NEAR Ecosystem Contributions
I have been an active contributor to the NEAR ecosystem since before the MainNet launch and have continued to this day. For further transparency for those unfamiliar with my contributions, here is a list of contributions, outcomes, and budgets.
Every accomplishment I have within the NEAR community is due to the support of many colleagues, community members, projects, founders, and teams of people. I share many of these credits and accomplishments with the community.
Boards and Advisory Roles
I maintain several active roles in the community on boards and in advisory roles.
The Ref Finance DAO Board
Regularly attend weekly board calls, participation in gov forum, and active DAO voting record.
The Burrow DAO Board
Participate in governance discussion and active DAO voting.
NEAR Validators Advisory Board
Participate in monthly governance calls and represent the community of validators
SputnikDAO Genesis DAO Member & Advisor
An original tester and contributor to the initial DAO framework and launching some of the first DAOs on NEAR for Cheddar and the OSA. My role here is limited now.
MetaPool DAO Board & Advisor
Early governance proposals, document reviews, and voting. My role here is limited now.
Speaking Engagements
NEARCON Alpha & Beta - Expert Knowledge & Staking Panels
https://nearconagendasecond.splashthat.com/
AMA’s - DeFi, validators, partnership projects
Liquid Staking and Validator Panels
Protocol Public Calls
Human Guild: https://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbDMemlVyF8
Wild User Interview - Ep. 022 Stake Wars: Episode III - Next Stage Decentralization w Blaze, Open Shards Alliance - Wild User Interviews Podcast (Wuipod) | Podcast on Spotify
In Person Conferences
– NEARCON Alpha
– ETH Denver
– Consensys
Guilds & Projects
Open Shards Alliance (OSA) Guild
The OSA has been a “Drop Zone” for validators, system administrators, and developers entering the ecosystem and has run/supported multiple validator competitions.
– The 1st community governed and managed NEAR network named GuildNet. A community of 100+ validators, many went on to join MainNet, started their own project, or awaiting the next StakeWars challenge. The OSA has been home to many rockstars throughout the NEARVerse.
– The 1st sharded network on NEAR.
– Created a validator bootcamp that was battle-tested with onboarding the last 40+ validators onto MainNet. The bootcamp is also still in use StakeWars II.
– The OSA developed the 1st validator leader board that is also used for StakeWars III. This leaderboard lead to a key contributor to apply for a grant to create a more industrial validator monitoring tool: https://nearscope.net/
– MetaPool’s first test of multiple validator nodes first began on GuildNet
– Croncat did initial tests on GuildNet
– NEAR-Staking.com founder started his journey in Stakwars II and the OSA and still contributes
– Sustainability of NEARUp
Members of the NEAR Inc team created a tool name NEARUp that allows validators on TestNet and GuildNet to have their nodes automatically upgraded with a protocol change. With the transition of resources within Pagoda, the OSA was asked to take over the maintenance of NEARUp.
– The OSA drafted and planned to launch ONIX an incentivized TestNet. We created a tokenomics paper, a DAO Consitution, and other related documents. The project was not moved forward due lack of community support and tightening legal pressure on tokens and L1 networks.
Overall the OSA has been a dominant force in recruiting validators, building tools for validators, and offering validator support.
StakeWars
– StakeWars II - Contestant and Winner, lead contributor to review challenges and manage the leaderboard.
– Built the 1st Staking Pool rewards checker
– yotcoNEAR converter and other simple tools
– StakeWars III - Community Lead via the OSA
– Core Contributor/reviewer of Validator & Stakewars landing pages
The OSA has delivered the core challenges, provided validator support, set up a Leaderboard, and has been heavily involved in the direction of the competition.
Please keep in mind it’s a competition, and validators will be eliminated. The threshold is set at a 60% uptime to climb the ranks, and the MainNet threshold is 80%. There is an exception form if you feel your disqualification would be outside your control
Cheddar
As a “Drop Zone” for new and loyal users to NEAR. Cheddar provides fun and low-impact ways to learn NEAR, DEFI and Crypto. It provides loyalty rewards in Cheddar and other tokens through its loyalty network of partners, games, and farms.
– The 1st community launch FREE token
– The 1st Single Sided Staking Yield farm on NEAR
– Cheddar DAO with 20+ active NEAR community board members
https://app.astrodao.com/dao/cheddar.sputnik-dao.near
Strategic Partnerships with:
Ref Finance, MetaPool, Pulse, MarmaJ Foundation, Good Fortune Felines
Grants
Open Shard Alliance (OSA) Guild - 8K USD in NEAR per mo for 2 Years - Status 100% Complete / Funding Ended
– GuildNet Lead Bounty: $2K
– GuildNet Monthly Hosting Cost: $500
– OSA Treasurer Bounty: $600
– OSA Support Bounty: $75
– OSA Repo Maintenace: $125 per repo
– GuildNet Validators hosting reimbursement - $80 per mo, paid quarterly over 100 participants monthly
– GuildNet NEAR Network Launched, Maintained, and Upgraded
– OSA DAO - https://app.astrodao.com/dao/openshards.sputnik-dao.near
– OSA Website - https://openshards.io/
– Maintained GuildNet NEARCore Repos on Github - near-guildnet · GitHub
Open Shard Alliance Extension - 24K USD in NEAR - Status 100% Complete
To continue OSA operations until the launch on ONIX and StakeWars III
– Continue bounties identified above for three months.
OSA Stake It or Break It Validator Competition: 5K USD in NEAR - Status 100% Complete
Recruit and onboard validators to GuildNet
– Competition & Rules
– Scoreboard
– 50+ Contestants - StakeIt or BreakIt – Final – Open Shards Alliance
– Prizes + NFT Awarded
OSA Bootcamp - 8K $USD in NEAR - Status 100% Complete
– Bootcamp created
– OSA Review/Feedback Bounty: $125 USD in NEAR
– Website creation and implementation
– Updates and Migration to NEAR Docs
*OSA MainNet Validator Onboarding & ONIX Launch - 10K USD in NEAR - Status 100% Complete
– Lead Meetings and Governance Calls to define ONIX
– ONIX DAO Consitution
– ONIX Tokenomics
– Direct support for onboarding Insitituonal and Ecosystem Validators to fill final MainNet seats
NearUp Maintenance Grant - 25K $USD in NEAR - Status Ongoing
– Maintain and Update NEARUp with the latest TestNet release
Cheddar Seed Grant - 50K $USD in NEAR - Status 100% Complete
– Website
– LightPaper
– Cheddar NEP 141 Token Contract
– Token Vesting / Lockup Schedule contract
– Single-Sided Staking Farming contract
– Contract audit by Rust expert
– Cheddar DAO & Governance
Cheddar Grant - 100K $USD in NEAR - Status 90% Complete
– Cheddar at NEARCON Alpha - Free token Farm - DONE
– Cheeziest MEME Competition - DONE
– Cheddar Draw a Berry Club Fork - DONE
– P2 Farm - Single token staking pool that MINTs new Cheddar - DONE
– P3 Farm - Multiple token Staking / Multiple Token Reward Farm - DONE
– Blocksec P3 Audit - DONE
– Cheddy NFT PowerUp a TENK fork we added NEP-141 token support - DONE
– Cheddar PowerUp 5555
– Updated dApp Design
– Checkers, a fork of Zavodil’s Checkers, we added NEP-141 token support - DONE
– NFT Staking pool Farm - Internal Audit
– NFT Auctions with NEP-141 tokens - Internal Audit
– New Tic Tac Toe Game - On TestNet - https://test.cheddar.farm/
– Cheddar Profile with PowerUp NFT Profile - In Work
– Cheddar dApp enhancements with fun and easter eggs - In Work
NEARWeek Proof of Satisfaction Pool Party - 10K in USD - Status 100% Complete
Throughout these grants, we have used ecosystem contributors to do the work. We did not hire big firms or large corporations but individuals that reached out or were connected. In total, these grants have impacted hundreds of NEAR community members.
The formula to receive NF grants has always been to have a proposal with the value proposition and how it supports NEAR’s mission, milestones, budget, and contingencies and then deliver. While we have not always been able to meet the initially defined timelines, we have always met and exceeded the deliverables.