PR with Payload https://github.com/BalancerMaxis/multisig-ops/pull/1356

Introduction

Over the last 9 months, the BD Service Provider (BDSP) has gone from a brand new entity in Q1 to an integral part of Balancer. The BDSP, in partnership with the Maxis and other contributors to Balancer, has helped drive partnerships, liquidity, relationships, and opportunities for Balancer throughout the EVM ecosystem. Numerous partners have commented how they prefer to work with Balancer over other DEXs because of the support they receive from the BDSP and Maxis, and Balancer receives countless inbound requests from prospective partners because of existing partners spreading this via word-of-mouth.

Given the BDSP has become an integral part of Balancer’s growth strategy, we aim to switch to bi-annual funding starting in Q4 2024. This provides us with more funding stability and also guarantees that resources for the upcoming Balancer v3 launch will be adequately allocated.

Priorities and Initiatives

The BDSP will focus on the following priorities and specific initiatives during 4Q24 and 1Q25. For background, the BDSP has shown a consistent track record executing against the proposed initiatives during Q1-Q3. For Q3 performance reports please see July and August reports.

Initiative 1: Foster growth of the Balancer v2 protocol

Summary

While every SP plays an important role in generating new opportunities for Balancer, the BDSP’s primary responsibility is finding ways to generate opportunities for Balancer. One of the primary focuses of the BDSP will be continuing to find areas of growth and executing on them.

Objectives

1. Execute liquidity strategy on Balancer v2

   • Prioritize yield-bearing assets (LSTs, LRTs, ibStables) or primary strategic assets to generate revenue for Balancer
   • Find opportunities to deploy new pools on key strategic chains, which includes new pools of Balancer ecosystem projects (e.g. Gyroscope, CowAMM)
   • Make sure Balancer stays on top of new metas (e.g. BTC LRTs, Veda vaults, etc.)
   • Retain key strategic liquidity in existing pools
   • Make sure governance requirements are completed to secure liquidity from partners, where necessary (e.g. AAVE, Frax)

2. Solicit new partnerships

   • Be proactive by finding new prospective partners, reaching out, and engaging in discussions
   • Be the primary point of contact for inbound partnership inquiries
   • Facilitate internal discussions for partner evaluation

3. Grant and incentive programs

   • Find grant/incentive programs applicable to Balancer
   • Apply for these programs
   • Execute the program, where necessary

4. Execute veMODE program on Mode

   • Launch innovative, ecosystem-wide veMODE program, which leverages a MODE 8020 pool to direct $OP and $MODE rewards to protocols on Mode, in partnership with Mode and Aragon
   • Work with members of Maxis to coordinate incentive programs and partner incentive management
   • Collaborate with partners on Mode and the Mode team to generate new pools and acquire liquidity on Mode.

Initiative 2: Support the launch of Balancer v3 and facilitate growth and adoption.

Summary

Along with the Maxis, the BDSP will play a meaningful role in establishing relationships and partnerships both pre and post v3’s launch.

Objectives

1. Plan and execute on v3 launch

   • Work with BLabs and Maxis to finalize rollout plan
   • Educate new and existing partners on v3 and how they can leverage for new opportunities
   • Drive v3 liquidity with partners across chains
   • Support Marketing and BLabs to drive developer engagement and new products

2. Support deployments on strategic chains

   • Work together with the Maxis on chain deployments
   • Coordinate expansion plans with ecosystem partners

3. Collaborate with Maxis to advance Balancer tokenomics and the DAOs revenue strategy

4. Continue supporting engineering with aggregator integrations and other technical partnership needs (as necessary)

   • Example: working with BLabs to ensure all aggregators are engaged and the partnership between Balancer/BLabs and aggregators is being supported.

Initiative 3: Partner Support

Summary

As mentioned above, one of Balancer’s strategic advantages - in addition to its technology - is the level of care and support it provides partners. The ‘white glove’ service Balancer offers is exhibited from SPs across the DAO, but the BDSP will continue playing its role as mentioned below.

Objectives

1. Onboard new partners into the Balancer ecosystem

   • Help advise on pool type strategy and incentive strategy
   • Guide through governance / Aura processes and timelines
   • Help facilitate rate provider review needs and drive to completion in timely fashion
   • Help facilitate partners’ Points information being included on the Balancer UI (where applicable)

2. Work closely with Marketing to support co-promotion of new and existing partners

3. Be the primary point of contact, along with members of Maxis, for partners’ non-technical needs. Be responsive and helpful at all times.

4. Continue seeking ways to eliminate friction for partner onboarding

   • Example: collaborate with Maxis and Chainlink to utilize CCIP to expedite rate provider deployments

Service Provider Name & Overview: Balancer Business Development Service Provider

Contributors: Lipman

Pledge to abide by [BIP-629] Balancer DAO Service Provider & Grantee Standards: Yes

Domains of Operation:

• Strategy and Business Development
• Partner Management

Key Objectives per Operational Discipline:

1. Strategy and Business Development

   • Develop and execute liquidity strategies for Balancer v2, focusing on yield-bearing and strategic assets (LSTs, LRTs, ibStables).
   • Identify and deploy new pools on key strategic chains to drive ecosystem growth (e.g., Gyroscope, CowAMM).
   • Stay ahead of market trends and metas (e.g., BTC LRTs, Veda vaults) to ensure Balancer's competitive positioning.
   • Lead efforts to attract new partnerships by engaging with potential collaborators and evaluating partnership opportunities.
   • Execute governance processes to secure liquidity and incentives from key partners (e.g., AAVE, Frax).
   • Launch and manage innovative incentive programs like the veMODE initiative, in collaboration with Mode and Aragon.
   • Collaborate with BLabs and Maxis on the successful rollout of Balancer v3, driving partner liquidity and product adoption.

2. Partner Support

   • Provide ‘white glove’ support to new and existing partners, guiding them through pool creation, governance, and incentive strategies.
   • Serve as the primary point of contact for partners, ensuring prompt and effective responses to their needs.
   • Assist partners in navigating Balancer’s ecosystem, including advising on pool types, rate providers, and governance timelines.
   • Work closely with marketing teams to co-promote new and existing partnerships across the ecosystem.
   • Streamline partner onboarding by identifying and eliminating friction points, such as collaborating with Chainlink to utilize CCIP for faster rate provider deployments.
   • Continuously engage with partners to optimize revenue generation and liquidity retention strategies, ensuring long-term success for both parties.

Reporting

The BDSP has provided weekly updates in the DAO-wide Ballers meeting on Mondays, a separate weekly update with the Maxis and Marketing teams on Thursdays, and monthly reports posted to the forum. The BDSP will update the ecosystem and community participants regularly through weekly meetings and monthly community reports:

Weekly Ecosystem Meeting - Inform ecosystem participants of our weekly progress and planned activities - Coordinate collaborations and issues with other ecosystem stakeholders

Monthly reports - Write up detailed monthly reports on key objectives - Provide a financial statement of the usage of discretionary funds as in previous funding rounds

Length of Engagement & Budget:

The BDSP spent $2k of its Q3 $6k discretionary budget for a part-time contributor during August/September who will not be contributing going forward. The $4k of savings are being requested to roll over to Q424/Q125 at the team's discretion for non-people costs and/or part-time contributors.

The BDSP has 1 FTE and will be reducing its proposed cost from the Q3 BDSP funding proposal to $14k/mo in Q4-Q1 vs. $15k/mo in Q3 as well as not asking for any additional discretionary budget. This amount is inclusive of both USDC and vesting BAL amounts.

The combination of the reduced monthly cost and reduced discretionary budget will result in a $9k savings per quarter for the DAO.

A detailed breakdown of proposed costs is visualized below:

Length of engagement: 6 months

Budget: 72,000 USDC and 6,780 BAL

ETH Address to Receive Funds: 0xC7E84373FC63A17B5B22EBaF86219141B630cD7a

Impact on the Treasury

The Treasury wallets currently hold 3,507,473 BAL. Funding the BDSP for the next half year would impact 0.19% of the treasury’s BAL holdings, which annualizes to 0.38% of the treasury’s BAL. The Treasury wallets currently hold 5.727mln in stables. Funding the USDC portion would cost around 1.25% of the treasury’s stable reserve, which annualizes to 2.5%.

Technical Specification

The Balancer DAO multisig 0x10A19e7eE7d7F8a52822f6817de8ea18204F2e4f will interact with USDC 0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48 by writing transfer passing the BDSP...