Note: This is a living document, the content below may potentially be subject to change based on community input.
Jupiter & The TWG - The Centre Of A Thriving Development Ecosystem
Jupiter provides the Solana ecosystem with the most solid DeFi base that crypto has seen. It is already capable of so much, but also has the most room for growth. In terms of what is capable of being built on Jupiter, we are just scratching the surface with only a small number of groups even starting to realise the potential.
Through the first 2 rounds of LFG, I spent a LOT of time talking to the catdet community, and they really came together to see and believe in this vision for Jupiter, with so many great discussions across the Jupiter discord about the expansion of what Jupiter is capable of.
In comes the proposal, as suggested by many Catdets I have spoken to, to form a Tech Working Group. The sole mission of this working group is to build alongside Jupiter, advancing the features that the core development team do not have plans for, to bring forwards a full toolset built on Jupiter to bring forwards the ecosystem of JUP. The goal of this working group would be to onboard groups of developers, working on products that have a shared vision for Jupiters future.
The first group to onboard onto the Tech Working Group would be the project I applied to LFG as a part of, Monkey Dex. They have already been building for nearly 2 years, and were approaching the release of their first major advancement to Jupiter bringing Solana’s first full CEX-style copy trading platform to Jupiter, however are now about to release this product before the proposal vote happens allowing for us to immediately move into the next stage of the developer groups progress.
The original trial period of this proposal was supposed to focus on the development and then launch of developer group ones copy trading product, however we have been working for the past few months since the proposal was first posted and have adjusted goals accordingly to match the fact that product release will be immediate.
We want what we are building to become more of a part of the expansion of the Jupiter ecosystem and kickstart further development to expand what Jupiter can do. Other developers will be able to apply to be a part of the Tech Working Group and discussions will be had with the DAO about criteria for onboarding developers, from proof of work to experience.
Through discussions there are a variety of different ways this Tech Working Group could be formed, and we wish to put forwards some suggestions at the end that could be put to vote as to which the DAO would prefer.
Goals
- As a working group, our goal would be expanding a toolset of features for Jupiter, starting with copy trading of Jupiter swaps, which will be available to all to try out and test before the vote. This will allow you to get a feel of how the product works, allow me to start gathering feedback and immediately begin working on new iterations to ensure we hit the ground running if the vote is successful.
- To create a platform that can provide additional value back into the DAO, through features or funding. Some products that may be built by a developer group may be more feature based than revenue based, the value of these will be determined by the DAO before funding is spent to produce these products.
- Expand the cross-chain capabilities of Jupiter. I believe this to be one of the strongest ways the Tech Working Group could benefit the Jupiter ecosystem as the rise of other low-cost chains allows for a lot of new cross-chain interactions to be possible.
- To encourage further development of Jupiter based tech, taking on board suggestions from the DAO about what features are wanted, and encouraging developers in the JUP DAO to come forwards and share their experience to make these features happen.
- To provide the DAO members who have advanced technical experience the opportunity to use their skills to compete with other DAO members to create the greatest ecosystem we can.
Responsibilities
- Communication with the Jupiter development team to ensure collaboration between the working groups developers & Jupiter.
- To consistently develop new technologies that the core development team are not building.
- Utilising new Jupiter based tech to provide benefits to the DAO (such as potential fee decreases on products for Jupiter holders, revenue sharing to the dao etc. Discussed more in proposals section).
- To provide consistent updates to the DAO, maintaining clear communications through Discord & the Jup Research forums on the working groups development progress.
- Providing insights into growth metrics, detailing the value brought to Jupiter.
- Vetting and management of new developers proposals to partake in the TWG, bringing these proposals & funding discussions to the DAO for discussions.
- Providing opportunities for new developments to be shown off to the DAO in a practical manner, the current plan is to host mini hackathon style events where everyone can show off their skillset to the DAO and we can gather direct feedback about which should be brought on board to advance their products further!
Benefits
- Jupiter is already on a path of exponential growth, this working group its to help push it even further. The success of Jupiter, its expansion across ecosystems, and its continued adoption across all uses of DeFi brings massive benefit to the DAO.
- Providing the DAO with ownership of revenue produced by these expansive features to Jupiter, giving back to the DAO ecosystem to continue its further success. This will allow for the DAO to have more revenue streams than just ASR fees from tokens and in time can provide some sustainable resources for the DAO to utilise.
- Encouraging developers to start moving towards Jupiter as an expansion tool for future products, extending the reach Jupiter already has.
- The kickstart of more and more developers wanting to participate in the Jupiter ecosystem.
How Would This Further Jupiters Reach?
By bringing developers together to build a wide toolset of DeFi features that are built on Jupiter, we allow for the growth of a wide variety of DeFi products that all are at heart Jupiter. There will in time be a wide umbrella of DeFi applications all leading back to benefiting Jupiter at heart so no matter what actions you want to do, the most efficient solution would be a Jup based one.
Proposal:
The Tech Working Group would comprise of groups of developers, who provide part ownership of their revenue to the DAO. Starting with the first of the tech working group with Monkey, projects will build directly with the DAO getting feedback and ideas for future expansions to our Jupiter toolset.
In return for the support from Jupiter DAO, a % (8% in the case of Monkey Dex) of all revenue generated from our products will go directly to the DAO. These funds can either go to the CWG to distribute for usage as necessary, or become a part of active staking rewards for Jupiter holders.
With this, Jupiter essentially becomes a ‘JUP Ventures’ in itself and its own ecosystem, providing resources for development in the eco and reaping rewards from those who participate. But instead of using personal funds that are under the projects control, instead the DAO’s funds will be used and remain under the DAO’s control to be distributed as salaries & goal based rewards, minimising risk for the DAO before they start to see returns.
This encourages developers to build on Jupiter, whilst helping to maintain their individuality as products making their hard work feel valued and respected as their own work. This allows developers who come in to build with Jupiter the freedom to build their own products whilst gaining invaluable advice from the DAO to help steer the ship.
Potential Proposal Expansion
Recently, Meow has discussed the idea of having micro working groups with a sole focus on much smaller and hyper focused development experiment. We are in strong belief that this aligns perfectly with the TWG’s focus of expanding development from JUP DAO members. This may differ slightly from the main revenue share model, as some of these hyper focused groups may be developing projects that benefit the ecosystem more than creating revenue.
The TWG would be able to gain ideas like the Solana Ecosystem directory and host mini-hackathons for these hyper focused development groups to show off who can produce the most efficient solution in a time crunch. These winners can then be onboarded as development groups with smaller budgets due to the smaller scale of these projects.
3 Month Trial Period:
Expenses for TWG & First Development Group: $84,000 total for salaries & goal based funding only
Salaries - TWG Lead (~$7k/month), initial developer group including 2 developers (~$16k/month)
Goal based funding - 15k split evenly amongst members - If 4.85M$ of daily volume is reached and 3 substantial iterations are made, exact volume figure explained in the next section - Funds to be returned to the treasury upon goal non-completion.
Expenses will be rediscussed when necessary based on success of developer groups & expansion rate of the TWG if the trial period is successful and the DAO wishes to carry on with the TWG as a part of JUP DAO.
Past the trial period, expansion would require more funding for each developer group that is onboarded, any funds not used would be returned to the DAO treasury.
Each developer group that applies will have a 3 month re-assessment period, where the DAO & the developer group will discuss as to wether being part of the TWG is beneficial for both parties. If either party decides to end the agreement at this point, revenue share will be active until the DAO is made even from trial costs.
ROI’s For JUP DAO:
Based on the first developer group, providing 8% revenue share for a product taking a 0.2% fee:
Daily volume of 4.85M would provide the DAO with 776 dollars in revenue a day, whilst costing the DAO 774 dollars for salaries, allowing anything above 4.85M$ of daily volume to create a sustainable source of income for the DAO.
As developer groups apply, fees and % share will be discussed with the DAO to maintain a rate at which the DAO is comfortable with the ROI based on the risk of the product. Fees & revenue shares are not set in stone and can be changed through discussions with the DAO to ensure all parties are happy. This is to ensure that products that have taken longer to develop and aren’t ready for a while provide a reasonable enough revenue back for the DAO once it is released until the DAO is break even at least.
Building A More Robust & Mature Community
The Tech Working Group will create a new area for a developer community to grow inside Jupiter. There are many talented developers in our community with currently no real option to easily communicate and work together for an aligned goal.
The TWG also heavily encourages catdet input into these developer groups products, allowing the community themselves to help build and shape the future of DeFi by coming together and sharing their ideas.
Onboarding Of New TWG Developers
The Tech Working Group will host mini hackathons, starting upon successful completion of the trial phase.
These hackathons will be completely open to the public, where anyone can sign up and have 1 month to start working on a project to help further the Jupiter mission.
At the end of the hackathon, candidates must have a working prototype or product to display what they are trying to achieve. These prototypes do not have to be full functioning and complete products, but should allow the DAO to fairly judge what the product aims to achieve.
Fee structures should also be submitted showing how much the product will generate based on certain volume thresholds.
The working group will gather community feedback through polling or voting once we are allowed to propose votes.
The trail period will include the full set up of these hackathons, and working with the DAO to ensure that they are happy with the process as we organise the first hackathon.
Next Steps
- To push forwards with development group one to test and iterated based on the DAO’s feedback and begin marketing the product to start providing a decent revenue stream back to the DAO.
- To plan for the opening of the first hackathon and find an appropriate way for the DAO to judge candidates.
- To provide the DAO with detailed reports on any successes and issues with developer group one, allowing the DAO to provide constant input into what is being built.
Conclusion
The Tech Working Group would form a way to incentivise building alongside Jupiter & the DAO. Bringing in developers from any chain to come and partake in a development hub to help grow Jupiter as a whole.
Initial Members:
Mic - Tech Working Group Lead
Development Group 1 - Monkey Dex:
Morpheus - Anestis G. Finstad
Apa - Erik Stromberg
CHANGE LOG
The proposal has changed significantly from its first release. Below is a quick summary of changes:
- Adjusted salaries lower to be reassessed upon a successful trial period and ROI met for the DAO
- Changed process for establishing new developer working groups to be hackathon based.
- Original trial period was supposed to focus on the development and then launch of developer group ones copy trading product, however we have been working hard since the first draft was posted and have nearly achieved every goal that was set for the trial period before it has even been voted on! So instead the proposal has been adjusted to reflect the new trial period focusing on iterations of products, gathering DAO feedback and creating the line up process for onboarding new developer groups.
These products will be individual expansions to the Jupiter ecosystem, outside of Jup.ag. Jupiters API’s are open to the public, so the creation of products outside of Jup.ag is heavily encouraged.
You’re very forthcoming and transparent with the fiscal side of things, and that’s great to see. Also, you’ve given much consideration in prioritizing the consensus of the DAO with regards to deliverables, and how this balance can be accommodated ongoingly.