Firstly, a big thank you to the Balancer community for all of the amazing work you’ve done to foster a thriving ecosystem and propel the Balancer protocol forward. There are so many different ways to play a part in this movement and you have exemplified this! ????
Following the completion of the first batch of Balancer Ecosystem Fund grants, I’m happy to announce that the Balancer community has voted to approve Batch #2. This authorizes the Balancer Labs team to allocate 50,000 BAL to continue funding the growth and development of the Balancer ecosystem through community-driven projects and vital services.
The Balancer community is aligned behind a mission to build programmable liquidity to power the new financial system. This occurs through the decentralized development of myriad products and services, built on and around the Balancer protocol, leveraging the imagination and ingenuity of the world to construct this new reality, piece by piece.
The Balancer Ecosystem Fund is a core strategy fueling this initiative.
In announcing this new batch, I’d like to take the opportunity to provide a more structured procedure and set of guidelines for the grants program, to make it as clear and easy as possible for contributors to the Balancer ecosystem to create meaningful value and receive the funding they need. This is a process that will continue to evolve and iterate as we learn from its use in the wild.
Bounties
As part of this new batch, we’ve added a new element to the grant program. Bounties are specific projects that we’d like to fund at any given time.
As a subset of grants, bounties can be discovered and claimed by any community participant who is ready to execute an available project request via our new bounties page at bounties.balancer.finance.
Selection Criteria
These grants are flexible, focusing foremost on generating benefit to the Balancer ecosystem. Funded projects are not limited only to software development; we equally value other types of work, such as community management, marketing, and content creation, which also add value to Balancer as a whole.
Existing and completed projects or services are also eligible for grants if they can demonstrate benefit to the ecosystem.
Projects will be evaluated based on:
- How they may benefit and impact the Balancer protocol and community
- The extent and use of Balancer protocol features
- Status and progress of the project
- The team and how likely they are to deliver
- Potential for the project’s viability, longevity, and anticipated competition
- How the funds will be used and why they are needed
Key Themes of Interest
While we encourage the community to apply for grants with any ideas that would bring value to Balancer, here are some particular themes that are currently on our radar:
Integrations that drive swap volume on Balancer’s DEX. Example: using Hummingbot’s Balancer connector to operate arbitrage strategies.
Projects built on Balancer smart pools. Examples: managed index funds, dynamic fee pools, perpetual synthetics, elastic supply pools.
Educational content about the Balancer protocol. Examples: explainer videos and/or articles that help the public understand Balancer smart pool use cases.
Advanced data analytics of Balancer usage. Example: swap volume categorized by source.
How to Apply
To apply, please complete this form.
If you think your idea could benefit from community input, we recommend getting started by first posting your idea to our forum, tagged to the Ecosystem Fund category, and inviting public feedback.
As we’ve seen before, community discussion can really help clarify and solidify project ideas. Since the community shares a common goal of building the value of the Balancer ecosystem, they want to help you succeed!
Once you’re ready to make a solid proposal, go ahead and fill out the form to make an official submission.
We’re excited to see what you come up with!
