Aave Grants DAO - Event Recap
GHOing to a New Market: ETHTokyo
April 14th - 16th 2023
OVERVIEW
Summary
ETHGlobal Tokyo (ETHTokyo) was the second event since AGD’s fourth renewal in January 2023 and was the first AGD-sponsored event to take place in Asia. Initially included in AGD’s latest governance proposal, it was the first in-person hackathon sponsored since the renewal and the first time hackers have been encouraged to build on GHO.
AGD hosted a booth during the hackathon weekend and facilitated and judged hackathon submissions for projects building on Aave.
Personnel
At the booth from AGD were Bill and Migi. Aave Co also had a delegation of nine people who were dedicated to supporting the Aave booth, including founder Stani Kulechov.
ACTIVATIONS
ETHTokyo Hackathon
In total over the weekend:
- 187 booth visitors collected the Aave @ Eth Tokyo POAP
- 10 grantees engaged in-person
- 21 hackathon projects submitted for building on Aave & GHO
- $6k awarded to top 3 projects building on Aave & GHO
- 1 workshop by Jess and Miguel from Aave Co - an “Introduction to GHO” covering everything hackers need to know about building with GHO
The main focus at ETHTokyo was the hackathon, where AGD sponsored three prizes hackers could receive for the best projects building on Aave or integrating GHO. Out of the total 311 projects that were submitted during the event, 21 applied for Aave prizes and 12 built on Aave.
The winners were:
🥇DeFi Struct is a generalized 4626 vault for structured products providing clear risk and reward information, offering greater insights for users, and holding individuals who promote or develop DeFi strategies more socially accountable.
🥈MAID (Multi-Access Incentive Distribution) is a coupon factory that allows protocols to reward users with custom ERC3525 coupons (Semi-Fungible Tokens) based on custom requirements and conditions, such as being an OG @GHOAave holder.
🥉BorrowFi is an aggregator that lets users easily borrow at the best rates possible by introducing a new standard to normalize borrowing and repaying calls while searching across different protocols.
GOALS
The overarching goal for AGD sponsorships at all events is to proliferate the ghost. This is done through:
- Brand visibility and community engagement - Make Aave top of mind
- Expanding brand recognition and extending the reach of the Aave community to become the top ecosystem contributors think of to build on.
- This is achieved through things like:
- Distributing Aave branded merchandise
- Having an engaging booth presence
- Participating in community side events
- Attracting and cultivating top contributors - Connect with the community
- Attracting exceptional contributors and fostering long-term relationships to drive innovation and growth.
- This is achieved through things like:
- Building relationships with strong communities
- Providing perks for Aave grantees and Aave builders
- Hosting the signature rAAVE
- Fostering innovation and supporting the development of new projects - Support builders
- Empowering and incentivizing participants to explore new ideas, drive impactful solutions, and support the development of innovative projects.
- This is achieved through things like:
- Offering hackathon prizes
- Conducting developer workshops
- Facilitating knowledge sharing
RETROSPECTIVE
ETHTokyo marked AGD’s entry into the Asian market and focused on the promotion of GHO and the newly deployed V3 instance on the Ethereum mainnet.
- Brand visibility and community engagement - Make Aave top of mind
- Through the strategic distribution of exclusive merch, a large team at the Aave booth to engage with hackers, and a strong presence of Aave branding throughout the weekend, AGD’s participation at ETHTokyo made significant strides in growing brand recognition and fostering community engagement within a new market.
- Attracting and cultivating top contributors - Connect with the community
- AGD's inaugural presence at an event in Asia expanded the reach of the Aave brand to local hackers including fostering meaningful connections with 10 grantees in person.
- Fostering innovation and supporting the development of new projects - Support builders
- With 12 projects successfully building on Aave, 3 projects receiving Aave-specific awards, and a developer workshop fostering valuable knowledge-sharing opportunities, Aave builders were well incentivized and educated about Aave and GHO.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Improvements and adopted learning from previous events
- Changing the booth branding from “Aave Grants DAO” to ‘Aave’ was positive by increasing clarity for attendees and creating an easier flow of conversations.
- Proactively reaching out to grantees to see who would be attending and setting up meetings with grantees where possible allowed us to better interact with grantees.
- Actionable items for future events/hackathons
- GHO-specific hackathon prizes. Consider restructuring hackathon prizes, with specific bounties and prizes for GHO to help direct hackers and encourage more projects to integrate GHO.
FOLLOW UP
In 6 months we plan to revisit this report and see if interactions have progressed to a grant application or other actions that benefit AGD or the Aave ecosystem. Key stats we will look for are:
- Grant applications received after original interaction at ETHTokyo
- Grant applications awarded after original interaction at ETHTokyo
- Other beneficial calls or connections after the original interaction at ETHTokyo
- Social media shout outs / follow-ups from AGD’s presence at ETHTokyo
We have a number of different events coming up and revisiting this report will be an opportunity to track improvements and recurring issues.
Appendix 1: ETHTokyo Hackathon
