Project Description:
We are The DeFi Collective, a non-profit association fostering the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem through various initiatives to promote transparency, accessibility, and innovation in decentralizing the financial infrastructure. We harness all relevant on-chain and off-chain resources to foster a supportive environment where DeFi protocols can emerge as a trusted alternative to traditional financial services providers.
By supporting on-chain liquidity growth strategies, facilitating community engagement, publishing insightful reports, and diligently identifying and addressing decentralization vulnerabilities with impartial data, The DeFi Collective acts as a guardian of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) DeFi ecosystem.
Our flagship project - DeFiScan - is a research framework and analytics dashboard offering comprehensive and unbiased insights into the decentralization level of EVM DeFi applications. The tool is intended as a public good to provide users with verifiable insights into the maturity and risk metrics of various DeFi platforms, helping them make informed decisions while engaging with these technologies. DeFiScan promotes transparency, education, self-policing, and informed decision-making in DeFi.
Website: deficollective.org - DeFi Collective
Public Good Dashboard & Framework: defiscan.info - DeFiScan.
Public Repository:
The MIT Licence public repository for DeFiscan can be accessed via our GitHub link: GitHub - deficollective/defiscan: Verifiable insights into the maturity and risks of DeFi - GitHub Repository
Budget Breakdown
- Milestone 1: $25,000 - UI Revamp
Expected Outcome:
- Offer a better user experience with a renewed interface by the end of February 2025.
Expected Impact:
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Improve user engagement and platform usability (speed, reliability, and scalability)
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Better maintenance of the platform and ensured continued functionality.
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Milestone 2: $25,000 - Data standardization and API Development
Expected Outcome:
- Standardized data formats (JSON and/or XML).
- Build an API to let other applications (dashboards, wallets, meta-analytics users…) integrate with DeFiScan Data and framework metrics by Q2-Q3 2025.
Expected Impact:
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Integration with other applications to broaden the use cases of DeFiScan data and offer new features for the overall community.
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Make DeFiScan a critical resource for DeFi developers and users and help deliver deeper insights into DeFi activities.
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Milestone 3: $40,000 - Extend the Community Review Program
Expected Outcome:
- With more capital to incentivize community reviews and self-reviews on DeFiScan, we expect to display at least 100 protocols and more than 90% of the total TVL on our dashboard by the end of 2025.
Expected Impact:
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More community participation will lead to a richer dataset of protocols displayed on DeFiScan.
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Increased transparency in the DeFi space
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Solidify the reputation and usage of the DeFiScan dashboard.
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Milestone 4: $10,000 - In real-life events
Expected Outcome:
- We aim to attend major events and conferences in the DeFi / Ethereum ecosystems and actively participate with booths, organizing/participating in hackathons, giving presentations, and joining discussions with other DeFi professionals.
Expected Impact:
- More visibility and education outreach.
- Networking and building relationships with other DeFi protocols.
Plans should you fall below, reach, or exceed funding goals:
- If we fall below funding goals, we will prioritize Milestones 2 and 3 to ensure we boost critical decentralization data production and other research efforts in DeFi.
- If we reach our funding goals, we will proceed with all milestones as planned.
- Should we exceed our funding goals, additional resources will be proportionally allocated toward milestones, and/or we will propose a Liquidity Growth Program to boost Stage 1 / Stage 2 DeFi protocols with The DeFi Collective.
Impact Measurement and Reporting
Inputs > Activities > Outputs > Outcomes > Long Term Impact
- Inputs:
Investing in UX and our API development.
Enhancing DeFiScan visibility and community participation online and offline.
- Activities:
UI revamp, API development and integration.
Incentivize reviews on the dashboard.
Marketing campaigns online as well as offline.
- Outputs:
Improve user engagement and platform usability.
More educated and engaged DeFi community.
Promoting self-policing to DeFi developers, enhancing accountability within the DeFi ecosystem.
- Outcomes:
Better utilization and maintenance of our platform.
Reduce central dependencies and permissions in DeFi.
Increase of the DeFi community’s engagement.
Increase awareness of decentralization metrics among users and developers.
Short-term Outcomes (0-3 months):
- Providing better UX to access decentralization data in DeFi
- More funds to incentivize our DeFiScan Community Review program means more protocols reviewed!
- Agenda of offline events for 2025.
Mid-term Outcomes (3-6+ months):
- 90% of Total DeFi TVL and more than 100 protocols reviewed on DeFiScan.
- Increase the number of monthly page visitors and impressions/followers on X and Discord.
- Our data is being used in third-party applications / various API integrations.
Long-term Impact (5+ years):
- Showcasing the resilience and profitability of high-quality DeFi protocols by providing up-to-date information on all covered DeFi protocols through to our monitoring dashboard and community.
- Have the DeFiScan Framework recognized by the community and be considered as a trusted independent watchdog for assessing decentralization in DeFi.
Outcomes Measurement:
We will measure outcomes using metrics such as :
- Protocol Reviews: Number of Stage 1 & Stage 2 protocols.
- TVL: in Stage 1 Stage 2 protocols.
- Adoption and Mention: Number of times our framework is mentioned / used in major DeFi conferences/events and research/articles.
- User Engagement and Community Impact: with impressions on X, followers on X & Discord, monthly visitors, PR & Star on Gituhub).
- Ecosystem Satisfaction: Comments on our socials/quality survey from regular DeFi users and industry leaders.
Interim Reporting
Regular Updates:
We will provide progress updates in an opensource fashion and will share our reviewing and marketing progress as soon as possible if not live! We will ensure complete transparency regarding funds and liquidity management through our monthly reports and Karma page.
Milestone Verification:
Along with a Karma GAP project page to track our achievements transparently, everyone will be able to see more projects reviewed on DeFiScan and our real-life contributions through our blog posts and social media.
Sustainability Plan
The operational expenses of the collective, including payments to contributors will not be covered directly by the grant. Operational expenses are covered by the treasury funded through previous donations and continuous on-chain rewards generated by the Collective. The Collective aims to fully self-sustain all operational expenses, meaning the grant is used exclusively to raise awareness and enhance the UX as well as integration of DeFiScan rather than for administrative or operational costs.
You can check The DeFi Collective treasury is already generating rewards to support our missions through our first yearly financial report showcasing the financial details of our operations.
We also plan to establish strategic partnerships with educational institutions, incentive/grant programs, key blockchain foundations, and other actors (for-profits and non-profits) focused on DeFi to secure future funding opportunities.
Case Studies and Testimonials
Gathering Feedback:
We plan to collect feedback and actively participate in the review process of DeFi apps through our Submission process taking place on GitHub and our Discord.
Showcasing Success:
Successful reviews will be presented via our dashboard, blog posts, and X Threads, and shared across social media platforms.
We will monitor and share engagement metrics as well as track the number of third-party applications integrating the API and the relative volume of data requests.
We will as best as it is possible, record attendance and assess follow-up partnerships or collaborations formed as a result of event participation.
Advancing Values of Freedom and Privacy
DeFiScan advances the values of freedom by fostering DeFi apps that are genuinely decentralized and permissionless to ensure a truly autonomous and operable alternative financial system.
DeFiScan also promotes values of freedom by empowering users with information that allows them to make independent decisions regarding their engagement with DeFi applications.
Our commitment to privacy ensures that user data is handled securely without compromising individual identities. Also, you can review DeFi apps on DeFiScan anonymously.
All our work is opensource under an MIT license.
Supporting Decentralization
By providing an unbiased framework formalizing the decentralization stages of DeFi protocols, DeFiScan allows for the first time to assess and monitor the maturity risks of DeFi applications.
DeFiScan helps users identify truly decentralized EVM platforms versus those that may have centralized control mechanisms in place.
Team Information
Our team consists of crypto natives, and experienced professionals in blockchain technology, DeFi, software development, law and regulation, policy and community engagement. Key members include:
TokenBrice
- Role: A key figure in the DeFi community and an integral part of The DeFi Collective.
- Experience: TokenBrice is well-recognized for his deep involvement in the DeFi space since its inception. He has been active in numerous governance forums, contributing to discussions and decisions that shape the future of DeFi. His professional journey includes working with Liquity, Paraswap, Monolith, Aave, Maverick Protocol, and others.
- Contributions: Known for organizing DeFi-focused meetups in France, hosting live shows, presenting at various ETH conferences, and writing insightful articles on his blog about DeFi trends and developments.
- Social Profiles: https://twitter.com/TokenBrice - https://tokenbrice.xyz/- TokenBrice (TokenBrice) · GitHub
- Expertise: TokenBrice brings a wealth of knowledge in liquidity management, governance processes, and overall DeFi market trends.
Nils
- Role: DeFi protocol architect and developer at The DeFi Collective.
- Experience: Nils has a background in financial engineering and is recognized for his expertise in designing and developing decentralized protocols. His deep technical knowledge of blockchain technology makes him a valuable asset to the team.
- Contributions: Focuses on the technical framework for DeFi Scan, self-policing for the DeFi industry, working towards enhancing security, building public trust, and accelerating the adoption of DeFi protocols. Speaker at ETH conference and Devcon.
- Social Profiles: x.com - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nils-bundi-6246b998 - nbundi (Nils Bundi) · GitHub
Florian
- Role: Attorney at law with a focus on regulation and compliance.
- Experience: Florian is a practicing lawyer with vast experience in the legal structuring of both DeFi and CeFi projects. He is also engaged in policy and regulation work for the crypto industry.
- Contributions: Managing the Collective’s internal legal affairs, offering guidance to supported protocols on operational compliance, and contributions to the Collective’s initiatives in self-policing, networking, and other key areas.
- Social Profiles: https://www.linkedin.com/in/florian-prantl/ - x.com
Contributors: Besides our board members, The DeFi Collective is supported by a group of dedicated contributors. These contributors play a vital role in various aspects of our operations, from technical development to community engagement. They bring diverse skills and perspectives, helping to drive the Collective’s initiatives forward.
Social Proof
DeFiScan has garnered significant attention and support from notable blockchain and DeFi community figures.
First, the project has successfully secured funding from various sources, including grants, donations, and our liquidity growth initiatives, which underscores DeFiScan’s potential and community trust.
- In grant and donation, we received a Devcon Quadratic Voting Grant ($9879) rewarding useful dashboards about Ethereum data, donation through our sold Anniversary NFT sale (1000*0.01ETH) and the Possum core team (who offered us 6 NFTs with governance utility).
- In liquidity growth initiatives, notable contributions from Pooltogether) Possum, Kaskade, Liquity, and you can find more about Maverick, DYAD and Retro through our latest report or check our wallet on-chain deficollective.eth
Second, a month after its inception, DeFiScan is starting to be recognized by respected individuals and institutions in the industry and we are proud to see public endorsements and communities backing our public good:
Pooltogether - Liquity1, Liquity2 - PaladinVote Founder - Possum Labs - AjnaFi - Coinspect Security - LeviathanNews
Transparency
The treasury activities conducted by The DeFi Collective are completely transparent and we are reporting monthly to ensure complete accountability.
Community contest bounties and as much as we can finance will be directly paid onchain.
Otherwise, for costs that need to be paid in fiat, we proceed to off-ramp crypto through monerium.
