BIP-73: Treasury Funding for Beethoven X DAO Contributors

Introduction and Motivation

The Beethoven DAO Treasury plays a vital role in retaining and attracting key contributors to work on and advancing Beethoven X. Through defined six-month funding cycles, facilitated by BIPs-35, -40, -55, and -65, the DAO has provided the means to fund contributors working on the protocol. Now, we propose to sustain this funding model for a total of $40k per month from the Treasury. This extension will cover a further 6 months from October 2024 to the end of March 2025.

Background

Ever since the earliest bootstrapping phases of Beethoven X, the Beethoven DAO and its contributors have been able to finance operations from the activity of the protocol. Today the DAO is instrumental in maintaining a high functioning and operational team of contributors that is active in the best interest of the protocol.

The market downturn in 2022-2023 forced Beethoven DAO contributors to be adaptable and flexible. At times contributor count was slashed by more than 30% and contributor rates cut by 50%. Nevertheless, the contributors have endured thanks to the foresight and engagement of the Beethoven DAO. Additionally, the close and strategic relationship with the Balancer DAO and the resulting service provider agreements, have provided an additional revenue stream for the DAO, used to fund contributors. Currently, this arrangement helps offset DAO Contributor costs by up to $59k per month. These combined funding sources are essential for attracting and retaining contributors, ensuring the continued operation of the protocol.

These proposals have facilitated our continued focus on development and allowed Beethoven X DAO Contributors to maintain the headcount of approx. 8.5 FTE (full time equivalents) over the past 6 months. This represents a small decrease compared to the previous period due to adjustments in the involvement of individual contributors, but lies within the long term average of 8-10 FTE contributing to the protocol. These resources are divided as follows:

Area of Operations ––– 1 FTE = 100% Marketing, Sales & Community ––– 360% Design ––– 60% Partnerships & Biz Dev ––– 70% Development ––– 300% Governance, Reporting & Data ––– 55% Admin ––– 20% Total ––– 865%

Beethoven X's commitment to state-of-the-art technology and a decentralized, transparent, and censorship-resistant community remains unwavering. The additional funding from the Treasury, combined with the contributions from the Balancer DAO, has allowed our DAO contributors to stay dedicated to this vision. Noteworthy achievements in the past 6 months include:

• Preparing for the Sonic Launch
• Setting up a Beethoven X Fantom Validator
• Actively participating in Fantom Governance and closely supporting the Foundation in the lead up to Sonic
• Revising the DAO Governance Framework
• Actively contributing to the technical vision and further development of Balancer core technologies
• Actively shaping and participating in the development of Balancer v3
• Actively reaching out to projects to increase the number of partners on our Fantom and Optimism deployments and maintaining the current ones

The market, after a strong Q4 in 2023 and positive in Q1 of 2024, has been consolidating over the past 6 months. Market participants' confidence and optimism are arguably at a healthy level in the post Bitcoin SPOT ETF and BTC Halving era. Beethoven X is therefore optimistic to expect corresponding improvements in key metrics across the board going forwards, if and when these expectations materialise. We hope this positive sentiment will continue into 2025 and the launch of Sonic will be a catalyst for Beethoven X to retain a leading position on the new chain.

As of October 18th, the Beethoven X Treasury holds assets worth $3’441’967, with $2’706’926 in active assets (that can be deemed liquid or the treasury has full control over). Treasury assets can be viewed here:

• Fantom: https://debank.com/profile/0xa1e849b1d6c2fd31c63eef7822e9e0632411ada7
• Optimism: https://debank.com/profile/0x2a185c8a3c63d7bfe63ad5d950244ffe9d0a4b60
• Ethereum: https://debank.com/profile/0xea06e1b4259730724885a39ce3ca670efb020e26

Treasury Proposal

This proposal, if adopted, will extend treasury funding at $40k per month for the next six months, covering the period from October 2024 to the end of March 2025. This extension will provide us with the necessary resources to maintain and enhance the Beethoven X protocol while striving to be the leading DEX on Sonic.

Additionally, we expect continued augmentation of the $40k by the Balancer service provider agreements, which help offset DAO Contributor costs by up to $59k per month. This proposal also foresees the continued use of any funds arising from service provider agreements (currently $59k per month) to be continued to be used for funding contributors.

We appreciate your consideration and support in ensuring the continued growth and development of Beethoven X.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Impact for the 6 Months

Contributors – Step 1: DAO Contributors will receive an aggregate fixed $40k per month ($240k in total) Budget in USDC from the Treasury. In addition, Step 2, as long as the Balancer service provider agreement remains unchanged : $59k in Revenue from the service provider agreement with Balancer is paid into Treasury monthly and will be used to fund the core contributor wallet.

Treasury – Treasury assumes a fixed monthly cost of $40k per month ($240k in total) in USDC and commits to passing the $59k (or any new equivalent arising from SP contracts) in USDC received service provider agreement onwards, to be used for the payment of DAO Contributors.

Tokenomics – No impact

Committees – No impact

Specification

Each month, $40k USDC from Treasury and, upon request, any USDC received by Treasury for service provider agreements with Balancer DAO will be sent to a wallet designated for the payment of contributors. No additional work or modification to status quo operations is required.

Execution Plan

Upon approval, the Treasury will send $40k in USDC to the team wallet for each month spanning this proposal. Treasury will periodically transfer funds from the anticipated Balancer DAO service provider agreements to the same wallet. These authorizations will take effect immediately when the period outlined in this BIP commences. Therefore, the 1st payment will be in the beginning of November 2024 to cover October 2024. This will continue with the last payment (6th payment) being the payment for the month of March 2025 in the beginning of April 2025.