[Approved] Partnership with Proximity Labs

Proximity Labs is a research and advisory firm currently focused on the NEAR Protocol ecosystem. Proximity has worked with and helped, well-known DeFi projects Curve.Fi, Sushi, Dodo, Kyber, Woo and NEAR Protocol native projects Bastion, Aurigami, Ref Finance, Burrow, Onomy and Trisolaris (and more).

Proximity works closely with many projects building on NEAR and AURORA, provides grants, and creates open-source software targeting the NEAR and AURORA blockchain. Proximity is composed of former early members of NEAR, Inc, and talented people from Binance, ConsenSys, OMG Network, Microsoft, Facebook, and more.

Proximity aims to further directly support the projects most crucial to Aurora’s success with grants in the AURORA token, as well as attract the most talented projects already in the space and net new talent. The full amount of AURORA 25,000,000 in this proposal will be used for these purposes.

“With readiness to experiment with novel concepts such as appchains and increased compossibility in the ecosystem, we believe the AURORA is well-positioned to give birth to the next killer dApps” - Proximity.

Proposal

  1. Transfer 25.000.000 (twenty five millions) AURORA to Proximity Labs for the purpose of creating open source software for the AURORA ecosystem in 2 years timeframe. Proximity Labs should establish Aurora ecosystem as a top choice for boundary-pushing projects by providing R&D support, strategic advisory, and grant support to leading teams.

  2. The above decision should consider that KYC/AML checks in respect of Proximity Labs have been completed successfully by Aurora Foundation (Cayman Islands) before the date of this proposal.

  3. Aurora DAO (BVI) shall enter into a respective grant agreement with Proximity Labs.

  4. Within one month after each quarter Proximity Labs shall provide to the DAO report on the actual expenses and funds usage. The report should be disclosed on https://forum.aurora.dev/.

11 Likes

Thanks for the proposal. My only concern would be in the large upfront token commitment without more explicit deliverables. I would suggest that if specific deliverables are known or intended, then we itemized them. Alternatively or potentially in addition, to reduce the risk of any fund loss after receipt would it be amenable to make the payout schedule quarterly?

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@Aliaksei, thanks for the proposal!
@egalano, thanks for commenting on the matter.

IMO, the reports are a must have from Proximity independently of the allocation strategy. I treat there’s no risk of funds loss because of the established long-term partnership between Aurora Labs and Proximity, its’ relations with NEAR Foundation and Pagoda (ex NEAR Inc.). In September 2021, Proximity was awarded a 40M NEAR grant from NEAR Foundation with the similar approach.

This proposal is literally implementing the partnership between Proximity and Aurora DAO, which for sure will be fruitful. And though there’s a fair bit of uncertainty in the proposal, with this particular partner I would vote for it. While with the majority of other I would decline it.

4 Likes

Hey everyone! Kendall from Proximity here. Here is more context on how we plan to use the funds:

5M AURORA for grants to key DeFi projects

We’ve previously provided grants in NEAR to Trisolaris, Aurigami, Bastion, and others. Our goal is to bring the most talented, focused teams to Aurora, and to help create maximum value for the ecosystem. We are currently targeting concentrated liquidity projects, key cross-chain protocols, strategic stablecoins (more soon!), liquidity-as-a-service tooling (and more).

20M AURORA as liquidity for the ecosystem

We will use the majority of the AURORA tokens to directly provide early liquidity to key projects, including the ones mentioned above. By using liquidity-as-a-service tools such as Rift, we can strategically build up liquidity in AMMs, money markets, stableswaps, derivative projects, and more. By pairing AURORA with our NEAR, we can do this in a more efficient way than just about any other ecosystem.

I’m happy to answer any questions about our plans!

6 Likes

Would be great to see current results and milestones. So weird that you called trisolaris “talented team” when thousands members lost money, because TRI token price went to zero . “Talented” teams destroy Aurora and Near reputation. What the value for ecosystem? I see deliverables in stuffed with dollars pockets in certain ecosystem abusers.

Ones again ?

2 Likes

To me the value is Trisolaris being the top-3 project on terms of TVL on Aurora, creating 25% of total TVL on Aurora. Aurigami and Bastion being the top-2. These three projects account for 95% of total TVL. That is the deliverable I see and would want to see in future.

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This kind of talented scam projects were created to make richer investors. Zero value for community.

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Thanks @Kendall-Proximity, appreciate the clarification.

  1. Can you share any more detail on Proximity Labs’ process for sourcing and assessing projects for potential grants?

  2. Can you share more detail on the Proximity Labs team and in particular, how roles / responsibilities are handled in regards to the grants process?

  3. Do you have any feedback on the suggestion by @egalano to make the payout schedule quarterly, rather than the entirety of the funding being provided upfront?

1 Like