Hey everyone!
Gitcoin Grants Round 7 is coming up. It kicks off on September 15, 2020, and will run for 2.5 weeks, ending on October 2nd, 2020. This will be our biggest round yet, with matching commitments that go beyond $350k!
Here are several of our sponsors:
- $150k from the EF
- $50k from @Arthur_0x
- $100k from yearn
- $50k from #FerretPatrol
- $10k from @banteg
As Gitcoin Grants gears up for the Round 7 kickoff, we wanted to notify you about some of the changes we've made since Round 6. The earlier you know, the better prepared you will be when Round 7 starts. This way, you can ensure that you maximize your contributions and have a bit of lead-time to get things started.
In Gitcoin Grants Round 6, we added a cart functionality that made it much easier to checkout contributions to multiple grants. However, if you were donating to a lot of grants, gas transaction fees might've gotten a bit high. For Round 7, we've added an option to use the ZkSync Protocol, a lower-cost way to make contributions to multiple grants.
ZkSync shines when you have a big cart full of grants, because the protocol allows you to pay a fixed price for n number of transactions. As a back-of-the-napkin heuristic, if you have six or more items in your Grants checkout cart, you're likely better off trying the ZkSync solution. If you have five or fewer items, going through the normal checkout process should work just fine. Don't fret though, we've added a handy indicator during the checkout process to help you make the correct determination.
If you do decide to try ZkSync, there is a fixed cost to move tokens onto L2, and depending on how many tokens you're paying in, the fixed cost will vary, hence the more tokens you have, the better the deal. Regardless, once you use ZkSync, payments and distributions to grant owners all occur on L2, and transfers are instantaneous and close to free. We will also give you the option to transfer additional funds to your L2 account beyond just your donations so you can have extra funds on ZkSync for other uses!
Grant owners can use an L1 or L2 address to open their grant. Existing grant owners can switch to an L2 address if desired, but make sure you pick an L2 address that you can use with ZkSync!
In Gitcoin Grants Round 6 your CLR match contribution was influenced by SMS verification. Those who verified would have a slightly higher multiplier associated with their match. For Round 7, we've included BrightID as an additional verification method that you can use to increase the potential of your match.
Getting verified through SMS or Bright ID will allow your contribution to have higher weight within the CLR matching formula.
- Bright ID: 1.2x
- SMS Verification: 1.05x
- No Verification: 1.0x
BrightID verification is not as simple as SMS verification, but it offers the highest multiplier. It's a social identity network that aims to prove that you're only using one account. Because there's a social aspect to it, it requires a bit of time to "make friends", join groups, and garner quality connections that help prove that you are indeed unique. Let's run through some of the details.
Here's the steps to get started:
- Make a BrightID account. You can download the app on iPhone or Android.
- Once you've created your account, you can begin by forming connections, but you will have to connect your account with Gitcoin. Migrate over to https://gitcoin.co/your_profile, and click on the "Trust Bonus" tab.
- Once the connection is made, you're still not yet verified, and this is the time when you'll have to connect with other people and groups in order to reach a threshold of connections that will help you reach "verified" status. When you click "Verify", a modal will pop up where you can register and join several pre-planned "verification" parties. The dates are also listed below.
- date1 with link
- date2 with link
- date3 with link
A hugely important note is that we don't want you to be deterred from donating if you're not SMS or BrightID verified just yet. You can make your donation anytime during the round, but as long as you're SMS or BrightID verified by the close of Gitcoin Grants Round 7, all your contributions will retroactively recieve the multiplier benefit. That means, if I start off as un-verified when the round opens and contribute to my favorite grants at 1.0x, I will get 1.2x on all my contributions in Round 7 if I get BrightID verified anytime before the round closes.
To be as transparent as possible, we are working on helping you understand the absolute effect of the multiplier on your donation. Depending on the quadratic formula, it will depend on the amount you donate, who else donates, your verification status, and others' verification status. We eventually would like to build in a "live" view of how your contribution worth changes based on verification status, but we currently estimate that on average, it will yield +25% returns.
You can migrate over to the Trust Bonus tab in the user dashboard to see and activate the varying methods of verification. We'll be sending gentle reminders to get your verifications done so that you can achieve the maximum contribution benefit for the grants you wish to support!
No action necessary on your part here, unless you're a grant owner AND a grant contributor. :) If that's the case, then yes, verification will help your contributions. Get verified!
For more on ZkSync, you can check them out here: https://zksync.io/faq/intro.html#introduction
For more on BrightID, you can check them out here: https://www.brightid.org/
add “At DeFiance Capital, we focus on decentralized finance applications as a user and investor. Ethereum is our community and we are excited to fund this round of Gitcoin grants.”