750,000 FTM: Ecosystem Vault Distribution via Gitcoin
On July 5, 2023, a Fantom governance proposal was passed to distribute the funds in the Ecosystem Vault through Gitcoin, an organization building blockchain-enabled funding and security solutions.
As we near the first distribution of funds, we are excited to share more details about the free-to-participate community funding round that will distribute over 750,000 FTM to dApps on Fantom. No personal donations are required!
Application period: August 22 – August 29
Funding round: August 30 – September 20
What is the Ecosystem Vault?
The Ecosystem Vault collects 10% of the transaction fees on Fantom. Previously, dApps were required to submit governance proposals to request funds from the Vault. However, after the passing of the governance proposal mentioned above, these funds now will be distributed through funding rounds on Gitcoin.
The Vault represents a valuable opportunity for projects to secure funding in their efforts to build innovative dApps on Fantom and offers the Fantom community a chance to come together and shape the future of the platform through its funding decisions.
How will funds be distributed via Gitcoin?
Funds from the Ecosystem Vault are distributed to projects in quarterly funding rounds hosted on Gitcoin. These rounds are composed of users voting on participating projects to determine the amount of funding the projects receive from the Vault. Note that the Vault rounds are separate from the rounds in the Gitcoin Grants program.
Furthermore, unlike the Gitcoin Grants program that requires users to donate actual FTM to vote, the Vault funding rounds give users special valueless tokens called GitcoinVote with which to vote. This removes the need for users to make personal donations to projects and introduces a first-of-its-kind funding initiative.
The GitcoinVote tokens empower community members to cast their votes to fund their preferred Fantom projects. To maintain the integrity of the voting process and mitigate Sybil attacks, only votes from users with Gitcoin Passport verification will be considered (more below).
Once projects have been approved to participate in a funding round, they will receive 1 million GitcoinVote tokens, which they can distribute to their users to use for voting. If projects wish to receive more tokens, they can contact the Fantom Foundation to receive a limitless amount of GitcoinVote tokens.
Learn more here.
What is Gitcoin's quadratic funding?
Gitcoin uses a unique funding method known as quadratic funding. The more unique votes a project receives, the higher its funding will be. In the example below, 1 GitcoinVote equals $1.
For example, if Project A receives 100 GitcoinVote in total from only one community member, while Project B receives 100 GitcoinVote in total from ten different community members, Project B will receive more funding as it has wider community support. This model encourages broader community participation as opposed to singular large donations.
Once the matching has been completed, each team will receive its allocated amount over three months. These payments will be streamed in real time through LlamaPay.
How to participate in Gitcoin funding rounds?
All projects are welcome to apply. For projects that have been active for under three months, the Fantom Foundation will determine their eligibility. During the first round, the Foundation will choose only a select number of applicants to guarantee that only projects dedicated to using the funds to enhance the Fantom ecosystem participate.
For users to participate and vote, they must receive GitcoinVote tokens from one of the participating projects. Furthermore, they must register for a Gitcoin Passport, which is an identity verification application. Upon successful registration, users will be eligible to vote.
Application period: August 22 – August 29
Funding round: August 30 – September 20
