Announcing DGM, a new decentralized grants marketplace
The Protocol Labs (PL) ecosystem is excited to announce the launch of DGM (Decentralized Grants Marketplace), a new platform for large-scale grants within the Protocol Labs Network and beyond. Additionally, PL is launching an inaugural set of grants for the Filecoin ecosystem on DGM. For more details, read the blog post below, check out the grants, and consider applying!
What is DGM?
DGM stands for Decentralized Grants Marketplace. The DGM is intended to be a home for funders within decentralized ecosystems to post grants for important work, and for individual workers and teams to contribute to the highest impact projects. DGM’s aim is to build a tool and system that can help decentralized ecosystems accomplish massively ambitious roadmaps with a broader community of contributors that are deeply engaged, and to sustainably maintain and grow these projects over time.
The soft launch of DGM coincides with Protocol Labs’s recently released inaugural set of grants for important projects on the Filecoin storage & retrieval roadmap in 2022. These grants include:
- Engineering plan for blockchain state on IPFS/Filecoin: Produce a high-quality and detailed plan that an engineering team can use to get all L1 blockchains to store their full transaction history on IPFS+Filecoin, and to sync chain state from this stored history. (Application deadline: March 4, 2022)
- Branding and design of the Boost GUI: Boost is nearing initial launch in early April 2022 with the aim to improve the flexibility and user experience of deal making for Storage Providers on Filecoin. Boost already has a fully functional, low fidelity GUI, but we are looking for a team to help us create branding and a redesign to make it ready for launch to users. (First milestone deadline: March 4, 2022)
- New node software for large-scale clients with PB-scale data onboarding: Build a tool or set of tools that can help fill the gaps with data onboarding that PB-scale clients deal with, and conduct user testing for onboarding PB-scale datasets. (Application deadline: March 7, 2022)
- Dedicated PB-scale client onboarding: Support in onboarding a PiB-scale client to Filecoin storage (Application deadline: March 10, 2022)
- Storage provider discovery platform: A platform that allows Filecoin storage providers to advertise their businesses and lets storage clients discover SPs that fit their needs. (Application deadline: March 15, 2022)
- Cryptoeconomic research, synthesis, and recommendations for DGM: Analyze cryptoeconomic mechanisms from projects relevant to DGM, and synthesize recommendations for DGM’s cryptoeconomic mechanisms based on your research. (Application deadline: March 18, 2022)
Each grant varies in how it is structured, and the total grant amount. However, they are all significant for the overall Filecoin storage and retrieval roadmap and high-impact for the ecosystem as a result! Check out these grants, connect your wallet (you need a MetaMask wallet to sign in and work on projects), and apply/start working today!
What’s next?
At DGM, we believe that decentralized ecosystems have the potential to achieve unprecedented scale and impact; the goal is to help build the necessary tooling to transform this potential into reality. There are many upcoming features and improvements that will turn the DGM MVP into a full suite of work coordination tools. Some items on the DGM roadmap include building worker/funder reputation systems, more flexible types of funding mechanisms, more ecosystems beyond IPFS and Filecoin (and more currencies), grants DAO/multisig support, skills assessment, incentive models for ongoing maintenance of open-source work, and more.
The road ahead is bright and exciting. If these challenges excite you, you’re exactly the sort of person we’re looking for within the DGM ecosystem!
- If you are interested in tackling these challenges head-on, apply to join the team.
- If you are interested in using the DGM to fund work in decentralized ecosystems, apply to be a funder.
- If you’re interested in some of the ideas around DGM and public goods funding, check out:
- And of course, please apply or start working on the open grants!
