What is WaveHack? Grant Distribution Protocol to Grow App Ecosystems for Infra Projects

10x more efficient app ecosystem expansion tool compared to hackathons and grant programs

Click here for Japanese article

As the largest web3 hackathon platform in Japan, AKINDO has helped build a community of builders for Ethereum, Astar, Aptos, BNB, Sui, Oasys, zkSync, Scroll, XRPL,Flow and many other projects.

https://app.akindo.io/
https://lu.ma/u/akindo?past=1
OtherTrackRecord is here

We have organized a number of hackathons and workshops and have learned a lot from the experience. The first and biggest problem is that the goals of the hackathon's host project and those of the participating builders are not aligned.

Hackathon Problems

The purpose of projects like L1/L2 Layer, which provides resources such as prize money and judges to hackathons, is to build long-term relationships with talented builders and expand their app ecosystem.

They attend hackathons for very short term purposes: to try out their ideas, to build a product using a technology they are interested in and get feedback from the judges, to find friends, to eat pizza, and so on.

Although projects that allocate resources to hackathons hold these events with long-term objectives, builders participate for short-term purposes. Once that's done, they'll return to their full-time jobs and participate in hackathons on other competing projects the following week.🤷🏻‍♂️

So what about grant programs?

Grant program Problems

There is nothing more cumbersome and unclear for both project and builder than grant programs. I don't know why we still doing this old-fashioned thing.

The project's grant officer takes the time to read the long poem that the team writes in their application, and then makes the call. What is discussed there is only the product that will be created in the future, and grants are distributed based on expectations for the future.

Although there are probably many teams who make effective use of grants and successfully release and grow their products, there are unfortunately others who do not. Providing grants to such teams would be a waste of budget, and the entire vetting process before that would be wasted.

Evaluating the future is difficult, and that's the job of investors.

Both hackathons and grant programs are legacy, traditional budget distribution systems that predate Bitcoin.

We are trying to make the world a better place with blockchain technology, so why waste precious budget on such inefficient methods?

Now that we are entering a new bull market, there is a need for a killer app that will further lead the market. Introducing WaveHack to bring that killer app to your app ecosystem.

Why WaveHack?

WaveHack is a growing app ecosystem platform for infrastructure projects that is 10x more efficient than hackathons or grant programs. You can retrospectively evaluate the work of teams contributing to your ecosystem and automatically distribute grants to the right builders on an ongoing basis.

In short, it will become a tool for on-chain native grant distribution, replacing traditional hackathons and grant programs and becoming the de facto standard for building long-term engagement with the developer community.

1. Distribute grants continuously

With WaveHack, the relationship between a builder and a project can be a long-term one, rather than a one-time event like a hackathon. Teams that are building products in line with the required development theme will receive an ongoing budget based on their progress.

The goal is not just to create an MVP or prototype. We can provide ongoing support until your product is released into production and leads the growth of your ecosystem.

2. Evaluate deliverables retrospectively

Projects do not have to spend money on an uncertain future like traditional grant programs.

How much budget is allocated to which product (team) is determined based on votes on submissions by the core team and the community.

It's like RetroPGF by Optimism, where submissions are objectively evaluated by the community on how much impact they've had on your ecosystem so far.It is an evaluation of performance and can be evaluated quantitatively.

We provide builders with an incentive to continue updating by evaluating progress compared to the previous submission.

Therefore, existing products are also subject to evaluation. This can be a powerful incentive to attract products from other ecosystems into your ecosystem.

3. Anyone can participate at any time

WaveHack is an open opportunity program. Build and vote periods repeat until a project's grant pool reaches zero, creating a wave-like progression of innovative ecosystems.

It provides opportunities for all builders and allows anyone to contribute to your ecosystem at any time.

GrantPools can also be added at any time, allowing projects to more efficiently use resources and support more important teams.

How does WaveHack work?

Aptos has joined us as our first partner for this all-new grant distribution platform, WaveHack. As you know, Aptos is a new generation blockchain developed by the Move language and is a practical blockchain infrastructure for any use case.

https://app.akindo.io/wave-hacks

Aptos set up two themes with WaveHack and deposited a total of $35,000 in grants into GrantPool. *Grant will be added from now on

Build a Aptos Dapps

https://app.akindo.io/wave-hacks/Z47L4rwQmI774vRpr

Create Aptos Move Contents

https://app.akindo.io/wave-hacks/Nmqgo639ai9ZQMB1

This time, the requested theme is not only Dapps development using Aptos, but also document translation into Japanese for AptosMove.

The other day, we held a launch event in Tokyo.

The Aptos team has set up a wave schedule with a 10-day submission period and a 4-day voting period. These 2 together are called Wave. For each wave, 1/10 of the total will be distributed to the teams voted for.

Aptos WaveHack Works

This means that every 2 weeks, the progress of builders' submissions will be evaluated by the Aptos core team and community, and $3,500 will be distributed in each wave.

The distribution will be automatically divided according to the number of votes for each submission. Once the voting period is over, grants will be automatically distributed via WaveHack's smart contract. For example, this distribution image.

1st WaveGrant 1000USDC

Product A 3 votes →600USDC

Product B 2 votes → 400USDC

*WaveHack protocol fee is 10% of the grant amount for each wave.

In other words, projects that want to grow a stronger app ecosystem with WaveHack just need to decide on the duration of the continuation cycle and the distribution percentage metrics for each wave. That's all you need to do to build engagement with the developer community.

By entering these five items, any project can publish WaveHack without permission.

1.Required build themes from the community

2.Total amount of subsidy for this purpose

3. Submission period

4.Voting period

5. Distribution method for each wave (percentage or fixed amount)

*The sum of 3 and 4 is called Wave.

Items 2 to 5 are defined as parameters in the WaveHack contract, and grants are automatically distributed to the wallets of the voted teams until the total amount in the GrantPool reaches zero.

If you do not evaluate any submissions, the grant for that wave will be carried over and added to the next wave. That would be an incentive to attract more attractive teams.

For example, this WaveHack set by Aptos has a GrantPool of 5,000 USDC, and the WaveGrant for each wave is 1,000 USDC.

There are only 5 days left in the build period, and you can see that 3 deliverables have already been submitted.

The voting period with this setting will be 4 days from March 16th to March 20th, and 1000 USDC will be distributed to submission teams according to the number of votes during that period. Only the core team can vote, and authority can be freely granted to stakeholders.

Why do builders submit on WaveHack?

Next, let me explain why it benefits developers.

WaveHack brings a better experience not only to subsidized infrastructure layer projects, but also to ongoing product submissions. There are three reasons for this.

1.Earn Grants

While monetary incentives alone won't move people or turn them into true fans, rewards can still be a strong motivator. WaveHack is basically a basic income for hackers, allowing us to help them turn their ideas into reality.

Let them focus on building and leave monetization, sales, and marketing behind. Focus is the most necessary resource to release a great product.

2. Get feedback

What I've learned from hosting many hackathons is that talented builders are hungry to learn.

They seek technical feedback from the project's core team. Source code and product reviews from the project's DevRel and core developers are a stronger incentive for builders than grants.

3. To channels for potential user acquisition

Products submitted to WaveHack may be evaluated not only by the core team, but also by the community of the infrastructure layer project.

This creates a potential user acquisition opportunity for product submitters.

Feedback from users who actually use the product can be used to make future improvements. WaveHack will be the best channel for initial user acquisition for your product.

WaveHack evaluates not only the improvement process but also the growth after the production release. In other words, there is a chance to receive a grant through post-publication growth as well.

WaveHack is a program that recognizes the builders/teams that contributed the most to the ecosystem during the Wave period.

Build your ecosystem now.🛠

If your project has a hackathon or grant budget, why not allocate some of it to WaveHack? Don't waste your precious budget.

Your community members want opportunities to contribute, so make their contributions visible and build stronger engagement over time.

We believe it can provide a variety of use cases:

• Post-hackathon retention tool

• Revitalization of existing communities

• Progress management tool for grant distribution

• Unified management tool for DevRel etc.

If you have any questions please ask me. We will do our best to support you in expanding your ecosystem.

Telegram: @illshin https://t.me/illshin
X: @illshin https://twitter.com/illshin
Mail: sk@akindo.io

Additionally, we will be holding WaveHack Global, a large-scale grant program for six months using WaveHack.

This is a program where over 30 projects continuously distribute grants totaling $500K+ to 5,000+ builders. Please feel free to contact us if you would like to participate in any project.

FAQ

1.What are the evaluation criteria for each wave?

You can freely decide on each theme. We recommend evaluating submissions that have made the most progress during the wave and have made an impact on the ecosystem. Please evaluate qualitatively and quantitatively.

2. Will Grant be distributed to individuals?

The project that submitted the product will be distributed to the wallet address registered in AKINDO’s project page.

3.What is the protocol fee for WaveHack?

10% of the total grant amount distributed for each wave will be collected as gas fee/contract fee.

4.Can I submit to WaveHack at any time?

You can do it anytime. You can submit from 3rdWave, and there is no problem even if you submit to 4thWave after submitting to 1st Wave.

5. What if no one votes or none is submitted?

If no products are submitted that match the evaluation, voting will be skipped and no Grant will be distributed. The total amount will be carried over to the next wave, giving you more chances in the next wave. The same applies if the application is not submitted.

6.What happens if GrantPool becomes zero?

WaveHack will automatically stop when there are no more grants to distribute. You can restart by adding Grant.

7.What types of grants can be pooled? What networks are supported?

Currently it supports USDC/USDT. We are gradually increasing the number of networks, but currently we support Ethereum, BNB, opBNB, AstarEVM, Astar zkEVM, and Base.

8.What criteria should judges use to evaluate deliverables?

Rate the impact your submission has had on your ecosystem on the product page, on Github, and in update comments upon submission.

9.What is the maximum and minimum number of days for the wave period?

A wave period consists of a development period and a voting period. You can freely decide the development period from 1 to 30 days and the voting period from 1 to 7 days.

10. How is the distribution amount determined for each wave?

You can decide the distribution amount for each wave using two methods:

distribution by % and distribution by fixed amount. If you add $30K to the GrantPool and choose 30% as the distribution method, you will receive $9K in the first wave.

2ndWave will distribute 30% of the remaining $21K, resulting in $6.3K. Repeat until you have $100 left.

If it is fixed, it is simpler and if you set $3000 in a $30K GrantPool, 10 waves will be repeated.

If you have any other questions, please click here