Over the past few months, DEX aggregator 1inch has been steadily evolving. After Ethereum, where the protocol was initially developed, 1inch has gone on to take on other blockchains, such as Binance Smart Chain and Polygon. Now, the 1inch Foundation wants to support other projects via a large grant program.
An astronomical amount of money to develop DeFi
The 1inch Foundation is a non-profit organization behind the 1inch DEX aggregation protocol. On Thursday, July 15, it announced the launch of a large grant program, intended to “stimulate the growth of the 1inch ecosystem and DeFi in general.”
It will be 3 million dollars in 1INCH tokens that will be available to carry out its program. This one will be declined in 3 themes:
- Network development: this one will allow to subsidize projects that stimulate the use of 1inch services. Eligible projects include aggregation products, such as AMMs (automated market makers), wallets, second layer solutions and security solutions;
- Community development: it will subsidize educational initiatives. This will include educational materials, such as tutorials, translations, and community events;
- Research and Analysis: This will focus on funding projects that provide analytical tools (metrics) to the protocol.
How to participate?
In its announcement, 1inch explains that this grant program is primarily aimed at freshly launched projects that have not yet raised funds via ICOs or other fundraisers, with the exception of venture capital related ones.
After submitting their application, projects interested in the grant will be interviewed by 1inch to detail their solution and its specifics.
Once the grant offer is accepted, both parties will discuss the terms, i.e. the amount as well as how the funds will be distributed over time.
Once the offer is accepted, the applicants will finalize the process of integration into the program. Finally, the foundation will periodically evaluate the progress of the selected projects.
The DeNet project, which proposes a decentralized storage solution for both data and dApps, is the first to benefit from this grant program. It will be awarded 100,000 1INCH tokens, which is equivalent to about $214,000 at the current price.
Funding DeFi: a common goal of these protocols
1inch is not the first protocol to set up a fund to finance the evolution of DeFi as a whole. In fact, last April, Ethereum’s commit chain, Polygon, set up a fund called #DeFiForAll that aims to finance the adoption of DeFi. In total, the platform has allocated 100 million MATIC tokens, or about $86 million at current prices.
These funds should be used in the next 2-3 years, with the ambition of attracting the next million users to the DeFi ecosystem.
However, wanting to attract new users is one thing. But ensuring their security against the various threats that target DeFi, such as hacks, is another. Several protocols have thus chosen to set up bug bounty programs to remedy these security flaws.
