Public goods are the backbone of any thriving blockchain ecosystem—much like roads and infrastructure in a city. They provide the essential tools and resources that enable communities to grow and innovate.
AADAO and Dora Factory are on a mission to revolutionize how public goods receive the support they need to make a significant impact in the Atom Economic Zone (AEZ). Through the AEZ Quadratic Funding Grant, we’re driving a new era of community-driven development around the Hub.
Following Dora Factory’s successful test round in Q1 2024 and the overwhelming support for Proposal 917, which secured matched ATOM funds from the Cosmos Community Pool, AADAO has stepped in to elevate this initiative further.
By contributing an additional $200,000 USDC to the total prize pool, AADAO is supporting the 24-month AEZ Quadratic Funding Grant initiative that includes nine more funding rounds. Read more about this AADAO grant in our recent blog.
The latest Round 2, which concluded on June 20th, 2024, set an impressive benchmark. It attracted sixteen innovative AEZ public goods projects and garnered overwhelming community participation, raising over $80,000 from community contributions alone—surpassing expectations by an astounding 1500%!
In this blog, we’ll provide a comprehensive roundup of Round 2 and explore why these projects gained such significant community support.
Community Support for AEZ Public Goods
The overwhelming community support in Round 2 highlights the strong commitment to funding public goods within the Cosmos ecosystem. Over three months of intense building, community reviews, demos, and anti-sybil attack checks, Round 2 saw more than 40 small and large stakeholders contribute 8,000 ATOM within the first 24 hours alone. In total, the round attracted over 400 anonymous contributions, pushing community-raised funds to more than $80,000—significantly surpassing the prize pool amount.
These contributions were made through contribution votes, with many donors choosing to remain anonymous. The funds raised were then matched by allocations from the Cosmos Hub Community Pool and AADAO’s grant, demonstrating the power of collective action in driving innovation within the Cosmos ecosystem.
Notably, this round also featured the first-ever MACI voting round for the Cosmos Hub, marking it as the largest on-chain privacy voting experiment in history. With 2,262 signups and over 18,702 successful MACI messages, the round set a new standard for fair and secure community participation (see full results here).
Round 2 Leaderboard
- Interchain Info
Contributors: 69
Matched Funds: 970 ATOM
Interchain Info emerged as the top project of Round 2, addressing the critical need for a centralized and comprehensive resource within the fragmented blockchain ecosystem. As the Cosmos ecosystem continues to grow, having a one-stop source of reliable information becomes increasingly essential. Interchain Info’s efforts to create this resource resonated with the community, earning it the highest matched funds in this round. For more details on their work, check out their GitHub, documentation, and website.
- Pessimistic Validation
Contributors: 94
Matched Funds: 842 ATOM
Pessimistic Validation took second place, focusing on enabling Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) for Optimistic Rollups. This project is crucial for the scalability and efficiency of the Cosmos network, making cross-chain transactions faster and more secure. With strong community backing, Pessimistic Validation’s work could be pivotal in the evolution of the Cosmos ecosystem. Explore more about their project on their GitHub, docs, and website.
- Lunar HQ
Contributors: 93
Matched Funds: 841 ATOM
Lunar HQ, the third top project, is revolutionizing token-gating by enabling fully customizable access for InterChain Collections. As tokenization becomes more widespread, Lunar HQ’s innovations could play a vital role in how communities manage and secure digital assets. Their success in Round 2 highlights the community’s belief in the potential of token-gating to unlock new possibilities for digital ownership and governance. You can learn more about Lunar HQ on their GitHub, documentation, and website.
Other Funded Public Goods
Beyond the top three, thirteen other projects also made their mark in Round 2, addressing critical challenges within the AEZ by unlocking innovative public goods. This included introducing improvements to blockchain interoperability and security, enabling IBC for optimistic rollups, enhancing developer tooling, and driving Hub developer adoption across different countries. Collectively, these initiatives are driving a more active, robust, and scalable AEZ.
Take Part in Round 3
Building on the momentum from Round 2, the AEZ Quadratic Funding initiative is set to achieve even greater success in the upcoming rounds. If you missed the opportunity to participate, don’t worry—Round 3 is already underway. The community’s continued support will be vital in ensuring that these innovative projects receive the resources they need to thrive.
As we move forward, AADAO is proud to play a key role in supporting Dora Factory’s mission to bring essential AEZ public goods to the forefront. The upcoming rounds promise to highlight even more groundbreaking projects, further solidifying the AEZ’s impact and importance within the broader blockchain landscape.
At the time of this article publishing (September 9th 2024), Round 3 build submissions are closed, and Round 4 submissions are now open!
Building a solution that drives value to the Hub, or interested in helping shape the future of the AEZ? Keep up to date on Round 3 and the next rounds to come by following Dora Factory on X and exploring the latest builds on the DoraHacks Leaderboard, or following the round timelines.
About Dora Factory
Dora Factory is responsible for the development and maintenance of on-chain developer tooling and decentralized community governance protocols. Many of which are accessible through the DoraHacks, the world’s most active multi-chain Web3 developer platform.
About the Atom Accelerator DAO
Atom Accelerator DAO (AADAO) is a governance-mandated DAO of the Cosmos Hub. We have been formed and mandated to drive value for the Cosmos Hub & ATOM, supporting initiatives that either directly create economic impact or produce value that can drive its growth. From this, our current primary mandates are public grants & venture grants.
Atom Accelerator’s venture arm, strategically invests in promising early stage web3 founders & startups both within and outside of the Cosmos Hub’s ecosystem. Offering expertise, guidance, and support as experts within the Cosmos ecosystem while driving value towards Atom.
In 2023, we deployed $3.8 million in grants to 39 recipients – resulting in, among other things – a $22m USD airdrop to the Community Pool, an AEZ Accelerator program to expand the AEZ, a successful hackathon with 42 project submissions bringing innovations to the AEZ – and many other key initiatives. Read about them in our 2023 Impact Report.
