Executive Summary
In line with our commitment to transparency and decentralization, the Moonbeam Treasury Program has now been active for the past 1.5 years. This report provides an essential overview of the program’s accomplishments and progress during the past term (Jan24 - June24).
Overview
The Moonbeam Treasury Program was officially initiated following the community approval on 19th of October 2022, marking a pivotal step towards fostering a transparent and decentralized ecosystem. In December 2023 the Moonbeam and Moonriver community voted to renew the Treasury Council for another term and allow new members to apply for the community seats in the program. The voting successfully concluded and the following community members were elected for the Jan `24 to June ’24 term of the Treasury Council:
- Michele Iceberg (new member)
- Yaron - ExtraCoin (new member)
- Simon - “Sik” (extended term)
As Foundation members the following persons were appointed:
- Aaron Evans
- Lina K. (replacing Sicco Naets)
To better manage the new members’ onboarding process, thanks to Sik, a series of Loom video tutorials have been created to guide the new Treasury Council members through the main steps on-chain required to manage the voting operations for each Treasury proposal. The tutorials cover all basic operations, such as converting a treasury proposal into a treasury council motion, voting on a treasury council motion, and closing a treasury council motion initiating the spending.This innovation will ease the onboarding of every new member in the future and allow smooth & aligned operations among each team member.
Moonriver
The Moonriver Treasury had a total spending of 38.1k $ during the first half of 2024.
The displayed USD values are reflecting the token price at the time of the proposal submission.
Spending per Quarter
The funded proposals within the Moonriver Treasury can be categorized into two main categories: wallet development - which includes the Moonbeam SAFE multisig application in this case, and RPC infrastructure. The spending distribution highlights that the alterations in RPC infrastructure funding explained further down were very successful when comparing it to the last spending report.
Spending per category
Moonbeam Treasury
The Moonbeam Treasury, on the other hand, has spent a total of $53k during the first half of 2024.
Spending per Quarter
The cost breakdown across categories in the Moonbeam Treasury is nearly identical to the Moonriver Treasury.
Spending per category
Resource Allocation
The Moonbeam Treasury Program is committed to maintaining equitable resource allocation for the sustainability of our treasuries. The Treasury Council always considers the Moonriver and Moonbeam treasuries as a combined pool for the proposals that serve or benefit both networks.
This prudent allocation ensures the long-term viability of both treasuries and provides fair support to the projects within the Moonbeam ecosystem. In specific instances where applicants exclusively provided benefits or infrastructure to a single network, proposals fully denominated in either GLMR or MOVR were also considered and approved by the Treasury Council.
Previously the spending ratio was 80% on GLMR and 20% on MOVR and the Treasury Council agreed to periodically review and update that ratio. Most of the proposals during the last term were paid out in a 60/40 split between GLMR and MOVR due to positive price action of the MOVR token.
Expense Breakdown
Our current resource allocation strategy places a focus on supporting the vital role of RPC providers in advancing the development and performance of the Moonbeam ecosystem. These providers are instrumental in ensuring the seamless operation of our network and are the cornerstone of our success.
Additionally, a portion of the allocated funds is earmarked for initiatives that serve the common good. This allocation reaffirms our unwavering commitment to projects that are community-driven and benefit the broader ecosystem.
The Treasury Council has laid out a semi-annual budget of 625,000 GLMR and 6,250 MOVR from the respective treasuries to sustain our ongoing efforts. Furthermore, we supplement this budget with monthly contributions from the Orbiter program, enhancing our capacity to support key initiatives. Moreover, the unutilized budget from the previous quarter is rolled over to the following period.
The Moonbeam and Moonriver Treasuries were each pre-funded at launch with 0.5% of the token supplies and have since been accumulating GLMR and MOVR from an approximate 20% portion of transaction fees, respectively.
From the genesis balance of 5m GLMR and 50k MOVR, the respective treasuries currently hold balances of 5.2m GLMR and 72.7k MOVR. These figures represent an overall growth of 200k GLMR and 22.7k MOVR which demonstrates the Treasury Council’s commitment to long-term sustainability.
To sum up, the Treasury Council’s commitment to the long-term success of the program is evident through our conscientious budget management. We have consistently kept our expenditure well below budget while still funding key contributors to the ecosystem, and even accumulating MOVR, reflecting our dedication to the sustainable growth of the Moonbeam ecosystem.
New Funding Policy for RPC Providers
The prior retroactive award policy (dismissed end of 2023 by implementing this new policy) favored larger and proven RPC providers with little chance to join for smaller operators at competitive price tags. In response, the Treasury Council initiated internal discussions and arrived at a comprehensive solution. The updated policy limits RPC provider expenses to 35% of the budget for each designated period. Additionally, a public call for proposals was launched on the forum, encouraging applicants to consider current market conditions when submitting their treasury proposals.
In response to this call, four teams — UnitedBloc, OnFinality, Blast, and Dwellir — stepped forward with their proposals. The Treasury Council then initiated a rigorous evaluation to determine which teams were best suited to receive funding. Following the evaluation process, the Treasury Council collectively selected UnitedBlock and Blast as the RPC providers for the Q1 2024, while UB / Dwellir & Onfinality were selected for Q2 2024 periods. To learn more about the selection criteria read here.
To accommodate this change, the funding model for RPC providers was shifted to an upfront model with an agreed-upon fee that significantly reduced costs compared to the previous arrangement and leads to better spending plannability for the Treasury Council.
We believe that the new RPC funding policy successfully achieved its objectives by reducing expenses, involving the community in the decision-making process, and enabling the Treasury Council to select providers that best align with the networks’ long-term stability, decentralization and the Treasury’s sustainability.
As a matter of fact, by implementing this policy we achieved an amazing treasury growth during the first two quarters of 2024 as laid out in the Expenses Breakdown above.
New Responsibilities
To manage some critical tasks in the safest possible way aligning with the interest of the Moonbeam Community, some additional responsibilities were assigned to the Treasury Community members along these past months in the period of January to June 2024; specifically, a Multisig account was created using the 3 accounts of Michele, Yaron and Sik to safely manage following items:
- PINK airdrop distribution
- Deploying LiquidityMining rewards for the Uniswap campaign (Uniswap Onboarding Package)
Above Multisig operations were conducted successfully, showing the reliability of such setup in the hands of Treasury Community members, leaving open this management opportunity for other critical tasks that could arise in the future!
Conclusions
The Moonbeam Treasury Council remains steadfast in its dedication to the core principles of transparency and efficiency that underpin the Moonbeam Treasury Program. We value the input and feedback from our community as it significantly influences the future trajectory of the program.
To join the conversation, share your valuable suggestions, or seek clarifications, please do not hesitate to reach out to one of the Treasury Council members or participate in discussions on the forum.
P.S.
For the next Treasury Council Term (July to December 2024) the Moonbeam community voted in June and strongly confirmed Michele, Yaron and Sik as Treasury Community members, ensuring continuity of service with experienced members.