Golem Foundation.

Octant is an upcoming, community-driven platform for experiments in decentralized governance, which gives users a chance to have a say in how rewards from staking up to 100,000 ETH are distributed between eligible public good causes. The platform is designed to test various hypotheses around community engagement, participatory funding, and user-centered governance, while rewarding user participation with ETH.

During Octant’s Epoch Zero, we will unite diverse communities interested in the regenerative potential of the Ethereum ecosystem to distribute $1M worth of ETH among eligible web3 public goods projects.

How can I participate in Epoch Zero?

As this is a pre-launch event, the distribution of Octant’s Epoch Zero reward pool will take place outside of the Octant app. Instead, a gated Snapshot poll will be conducted to determine how the $1M worth of ETH will be divided among potential beneficiaries. The poll will be held from July 21st until July 28th, 2023. To participate, you need to receive an Epoch Zero Token (EZT) from us.

The EZT is a POAP token that will be handed out to active members of the early Octant community, those at Funding the Commons (July 15-16) and visitors to Octant’s booth at ETHCC (July 17-20) in Paris. If you can’t attend these events, we’ll be hosting Twitter spaces with our partners and sharing info about how you can participate otherwise.

This token will grant recipients voting access to the Snapshot poll, enabling eligible participants to choose which projects they would like to support from Octant’s Epoch Zero reward pool. The poll will use a weighted voting method, allowing voters to distribute their voting power across any number of choices.

Why should I get involved?

There are several reasons to participate in Epoch Zero. First of all, it’s an opportunity to make a real impact and support your favorite projects in the decentralized space. Keep in mind that you will be contributing to the distribution of $1M worth of ETH!

If you’re new to decentralized governance and regenerative cryptoeconomics, this is the perfect opportunity to get involved. In Epoch Zero, there are no costs associated with participation. All you need is a crypto wallet to store a free POAP token that you can obtain from us.

Everything takes place on Snapshot, which is a user-friendly platform. If you encounter any difficulties, you can seek support by asking us anything on our Discord server.

What projects can I support in Epoch Zero?

In this special round of funding you can choose from a curated list of ten different projects, listed here in alphabetical order:

Clr.fund Clr.fund (Commons Library of Resources Fund) is a decentralized funding platform that focuses on supporting public goods in the Ethereum ecosystem. By using quadratic funding, the voting system allows for rewarding projects with the most unique demand and not just based on the wealth of its backers.
DAO Drops DAO Drops is an experiment in retroactive public goods funding - a system in which you reward efforts that have already yielded a public benefit. It supports projects that have done good in the community (in education, building tools, UX etc.) but have not received proportional funds and recognition.
Drips Drips describe themselves as a platform for “continuous drip-down funding”. They enable token streams of any ERC-20 to any Ethereum address and let users donate to their favourite projects and individuals by automatically forwarding a set percentage of funds they receive.
EthStaker EthStaker is a community providing education and support for existing and potential solo stakers. EthStaker is committed to helping any interested person learn the fundamentals of staking and evaluate their best way to start participating.
Ethereum Cat Herders The Ethereum Cat Herders are a group of individuals who aim to organise the Ethereum space to make its evolution smoother. This means helping the Ethereum core developers with project management and other aspects of communication and coordination through offering support and resources, organising meetings, surveys and running a podcast.
Giveth Giveth is a zero-fee, community-driven decentralized platform which allows for direct donations towards impactful causes. They promote philanthropy by rewarding donors with GIV - a token that grants access to the Giveth community as a voting member and offers other rewarding opportunities.
Gitcoin Gitcoin motto is “Fund, build and protect what matters”, and what matters to them is the future of open source software and public goods. Over the years they have helped raise funds for over 3 thousand projects, thanks to 3.8 million unique donations. They continue to help build and sustain digital public goods through their Grant Program.
Kernel Kernel is a custom peer-to-peer web3 educational community which facilitates learning, questioning, playing and discovering the decentralized space. Whether you have no idea what a blockchain is, or have been building all the decentralized things since 2009, Kernel community will help you learn what you need to know to participate in building a better web, together.
Protocol Guild Protocol Guild is a collective of folks involved in the Ethereum community working to enhance the managing of the core protocol. They achieve this by keeping a record of their members on the blockchain and enabling sponsors within the ecosystem to directly support them and their efforts.
Supermodular Supermodular.xyz is a project driven by the aim to build supermodular software and cultivate a more regenerative digital frontier. They run the SuperModular Incubation Program that supports the discovery, facilitation and deployment of impactful solutions through cultivating new regenerative web3 projects.

Where can I read more about Octant?

Want to learn more about Octant? Curious about why we’re building it, how it will be funded, and the experiments we’ll be conducting? Visit the Octant website and check out our documentation page. Don’t forget to join our Discord server and to follow us on Twitter for the latest updates on the project.

Let’s fund something impactful together!

Golem Foundation - 2022 in Review and What's Next

Mon, 16 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

As we get stuck into 2023, let’s take a quick look at what we were up to at Golem Foundation over the last year and what developments the year of 2022 brought to our project. We’d also like to show you what we’re looking forward to in the next couple of months and what 2023 might have in store for us.

Wildland - new Rust-based core and a modular architecture

2022 brought some major changes to Wildland. Six months ago we ceased working on the Python client - the first, proof of concept, implementation of the Wildland protocol, described in the Why, What and How paper, and started developing a new core. It can serve as the foundation for a production-quality file storage solution that can serve as a viable alternative to mainstream cloud storage services.

The new Wildland core is being written in Rust, a programming language that has better memory management than Python, as well as excellent cross-platform capabilities across Linux, macOS, Windows and other major operating systems. Writing the new core in Rust will thus make it easier for us to develop Wildland-powered apps on different platforms.

This switch from Python to Rust marks the end of a great collaboration with the Invisible Things Lab team who have been a very big part of the development of Wildland up to this point and for whose expertise and input we are really grateful for.

With the new core we are also introducing major changes to Wildland’s architecture. We are making it more modular, more flexible and more efficient in handling large number of containers. We have introduced a new mechanism for cloud-hosted forest automation and the Active Catalog Backend (ACB) module with the goal of providing a remote storage for container descriptors. This will allow access to this information from different machines, and improve performance of complex operations, such as querying or bulk editing of the metadata for many containers.

The new architecture has also eliminated container manifests, merged the forest owner and user manifest concepts into one, introduced a default Global Root Forest Directory with assumed implementation on an Ethereum smart contract, and simplified URL sytntax.

The decomposition of the Rust-based core into functional blocks will allow us to design, implement and test each of Wildland’s components independently. Moreover, some components, such as ACB or User Interface front-ends, might exist in multiple implementations, each providing different feature sets.

Work is also progressing on Cargo - a Wildland-powered replacement for popular cloud storage services built upon the new Rust-based architecture. Cargo’s design and its feature set should be especially attractive to privacy-conscious users who subscribe to services like Tresorit or Filen, as well as to people who have looked into various p2p-synced storage solutions like ChainSafe, SlikSafe or Sia, but found their current state to be not entirely satisfactory.

We are targeting MacOS as the first platform on which Cargo will be deployed. Full-featured iOS, Linux, Windows, Android, and web versions are planned for the future. If you want to know more about the changes we have made to Wildland’s architecture, and the current status of the project please head to the new Wildland documentation page.

During the last 6 months, we have also started working on a new project belonging to a wider Wildland ecosystem - Aleph6.

Aleph6 is a converter that allows for the interoperability of structured information between various knowledge-storing, -processing, and -visualizing formats, apps, and services. This includes, for example, note-taking apps like Bear or Obsidian, various mind-mapping apps, as well as graph visualizers, and other structured information processing sources, such as the filesystem and a web browser.

The first Python-based Aleph6 implementation with a command-line interface will soon be made available for testing on our GitLab. Watch this space for an announcement.

Creating Rusty-bind

While working on Wildland’s new Rust-based core we have found that there are no tools that could satisfactorily be used to generate bindings allowing for the use of Rust APIs in different projects, where a cross platform library is expected to be consumed by various subprojects written in different languages. To mitigate this problem we started developing rusty-bind: an open-source tool for generating bindings from Rust code to popular programming languages and runtime environments.

While still in the early stages of development,Rusty-bind already improves upon existing tools that provide interoperability between Rust and other languages. It does not focus on a single target language or an OS, it offers better developer experience than alternatives, and has a flexible architecture, which allows for an easy support for another target language.

Rusty-bind’s development is primarily driven by the needs of the Wildland project. This means that so far we have been focusing on the language features and target platforms which we currently use in Wildland, i.e. Swift, C++, SWIG and WebAssembly. Rusty-bind, however, is not Wildland-specific, and we are making it available under the GNU GPL3 license, so that other developers can use it, add to its code, and modify it to better suit their needs. To find out more about the current status and the possible usages of Rusty-bind check out this post.

You could say that 2022 was, for us, the year of “the UDO”. The User-Defined Organization was first introduced in the Why, What and How paper as the governance-layer of Wildland. Our design is not tied to Wildland, however, and we believe that UDO can be successfully implemented by many different projects looking for sustainable ways of decentralized funding.

Therefore, this past year was all about sharing our idea with outside experts and gaining valuable insight into its potential strengths and weaknesses. This resulted in the publishing of two research reports: one from BlockScience, an engineering, R&D, and analytics firm specializing in complex systems, the other from the RadicalxChange Foundation, a non-profit carrying out research and development on governance, mechanism design and game theory. We have gained many valuable insights from both teams, and will be testing some of their proposals for improvements, especially around the use of Soulbound tokens, in the near future.

In September we had the opportunity to share our governance ideas at ETHWarsaw, the first Ethereum conference in Poland. In order to show people some ways in which we think decentralized public goods funding could work, we ran the Wildland Governance Game.

We put 100 000 GLM into the hands of ETHWarsaw’s participants and let them decide if they wanted to keep their tokens or to donate them to one of ten causes. By doing so, we wanted to ascertain the benevolence of the Ethereum community, and observe various coordination efforts in the context of decentralized funding. The results of the experiment were very encouraging - most participants decided to donate their tokens rather than keep them for themselves, and in the process converged around four projects - Aid for Ukraine, Signal, the Tor Project and The Internet Archive - to which a total sum of 98 000 GLM was donated.

The final leaderboard in the Wildland Governance Game

Octant - a new community-driven platform for experiments in decentralized governance

The governance experiment we ran during the ETHWarsaw was just a tease of something much more advanced and meaningful to come. Early this year we will unveil a new Golem Foundation project, Octant - a community-driven platform for experiments in decentralized governance.

Developed to test various hypotheses around user control, voter engagement, and community funding, Octant will allow for running various governance experiments in a real-life environment and rewards user participation with ETH.

To fund the platform, Golem Foundation will transfer to Octant a certain fraction of the rewards it will receive from becoming a validator in the new Ethereum Proof-of-Staking consensus mechanism. The governance over Octant’s funds will be then turned over to those community members who lock at least 100 GLM in to a Octant contract for an epoch lasting 90 days. In the following epoch users with valid lock-ins will be able to decide if they want to claim part of Octant’s funds as their rewards or to donate it to community-chosen public good projects. If they chose the latter, their donations will be matched by Octant, multiplying their impact. During each epoch, Golem Foundation will run various experiments in decentralized governance, for example, introduce changes in voting mechanics, try out various delegation frameworks, utilize soulbound tokens to incentivize and measure user engagement, etc. The results of the experiments will inform our research into effective decentralized governance solutions, and allow us to gather empirical data on various governance behaviors.

Flow of funds in Octant

The alpha version of the Octant app is currently being tested in-house. We will soon make it available to outside testers as well. If you are interested in helping us refine Octant for a general release, please head to the Octant MVP site where you can read more about Octant’s rationale, overall design, and features.

Please note that the full-featured version of Octant will be made publicly available only after the Ethereum Shanghai upgrade becomes live. The upgrade, which will enable ETH staking withdrawals, is tentatively scheduled for March 2023. Until then Octant will be deployed on the Görli testnet and utilize TestGLM and GörliETH.

Exploring decentralized governance ideas - the Freedom Games and RadicalxChange Warsaw

Developing viable alternatives to widespread governance models requires cooperation between people and organizations with different ideas, backgrounds and experiences. This is why we have partnered with other researchers, thinkers and technologists from across the blockchain ecosystem.

In 2022 we collaborated with RadicalxChange and supported two events alongside the US-based NGO, helping them bring their governance ideas to a wider audience. The first of them was the 2022 Freedom Games in Łódź, one of the largest annual conferences in Poland, where RadicalxChange, with the support of Fundacja Liberté!, hosted a series of panels on “21st Century Infrastructure: From State Capacity to Shared Capacity.”

L-R: Henry Farrell, Shrey Jain, Julian Zawistowski and Puja Olhlaver (virtually) at the Freedom Games in Łódź, Poland (photo courtesy of Angela Corpus)

Then we collaborated on bringing to life the first RadicalxChange conference in Poland - RadicalxChange Warsaw: Europe and The Futures of Pluralism.

L-R: Julian Zawistowski, Przemek Kowalczyk and Shrey Jain at RadicalxChange Warsaw, Poland (photo by: Zbyszek Kaczmarek)

L-R: Sara Polak and Alec Empire, two of many amazing guests speaking at RadicalxChange Warsaw (photo by: Zbyszek Kaczmarek)

Exchanging ideas: guests and panelists chat at RadicalxChange Warsaw (photo by: Zbyszek Kaczmarek)

At both events, Julian Zawistowski shared our perspective on governance, decentralized funding and user-control with the audiences: first at the Freedom Games in a panel called Network Society (which you can watch in full here), talking along side Puja Ohlhaver from FlashBots, Henry Farrell and Shrey Jain from Microsoft, and then moderating a panel at RadicalxChange Warsaw on Web3 and The Dream of Radically Distributed Governance (watch it here). Both events were very well received and we hope to host more events of this kind in the future.

Join us in 2023 and keep up to speed with our projects!

If you wish to keep up to speed with what’s going on at Golem Foundation and the projects we’re working on in 2023, you can follow us on Twitter @GolemFoundation and @WildlandIO, and on LinkedIn @GolemFoundation and Wildland.io. Join our Discord and share your thoughts with us. Have a great 2023!

Golem Foundation

Public Goods Funding in Open Source Networks: Lessons from Traditional Donation Crowdfunding

So, what really motivates people to give?

So, why do we believe in incentives so much?

What you might focus on instead

Octant announces up to 100k ETH with Diva Staking for Public Goods Funding

Addressing Staking Ecosystem Challenges

The Diva Staking-Octant Synergy

Allocating up to 100k ETH to Diva Staking

Curious to learn more?

Epoch One Allocation Window: A Look Back and What’s Ahead

Epoch One Overview

User Engagement and Impact

The Funded Projects

Deciding Factors in Securing Octant Funding

What’s next for Octant?

A Special Thank You Note

First Octant Allocation Window Starts Today!

How to Use the App

How the Matching Funding Works

Minimum Funding Threshold for Projects

New Features in Octant

How to Withdraw Rewards

What’s Next for Octant?

Octant Community Project Submission Process: Funding Public Goods through Decentralized Governance

Step 1: Join the Octant Discord Server

Step 2: Initial Discussion

Step 3: Complete Submission Form

Step 4: Q&A On Your Project

Step 5: Community Voting

Epoch One and Deadlines

FAQs and Extra Information

Unlocking the Mystery: How GLM-locking Mechanism Works in Octant

GLM Locking Design

GLM Locking Strategies

Deposits Contract

Announcing Octant

How does Octant work?

What’s unique about Octant?

How does Epoch One differ from Octant’s subsequent epochs?

And, as a special bonus…

Why are we building Octant?

Go deeper and stay up to date with Octant!

Regens have spoken! Epoch Zero results are in

How the vote worked

The results of the vote

DAO Drops - with 5.9% of the vote receives 31.56 ETH (~59,000 USD) in Epoch Zero donations.

Ethereum Cat Herders - with 2.09% of the vote receives 11.16 ETH (~20,860 USD) in Epoch Zero donations.

What’s next for Octant?

Stay in touch with Octant, exciting announcements ahead!

Let’s fund something impactful together! Announcing Octant’s Epoch Zero

How can I participate in Epoch Zero?

Why should I get involved?

What projects can I support in Epoch Zero?

Where can I read more about Octant?

Golem Foundation - 2022 in Review and What's Next

Wildland - new Rust-based core and a modular architecture

Creating Rusty-bind

Researching and sharing the UDO

Octant - a new community-driven platform for experiments in decentralized governance

Exploring decentralized governance ideas - the Freedom Games and RadicalxChange Warsaw

Join us in 2023 and keep up to speed with our projects!