Not your AAVE-rage ghost story
Ghosts are angry, transparent, and don’t pay rent. This is the story of one that is less supernatural but should also cause you goosebumps: The Aave Grants DAO is funding contributors to grow the Aave ecosystem — and you could be one of them.
What is the Aave ghost and why should you care? 👻
I never really liked Halloween. I don’t even like horror movies (because I am actually scared of them), and the same goes for anything supernatural. But this is the story about a special ghost… one that basically just wants to help you conquer the world of decentralized finance.
Its name is Aave and it is actually a liquidity market protocol that has been utilizing the security and decentralization of the Ethereum blockchain since its foundation in 2017. Today, anyone can use the application, which allows users to earn interest by depositing tokens or borrow assets in exchange for token collateral.
Side note: If you need more resources to understand and use Aave, check out their newsletter.
Not only is one of Aave’s core values transparency, its name literally translates from Finnish to “ghost”. And the friendly ghost’s mission is to create an open infrastructure for decentralized finance, that allows anyone to participate. Essentially, it is one of the biggest DeFi applications that currently exist.
Transparent, but not supernatural: The Aave Grants DAO
But the ghost’s story is far from over. Since the beginning, Aave is taking every step possible to minimize the risk of its application. The Aave Protocol is open source, which allows anyone to interact with the API or smart contracts on the Ethereum network directly. This fostered an ethos of decentralization and collaboration, showcasing the power of composability: a whole ecosystem of builders emerged on top of it.
But there are still many other ways in which Aave has the potential to improve and grow — and its community is full of ideas. For the longest time, there was never a good way to leverage this combined brainpower. Finally, a proposal for the Aave Grants DAO (AGD) was submitted and approved by the community, to fund and support ideas from the community. This effort is aligned with the goal to help the protocol to further decentralize and truly become community-owned and run, an idea that was outlined by founder Stani Kulechov with the launch of Aave V2.
The AGD follows one mission: To leverage and empower community developers, creators, and innovators who want to contribute. The DAO ensures the distribution of incentives and resources to the contributors who need it, without each idea needing a community proposal and vote before it can be funded.
By forming a DAO, the decentralized nature is maintained. The approval process involves a committee of eight as well as the community to ensure transparency and fairness. And so far, it has proven to be a success: After being approved and implemented four months ago (June 2021), the AGD has already given out 29 grants worth $943k… even Shania Twain would be impressed by that.
FIY, you can stay connected through their telegram group! Their team is always happy to help.
What kind of projects receive the grant?
The list is loooooong… anything that benefits the ghost goes! Aave Grants maintains a list of active requests for proposals that is frequently updated with new suggestions from the community. Current funding priorities include the development of a community-owned governance UI, projects and integrations that increase stablecoin deposits in Aave, and an Aave Weekly Analytics Report. But anything that serves the Aave ecosystem can be submitted. For example, the AGD also supports hackathons, such as ETHLisbon (I know, right?! No one saw that coming 👀).
To name a few examples, past projects included solutions to protect Aave users from costly liquidations, enable zero collateral loans, productively deploy a treasury strategy, enable students to participate in governance, address privacy concerns. But anything is possible! You can check out a complete list of funded grants here.
The only bad news? The ghost is still hungry for more ideas…
Should YOU apply for an Aave Grant?
YES! If your idea makes Aave better, you should apply for a grant! It’s very simple.
You WILL need to give up your firstborn child
Oh, wait. That was the plot of a different movie (don’t watch that one, it has bad ratings). The AGD just wants you to fill out an application form on their official site. The process varies slightly depending on the size of the grant. For larger grants, the review committee may present the proposal to the community as a temperature check before awarding the grant. This was the case with the 2001DeFi team who proposed developing a mobile app for Aave. The AGD presented the proposal to the community and asked them to take a snapshot vote.
Already got plans after ETHLisbon?
Trust me, I don’t like to think about it. And not just, because Halloween is around the corner 🎃
But if you are also dreading the existential crisis that can follow an amazing IRL community event, this could be your chance. Become a contributor to the Aave ecosystem and build something meaningful! If you have an idea, there is no reason to hesitate anymore.
PS. We’re truly honored that our Aave chose to support ETHLisbon. You’re the only ghost for us! For everyone looking for #rAAVE details— you should follow our Twitter closely in the next couple of days. Alpha leak incoming 👀
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