Hi @blockchainzilla @Aepicurean some of us keep seeing updates on X regarding ApeChain and the Banana Bill, but still no cohesive information for the community regarding progress.
Due to on-going behind-the-scenes discussions, this thread Previously accepted AIP updates must be submitted to move onto the AIP Draft Phase gave me the idea to post this here in the hopes that you guys could provide the community with some transparency and accountability feedback about activities we may not yet be privy to. Not everyone has engaged with the BB team nor have a keen interest in your on-going efforts.
DISCLOSURES & PREAMBLE
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While the Ape Foundation may already be privy to some - if not all - of the questions below, as the Special Council acts at the behest of the DAO (that being us), queries such as this from the community are vital to transparency and accountability.
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Taking into account that unlike other proposals which come through here and which are far more detailed (e.g. GTM, milestones etc) than the BB, now that the fund is up and running, most of the questions below are designed to fill in the missing pieces.
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During the discussions phase of AIP-454: The BANANA Bill: Apes Gotta Eat, as some in the community had expressed concerns about 100M $APE exiting the treasury, now that it has been disclosed as per Ape Foundation Transparency Report - 2024 - Q1 that the treasury is low on funds, and quite possibly operating in the negative in Q3/24 when all accounts payables and proposal allocations are taken into account, and with the fluctuation value of the token causing further concern, now more than ever clarity is required.
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NOTE: Back in July when the BB fund was passed, $APE was trading at an average of $0.85. It is currently trading at an average of $0.74 having fallen as low as $0.48 on Aug 5th, less than one month after the fund passed. This fluctuating value directly affects the USD conversion of the BB investments which have to be reconciled in fiat, thus causing additional pressure on the token. I mention this because our $5M project from July 8th, suddenly almost doubled ($ape valuation) by the time it was withdrawn and officially submitted to the BB on Aug 9th. That obviously depends on when the BB was actually funded - and if in full.
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Spencer recently posted that an impressive 80+ applications have now gone through the BB. That appears to be up by almost 50% from the previous guidance he posted on the ApeChain Telegram channel some weeks ago in early Aug.
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My own team’s (and at least three other teams) experiences in going through the process, was also the impetus for this thread because lack of clarity tends to send the wrong signals. And this being crypto, word gets around - rather quickly. And as a prominent and active member of the DAO, who has actually sent deal (three thus far) flow to the BB from devs I know, I personally shouldn’t have to play guessing games in obtaining answers.
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NOTE: While I was originally skeptical of the BB, due in part to the large amount of funds exiting the treasury, seeing as it passed the vote even when removing the predominant whale wallets, it became clear that we were going to fund it. Throughout my history, I am - and have always been - a team player. And so, rather than dwell on whether or not it would succeed, I opted to try and help it to do that, and in my own way. That led to the extensive [community] project that I spent a LOT of time working on with a stellar team to build for ApeChain AIP-487: ApeCoin Community Engagement Platform, which I posted here on July 8th, and subsequently withdrew from the DAO process on Aug 14th having sent it through the BB on Aug 9th.
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And so, while I am not happy about some things, especially about the fact that, once again, I believe that we the dedicated DAO members are being treated like second-class citizens while others are given more focus and attention, nothing in this post should be construed as my lagging support for ApeChain nor the BB. In fact, my social media posts continue to be evidence of my continued support for the project and my confidence that, risks aside - if executed in a fair and objective manner - that it will be a significant boost for our fledgling DAO. Regardless, I am allowed to express discontent and dissatisfaction as I see fit; and I believe that you all know by now that I am always [brutally] honest and forthcoming because that’s just who I am and exactly the voice that’s needed amid all the usual WAGMI bs.
QUESTIONS FROM THE AIP
- Within 14 days of passage of this proposal, the Advisory Committee, Program Facilitator and Strategic Accounts Manager will negotiate detailed Scopes of Work (e.g., the terms of their agreements) with the APE Foundation.
Q: What is the status?: Pending | In Progress | Completed
- After the confirmation of the Scope of Work, the Foundation will draw up contracts for the above.
Q: What is the status?: Pending | In Progress | Completed
- The Advisory Committee will be required to provide a transparency report on their accomplishments towards the DAO on a quarterly basis.
Q: What is the status?: Pending | In Progress | Completed
NOTE: The Banana Bill passed on 08/03/24 (Q3/24), and so is scheduled after 09/30/24. And so, I only added this for completeness, and I expect that the response would be PENDING.
- The APE Foundation will work with their legal counsel to determine the appropriate legal structure for this initiative.
Q: What is the status?: Pending | In Progress | Completed
- BB Fund Timelines
- June 20, 2024: AIP goes to vote
- July 3, 2024: DAO voting concludes
- July 3 - July 17 2024: Statements of work finalized and contracts executed
- July 24, 2024: Commercial Agreements Initiative and User Incentives Initiatives begin
- July 24, 2026: The Banana Program will be complete, with any remaining funds returned to the DAO treasury.
Q: While taking into account the aggressive nature of the timelines above, as well as unforeseen delays, were all the activities slated for completion by July 24, accomplished? If not, what were the challenges - and when was the BB up and ready to go if not by July 24th, 2024?
- Additionally, the Program Facilitator, Strategic Accounts Manager, Advisory Committee and Special Council will meet regularly to discuss goals, progress with respect to success metrics, and approaches to reducing risk for the Banana Program.
Q: How often does the BB team meet?
Q: Briefly describe the procedure from the moment a deal (either directly or through Banana Bill form) is submitted up to the point of review and/or moved forward for a potential deal?
Q: Briefly describe how the BB team works with the advisory group in assessing and closing deals?
Q: Do you have any metrics as to the average timeline for a deal going from submission to closing?
- [Advisory] Individual with industry-leading expertise in venture investment, gaming, and/or commercial execution, and a strong network in the Asia-Pacific region.
Q: Has this role been filled? If so, who was hired?
- [Advisory] Individual with industry-leading expertise in venture investment, gaming, and/or commercial execution, and a strong network in Europe, the Middle-East and Africa (EMEA).
Q: Has this role been filled? If so, who was hired?
- It is my understanding that 100M APE was to be funded in two tranches of 60M in year-1 and 40M in year-2.
Q. Has the BB been fully funded to the the tune of 60M? If so, when were the funds transferred out of the treasury?
- User Incentives | 23M APE
Q: How many such deals have thus far been closed?
Q: Does a project have to engage in tokenomics as a requirement?
- Commercial Agreements (Infra) | 73M APE
Q: How many such deals have thus far been closed?
Q: Does a project have to engage in tokenomics as a requirement?
- Commercial Agreements (Games, DeFi, and other) | included in 73M above
Q: How many such deals have thus far been closed?
Q: Does a project have to engage in tokenomics as a requirement?
- BB Signed Deals
As per the above, and taking into account Spencer’s 08/08/24 Telegram comment : “right now we’re processing about 8-10 applications per week, generally we try to get through applications within one-two weeks of coming in (we’re working through processes for more active communication w/ applicants) and then it’s another week → two weeks to get in front of the advisory committee once approved (we’re working on speeding up that process), we had a huge amount of interest in the first week so it’s been some instant backlog clearing and now we should be starting to move more efficiently.”
Q: How many deals - in total - have thus far been closed and funded?
Q: How many deals - in total - which have been closed and funded are revenue share generating for the DAO?
- BB Deal Flow Metrics
As per “All funds allocated under the Banana Program must be affirmatively endorsed by a majority of the Advisory Committee (e.g. 3 of 5, 4 of 6 or 4 of 7) and must not be vetoed by the Special Council.”
Q: As per Q13, can you share some metrics of signed (if any) deals that give insight (no need to disclose the names of advisors nor how they voted) into deal votes? e.g.
“A deal to build and deploy a game on ApeChain passed with 3/5 votes”
- GTM Planning
According to online metrics (there are tools for this), only few Apes are talking about ApeChain; and unless you’re @capetaintrippy or his ilk, most posts - even from the official apecoin account - don’t even average 27 likes, let alone view metrics above the average of 483.
This should be of utmost concern because new competing chains such as Abstract, Monad, Story etc. have way more buzz and traffic - and they’d doing deals left and right. Aside from the fact that we already know that there are simply not enough Apes - active or otherwise - to make ApeChain a success, as well as the derision that tends to get thrown at us from other crypto personalities and communities. First impressions are everything.
To the extent that while we have some announced infra partners, but no dApps yet announced, it was surprising for me to see the game, Battleplan coming to ApeChain (announced back on Aug 27th with no fanfare). That game was previously announced XAI as going on XAI. Later on in July 18th, Yuga partnered with Pixel Vault to migrate their Reboot protocol to ApeChain, along with BattlePlan. Little to no buzz. Then again, it’s an already released game.
This all goes toward the argument that most of us have made and continue to make; that being without sustained buzz, it doesn’t matter what dApps go on ApeChain, it will all be immaterial and inconsequential because even TVL isn’t a reliable metric that translates to revenue - especially for L2s, let alone L3 piggy-backs like ApeChain. If my studio announced a $5M game and got little to no buzz inside of two months, I would be very concerned. There is a reason that project marketing tends to cost a whole heap of money - and some still tend to fail. And all key crypto sectors (gaming being the worst performer) are currently down because it’s a lot more nuanced than token price or funding. To wit, a week ago Travis Kling posted this sobering synopsis which mirrors others by various outlets and key crypto players. You should read that whole thread.
Q: Taking into account that there was no GTM outlined in the BB proposal, can you provide some details on what the GTM plans are? I mean, aside from an [unannounced] partnership with BAPE which suddenly appeared on the ApeChain blueprint page without much fanfare.
Q: How much funding has been set aside and allocated for GTM activities?
16: BB Compensations
“The compensation paid to each eligible Advisory Committee member will be based on their experience and skillset. However, in all cases, the total amount paid to any individual Advisory Committee member will not exceed 250,000 APE per-year, and all compensation will be subject to a 50% one-year lockup.” | “Approval to spend no more than 3,000,000 APE per year on administrative expenses, including but not limited to, payments to Advisory Committee members, any Program Facilitator, any Strategic Accounts Manager, or any other consultant or advisor providing services to support the Banana Program, legal and business costs and expenses, and other similar costs or expenses”
Q: As the salaries for all those hired by the DAO are publicly disclosed, as these were not available at the time of the proposal, please provide insight into the current salaries for
17: Reporting
As detailed above, transparency reports will be provided quarterly by the Advisory Committee to the APE Foundation, who will then make the reports public. The Program Facilitator will continually work with the ApeCoin DAO Governance Working Group to improve transparency and identify technology tools that should be implemented to improve the visibility of these initiatives for DAO members.
Q: As the BB vote was passed on July 4th (Q3/24), the quarter ends on Sept 30th. When will the Q3/24 report be submitted to the DAO?
Absolutely. This humongous pile of money, basically handed over to the folks in charge without well-defined checks & balances, calls for regular, thorough, and clear monitoring and accountability.
