General chatter around Protocol Controlled Value is heating up in the space and dovetails with thoughts I’ve been having. Defi and DAOs are both in their extreme infancy in terms of their scale and are likely to evolve in unexpected directions.
One of the main draws that Alchemix always had for me was the plans for a “gamified” DAO, not just because I love the specific idea - I do - But because it showed that the team is actively looking for creative inspiration beyond what has been done in the space previously. Even the core product offering is a creative application of DeFi principles.
Momentum and attention are starting to heat up thanks to Scoopy’s twitter thread, Olympus bonds, Tokemak reactor, V2 + likely upcoming bull market. I want to start the conversation on creative ways to grow/diversify our treasury -> Here’s a couple of unorthodox ideas to kick things off:
1 - HODL Cryptopunks.
I’m not a huge NFT guy, and most would agree that NFTs are in a bubble right now. That said, Cryptopunks are basically the ultimate flex in crypto culture and are likely to appreciate significantly higher in the coming decade+.
None of us would be here if we didn’t have conviction on crypto being an ever-increasing part of the real world. I can’t envision a world where crypto exists and Punks aren’t an elite status symbol. Honestly, they might outlive ETH in the (super unlikely) timeline where another smart contract chain kills it.
We’ve already started to see a blurring of the lines between the DeFi and NFT ecosystems…. Collateralization and fractionalization of NFTs into ERC-20s, NFT DAOs stable-farming, etc.
It may be time to explore the blurring ecosystem boundaries more actively…
Pros
- Diversifies the treasury beyond standard DeFi assets
- Likely to have collateral upside
- Likely to appreciate over long time periods
- “Safest” NFTs available
- Marketable move across crypto ecosystems
- It’s weird
Cons
- Current NFT bubble
- Potential to appreciate slower than ETH
- Collateralization/Fractionalization projects are young
- It’s weird
It’s only a matter of time before another DeFi project does this (Or maybe some already have?) - Even Visa has a punk... Timing is my main concern here.
2 - ALCX DAO Mint Passes for Common, Rare and Epic NFTs
Offer ALCX DAO Mint Pass NFTs in a public sale.
These NFTs would be identical, until they are burned/redeemed for ALCX DAO items in the future. As long as they're sold with the stipulation that the reveal date is TBD, we're in familiar 10k avatar project territory and we would retain flexibility to change what the post-reveal items actually are, what their functionality is, etc.
10k Mint Passes would probably be too many but say around:
4206.9k Commons * 0.05 = 210 ETH
420 Rares * 0.5 = 210 ETH
69 Epics. * 1 = 69 ETH
Total Raised : 420 + 69 = 489 ETH
If successful, that’s not too bad - Particularly if you, like me, expect to see ETH shooting up in value soon enough.
Pros
- Lot’s of 10k project reference code available (potential DAO to DAO outsourcing?)
- ETH and increased flexibility for the treasury
- Very marketable (capture non-DeFi attention, + reveal day would be hype)
- Would not require the DAO to be finalized (plenty of wiggle room since the mint passes are unrevealed items)
- Only need to design 1 NFT graphic in the short-term (mint passes identical)
- Fun/Novel
Cons
- If we undersell it’s not a great look
- More work for the Devs (after V2 at the earliest)
- Implicit commitment for ALCX to provide value/utility to the NFTs in the future
Playing with the idea further, we could either commission or partner with an existing NFT Project/DAO to do something different and charge a higher premium for the Passes.
Picture a partnership with Art Blocks (AB) where each Mint Pass is a generative art piece that, eventually, would reveal an Alchemix DAO item when ready. The NFT would always show the art piece but, within our DAO, have a particular form or function.
Doing something like this would immediately raise the floor of a Mint Pass to AB levels where 2-3 ETH is an easy ask for minting… At that price-point we could offer AB a 35/35/30 split of profits with the last portion going to Charity/Gitcoin while still making more per Pass for ourselves.
Given that they’re NFTs you could even add a royalty fee for future secondary sales… 5% as an example with 2.5% to ALCX/AB and 2.5% to Charity/Gitcoin
AB is just a random hypothetical but we might be able to find a friend of a friend who has some artistic renown and interest in collaborating. Doing something like this gives a floor perceived value to the Mint Passes themselves.
I freely admit that the ideas are a bit kooky but that's the direction I think is worth exploring. Really my goal is to find a way to increase the treasury in ways other projects might not be considering. Would love to hear alternative concepts we can build on!
