Proposal Name: Meebits PropHouse sponsored by ApeCoin
Proposal Category: Core - ecosystem fund allocation
Abstract:
Allocate 13,000 APE to sponsor a Prop House program for the Meebits community, with the goal of the program being:
- Expand $APE utility to other NFT communities.
- Develop a more efficient way to issue micro-grants to community projects than the current AIP process.
Microgrants of 1,000 APE each will be allocated across 3 rounds. Each round will begin with a 10 day period, where anyone can request funding for an idea that will 1) expand the functionality and awareness of Meebits; and 2) incorporate ApeCoin as a payment method if payments are involved. At the end of the proposal period Meebits NFT holders will select the grant recipients by voting for the proposals they like best.
Motivation:
If the underlying mission of ApeCoin is to power the Web3 economy, we need to be encouraging other communities to adopt ApeCoin and build utility alongside us.
Meebits were released with 3D voxel files, meaning these are NFTs that can be used in gaming and metaverse applications. I made this dancing version of my Meebit in one afternoon. There’s a lot that can be done with Meebits, but to date the community hasn’t had the funding or resources to build utility for their NFTs.
Prop House serves as an auction of APE, where the bids are proposals. It serves as a mechanism for providing micro-grants to the Meebits community. Rather than having the DAO vote yes/no on individual projects, Prop House allows for a group of projects compete for a fixed grant size, with grants being awarded to the project(s) that receive the most votes. Prop House voters are typically NFT communities. Here are some of the existing Prop Houses with micro-grant programs in place:
Utilizing Prop House creates a low-stakes way for Meebits holders to experiment with ApeCoin, and it gives ApeCoin a low-stakes way of experimenting with what other communities can build for our ecosystem. It also gives ApeCoin an opportunity to align with Prop House, which is building public infrastructure for the entire ecosystem.
Prop House will be a funding mechanism for the ApeCoin DAO to engage other communities. In success it could also be used to fund microgrants for ApeCoin projects too. Funding this AIP will not affect the current DAO AIP proposal process.
If successful, we could replicate for BAYC/MAYC as well as other communities! Meebits feels like a good community to start with given the assets are 3D Voxel and can be used in games.
Rationale
The purpose of this AIP is to experiment onboarding other NFT communities to ApeCoin and using a different funding process for micro-grants from the current AIP process. If successful, this project can be used as a blueprint for expanding ApeCoin’s audience and utility.
Meebits and PropHouse are the perfect partners to experiment with. As part of the Yuga Labs family, Meebits is naturally aligned with the goals of ApeCoin and should be actively encouraged to build alongside the $APE community. When possible, we shouldn’t try to build everything ourselves and from scratch; PropHouse is a proven platform with a dedicated tech team to maintaining it. A few KPIs to highlight for PropHouse:
- 1,000+ proposals submitted
- 15,000+ votes allocated
- 400+ ETH committed
Encouraging other communities to build with ApeCoin proliferates our reach and introduces new communities to our ecosystem. Prop House is a way for us to experiment with this hypothesis. We can fund micro-grant programs for various communities that want to build utility in gaming and the metaverse, but don’t have access to funding.
An example of what the rounds and voting looks like can be seen here (a new UI is launching for houses and rounds in the next 2 weeks, so this will be updated):
Benefits to ApeCoin are:
- Low cost way to experiment with proliferating ApeCoin (~$60k for the initial program with majority going towards grant funding)
- Marketing benefits from aligning with other communities
- Funding ideas that bring utility and usability for gaming and metaverse-related applications
Prop House has accomplished a lot in just 6 months of the program (more context here):
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1,000+ proposals submitted
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15,000+ votes allocated
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8 active houses
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400+ ETH committed
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~38 proposals per round
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18 proposals have had enough time elapse since being funded to make a judgement on whether or not they executed. So far, only 1 out of 18 proposals had a no-show.
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Two experiments were run with external houses:
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Zorbs failed due to the round being endlessly spammed. Beyond the spam, there was a clear misconception in what Prop House was to be used for, hinting at more education content being needed.
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Mfers house has been quite a success. The announcement tweet rallied the community and the subsequent reaction points to Nouns earning goodwill as a leader in the CC0 community.
Specifications:
If the proposal passes, Prop House will create a Meebits house that will have its grants funded in APE. Here is a mockup:
Total being requested is 13,000 APE to fund 3 rounds of grants. This breaks down as:
- Round 1 (3,000 APE): 3 grants at 1,000 APE each
- Round 2 (5,000 APE): 5 grants at 1,000 APE each
- Round 3 (5,000 APE): 5 grants at 1,000 APE each
Grant funding will be available anyone, not just Meebits NFT holders. However, every proposal must meet two specific criteria:
- Expand the functionality, community, or awareness of Meebits
- If payments are involved, ApeCoin must be the currency used
Once a round is opened, teams will have 10 days to submit their proposals. After that, voting will open to Meebit NFT holders for 1 week. 1 Meebit = 1 vote. NFT holders can split votes (i.e. if you hold 2 Meebits in your wallet, you can allocate votes to 2 different proposals). At the end of the 1 week period, the project(s) with the most votes will receive the grant funding. APE will be automatically sent to the wallet addresses.
Some rounds may include “mandates”, similar to what Nouns did with its recent “Governance Mandate”:
This helps us direct attention and resources to problems or opportunities the Meebits community can tackle. Some ideas for mandates could include:
- Consumer friendly web apps
- Tools for monetizing Meebits IP
- Toys, products, games or apps
- Content creation
- Community events
- Game MVPs / mockups
- Avatars
OTHER FAQ:
What type of proposals are expected?
Proposals that further proliferate the utility of Meebits. We ask that projects also consider including ApeCoin utility in their projects.
Who can submit proposals?
Anyone!
Who can vote on proposals?
Any Meebits NFT holders can vote on proposals.
How can ApeCoin DAO ensure that the work will be properly executed?
While assurance of proposal execution is not possible, we minimize the risk by putting the funds into the hands of credible proposals which are selected by the Meebits community. We rely on social reputation, relevant experience and other norms to maximize the chance of seeing the proposals through to proper execution.
Though outdated, we can look at historical Prop House KPIs to gauge the efficacy of the program. As of 6/18, roughly 18 proposals had received funding for a relevant period of time. Of those 18 proposals, only 1 was a no-show.
Why not offer this for BAYC or MAYC instead of Meebits?
ApeCoin will be most successful if we give other communities a chance to build with our support. BAYC and MAYC are already in the ApeCoin family, and have access to billions of treasury assets through the current AIP process.
This is an opportunity to open up the ApeCoin ecosystem to more communities.
Steps to Implement:
Funds requested from the DAO will be distributed as following:
- 3,000 APE to fund Round 1, sent 1-2 days prior to Round 1 voting period ending.
- 5,000 APE to fund Round 2, sent 1-2 days prior to Round 2 voting period ending.
- 5,000 APE to fund Round 3, sent 1-2 days prior to Round 3 voting period ending.
Wallet that receives the funding will be a 2/3 multisig. Details for the multi-sig to be provided prior to the official AIP going up for a vote.
Timeline:
As soon as the proposal is approved, we will begin working with cryptoseneca from PropHouse to implement the experience. We expect this to take ~2 weeks.
Once the UI/UX is created, we will begin round 1 of the program. Teams will have 10 days to submit their proposals. After proposals are submitted, voting will be open to Meebit NFT holders for 1 week.
Round 2 and 3 will follow shortly after Round 1.
Overall Cost:
This proposal requests a total of 13,000 APE for 3 rounds of grant funding (13 grants at 1,000 APE each).
Proposals submitted to the AIP Ideas category can be vague, incomplete ideas. Topics submitted here are not required to be submitted as a formal AIP Draft Template, however, you may still use the template if you wish.