[BIP-399] ve8020 Launchpad

Introduction

To further incentivize protocols adopting the ve8020 model pioneered by Balancer, the Grants Committee has had an open RFP for building a “ve8020 launchpad” that minimizes the barrier to entry for future teams. The idea being in its simplest form:

A step by step guide with a set of template contracts and or frontend code for projects to launch a veToken using an 80/20 balancer pool, or weight of their choice. This would make the smart contract steps for deploying the vote escrow system in Vyper coupled with the locking of a Balancer pool token streamlined for projects to utilize in an open way.

A guide would be one phase of this project, potentially with an interface either deployed or for local use that could be easily accessed by a team to create their own ve system around the pool token.

This RFP can be approached in a way envisioned by the grantee, not fixed to what is described as long as it simplifies the process.

Originally a form of this was to be developed as part of Alchemix’s veALCX implementation but it was deemed that ultimately this will be more complex and too specific for what the launchpad needs to be, so the RFP was re-opened. Given the interest in this RFP and the potential effect on the Balancer ecosystem, we have opened up this decision making to veBAL voters.

In order to assess these proposals equivalently and give the teams a target for what the ecosystem deems valuable, we have developed the following criteria. Guided by these, veBAL holders will ultimately have the power to decide through a governance vote.

If there are any other requirements considered necessary, they can be added here and/or discussed with each team.

Process

This post is to introduce the teams and process then:

1. All teams will post their initial proposal to the governance forum (if not already)
2. A grace period for questions to be posted and answered in individual discussions
3. Proposals modified if required
4. Single BIP to follow as a summary of the ve8020 launchpad proposals. This BIP will go to snapshot with each team as a vote option rather than each individual proposal going to vote.

It will be an interesting exercise in open-book, multi-team proposals that will really test decentralized decision making, but given the number of interested parties, we feel this is the way forward.

Teams and Proposals: (will add links as teams post proposals)

• Blockdudes
• Magic Powered
• Bleu
• Protofire

Criteria

Feature Completeness - Base functionality is to include a guide and contracts to deploy a vote escrow system in Vyper coupled with the locking of a Balancer pool token streamlined for projects to utilize in an open way

User Customization Options - What options are included for easy customization? Eg. Duration of lock, slope customization being linear or step, token ratio etc

Bonus Inclusions - Additional features over and above minimum requirements. Eg. Front end, does this allow for standard deployments only or cater to more specialized/custom implementations and how.

Financials - Is the ask reasonable for the scope/time required and justified, are clear milestones proposed with risk mitigation to the DAO and project team considered? Eg. no major upfront payment, final milestone weighted to incentivise completion.

Clear Deliverables - Are deliverables for each milestone clearly defined with reviewer/approver elected. Do these need to include individual pass/fail criteria. Are timeframes proposed.

Team Capability - What experience does the team have generally and more specifically with Balancer architecture. What have they built before and do they have experience with these Vote Escrow contracts specifically.

Team Capacity - what are the team’s involvement in other concurrent projects and what is the capacity to complete this work in the timeframes proposed

Audit Included - does proposal include an audit, what requirements are proposed for future teams using the launchpad to also audit code. Eg. standard deployment no audit, custom deployment requires audit.

Known Projects looking to use Product - does the proposal team have projects lined up to implement a ve8020 system upon completion. Some value proposition here would be useful to immediately bring in more projects adopting ve8020 tokenomics with the launchpad and put it through a real world test.

Balancer Labs / Integrations Assistance Required - if so, what? Some is likely necessary but major assistance will detract from application, the team should be generally self-sufficient.

Defined Technical Sponsor (to be determined by Balancer) - person responsible for approving technical work.

Defined Grant Mentor (to be determined by Balancer Grants) - contact point for grantee and DAO to coordinate communication and track progress

Potential Conflicts of Interest - For transparency, is the team working with or have ties to any veBAL voter or delegate. Being known to the Balancer ecosystem is not grounds for disqualification, a known team with a proven record is a positive attribute but disclosure is important for the process.

A summary document has been completed by the Grants team and accessible here.

Specifications Snapshot voting will determine which team the grant is awarded to with the value and milestones as per the individual proposal. The team with the most votes will be awarded the grant. Upon approval, Balancer Grants team will be responsible for managing communication and milestone approvals/payouts. Grant funding is to be paid from Balancer Grants existing treasury for Wave 9 and as such there are no immediate on chain actions required.

Voting Options

1. Blockdudes - not including ongoing funding for maintenance and support beyond 6 month inclusion This will be determined closer to end of this support period. Security review by Certora funded by Balancer.

   • Total - $40k USD in BAL
   • MS1: Interface Built: $10,000 (20 days)
   • MS2: SDK & Launch Frontend: $15,000 (25 days)
   • MS3: Guide: $5,000 (5 days)
   • MS4: Smart Contract Code and Launch Scripts: $0 (10 days)
   • MS5: One project onboarded: $10k

2. Magic Powered - (Pending final responses) - Security review by Certora funded by Balancer and internal security review by Magic Powered.

   • Total $31.6k in BAL (including $5k internal security review)
   • MS1: Design & Frontend $10k
   • MS2: Integrations $13.6k
   • MS3: Guide & Docs $3k
   • MS4: Internal Security review $5k

3. Bleu - As proposed. Security review by Certora funded by Balancer.

   • Total - $29k USD in BAL
   • MS1: Completion of Smart Contracts. USD 4k.
   • MS2: Completion of Integrations. USD 6k.
   • MS3: Completion of Launchpad UI. USD 9k.
   • MS4: Deployment to all supported chains. USD 10k.

4. Protofire - including $5k for deployment on all chains. Security review by Certora funded by Balancer and audit by Protofire Audit

   • Total $33.2k in BAL (including $5k for deployment on all chains)
   • MS1: Design & Discovery, SCs and Subgraph $9.4k
   • MS2: Guide, SDK and VeToken Page (UI) $9.4k
   • MS3: Launchpad, Test & Audit, Hard Guarantee activation $9.4k
   • MS4: Deployment to all chain $5k

5. No teams to be awarded grant.