Announce IOSG Kickstarter Bounty Challenges in GR10 Hackathon
We are pleased to announce a total amount of $6,000 grant in support of the Gitcoin Round 10 Hackathon and it has been released with 3 different Kickstarter Bounty challenges. As a developer-friendly Venture Capital, we are excited to sponsor Gitcoin GR10 events with $15,000 and join a stacked group of Ethereum organizations who have contributed to help build up a better ecosystem through Gitcoin hackathons and grant rounds.
Beyond Gitcoin hackathons, we are also ready to provide longer-term support for developers through our Kickstarter program.
💥 Gitcoin + IOSG = GO KICKSTARTING
This is an exciting milestone, as IOSG delivers one Kickstarter grant with 3 single specific challenges to all developers and start-up entrepreneurs to seek for the most aspiring team with innovative products. We are thrilled to be working alongside Gitcoin and look forward to a long and rewarding partnership.
🔥 Challenge #1
【Prize title】: User-Friendly Cross-Chain & Cross-Layer Solutions
【Prize bounty】: 2,000 USDC
【Challenge description】：The past few months have witnessed the unprecedented fastest growth in the decentralized economy, exemplified by the proliferation of DeFi and NFT applications. At the same time, new blockchain platforms and infrastructures start to demonstrate their appeal to applications and users in providing faster processing, low transaction cost, and better-suited abstractions, etc. On the other hand, various Layer 2 solutions (L2s) further strengthen the interoperability between different platforms.
However, the multi-chain scenario is currently restricted by the friction incurred when users interact with different blockchains. We would like to call for innovative solutions that bring users to the center of cross-chain interactions by allowing users to freely access the best of different blockchain platforms while not having to worry too much about setting up different wallets, going through tedious and error-prone processes to move assets around, or spending a lot of time just learning about how to use applications on different chains.
🔥 Challenge #2
【Prize title】: Connecting DeFi to the non-crypto audience in Web 3.0
【Prize bounty】: 2,000 USDC
【Challenge description】：The majority of DeFi projects are targeting a crypto native audience. There are only several projects exploring ways to introduce DeFi to the mainstream public. For instance, applications allowing non-crypto users to tap into DeFi yields, or projects such as Centrifuge connecting SMEs to the DeFi liquidity. We believe DeFi is yet to capture the majority of its potential and the largest impact will be felt in reforming the traditional way of doing finance.
🔥 Challenge #3
【Prize title】: Financializing NFTs
【Prize bounty】: 2,000 USDC
【Challenge description】：NFTs have received a lot of attention from the mainstream media and the crypto communities. Collectors and curators have purchased hundreds of NFTs and are sitting on a largely illiquid asset class. It is time for NFT and the DeFi community to work together and increase the liquidity and utility of NFTs as an asset class. NFTs need liquid markets, healthy price discovery mechanisms, and credit/lending services available to collectors to begin with.
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👑 Kickstarter Laureates
We have announced the Kickstarter Program on 30th April this year which was designed to support the innovative spirits contributing to the blockchain ecosystem worldwide to march ahead. Any early-stage individual developers and team are welcome to apply for it, post their code and share with us the ideas of their open source project. The shortlisted candidate will be supported with 10k — 100k USD in the capital, mentorship, as well as community networks.
We have supported two projects in May, for example, more about them:
Arkhivist provides risk assessment of various financial protocols with an easy-to-use investment portal and the ability to monitor events that are important to the DeFi investor.
We believe that as DeFi grows and more users come in, the industry will pay more attention to the security level of DeFi protocols and how to better protect users’ assets. Akhivist as the auditor and monitor of DeFi protocols will help users invest in DeFi with peace of mind.
RMRK is bringing NFTs to the Kusama chain and is using a new NFT token standard that equips users with advanced functions like condition rendering of NFTs, NFTs owning other NFTs, etc. RMRK is also the first project (with a PoC — Kanaria) to bring NFTs to the Polkadot ecosystem. Moving forward, RMRK will integrate with smart contract platforms like Moonbeam and Unique network to make the NFTs more tradable and possibly even “cross-chain”.
We saw potential in the project to become the NFT standard that powers the Polkadot ecosystem and possibly to other chains as well.
🌟 About Us
IOSG Ventures, founded in 2017, is a community-friendly and research-driven early-stage venture firm across China, the US, and Singapore. We focus on open finance, Web 3.0, and infrastructure for a decentralized economy. Our portfolio covers more than 60 projects, including Layer 1 (NEAR, Polkadot, Cosmos), DeFi (1inch, Synthetix, UMA). We commit ourselves to working alongside various developer & DAO communities and helping the most aspiring founding teams to achieve success. As a developer-friendly fund with long-term values, we launch the Kickstarter Program which offers capital and resources for innovative and courageous developers. Since we consistently cooperate with our partners and connect with communities, we work closely with our portfolio projects throughout their journey of entrepreneurship.
