Thanks Apollo and team for putting this together. I appreciate the transparency via the Looker Studio dashboard and the continuity from the FY2025 structure.
I’m generally supportive of continued funding for the Association, and I agree the convertible loan structure is an interesting way to achieve backing-neutral financing. My hesitation is not with the mechanism itself, but with the level of budgetary visibility and accountability around it.
Before voting in favor, I think the community needs more clarity on a few points:
1. FY2025 Overspend and Accountability
The 2025 dashboard shows $1.33M in actual spend against an $888K budget — roughly a 50% overshoot. The bulk of this comes from Contributor Payments ($1.16M vs $733K budgeted), with a very visible acceleration through the year (Q4 alone was ~$438K against a $183K quarterly budget).
I understand Callisto has been mentioned as part of the context, but I think the community would benefit from a more explicit reconciliation:
- How much of the overrun was attributable to Callisto?
- What was the strategic rationale for funding that work through the Association budget?
- Did Olympus retain any direct economic upside, strategic rights, or long-term benefit from that spend?
- For the remaining overrun, what portion came from headcount growth, scope expansion, retroactive compensation, or other one-off items?
If FY2026 spend is expected to be “similar to 2025,” then understanding in detail why FY2025 landed so far above budget is essential.
2. Recurring but Unbudgeted “Variable” Costs
The proposal again excludes audits, Immunefi payouts, and unforeseen legal expenses from projections. However, these do not appear to be purely theoretical edge cases. They are potentially material categories of spend, and in practice can meaningfully change the total funding requirement.
Even if exact figures are uncertain, I think FY2026 should include reasonable estimate ranges for these items, rather than excluding them entirely. At a minimum, I would like to see:
- a provisional range for audits / legal / security-related costs
- a clear process for reporting material unbudgeted expenses
- governance visibility if discretionary unbudgeted spend exceeds a defined threshold
This would preserve flexibility while reducing the risk of too much unchecked discretion.
3. Headcount and Functional Transparency
Contributor Payments appear to represent the large majority of total spend, yet there is little visibility into the underlying structure.
I am not asking for individual compensation disclosure, but an aggregate breakdown would be very helpful:
- number of contributors
- functional split (engineering, operations, BD, legal/admin, etc.)
- broad compensation bands by function or seniority
That level of transparency would help evaluate whether the budget is appropriately sized and where FY2025 variance actually came from.
4. OTC Usage and Alignment
The proposal states that borrowed OHM may be used for strategic OTC deals with funds, market makers, or exchanges, and to a lesser extent for employee option packages.
Given that this is a meaningful part of the requested authority, I think the community should have visibility into how this has worked in practice and how it will be governed going forward. Specifically, I would like to see:
- aggregate FY2025 OTC volume
- counterparty categories
- pricing methodology relative to market / backing
- any lock-up, vesting, or holding requirements
- quarterly disclosure of future OTC activity
The goal should be to ensure these transactions are genuinely creating aligned strategic relationships, rather than short-term distribution.
To be clear, I believe the Association has done meaningful work and should be funded appropriately. My view is simply that Olympus has reached a stage where financial governance should mature alongside operational ambition.
I would be comfortable supporting this proposal if the team can provide:
- a clear reconciliation of the FY2025 overspend and OTC activity,
- a fuller FY2026 budget including currently omitted but recurring items, and
- a commitment to periodic disclosure on OTC usage and material unbudgeted spend.
Thanks again for putting this forward.
