Author
Franklin (Aura)
Summary
This proposal seeks to establish the Aura Ecosystem Fund.
Description
Aura’s ongoing success will rely on a) empowering innovative builders in the creation of novel DeFi mechanics, tools, and integrations on top of Aura, b) raising awareness of the Aura/Balancer ecosystems to cement Aura’s veBAL moat and further the flywheel effect, and c) ensuring the continued security of Aura’s codebase and platform. The Aura Ecosystem Fund will strengthen Aura’s foundations by enabling future builders and developers through grant programs, as well as growing the Aura/Balancer ecosystems through educational programs and growth/marketing-adjacent services.
Grant and Salary Programs
Grants are direct funding awarded following a formal application, review, and a decision made by Aura Contributors with input from technical advisors. The Aura Ecosystem Fund will support recipients in building products that are vital to Aura’s success without the need to commercialize this work, so that these resources remain free and open to all. Two recent examples of successful grants were those issued to Llama Airforce via [AIP-9] Llama Airforce Grant Request For vlAURA Dashboard (https://vote.aura.finance/#/proposal/0x0cc257b9f6eb10e318f7147fc6cc0d85ca623e8e47671841741f3d5e8b0cb915) and [AIP-XX] APY.vision Grant Request (proposal forthcoming). Funding in this area may also be used in the retention of new technical developers and contributors, who will be vital in future expansion plans. Aura understands that in order to foster and sustain a great ecosystem, significant resources are required. Some community members may be looking to make a difference through part-time contributions; others have perhaps become stuck through lack of resources or salary. By formalizing and supporting these types of initiatives, the Fund is dedicated to powering the Aura ecosystem as a long-lasting hub around its core tech.
Grant applications can be made here: https://aura-finance.canny.io/grant-requests
Education and Awareness
A fund dedicated to education and cultivating awareness is a massive step forward in the maturation of the Aura ecosystem. Proactive protocols, like Balancer, have recognized this, as shown in its recent establishment of the Orb Collective via [BIP-20] Funding Proposal for Orb Collective (https://forum.balancer.fi/t/bip-20-funding-proposal-for-orb-collective/3359), which states “that a protocol’s success emerges from a strong interdependent relationship between its core technology and its ability to promote and spread usage of the technology. If one side fails, the project cannot make its impact on the world. Orb presents a solution for promoting the growth of the Balancer Protocol through a tightly aligned mix of partnerships, marketing, integrations, design, and people operations work.” Likewise, the Ecosystem Fund will seek to accomplish this same objective through similar solutions, like retention of news publications and service providers, such as The Defiant and MarketAcross, as well as product-based marketing and other high-impact initiatives. The Fund’s mission is to scale broad utilization and awareness of the Aura and Balancer Protocols in decentralized finance.
Security
Growth goes hand-in-hand with platform security—without one, the other cannot survive. Unlike centralized systems, which are secured by the companies producing the product, DeFi places trust in code rather than corporate entities. The reputational fallout from a single exploit will significantly affect Aura’s ability to scale to widescale adoption. As such, it will be the Ecosystem Fund’s responsibility to be the active defender of Aura in this area, undertaking such as activities as paying for audits—comprehensive security assessments to identify vulnerabilities.
Terms
This proposal requests a grant of 500K $AURA to establish the Aura Ecosystem Fund. All tokens granted will be held in $AURA and stables, and $AURA will only be liquidated when necessary to minimize external impact. The Fund may execute on transactions to allow funding, so long as it has positive impact for the growth of the Aura Protocol.
Funds allocated towards on-chain expenses will be held in an Ecosystem multisig serviced by Core Contributors and current multisig signers. Funds necessary for off-chain relationships will be held in a separate multisig serviced by the Aura Foundation and Fund representatives. Monthly expense reports shall be produced to track how funds are allocated. The Fund’s direction will be determined by a committee comprised of community members. Once decisions are made, they will be recommended to the Ecosystem multisig or to the Foundation multisig by a Community Lead. Open discussion and participation in fund governance and operations is highly encouraged of all community members.
The Ecosystem Fund will be established with the assistance of the Aura Foundation, to allow for off-chain relationships. As an independent non-profit foundation incorporated in the Cayman Islands in accordance with the Foundation Companies Act in April 2022, the Aura Foundation’s stated objective is to foster the research & development of the Aura Finance Protocol and to provide assistance to the Aura Finance DAO. Through the Ecosystem Fund, the Aura Foundation can further undertake development, educational, and other necessary activities on behalf of the Aura Protocol, as mandated by Aura DAO.
Voting
This forum post will be live for approximately three days before the Snapshot proposal goes live. We appreciate and encourage an open discussion on this subject.
This vote will be a single-choice vote. You may vote “For” or “Against” this proposal, or choose to abstain from the vote.
By voting “For” this proposal, you are voting in favor of the granting AURA in accordance with the specification set out in this proposal.