Commission Quarterly Research Reports with Messari Protocol Services

Author: Corey Duzy

Simple Summary

This proposal seeks funding for the 1inch Network to order (4) quarterly analytical reports from Messari for Q3-Q4’2023 & Q1-Q2’2024. Total funding value: 80,000 USDC.

Abstract

We propose that Messari continues to provide research and reporting services for 1inch in the form of quarterly reports. Messari is one of the most influential and respected research providers in the crypto space. One of their services is providing crypto projects with long-form research, standardized financial reporting and a platform to get important fundamental information into the hands of the broader crypto community.

Motivation

The 1inch Network has ongoing, long-term cooperation with Messari. Messari has already released five quarterly reports for 1inch in 2022-2023:

• https://messari.io/report/state-of-1inch-q2-2022
• https://messari.io/report/state-of-1inch-q3-2022
• https://messari.io/report/state-of-1inch-q4-2022
• https://messari.io/report/state-of-1inch-q1-2023
• https://messari.io/report/state-of-1inch-q2-2023

These reports are significantly helpful for members of the 1inch community and the project’s investors in terms of validation of achievements, milestones and various statistical data related to the 1inch Network’s activities.

Specification

Messari brings transparency to the crypto economy. They want to help investors, regulators and the public to make sense of this revolutionary new asset class. For this purpose, the Messari team keeps building data tools that will drive informed decision making and investment. They believe that crypto will democratize access to information, break down data silos, and ultimately give everyone the tools to build wealth.

Each Messari quarterly report includes:

• Protocol Income Statements. Important metrics and key performance indicators are compiled and presented to provide a clear look at project’s fundamentals to view across time periods.
• Deep Quantitative Analysis. Quantitative metrics are assessed on a macro level as well on a micro level, digging deep into the numbers to provide actionable insights.
• Real-time Data Dashboards. Live dashboards are made to highlight all the data available in the report.
• Key Events Summaries. Important events, such as network upgrades and governance proposals are presented to provide a full scope of the project’s latest development.

Messari reports have a unique distribution network:

• Newsletter. With over 350,000 subscribers, Messari Unqualified Opinions is among the most read crypto newsletters in the world.
• Messari Site & Distribution Partners. Over 500 top crypto firms and institutions use Messari Daily. Messari reports are also distributed via their own API.
• Social Channels. With 320,000+ followers and over 50 million impressions per month, @MessariCrypto is one of the leading brands on crypto Twitter.
• Messari Third Party Partners. Bloomberg, S&P Capital, and Refinitiv.

Rationale

Surfacing on-chain metrics and key developments

These reports better inform existing stakeholders through recurring, data-driven research from trusted, independent analysts. The actionable insights generated from these reports will better educate them on the economic, financial, and social health of 1inch, whether it’s a surge in trading volume across a certain market or the implications of a major upgrade or governance decision. There are compounding effects to this as various stakeholders are able to leverage our work to further their goals.

Example - Gauntlet using our assessment of interest rate optimizations on protocol revenue to further quantify the impact.

Facilitate protocol business development

This information gets sent out to over 350,000 of our subscribers of which ⅓ comprises most of the top crypto native builders in the space. By getting high-quality information around 1inch’s mechanics and real traction, it increases the likelihood of more projects building on and integrating with 1inch.

We’ve seen our reporting frequently end up on major DAO governance forums (deploying Uniswap on Filecoin VM and Avalanche)

Institutional adoption

Existing mainstream coverage of crypto is woefully lacking. Investment banking and sell-side equity research coverage of crypto fails to paint an accurate picture of the material developments in this industry. When it comes to DeFi and even more nuanced aspects of this industry, things only get worse.

To combat this we have spent significant resources getting onboarded to many of the largest traditional research platforms in the world, including the Bloomberg Terminal, S&P Capital IQ, and Refinitiv. This goes a long way to further professionalize the projects we work with to the vast majority of major funds, banks, financial service companies, and large corporations in the world. After reading these reports, these entities will better grasp the magnitude of economic activity generated by the protocol.

There are trillions of dollars in AUM represented by the consumers of these platforms, so even a small percentage of users consuming this information and acting on it can drive meaningful activity on-chain.

Distribution numbers

• Bloomberg Terminal:
  • 325,000 users
• S&P Global Capital IQ
  • 12,000 enterprises
• Refinitiv
  • 400,000 users

Additional stats*

• 5 asset managers >$100b
• 10 asset managers >$1b
• 5 hedge funds >$50b
• 11 hedge funds >$1b
• Aggregate AUM: $5.5 trillion
• 12 large corporates
• Market cap: $750b

*numbers are only from Refinitiv as we’re working with Bloomberg and S&P to get more distribution stats.

Commitment to transparency

Funding this type of reporting demonstrates a proactive commitment by 1inch to transparency and accountability, two core tenets of this industry. Doing so sends positive signals to prospective users, clients, and partners. Additionally, our work with regulators in DC has made it clear that this type of transparency is looked upon favorably and highlights decentralization by working with third-party service providers to execute crucial functions.

Considerations

The 1inch DAO should consider validating the 1inch Network metrics and results by a third party organization for another level of transparency. We suggest ordering these reports through Q2 2024.

Cost

Total funding value: 80,000 USDC (20,000 USDC for each report).

Research

Our analysts spend several weeks researching and writing each report, along with an extensive internal editing and review process by the broader team.

Data Science and Engineering

Each report will have its own dedicated data science and engineering resources tasked with providing all the relevant raw data. This requires ingesting large amounts of data which is housed in a data warehouse, incurring storage and compute costs.

Distribution

We have several members of the team working on distribution for these reports across all of Messari’s channels along with the third-party partners.