VIP-1: ValleyDAO Tokenomics Proposal

The GROW Token

The ValleyDAO ecosystem is governed by GROW token holders. GROW tokens are obtained by contributing work to ValleyDAO. Some examples of what constitutes work are given below:

• Sourcing and shepherding synthetic biology (synbio) academic research projects
• Sourcing partnerships for the DAO
• Incubating ValleyDAO research IP into spinouts/startups
• Product and tokenomics development
• Project and community/social media management
• Conference talks and other speaking arrangements
• Smart contract development
• Legal work

GROW tokens grant the rights to participate in deciding:

1. which academic research projects proposed by the Dealflow work group are funded;
2. the terms and conditions of the research funding
3. how the resulting IP is commercialized and otherwise governed
4. how the ValleyDAO treasury is governed

GROW token holders, along with the ‘non-token’ DAO members, have no ownership or rights to any of the IP or other assets held by the ValleyDAO treasury, but gives the token holder power to decide how the IP and other assets are commercialized and licensed.

The ValleyDAO treasury embodies our core value of sustainability. As research projects are funded and begin producing results and IP, their respective value grows, increasing the overall value of ValleyDAO’s treasury. Proceeds generated from successfully commercialized ValleyDAO IP are circulated back into the DAO treasury to fund more research. This grows the ValleyDAO ecosystem as well.

Token Allocation

We propose a GROW token allocation plan as shown in the diagram below. The GROW token supply is capped at 100 million with no ability to mint further tokens. Note that the only allocations that are being voted on at the moment are the ones associated with:

1. the core team,
2. advisors,
3. early contributors,
4. ecosystem incentives, and
5. Bio.xyz token swap.

| Category |# of GROW |Description| |---|---|---| |Total Supply|100,000,000|Supply is hard-capped at this number.| |Gnosis Auction Allocation|3,500,000|A Gnosis auction with the final price of 0.10385 USDC/GROW was recently conducted. These tokens are not vested.| |True Ventures Strategic Partnership|3,000,000|ValleyDAO recently onboarded True Ventures, one of the leading venture firms at the intersection of synbio and web3, as a strategic partner to support the growth of the DAO and its current and future IP and spinout projects. They have a large network of synbio and web3 researchers, startup founders, investors and mentors. They contributed $300,000 vested over 4 years with a 1 year cliff at 0.1 USD/GROW.| |Core Team Allocation|8,000,000|7,000,000 GROW from this allocation will go to the current core team with the remaining 1,000,000 GROW reserved for allocations to future core team members. A detailed breakdown can be seen here. 10% of the core team’s GROW tokens will unlock once this proposal passes and the remaining will vest monthly over a 4 year period.| |Bio.xyz Token Swap|6,900,000|Bio.xyz has been an indispensable strategic partner, providing us with DAO incubation services and mentorship in the past, as well as a $100k grant. In exchange, we propose granting bio.xyz 6.9% of the total GROW supply. Additionally, ValleyDAO will receive an equivalent amount of tokens when bio.xyz launches their token, allowing us to have governance weight in the bio.xyz ecosystem. Bio.xyz has a vesting schedule of 4 years with no initial unlock. The organization will continue to grow the ValleyDAO ecosystem in the future.| |Community|1,200,000|Early contributors will have a 1 year linear vesting schedule with 50% instant unlock once this proposal passes. A detailed community GROW allocation breakdown can be seen here.| |Advisors Allocation|600,000|Advisors will have a 2 year linear vesting schedule with 33% instant unlock once this proposal passes.| |Ecosystem Fund|3,100,000|ValleyDAO will utilize ecosystem incentives to compensate contributors and service providers, as well as facilitate other initiatives within the ecosystem.| |Remaining Treasury|73,500,000|The rest of the tokens will remain locked and unminted until the community decides to unlock them. This is done by voting on governance proposals such as this one. The unlocked treasury will act as a reservoir of tokens for future fundraising events, contributors’ compensation, liquidity provision, bounties, collaborative token swaps, etc.| |Note: Additional categories will be introduced once the tokens that are currently locked have been successfully minted, in accordance with the community's vote |Note: Minor discrepancies may occur between the listed and the actual amounts due to accounting and other factors. However, rest assured that these discrepancies will have no material impact.|| GROW token is currently non-tradable, but it will become tradable through a governance proposal in the future. During this non-tradable phase, the community will collaborate to enhance the research pipeline, forge new partnerships, and expand the overall ecosystem. This approach will lay a solid foundation for making the GROW token tradable, ensuring a well-supported and thriving trading environment. Once the token is tradable, we will establish a liquidity pool on a reputable secondary market such as Uniswap.