gm Obol Community, thank you for your patience! I finally managed to carve out some time to share my voting rationale towards the end of my family trip.
I documented my evaluation in a custom table here to share my thought process.
Do note that the table captures my opinion of the impact that each project has created for the Obol Collective and is not a reflection of the project itself. That said, please feel free to reach out to me if you think your project/submission has not been classified accurately.
My voting rationale is described below and I invite the community to share any feedback on my evaluation process so that I may better represent you.
First of all, these are the projects I have allocated my votes to:
| No. | Project | Allocated votes | Allocation % | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | BlockOps Academy | 5228 | 1% | Community |
| 4 | Chainnodes’ management of Operation Solo Staker | 52276 | 10% | Core Obol Infrastructure |
| 5 | CollegeDAO | 5228 | 1% | Community |
| 6 | Commit Boost | 5228 | 1% | Useful tools |
| 8 | cp0x | 5228 | 1% | Community |
| 12 | Dappnode | 41823 | 8% | Core Obol Integrators |
| 13 | Development of an educational platform on DV | 26140 | 5% | Community |
| 14 | Erigon | 26140 | 5% | Core ETH Infrastructure |
| 17 | Eth-docker (Obol Charon/Lido integration) | 5228 | 1% | Pull requests |
| 18 | eth-docker ↔ Obol ↔ Lido integration | 36595 | 7% | Core Obol Integrators |
| 20 | Ethereum Mexico | 10456 | 2% | Community |
| 21 | Ethereum on ARM | 41823 | 8% | Core Obol Integrators |
| 23 | ethstaker.tax | 5228 | 1% | Useful tools |
| 24 | EthVeraCruz | 20912 | 4% | Community |
| 25 | Gardeners of the Infinite | 20912 | 4% | Community |
| 27 | GotEth | 20912 | 4% | Useful tools |
| 28 | Guide to Setting Up a Distributed Lido CSM Validator Cluster with Obol Network | 15684 | 3% | Useful tools |
| 30 | Mission Control: One-Click Obol DVT Deployment & All-In-One Observability | 5228 | 1% | Non-core Obol Integrators |
| 31 | Nimbus | 26140 | 5% | Core ETH Infrastructure |
| 32 | NodeBridge Africa | 15684 | 3% | Community |
| 35 | Obol DVT Integration into Stereum Open Source Node Operation Software | 41823 | 8% | Core Obol Integrators |
| 36 | Protocol Guild | 26140 | 5% | Core ETH Infrastructure |
| 37 | Rancho Stake | 15684 | 3% | Community |
| 40 | SEEDNodes | 5228 | 1% | Community |
| 41 | Solo Staker List | 26140 | 5% | Core ETH Infrastructure |
| 42 | Splits | 10456 | 2% | Core Obol Infrastructure |
| 43 | Squad Finder | 5228 | 1% | Useful tools |
| Total | 522,792 | 100% |
Breaking it down by categories
My votes are allocated to categories based it’s priority. i.e., if the higher priority category has many good submissions, then subsequent categories may get fewer or even no votes. That said, there still needs to be “new deliverables” even for high-priority categories during subsequent RAF rounds.
Core Obol Infrastructure (12%)
This is the most important category in my opinion. These projects are crucial to either the success and operations of the Obol Collective or Squad Stakers.
| No. | Project | Allocated votes | Allocation % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Chainnodes’ management of Operation Solo Staker | 52,276 | 10% |
| 42 | Splits | 10,456 | 2% |
| Total | 62,732 | 12% |
Chainnodes’ management of Operation Solo Staker: This program directly motivates new solo stakers and Obol DV Operators to learn how to run an Ethereum node. It also requires massive coordination and troubleshooting support which Chainnodes has done well at. I consider this a core infrastructure of the Obol Collective and allocated 10% of my votes to this submission.
Splits: Although the Splits contracts underpins all Obol DV clusters, I heavily discounted my vote allocations due to prior substantial funding of ~USD 10M, finally arriving at 2%
Obol Integrators (33%)
These projects improve the core user experience of Obol DV Operators and lower the technical barriers to entry. This is the second most important category to me for the first RAF as they have been a key driver of Obol Squad Staking to date.
I reserved 1/3 of my votes to this category and subsequently allocated 8% to each Core Obol Integrator and 1% to a newer project, Mission Control.
| No. | Project | Allocated votes | Allocation % | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | Dappnode | 41823 | 8% | Core Obol Integrators |
| 17 | Eth-docker (Obol Charon/Lido integration) | 5228 | 1% | Pull requests |
| 18 | eth-docker ↔ Obol ↔ Lido integration | 36595 | 7% | Core Obol Integrators |
| 21 | Ethereum on ARM | 41823 | 8% | Core Obol Integrators |
| 30 | Mission Control: One-Click Obol DVT Deployment & All-In-One Observability | 5228 | 1% | Non-core Obol Integrators |
| 35 | Obol DVT Integration into Stereum Open Source Node Operation Software | 41823 | 8% | Core Obol Integrators |
| Total | 172,520 | 33% |
Communities (25%)
As a community builder myself, I understand the importance of being on-the-ground to drive the last mile of user adoption. These efforts are often highly demanding on the time and resources of the organisers while offering little options for self-sustenance.
As such, I reserved 25% of my total votes to this category and then further allocating based on:
- level of Measurable or Inferable Impact
- whether the project is for profit, and;
- whether the project has had substantial amounts of prior funding
| No. | Project | Allocated votes | Allocation % | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | BlockOps Academy | 5228 | 1% | Community |
| 5 | CollegeDAO | 5228 | 1% | Community |
| 8 | cp0x | 5228 | 1% | Community |
| 13 | Development of an educational platform on DV | 26140 | 5% | Community |
| 20 | Ethereum Mexico | 10456 | 2% | Community |
| 24 | EthVeraCruz | 20912 | 4% | Community |
| 25 | Gardeners of the Infinite | 20912 | 4% | Community |
| 32 | NodeBridge Africa | 15684 | 3% | Community |
| 37 | Rancho Stake | 15684 | 3% | Community |
| 40 | SEEDNodes | 5228 | 1% | Community |
| Total | 130,700 | 25% |
Useful Tools (10%)
These are tools that also improve the user experience and/or economics of Obol DV Operators, which also drove user adoption.
My allocation for this category is done on a bottom-up basis where the allocation for each submission is based on:
- level of Measurable or Inferable Impact
- whether the project is for profit, and;
- whether the project has had substantial amounts of prior funding
This totalled up to 10%.
| No. | Project | Allocated votes | Allocation % | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Commit Boost | 5228 | 1% | Useful tools |
| 23 | ethstaker.tax | 5228 | 1% | Useful tools |
| 27 | GotEth | 20912 | 4% | Useful tools |
| 28 | Guide to Setting Up a Distributed Lido CSM Validator Cluster with Obol Network | 15684 | 3% | Useful tools |
| 43 | Squad Finder | 5228 | 1% | Useful tools |
| Total | 52,280 | 10% |
Core Ethereum Infrastructure (20%)
Finally, I firmly believe that all forms of public goods funding should contribute at least a small portion to core Ethereum infrastructure that are not-for-profit (i.e., the most important public goods). For this category, I allocated the remainder of my votes (i.e., 20%) and did not apply other evaluation criteria for further allocation among submissions.
| No. | Project | Allocated votes | Allocation % | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | Erigon | 26140 | 5% | Core ETH Infrastructure |
| 31 | Nimbus | 26140 | 5% | Core ETH Infrastructure |
| 36 | Protocol Guild | 26140 | 5% | Core ETH Infrastructure |
| 41 | Solo Staker List | 26140 | 5% | Core ETH Infrastructure |
| Total | 104,560 | 20% |
Projects I have not voted for
Some of the common reasons below:
- Not relevant to Obol in my opinion
- Difficult for me to measure impact
- Promises future deliverables (which the RAF application guidelines do not consider)
- Already reimbursed substantially for work done
- Recused due to conflicts of interests