HGP-70: Revised Connector Polls to Accommodate Snapshot Limitations

Summary

This proposal outlines a revised approach to connector polls that respects Snapshot's 20-choice limit while ensuring HBOT holders can still vote on which exchanges the Hummingbot codebase should support.

Background

Snapshot has implemented a premium plan requirement of $6,000/year or $600/month for proposals with more than 20 choices. This would affect our previously approved simplified connector polls since there are 45 exchanges in the official Hummingbot codebase.

Rather than paying this substantial fee, this proposal suggests an alternative voting structure that works within Snapshot's free tier limitations.

Current Exchange Distribution

Hummingbot currently supports 45 exchanges, broken down as follows:

• CLOB CEX (20): Order book centralized exchanges supported by the Hummingbot client repo
• CLOB DEX (7): Order book based decentralized exchanges supported by the Hummingbot client repo
• Gateway DEX (18): AMM-based decentralized exchanges supported by the Gateway repo

Proposed Solution

The Foundation will implement three separate polls, one for each exchange type. To ensure room for new community-suggested exchanges while respecting the 20-choice limit, we propose the following exchange removal conditions:

• If there are 20 choices in a Connector Poll, the 2 lowest ranking exchanges by vote will be removed in the following quarter
• If there are 19 choices in a Connector Poll, the lowest ranking exchange by vote will be removed in the following quarter

This system ensures at least 2 open slots in each exchange type for new additions every quarter. These removal conditions will apply in addition to the current Minimum HBOT inclusion threshold (400K HBOT).

Benefits

1. Avoids unnecessary expenditure of $6,000/year that could be better used for buybacks and maintenance bounties
2. Maintains community governance over supported exchanges
3. Creates a sustainable rotation mechanism that allows for new exchange additions
4. Works within Snapshot's free tier limitations

Implementation Timeline

If approved, the Foundation will implement this new polling structure beginning with the next quarterly connector poll.

Voting

• YES: Implement the revised connector poll structure as described
• NO: Maintain current approach and upgrade to Snapshot's premium plan

References

Previous connector poll proposal: HGP-69