Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,
@SmartAPE has responded to our questions and they are in our review once again.
Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.
Kind Regards,
1 Like
Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,
@SmartAPE has responded to our questions and has provided consent to share them in this forum for the community.
Click to expand Q&A with @SmartAPE
1. Please revise your Overall Cost section, as specified by the AIP Draft Template:
- Include any additional requests that are directed towards the APE Foundation, especially concerning the community discussion platforms, website, or Snapshot.
- Include a more detailed breakdown of the budget. We acknowledge that many items are estimations, but please provide more detail where available, including the $1.5m for âTeam Core + External - All,â broken down by position.
This section does not require any additional material from the APE Foundation other than whatâs already listed there.
The ACE platform will not be hosted on any DAO resources as it is a stand-alone platform which will have its own services (web, cloud, Discord, Telegram, Discourse etc) connected to it. And the ace.apecoin.com sub-domain request is in the Steps To Implement section.
The budget breakdown was already revised as per discussions in the proposal.
I am not inclined to plug in arbitrary numbers because, aside from being inaccurate, doing so could also later give rise to them being seen as fraudulent regardless of how close to estimates they may be. Iâm not new at this - and so, Iâm not doing that. If I say the team costs $1.2M, then it costs $1.2M.
Also, that section in the proposal already follows the same format as used in the recently passed $100M AIP-454 : Banana Bill. For convenience, I have quoted it below:
Please note that this budget is for a minimum of 20 people as per the Team Positions Breakdown in the proposal.
To be clear, the Project Director - that being me for now - will not be personally receiving any funding for this project. I neither need nor require it. If I did, given my income level, just as licenses for my tech would blow up the budget, so too will any fees paid to me for my participation as the Program Director of this project.
My revenue from this proposal is derived through my studio via income generated by my technologies (AGE + WSG) which power the core of the platform. That is how I am able to give back such a large percentage of the revenue back to the DAO - and without requiring a license fee for the tech stack. Several proposals e.g. Sequence, ApeChain via Arbitrum et al have done the same thing whereby they were at $0 cost to the DAO, while earning revenue from the use of their tech platforms.
2. With respect to your Overall Cost, given that you are requesting $5m worth of USD, we recommend modifying your proposal to specifically request $5m USD equivalent and remove the request in ApeCoin. If this is preferable, we are happy to update your proposal for you.
Please go ahead and make the required revisions as-needed.
3. Acknowledging your specified preference of 25% funding within 48 hours and the remainder within 30 days/7 days of completed paperwork: given the large size of the requested grant, would you be open to receiving the grant in tranches?
Yes - I am open to receiving the funding (itâs not a grant - we need to be clear here) in agreed upon tranches.
The 25% request ($1.25M) is due to the fact that agreements such as this can take a bit of time to put together. And the APE Foundation, regardless of fault or circumstances, doesnât have a good track record in this regard as has been shared by others both publicly and privately. It was the impetus for my recently writing [AIP-478](AIP-478: Require Ape Foundation To Disburse AIP Funds In Timely Fashion which is designed to address this issue.
To that end, every day or week that we spend going back and forth while putting together an agreement, delays the start of the project which, due to pre-existing technologies and third-party teams, I expect to have up and running inside of 2-3 weeks because I am exceptionally good at what I do.
These procedures are no different from how I have operated these past few decades. Except that, I am not inclined to frontload project startup costs in the hopes that I one day receive funding from the APE Foundation at a later point in time and from which I can later be reimbursed.
I look forward to working with the APE Foundation and an established third-party escrow agent/service in coming up with performance based milestone tranches during the course of the agreement discussions. For the amount of this funding, this is expected, and I already have vast experience in precisely how the process works.
4. Would you be willing to amend the proposal so that the Foundation would receive X% of Gross Revenue in any instances of funds returned to the DAOâs treasury? This has been the preference in the past.
Yes. During the course of agreement creation and where applicable, I will leave it up to the APE Foundation to determine their choice of either Net or Gross Revenue. It makes no difference to me whatsoever because the project is designed to be self-funding and to the benefit of the DAO.
To that end, while the proposal currently indicates Net Revenue, below would be the Gross Revenue adjusted and amortized against expected costs over the initial two year term of the project.
Please make the following changes to the REVENUE TO THE DAO section by replacing the pre-existing text in its entirety with the following:
Through a generous revenue share scheme, the DAO is able to recoup its $5M investment sooner rather than later, while also generating profit via a persistent platform and ecosystem.
In cases where there is a choice of receiving net or gross revenue, the APE Foundation shall have the option to make a choice during agreement construction.
REVENUE UP TO $5M
-
50% of net or 30% of gross revenue generated from third-party dApps deployed on ACE
-
50% of net or 30% of gross revenue generated from AOW transactions and partnerships
-
50% of net or 30% of gross revenue generated from proceeds (if applicable) of the token
-
50% of net or 30% of gross revenue generated from proceeds of AON node sales
REVENUE ABOVE $5M
-
30% of gross revenue generated from third-party dApps deployed on ACE
-
30% of gross revenue generated from AOW transactions and partnerships
-
30% of gross revenue generated from proceeds (if applicable) of the token
-
30% of gross revenue generated from proceeds of AON node sales
5. Is there an expected schedule for the distribution of revenue back to the DAO treasury?
Yes. Revenue will be paid back to the treasury on a standard quarterly (every 3 months) basis along with the necessary transparency income reports similar to publishing/distribution deals that I have engaged in over the years. Due to various unknowns pertaining to revenue generation for Web3 projects, and given the scope of this project, I am hesitant to commit to a monthly payout schedule. I am open to having further discussions with the APE Foundation as-needed.
Also, such payments, quarterly or monthly, are irrespective of the state of the project. This is because revenue for projects like this can be generated through various dev cycles (alpha, beta etc.). If the project is deployed in any cycle and generates revenue of any kind, then the net or gross revenue as chosen by the APE Foundation, would be paid to the treasury.
6. Is the individual/team/business entity prepared to facilitate the distribution of gross revenue back to the Foundation in a way which is compliant with both the relevant local regulations and Cayman regulations?
Yes. I own and operate two studios; both of which are compliant with local and international regulations. And both are represented by experienced attorneys with international partners and agents.
In the event that there are specific requirements for engaging in payments to a Cayman business, we will adhere to any/all local and international regulations as we currently do during the normal course of business.
Further, in the event that this proposal passes, due to its nature, via established third-parties, we plan to setup an entity either in Cayman Islands or BVI to hold various assets and liabilities due to our intent to license and deploy the platform through territorial (e.g. Asia) third-party partners (preferably through our ApeCoin DAO entrepreneurs).
7. Please provide details regarding AOW tokenâs tokenomics, including maximum supply, release schedule, distribution, liquidity, DEX/CEX partnerships, and any other pertinent information.
This information is not yet available as this project hasnât been started.
Once the project is funded, we will engage with a pre-existing third-party partner which will be responsible for everything related to the token. This info will be shared with the ACE Foundation as well as with public via the ACE platform in the form of a white/lite paper.
Also, the [utility] token is planned for +12 months following the deployment of the ACE platform. And so, there is neither the need nor the urgency to do anything with that at this time.
8. For the avoidance of doubt, would any funds received from this proposal be used to provide liquidity for the launch of the AOW token? Please elaborate.
No.
To be clear, this is NOT a token designed to raise funds. It is a utility token that is tied to the platformâs reward system via the ACE platformâs own economic/tokenomics system. It is used not only as rewards for various activities within the platform but also as rewards for those who buy and operate nodes required by the platform. Itâs clearly laid out in the proposal and its supplemental FAQs.
9. Since your platform would require token holders to connect wallets, what are the plans for security audits of the app?
Though the platform does not require ApeID holders to connect wallets, if they opt to do so, they will be able to use warm or delegated wallets - or the platform will create one for them within the UI/UX experience using pre-existing third-party middleware (such as Sequence, our chosen partner for this project).
The platform and any/all dApps deployed on it, including wallets, will undergo rigorous standard audits by third-party partners engaged for such activities. This is all standard practice.
10. If you have already begun auditing the platform, please provide proof of the audit(s).
Seeing as the platform isnât built yet, we have not done any such audits. And so, no such proof currently exists.
During the course of the project, I am happy to share such audit reports with the APE Foundation even though such activities are beyond its purview, and so, is not entitled to them in the same vein that it is not entitled to anything related to the projectâs partnerships, design, scope or methods.
11. Do you have any estimated costs for users to use the platformâs features, or any premium features (including proposed âlandsâ and other in-game assets)?
The scenarios already presented in the proposal are industry standard and so, should serve as a guideline.
The use of the ACE platform itself will be FREE. There is no fee to create an ApeID account or to engage in activities within the ApeCoin Online Worlds (AOW) itself.
The [optional] purchase of NFT based MT (micro-transactions) takes the form of cosmetic items as well as whatever premium world assets (npc pets, npc helpers, housing prefabs, land etc) are made available in the cash shop (accessible via the platform as well as the external web interface).
The platform has its own monetary system which is used for engagement and other rewards later tied to the platformâs token rewards.
NOTE: Though subject to change, and for reasons which should be obvious and as stated in the proposal, though the platform will in fact accept $APE as payment, there are currently no plans to use $APE as the native token on the platform. This is something that can later be discussed with the APE Foundation if/when necessary.
12. Do you have plans to protect any collected user data? Please elaborate.
Yes. We already use third-parties to protect user data for our own projects which are currently sold worldwide and on various platforms. As every facet of this project is powered by vetted third-party middleware, they too assure the protection of user data based on domestic and international laws.
And so, the platform will have its own user data disclosures related to user data as required by territories where it is deployed and hosted.
13. Youâve noted that âthe Project Director will first hire the Project Manager and Project Asst. Manager.â Who would be responsible for the selection of the remainder of the team?â
As per standard practice, the hiring of teams and individuals will be performed by the 3-member leadership team in conjunction with third-party agencies on an as-needed basis.
14. Regarding any granted permission to use ApeCoin trademarks by the Ape Foundation, do you expect to maintain full ownership rights to the content and/or IP which may be created as a result of the approval of your proposal?
All content created during the course of this project will be owned by the corporate entity creating the project. This will and should not include any third-party licensed content such as the ApeCoin logo and associated trademarks.
Aside from the fact that a plethora of licensed middleware is required to build this project, the APE Foundation does not - and will not - own any aspect of this project.
If at a later date the APE Foundation desires to âownâ and subsequently take over the project, that is a conversation that I am willing to engage in when the time comes. And for starters, while I am not in the business of licensing technologies which I build for my projects, a license to use both of my AGE + WSG technologies required by the platform - comes at a cost; as does other middleware used by this project.
15. Would your expectation be to keep complete ownership of all content produced from this proposal?
Yes. As per #14 above.
16. As per the ApeCoin General Guidelines, âproposals will not be put up for vote if they involve illegal activity, hate speech, pornographic material, or are at odds with the mission or values of the APE Foundation.â Can you ensure that the content on the ACE platform would be in keeping with these guidelines?
Yes. Iâve been doing this for decades, and so, I am well aware of such guidelines during the course of my tenue in my field. This project is no exception to those rules.
17. Do you provide consent to apply updates to the relevant areas of your proposal based on your responses to the questions above?
Yes.
18. Do you provide consent to share these questions and answers with the community in this forum?
Yes.
Edits have been made to this Topic, by the author, by the authorâs request, or with the authorâs consent. You can click the Pencil icon at the top of the post to see these edits.
A DAR package is being worked on and upon completion this AIP will move into Administrative Review. Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.
Kind Regards,
2 Likes
FAQ1 : updated to include clarity on UGC which was previously buried in another FAQ question.
Please See:
WILL APECOIN ONLINE WORLDS HAVE UGC SUPPORT?
FAQ2 : updated to include a clarification of the themed worlds (e.g. BAYC, Mocaverse etc) at launch.
Please See:
Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,
We have sent a list of follow up questions to the author.
Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.
Kind Regards,
Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,
@SmartAPE has requested to withdraw their application. This AIP will be moved to and remain in the Withdrawn AIPs category.
Kind Regards,
1 Like