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GrantShares is a transparent and decentralized grants program tailored for the Neo ecosystem. Born out of the necessity for a clearer, more democratic funding avenue for emerging talent, this initiative has rapidly gained momentum, enriching the ecosystem with notable projects and active contributors. In just its first year, it has witnessed over 60 project proposals, out of which 13 were granted funding, with a combined total of $210k USD. GrantShares has not only simplified the funding process for innovative projects within the Neo ecosystem but has also become a magnet for fresh talent.
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Introduction
GrantShares is a decentralized and transparent grants program for the Neo ecosystem. It is organized as a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) and was one of the first of its kind on the Neo blockchain.
Challenges
The challenge faced by the project was to create a decentralized and transparent funding process that would be secure, efficient, and would help to onboard new projects and contributors.
Important aspects that had to be kept in mind when designing and implementing the product were:
Security: The team had to develop a secure way to store and manage funds. This was done by leveraging smart contracts to form a DAO. All actions made by the DAO are controlled through a set of members that can only move forward if they find consensus via on-chain voting. The DAO's treasury resides under that control on the chain too.
Transparency: The team wanted to create a transparent funding process that would be open to everyone. This was done by making all proposals, the discussions, and decisions on them public. The blockchain obviously adds to that transparency. The off-chain interactions are handled via GitHub issues that allow everyone to read and take part in the discussions.
Scalability: The team had to design a platform that could scale to meet the needs of the growing Neo community. This was done by using a modern tech stack hosted on DigitalOcean as the infrastructure provider.
Numerous stakeholders: Because of GrantShares' decentralized nature, it was important to liaise with many key players in the Neo community when creating the product definition and the technical design. Thus, our team was functioning as a facilitator and coordinator in the inception process.
Business Impact
GrantShares has been a success. It has attracted considerable attention to the ecosystem as well as concrete projects and contributors. In its first year, more than 60 proposals have been submitted and 13 have received funding with a total awarded amount of $210k USD. These figures are in constant evolution and can be checked on GrantShares Treasury.
More than just a grants program, GrantShares offers an accessible entry for small projects that might not meet the criteria for larger grants or investments, thereby pulling fresh talent into the Neo community. It has also championed transparency and accountability in funding.
Some other impacts are:
Introducing new applications, tools, and infrastructure tailored for, or based on Neo.
Pioneering a reference model and blueprint for DAOs within Neo.
Boosting developer engagement with the Neo blockchain.
Amplifying the involvement of the Neo community.
Today, GrantShares stands as an invaluable asset to the Neo ecosystem.
