[GIP-123] Gearbox & Ether.fi Staking Frens Token Swap

Author: amplice

Summary

Gearbox and Ether.fi conduct a token swap + co-incentivization campaign called Staking Frens

Motivation

Gearbox and Ether.fi have been in discussions about ways to collaborate and grow our respective ecosystems together. One idea that has emerged is to conduct a mutually beneficial token swap and co-incentivization campaign called Staking Frens.

The concept is simple: we each contribute an equal dollar amount of our native tokens (GEAR and ETHFI) to each others DAOs. During the campaign period, new users who use either platform can claim a share of the partner project's tokens. This introduces each communities to the other's token utility and incentivizes participation and cross-pollination from both sides.

In addition, as a part of this collaboration, Ether.fi has offered to maintain Gearbox's 2x points status until the end of the Ether.fi points campaign in June. This is extremely important for Gearbox to maintain competitiveness with other projects that also allow for points farming on Ether.fi like Pendle.

Given the high gas fees on Ethereum L1, we propose to focus this campaign on an L2 network (probably Optimism). Gearbox just recently deployed to a couple of L2s, and Ether.fi will be live on various L2s shortly, so this campaign will also be a good way for both of us to build some excitement around these new deployments. This also helps ensures the incentives are not eaten up by transaction costs but actually end up going to our respective users.

The goal is to attract new restaking users and liquidity to both Gearbox and Ether.fi in an efficient, collaborative way by leveraging each other's communities.

Campaign Specification

The specific parameters of the proposed Staking Frens campaign are as follows:

• Gearbox and Ether.fi will each contribute $70,000 worth of their native tokens (GEAR and ETHFI respectively) to each others DAOs
• The campaign will run for 1 week, from April 29 - May 3, 2023
• Only new users to either platform during the campaign period will be eligible to claim a share of the partner project's tokens - existing users will not receive these incentives
• The tokens will be claimable on an L2 (probably Optimism) to minimize gas fees
• The exact amount of tokens claimable per user will depend on the total number of unique participants - each project/DAO is free to distribute the tokens to new users as they feel is most appropriate
• In the event that ETHFI token is not yet supported on the relevant L2 by the start of the campaign, Gearbox can send the GEAR tokens immediately, and - Ether.fi can send the ETHFI tokens once they are live on the L2 - Gearbox can distribute these to users as they feel is most appropriate.

There are several benefits to the proposed Staking Frens campaign structure:

• Co-incentivization is an efficient use of each project's liquidity mining budget. By pooling our resources, we can offer more diversified incentives to end users.
• Conducting the campaign on an L2 ensures that the rewards end up in the hands of users rather than being spent on gas. This is important for the program to be effective.
• Focusing on new users specifically helps drive incremental growth rather than simply rewarding existing users. This is key to expanding TVL.
• The campaign demonstrates a collaborative approach between two exciting DeFi projects, and both will be new deployments on an L2, which could allow us to get a shoutout/comarketing from whichever L2 is ultimately chosen.
• Introducing our communities to each other's tokens expands awareness and potential future collabs between the projects.

In terms of the specific incentive amounts, $70,000 worth from each DAO represents a significant commitment from both projects, but is also in line with typical liquidity mining budgets. This amount is large enough to drive interest and participation, but small enough to not be a severe cost to Gearbox's treasury.

Next steps

If approved, Gearbox Financial multisig will allocate the necessary funds to carry out this campaign and DAO contributors will work towards making it happen. Gearbox will also maintain its 2x points status until the end of Ether.fi's points campaign.