LONDON (Bywire News) - Pomelo’s first round of grants has come to an end this weak with thousands raised for various products which promise to deliver a social good to EOS. In a week which has seen plenty of ups and downs from within the EOS community, this is a moment of real positive news. So how successful is it? And what projects have caught the eye?
The short answer is very successful. Anyone who doubts the enthusiasm of the EOS community only has to look at the number of contributions – large and small – which have already been made. And remember, this is just season one, season two kicks off early next year.
The quadratic funding model which can be a little difficult to explain at first, has shown its value once again. It works by multiplying funding from a matching pool of $500,000 supplied by the EOS Network Foundation (ENF). It’s a way of putting more emphasis and value on the number of contributions projects attract, rather than just the total amount of money.
With the quadratic funding model, matching funding is allocated based on the square of the sum of the square roots of the contributions made by the funders.
For public good projects, this is crucial. The criteria for projects which do a great deal for the community but aren’t likely to make anyone rich. As such, they tend to go overlooked in traditional financing models.
This is the approach which proved so successful with Gitcoin and it’s one which is fast becoming the go-to option for projects with a public good focus.
Comparing which projects fared well in terms of total raised with those that attracted the most contributors also give us an insight into what people were looking for from these projects.
Top of the list was Port, an app which cryptographically proves your uniqueness to the global community – namely one person one EOS account – and dwarfs Sybil attacks. It’s an ambitious effort to onboard massive Public Key Infrastructure provided by ICAO and passports to the EOS blockchain. Port allows you to tap your passport on your phone and join the global trust-chain. It raised $29,454.62 in contributions and $19,654 USD from the matching pool. This did include a grant of $60,000 from EOS Nation, with $30,000 sent this round, and the remainder to be sent in the next.
The split between the two – with donated funds outstripping the matching pool – shows its reliance on a relatively small number of donations. Although it topped the listing in terms of funds raised it barely snuck into the top twenty in terms of contributions with a total of 89.
Other well-known platforms also featured high up in the list due to a large number of small donations. Greymass API infrastructure, for example, attracted $4,715.59 from 255 contributors. That translates to an estimated match of $51,590. EOS Bees also proved highly popular, with $4055.81 USD from 246 contributors. Their work in coordinating global marketing efforts to counter negative coverage of E0S is perhaps one of the most important tasks to building the network’s reputation.
Here at Bywire, meanwhile, we are also very pleased and grateful with $1313.21 from 85 contributors with an estimated matching of $5,718. These funds will be put to work as part of our mission to develop new EOS technology that will be made opensource.
Aside from supporting outstanding projects such as these, this first round has also served as a way to assess sentiment about what the community would like EOS to look like and what projects it wants to support.
It’s a sign of a community taking its destination very much into its own hands. For most of the last few years, EOS looks like it has been waiting for B1 to lavish it with the support it promised at the start. That has not happened, and the community suffered as a result.
What’s exciting now is that in Pomelo, alongside the likes of the ENF and Eden on EOS, we now have initiatives which are making good on the original promises and are happening independently of B1. It is becoming a vibrant, decentralised community in which B1, whether it likes it or not, is being pushed from the dominant force into just part of the wider constellation.
If this is the what the future of EOS looks like then, there are reasons to be very cheerful indeed.
You can see the full list of grants on the Pomelo Homepage.
The top 20 in terms of funds raised and contributors runs as follows:
Top 20 by amount raise
- Port: $29454.62 from 89 contributors. Estimated match $19,654
- Greenium: $4959.99 from 107 contributors. Estimated match $8,649
- Greymass Infrastructure: $4715.59 from 255 contributors. Estimated match $51,590
- EOS Support: $4452.27 from 178 contributors. Estimated match $27,727
- Eos Bees: $4055.81 from 246 contributors. Estimated match $43,506
- Zeos: $3983.66 from 161 contributors. Estimated match $24,073
- Violet Garden: $3430.17 from 193 contributors. Estimated match $27,000
- EOS Big Data: $3075.22 from 140 contributors. Estimated match $18,269.
- EOS Ecological EOS Metaverse: $2971.82 from 163 contributors. Estimated match $24,247.
- EOS NFT Standard for decentralised storage: $2935,43 from 200 contributors. Estimated match $26,910
- Voice it's: $2821.89 from 51 contributors. Estimated match 2,910.
- Keyproof: $2637.89 from 90 contributors. Estimated match $9,970
- EOS Daily: $63 raised from 91 contributors. Estimated match $7,662
- Go Smarts Contracts Development Kit: $2394.49 from 91 contributors. Estimated match $8,170
- The Overwatcher API: $36 from 97 contributors. Estimated match $9,479
- Pizza Swap Aggregator: $2360.69 from 101 contributors. Estimated match $8,375
- EOSIO IBC: $2329.90 from 85 contributors. Estimated match $8,597
- Tipit social wallet: $2318.74 from 117 contributors. Estimated match $10,855
- Boid Universe: $2157.36 from 120 contributors. Estimated match $13,066
- Pizza Lend: $2145.31 from 85 contributors. Estimated match $6,573
Top 20 by Contributions
- Greymass: $4715.59 from 255 contributors. Estimated match $51,590
- EOS Bees: $4055.81 from 246 contributors. Estimated match $43,506
- EOS NFT Standard: $2935.43 from 200 contributors. Estimated match $26,910
- Violet Garden: $3430.17 from 193 contributors. Estimated match $27,000
- EosStarter: $2105.47 from 185 contributors. Estimated match $20,520
- EOS Support: $4452.27 from 176 contributors. Estimated match $27,727
- EOS Metaverse Standard: $2971.82 from 163 contributors. Estimated match $24,247
- Zeos: $3983.66 from 161 contributors. Estimated match $24,073
- EOS Power Up: $1097.26 from 142 contributors. Estimated match $10,179
- EOS big data statistics: $3075.22 from 140 contributors. Estimated match $18,269
- Immersys: $1959.17 from 137 contributors. Estimated match $11,047
- Boid Universe: $2157.36 from 130 contributors. Estimated match $13,066
- Tipit social wallet: $2318.74 from 117 contributors. Estimated match $10,855
- EOS in a Box: $1783.05 from 113 contributors. Estimated match $9,875
- Greenium: $4959.99 from 107 contributors. Estimated match $8649
- Pizza Swap Aggregator: $2360.69 from 101 contributors. Estimated match $8375
- The Overwatcher API: $2376.36 from 97 contributors. Estimated match $9479
- EOS Daily: $2605.63 from 91 contributors. Estimated match $7662
- Keyproof: $2637.89 from 90 contributors. Estimated match $9970
- Port: $29,454 from 89 contributors. Estimated match $19,654
(Writing by Tom Cropper, editing by Michael O'Sullivan)