• General

  • RFC: Contract Messari Protocol Services for OCG release

Summary

This RFC is a follow up to the previous marketing RFC which concluded efforts may be best targeted at institutional audiences. This RFC aims to engage Messari Protocol Services for comprehensive research and reporting on Olympus over an annual collaboration. The objective is to enhance stakeholder understanding, attract new protocols and developers, and build a robust open-source data infrastructure for the community, particularly in light of Olympus' shift towards on-chain governance (OCG) and the need for broader community engagement and awareness.

Motivation

The first year of following OCG implementation is a critical time period for Olympus to educate and establish a cadence of community participation. As Olympus transitions to OCG, there is a vital need to effectively communicate its value proposition to both existing stakeholders and potential new participants. Given the reduced human resources for communication in a post-working DAO era, a strategic partnership with Messari Protocol Services will ensure authoritative and legitimate coverage, aiding in the attraction and growth of the Olympus community necessary to nurture healthy on-chain governance.

Performance Metrics

To evaluate the success of this partnership, the following key performance indicators (KPIs) should be tracked by the community:

  1. Engagement Metrics: Increase in active community participation, measured by interactions on the Olympus forums and social media channels.

  2. Adoption Rates: Growth in the number of new users and developers contributing to the Olympus ecosystem.

  3. Information Reach: Extent of distribution and readership of Messari’s reports, as gauged through analytics such as report downloads and references in crypto communities.

  4. Market Impact: Observable changes in market perception and valuation of Olympus, including number of wallet addresses, Cooler Loan activity, liquidity provision activity and trading volumes (incl. Peapods activity).

Proposal

About Messari

Messari, established in early 2018, has grown to a team of over 130, specializing in building data analytics tools for the Web3 space. With a recent Series B funding led by Brevan Howard and a grant from The Graph, Messari has become a prominent, if not the most prominent, player in the crypto data analytics domain.

Proposal Breakdown

  1. Initiation of Coverage: A comprehensive deep-dive report providing insight into Olympus’ structure, technology, tokenomics, network activity, ecosystem, roadmap, and competitive landscape.

  2. Quarterly Reports: Four detailed reports spanning four quarters covering financial metrics, network activity, ecosystem updates, and qualitative analysis of protocol upgrades, governance, and roadmap initiatives.

  3. Rationale:

    • Surfacing On-Chain Metrics and Key Developments: To keep stakeholders informed with data-driven research and actionable insights.

    • Facilitating Protocol Business Development: Disseminating high-quality information to over 350k subscribers, increasing the likelihood of more integrations and developments with Olympus.

    • Institutional Adoption: Providing accurate coverage to major funds, banks, financial services, and corporations, enhancing understanding and potential partnerships.

  4. Distribution Metrics: Leveraging Messari's extensive reach through platforms like Bloomberg Terminal, S&P Global Capital IQ, and Refinitiv.

  5. Commitment to Transparency: Demonstrating Olympus’ dedication to transparency and accountability, positively influencing user, client, and partner perceptions.

Pricing & Resources

  • Initiation of Coverage: $30k

  • Quarterly Reports: $25k each (Total for four reports: $100k)

  • Total Cost: $130k (Payments accepted in USDC, BTC, or ETH)

The funding will support research, data science, engineering, and distribution efforts.

See the Full Proposal here: Olympus DAO & Messari Protocol Services

Timeline

The first quarterly report shall be initiated in the same quarter Phase 2 of OCG goes live (estimated Q3), and continue over the next three quarters for duration of the contract equaling four total reports. Messari may touch base with someone on the post-OCG skeleton crew for ongoing communication and clarification about protocol status and developments.

Conclusion

Engaging Messari Protocol Services aligns with Olympus’ strategic goals of re-educating and enlightening stakeholders, enhancing on-chain governance participation, and effectively communicating its value proposition. This partnership will provide the necessary authoritative coverage and reporting to bolster Olympus’ position and growth in the evolving crypto ecosystem, while nurturing the critical freshman year of on-chain governance.

Informal Poll

It sounds nice to have Olympus data spread through their connections, however the proposal Messari wrote feels very much like a copy and pasted L1 proposal - it references analyzing nodes, transaction cost, b2b services, NFT’s etc.

I would like to see Messari commit to analyze more pertinent metrics like backing, volatility, LP comparisons (e.g. ethdai vs ethohm), RBS, and cooler loans before considering these costly reports.

4 days later

The initiation fee seems steep. It was never included in other requests for DAO reporting made by them - see this example from their grant request for Euler. What is the value add here? Does it merit $30K?

A more localized to Olympus report is would certainly be beneficial as @spoys_P suggests. Indeed, given the rapidly developing nature of Olympus perhaps it might make sense to request them to make some part of this report dynamic? Imagine a refreshed-daily dashboard with some commentary (that is updated quarterly) attached to each dashboard item.

Appreciate the feedback! Very much aligned on the points above, to clarify please see below:

Custom Reports:

Messari’s reports on Olympus DAO will be tailored to focus on on-chain data, key protocol metrics, governance changes, and other pertinent aspects. One of the goals of the initiation of coverage report is to allow analysts to research the protocol and surface data with the help of our data science team. To specify, these would likely include metrics such as:

  • Financial/OHM: OHM price, market cap, tokenomics, holders/interactions, RBS deviations and accuracy (ie frequency/time spent in custions/30d MA)

  • Treasury: liquid backing (absolute and relative to OHM), asset breakdown, POL injections, income, Cooler Loans

  • Governance: council changes, passed and failed proposals, community governance progressions, on-chain governance developments

  • Ecosystem: where is OHM liquidity and specifically the volatility of that liquidity, uses in other DeFi protocols

When a protocol collaborates with Messari, Messari initiates a formal onboarding process that involves dedicated resources from Data Science, Engineering, and Research. The resulting research is data-driven and accessible to the community, distributed through Messari channels and global partners. As clients and partners, we also typically meet with some members of the team and community prior to the report to ensure there are no lapses in our coverage from existing materials.

Pricing Clarification:

There is no initiation fee. The fees are directly associated with the production of reports and the allocation of resources for their publication.

  • Protocol Overview Report (formerly Initiation of Coverage Report): $30k

    • Titled "Understanding Olympus DAO: A Comprehensive Overview"
    • Offers an in-depth exploration of the protocol's background, technical architecture, tokenomics, network activity, competitive landscape, roadmap, and more.

  • Quarterly Reports: $25k per report

    • Titled “State of Olympus DAO Q3 2024”

    • Provides a quarter-over-quarter comparison, highlighting key metrics and major developments from the preceding 90 days.

This agreement covers approximately ~15 months (5 Quarters) of dedicated coverage for Olympus DAO. For additional reference you can find publicly available Messari reports on other protocols here.

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