GFX Labs - Delegate Communication Thread

Delegation Pitch
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This thread is intended to provide a record of GFX Labs’ voting and communication around the reasoning of each vote. Subsequent voting communications will be added to this thread over time.

April Proposals

Temp Check - Onboard Uniswap to Sei
Summary: Blockchain Michigan proposed that Sei receive the Uniswap Onboarding Package.

Recommendation: For Incentivize $500K. GFX Labs is always in favor of additional Uniswap deployments. We believe that Sei is a good opportunity for Uniswap to secure an early key position after their launch of Sei v2.

Temp Check - Update Uni v3/v2 Deployment Process (March 2024)
Summary: This proposal contains a series of operational improvements for new v2 and v3 deployments. This proposal would transfer the ability to add new records to v2deployments and v3deployments ENS records to the UAC.

Recommendation: Vote Update Process. The DAO has been operating on an outdated system. This proposal contains logical reforms that should streamline new deployments post-BSL.

Update Uni v3/v2 Deployment Process (March 2024)
Summary: This proposal contains a series of operational improvements for new v2 and v3 deployments. This proposal would transfer the ability to add new records to v2deployments and v3deployments ENS records to the UAC.

Recommendation: Vote For. The DAO has been operating on an outdated system. This proposal contains logical reforms that should streamline new deployments post-BSL.

Temp Check - Uniswap Onboarding Package - Manta
Summary: This proposal adds Manta Pacific to the v3 deployments record and grants Manta an Onboarding Package, which includes $250k of UNI incentives for three months on four key markets and Angle Merkl’s integration of Manta. Separate from this proposal, Manta has arranged for Oku to support Manta, and the contracts have been deployed.

Recommendation: Vote For. GFX Labs authored the proposal. Read the proposal for full reasoning.

Onboarding Package Bundle
Summary: GFX Labs authored the proposal. The proposal bundles four proposals that have previously been approved in individual temperature checks. While we typically like to avoid bundling proposals, we consulted with the Accountability Committee (AC) and other members of the DAO prior to posting the proposal to weigh the operational headache of getting four delegates to make proposals. In the future, the organization could consider upgrading our governance contract to make it easier to run multiple governance proposals. Please read the proposal for the full context.

Recommendation: Vote For. For the reasons stated in the proposal and related temperature checks, GFX Labs is voting in favor of this proposal.

Temp Check - Uniswap Treasury Working Group (UTWG) Election
Summary: This election would fill two seats on the UTWG.

Recommendation: 20% for Franklin DAO, 20% for Steakhouse Financial Limited, 20% for Nathan van der Heyden, 20% for 404 DAO, 20% for karpatkey.

Mobilizing the Uniswap Treasury
Summary: StableLab proposed the UTWG receive its initial funding of 6,000 UNI. The proposal is co-authored by Arana.

Recommendation Vote For. We support the DAO’s exploration of new ways to manage its treasury and are particularly interested in how it might handle protocol-owned liquidity. After deploying UNI incentives to several new EVM chains, it would be great if the DAO could begin allocating ETH-stablecoin and stable-stable LP to chains.

Temp Check - DeFi Education Fund
Summary: GFX Labs sponsored DEF’s proposal, which requested 1M UNI. 500K was transferred to the DEF’s Coinbase account, and the other 500K will be streamed to the DEF over 12 months. DEF’s founding grant came in July 2021. They have two years of operations currently, but for them to fight larger and longer battles, they need additional funding.

Recommendation: Vote For. The DEF has proven to be a great investment for the DAO and the ecosystem. While the initial grant carried added risk because it was a new program and untested, we now have evidence for their quality of work and value.

Temp Check - DeFi Education Fund Options
Summary: Stable introduced a poll to amend the amount of funds requested by the DEF. If the primary Temp Check were to fail the quorum, then this poll’s result would be applied to the onchain proposal.

Recommendation: Vote Abstain. Since GFX Labs favored the original proposal, we decided to abstain from voting in the poll.

May Proposals

Temp Check - Uniswap Delegate Reward 3 Months Cycle 1
Summary: StableLab introduced the DAO’s first Delegate compensation program. The program will run for three months. Qualifying delegates will receive compensation based on some basic metrics.

Recommendation: Vote For. GFX Labs is in favor of being a delegate compensation program. Delegate compensation is a key issue in attracting and retaining high-quality delegates. While this program is imperfect in many ways, we will not let perfection prevent progress. Instead, we invite (and have done so proactively) other organizations and delegates to propose improved programs. Ideally, the DAO can select a new and improved program each cycle.

Temp Check - Onboard Uniswap to Redstone
Summary: Redstone is requesting to become an official Uniswap deployment and an Onboarding Package. Due to Redstone’s limited TVL and market position, it does not merit an Onboarding Package at this time. We would be happy to reevaluate down the line.

Recommendation: Deploy without incentives. As always, we are in favor of new Uniswap deployments for any chain that follows the process and passes ownership back to the DAO.

DeFi Education Fund
Summary: GFX Labs sponsored DEF’s proposal, which requested 1M UNI. 500K was transferred to the DEF’s Coinbase account, and the other 500K will be streamed to the DEF over 12 months. DEF’s founding grant came in July 2021. They have two years of operations currently, but for them to fight larger and longer battles, they need additional funding.

Recommendation: Vote For. The DEF has proven to be a great investment for the DAO and the ecosystem. While the initial grant carried added risk because it was a new program and untested, we now have evidence for their quality of work and value.

June Proposals

Temp Check - Uniswap Arbitrum LTIPP Matching
Summary: The UADP secured 1M ARB from Arbitrum’s LTIPP program. In their application to Arbitrum DAO, the UADP stated that they would request a matching of funds from Uniswap. Gauntlet will manage the rewarded funds via Merkl’s platform.

Recommendation: Vote (1st) $250k, (2nd) Do Not Fund, (3rd) $500k, (4th) $750k, (5th) $1m. Uniswap has a strong position in Arbitrum. A modest matching of funds with the LTIPP seems appropriate, but we discourage significant investment in Arbitrum over other opportunities.

Uniswap Arbitrum LTIPP Matching
Summary: The UADP secured 1M ARB from Arbitrum’s LTIPP program. In their application to Arbitrum DAO, the UADP stated that they would request a matching of funds from Uniswap. Gauntlet will manage the rewarded funds via Merkl’s platform. The prior temperature check resulted in $750K, which is requested in this onchain proposal.

Recommendation: Vote For. While the amount is more than we had ideally considered, it is within reason. However, we will be unlikely to vote in favor of further UNI allocated to Arbitrum unless there is clear evidence of Uniswap losing meaningful market share and a clear plan for the UNI to combat that issue.

4 Likes
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July Proposals

[Temp Check] Uniswap Onboarding Package - Gnosis Chain
Summary: Gnosis requested an onboarding package. This is the standard package available to new deployments.

Recommendation: Vote $250k.

[Temp Check] Uniswap Onboarding Package - OKX Chain
Summary: OKX Chain requested an onboarding package. This is the standard package available for new deployments.

Recommendation: Vote $250k.

1 Like
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August Proposals

Onboarding Package for Gnosis Chain
Summary: Gnosis requested an onboarding package. This is the standard package available to new deployments.

Recommendation: For. $250K (no change from the temp check).

[Temp Check] Forse Analytics for Uniswap Revitalization and Growth Program
Summary: This proposal seeks to onboard Forse by StableLab as a data service provider, helping analyze the effectiveness of the Uniswap Revitalization and Growth Program.

Recommendation : Against. Linking because we had a longer comment on the thread.

[TEMP CHECK]- Revised - Uniswap Onboarding Package - OKX Chain
Summary: On OKX’s behalf, we proposed that X Layer receive a revised onboarding package.

Recommendation : For. We continue to believe that expanding to new chains is advantageous for the DAO. By OKX putting up a liquidity guarantee, we agree it’s in the DAO’s interest to authorize the package.

[REDO: Temp Check] Activate 2, 3, 4 bps fee tiers on Uniswap v3 on Base
Summary: Austin proposed the DAO enable the 2, 3, 4 bp fee tiers on Base to position the DAO better to compete with Aerodrome’s 4bp fee pools.

Recommendation : Abstain. Linking because we had a longer comment on the thread.

[Temp Check] Uniswap Delegate Reward Initiative - Cycle 2
Summary: Renewing the delegate pay program for another three months.

Recommendation : For. Linking because we had a longer comment on the thread.

Onchain vote: Uniswap Delegate Reward Initiative - Cycle 2
Summary: Renewing the delegate pay program for another three months.

Recommendation : For. Linking because we had a longer comment on the thread.

Onchain vote: Deploy Uniswap v3 on X Layer
Summary: On OKX’s behalf, we proposed that X Layer receive a revised onboarding package.

Recommendation : For. We continue to believe that expanding to new chains is advantageous for the DAO. By OKX putting up a liquidity guarantee, we agree it’s in the DAO’s interest to authorize the package.

2 Likes
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September Proposals

Proposal to active 2, 3, 4 bps fee-tiers on Base
Summary: Add additional fee tiers to combat Aerodrome’s recent rise with their 4bp fee tier.

Recommendation: Abstain. We voted to abstain in the temperature check and will vote to abstain here as well. Most of our reasons are available on the forum. To summarize, we don’t believe this initiative will be successful in gaining back our lost market share from Aerodrome because we’re competing against their token incentives. We’re not voting against the proposal because we don’t believe it can harm the protocol, but we also don’t think there is much upside in the action either, so we’re not voting for it. If the DAO wants to improve LP flexibility, then we should focus on the GTM of v4.

[Temp Check] - Ethereum Foundation Attackathon Sponsorship
Summary: The proposal requests funding for the EF’s Attackathon, with two sponsorship tiers: Unicorn Partners requires a +75 ETH commitment (approximately $250,000), and Panda Partners requires a 30 ETH commitment (approximately $100,000).

Recommendation: Abstain. We do not feel strongly enough to support or oppose this initiative at this time. While the capital request is not significant, the ROI and what we could expect from the EF in return are unclear.

1 Like
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UAC Renewal S3
Summary: The UAC is seeking funding for its third season.

Recommendation: Renew UAC. GFX Labs has had the pleasure of working closely with the UAC over the last year while we have been expanding Uniswap v3 to new chains. The committee demonstrated a strong commitment to the protocol, its roles in the committee, and its partners. We are pleased to see the UAC continue to take on more responsibility and effectively operate.

Approved Budgets Rebalancing
Summary: Due to price changes in UNI, the UAC is requesting an additional 42K UNI.

Recommendation: Approve Rebalance. The UAC has demonstrated good accounting practices. The UNI allocated to them is being put to work per governance.

Uniswap Delegate Race Tiebreaker
Summary: Tiebreaker vote for 15th delegate slot on the cycle 2 program.

Recommendation: Both. In the current situation, expanding the program to another delegate who would have otherwise qualified if we had a 16th slot is fine. Given the short length (three months) of this program, adding another delegate while the DAO still needs more delegates is a net positive.

2 Likes
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Uniswap Delegate Reward Initiative - Cycle 2 - Onchain
Summary: This proposal will fund an additional three months of the delegate compensation program and expand the number of delegate positions to 16.

Recommendation: For. While we voted in favor of a second cycle of this program, GFX will be hesitant to support this program for a third cycle unless we see reforms. We initially voted for the first cycle, admitting it was a far from perfect program, but in light of no other real options, we decided it was better than nothing. However, this sort of thinking can’t go on forever.

During the early voting process of cycle one, we tried to bring in the folks at Gov Score and Karma to develop a more robust program. We have since suggested our own reform for cycle 3, and we’re keen for the DAO to adopt our suggestion or others.

High-quality delegate participation is critical to the success of the DAO. We should strive to improve this program with each new cycle to drive the outcomes we all want to see in Uniswap.

Proposal to active 2, 3, 4 bps fee-tiers on Base - Onchain
Summary: Add additional fee tiers to combat Aerodrome’s recent rise with their 4bp fee tier.

Recommendation: Abstain. We voted to abstain in the temperature check and will vote to abstain here as well. Most of our reasons are available on the forum. To summarize, we don’t believe this initiative will be successful in gaining back our lost market share from Aerodrome because we’re competing against their token incentives. We’re not voting against the proposal because we don’t believe it can harm the protocol, but we also don’t think there is much upside in the action either, so we’re not voting for it. If the DAO wants to improve LP flexibility, then we should focus on the GTM of v4.

UAC Renewal S3 - Onchain
Summary: The UAC is seeking funding for its third season.

Recommendation: Renew UAC. GFX Labs has had the pleasure of working closely with the UAC over the last year while we have been expanding Uniswap v3 to new chains. The committee demonstrated a strong commitment to the protocol, its roles in the committee, and its partners. We are pleased to see the UAC continue to take on more responsibility and effectively operate.

Forse Analytics for Uniswap Revitalization and Growth Program
Summary: This proposal seeks to onboard Forse by StableLab as a data service provider, helping analyze the effectiveness of the Uniswap Revitalization and Growth Program.

Recommendation: Abstain. We’ve updated our position from Against to Abstain after StableLab reduced their requested fee from $70K to $60k. We don’t believe the analysis would yield enough value to support the proposal, but we also felt that if other delegates felt it would we would not oppose it.

For more context, the goal of the Uniswap Revitalization and Growth program is for Uniswap to establish a position in new chains such that if the chain ends up growing significantly, Uniswap can grow with the chain rather than trying to join later and face an uphill battle. The incentives are meant to help Uniswap establish itself at the chain during the initial launch and then end with no plan to bring it back. The hope is that two or three chains that get these incentives grow to become massive chains, and then we’ll have a great market position. Most of them aren’t going to be worth putting additional incentives on. In some instances, the UAC didn’t distribute all the funds allocated by the DAO because it would have been far too wasteful to do so in their mind. Generally, we learn the most about a new blockchain’s potential success in those few months while working with them on the new deployment, marketing, and other post-launch efforts. GFX would be happy to play an active role in the event a chain requests additional funding. However, we don’t foresee that occurring at this time.

Uniswap Accountability Committee S3 Elections
Summary: 10 individuals are running for election on the UAC. The top two will join the committee.

Recommendation: The candidates for this election were by far the strongest we have ever seen. We believe all the candidates would do a fine job if elected, but we focused our attention on candidates who have been participating in the DAO and have a vested interest in seeing it succeed. Going into the last 24 hrs, we thought supporting one of the lesser-known but rising individuals in the Uniswap ecosystem would be beneficial. This made it a difficult decision, but ultimately, we selected Jay Yu from Standford. Jay was kind enough to answer a few last-minute questions that helped us decide.

[TEMP CHECK] - Onboarding Package for Lisk
Summary: The proposal requests that Uniswap put up $375K in UNI and cover Merkl costs, and Lisk will put up $250K in LSK and $1M in liquidity. Separately, Lisk has arranged for Oku to support the deployment, and it is currently live on Oku.

Recommendation: For. Lisk’s proposal sets a new precedent that we think is very healthy and deepens the relationship between the two organizations. We will encourage more chains to include incentives and liquidity in their package requests.

1 Like
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Temp Check - Uniswap Growth Trial
Summary: AlphaGrowth has identified that the DAO’s BD and marketing functions are quite limited in their present form. They have proposed running a six-month trial with a monthly budget of $70K.

Recommendation: For. We concur with AlpahGrowth’s assessment of the DAO and its needs. The DAO’s surface area is large and unattended. It would be beneficial to have a DAO-backed team focused on growing the protocol’s core business. Six months should be a sufficient period for the DAO to evaluate their performance and value to the DAO before considering a longer term.

Onchain - [Updated] Forse Analytics for Uniswap Revitalization and Growth Program
Summary: The StableLab team proposed an updated version of their Forse analytics proposal, reducing the requested amount from $70K to $60K while increasing the chain count from three to four.

Recommendation: For. We debated this proposal. We initially opposed it because we didn’t believe it would produce value relative to its cost. However, the decrease in cost and increase in the chain represents an overall 36% reduction in price. While we don’t expect immense value, we did feel it was in the range of supporting.

Onchain - Uniswap Growth Trial
Summary: AlphaGrowth has identified that the DAO’s BD and marketing functions are quite limited in their present form. They have proposed running a six-month trial with a monthly budget of $70K.

Recommendation: For. We concur with AlpahGrowth’s assessment of the DAO and its needs. The DAO’s surface area is large and unattended. It would be beneficial to have a DAO-backed team focused on growing the protocol’s core business. Six months should be a sufficient period for the DAO to evaluate their performance and value to the DAO before considering a longer term.

Temp Check - Tally Uniswap Proposal
Summary: Tally requested 250K/year for two years for their supporting Uniswap on their platform.

Recommendation: For. Tally has been a critical partner for the Uniswap DAO. In our opinion, this proposal is long overdue. They provide a high-quality service and have done so for years with no compensation. If the DAO were to stand up our service, we would likely spend the same amount and probably produce a lower quality experience.

1 Like
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[TEMP CHECK] - Tally Uniswap Proposal
Summary: Tally is requesting Uniswap pay them $250K/year for two years for ongoing support, maintenance, and feature requests.
Recommendation: For. GFX Labs has been a user of Tally from the beginning. We have utilized Tally heavily in our capacity as a delegate at Uniswap. We can uniquely attest to its value since we have created the most proposals of any delegate and have been participating in the DAO since the spring of 2021.

Tally has the difficult task of indexing every UNI transfer, its effect on voting power, how every wallet voted, supporting delegates in creating proposals, simulating proposals, and displaying proposals to voters. From our experience with Oku, we know that indexing that data, organizing it to be easily queryable in an API, offering a high-quality and reliable user interface, and operating it as a business is not easy.

That said, we should reassess the contract six months before its expiry before we need to renew it.

Supporting Tally’s Development and Enhancements for Uniswap DAO Governance
Summary: Tally is requesting Uniswap pay them $250K/year for two years for ongoing support, maintenance, and feature requests.
Recommendation: For. Same rationale as our temp check rationale.

2 Likes
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[TEMP CHECK] Uniswap DAO Principles
Summary: A set of principles were proposed for the Uniswap DAO to review and agree to.
Recommendation: GFX Labs informally abstained from voting. We are generally opposed to social governance. Without the governance mechanism being onchain, it holds little hard value. Of course, there can be some social and coordinating value, but we didn’t see a reason to sign on to this proposal.

[Temp Check] - Adopt The SEAL Safe Harbor Agreement
Summary: A proposal to provide liability protection to a white hat hacker group.
Recommendation: We chose to vote Abstain out of an abundance of caution. The agreement itself contains language that attempts to bind users, who are not party to this agreement. Additionally, it appears to require those voting in favor of it to waive their own legal right to legal recourse.

More broadly, this agreement presents a case where governance is proactively agreeing, in writing, to be classified as a legal person, which we do not necessarily agree with, and do not wish to endorse, since that could have unintended consequences.

We believe this agreement is done with the best of intentions, and to fill a gap in the existing bug bounty, but will withhold an affirmative endorsement of this agreement.

[TEMP CHECK] Scale Uniswap Liquidity on Celo
Summary: Celo is requesting $250K in UNI + $105K for Oku and will be committing $500K in Celo incentives in addition to having already allocated $730K in CELO.
Recommendation: GFX Labs is in Favor of Celo’s request. Celo has done a great job scaling its Uniswap deployment and has a unique niche in foreign stablecoin. Additionally, their user base is interested in having a more professional interface to enable and enhance further FX trading and liquidity management.

[TEMP CHECK] Metal L2: Bridging TradFi and DeFi Through Uniswap V3
Summary: Metal requests $250K from the DAO and will match it with 250K MTL tokens. Regardless, Metal will be deploying an additional 250k MTL to the new deployment and they have already contracted GFX Labs to deploy Oku.
Recommendation: GFX Labs is in favor of this proposal. Metal is one of the oldest projects in the space and has done a great job building a popular product and growing user base. Uniswap has the unique opportunity to be the first major DEX on their Superchain L2 before Aerodrome stakes their claim.

Discretionary Budget from UAC for Co-Incentive Campaigns
Summary: AlphaGrowth is requesting access to additional funds so they can structure incentive-matching deals faster than the DAO will approve them.
Recommendation: GFX Labs is in Favor of this proposal. However, we encourage delegates to monitor the allocation of funds and performance to ensure good practices. Overall, the DAO
will benefit from more active management, and in order to do that, we need to delegate responsibility.

Incentive Package for Sonic (Formerly Fantom)
Summary: Sonic is requesting $250k for the DAO, which they will match with $500k, and they have already contracted Oku to deploy on Sonic.
Recommendation: GFX Labs is in favor of the proposal. Sonic’s offer to double the incentives match is generous.

Onchain Scale Uniswap Liquidity on Celo
Summary: Celo is requesting $250K in UNI + $105K for Oku and will be committing $500K in Celo incentives in addition to having already allocated $730K in CELO.
Recommendation: GFX Labs is in Favor of Celo’s request. Celo has done a great job scaling its Uniswap deployment and has a unique niche in foreign stablecoin. Additionally, their user base is interested in having a more professional interface to enable and enhance further FX trading and liquidity management.

Onchain Incentive Package for Sonic
Summary: Sonic is requesting $250k for the DAO, which they will match with $500k, and they have already contracted Oku to deploy on Sonic.
Recommendation: GFX Labs is in favor of the proposal. Sonic’s offer to double the incentives match is generous.

1 Like