Ancient8 OP Grant Program: Season 1 Now Open with 200,000 OP Tokens!

Ancient8

• 6 min read
Ancient8 OP Grant Program: Season 1 Now Open with 200,000 OP Tokens!

Ancient8 recently secured a 500,000 $OP grant from Optimism’s Governance Fund, providing crucial resources for expanding and enhancing the Web3 gaming ecosystem. Building on this foundation, Ancient8 is launching the Season 1 Grant Program to support innovative projects in Web3 gaming. This initiative provides funding, mentorship, and resources for builders and developers to accelerate user acquisition and GTM empowered by Ancient8 ecosystem. Whether you're an existing contributor or just starting out, this is your chance to turn ideas into impact and grow at scale with us.

Projects can REGISTER NOW to participate in the 200,000 OP Tokens Grant here: Season 1 Initial Information Form

All information regarding this Grant Program can be found publicly here: Ancient8 Grant Forum on Charmverse

Season 1 Grant Details

The grant allocation from this program will be utilized for two major target groups:

  1. Existing Projects on Ancient8: The first category rewards projects or individuals who have been early supporters of the Ancient8 ecosystem and have actively contributed to its growth.
  2. New or Prospective Projects to deploy on Ancient8: The second category is aimed at incentivizing new projects that intend to launch natively or expand onto the Ancient8 network, focusing on sectors such as Games, Game Infrastructure, Growth Tools, User Experience Solutions, Content Creator Networks, and others.
  3. A part of the allocation is executed to maintain the operations of the Grant & Reward Council.

1.1 Prospective Project Grant Process

A8 Grant Council

The A8 Grant Council comprises 10 members, divided into two groups:

A8 Foundation Council: Consisting of 5 members from or authorized by the Ancient8 Team. Including:

Members of the A8 Grant Council are granted Soulbound Tokens to facilitate voting throughout the process.

Registration Phase

Duration: 15 Jan - 08 Mar, 2025

Each registration period lasts for 15 days, during which projects can submit grant proposals.

Applications must include a detailed proposal outlining the idea, goals, budget allocation, expected outcomes, and the potential positive impact on the Superchain ecosystem.

Preliminary Review Phase

Duration: 09 - 24 Mar, 2025

The A8 Grant Council conducts an initial screening of applications to ensure they meet fundamental criteria. Additional information or documents may be requested during this phase before proceeding to the next phase.

Key evaluation benchmark includes the completeness of the application and its alignment with the Ancient8 and Superchain ecosystems.

Decision-Making Phase

Duration: 25 Mar - 08 Apr, 2025

A8 Grant Council members conduct a thorough review and make final decisions on each project based on the Season 1 Standard Rubric as per below link with certain criteria on:

  • Business Model and Targeted Segment
  • Demo Availability
  • Ancient8 Ecosystem Leverage and Contribution
  • Go-to-market Strategy

Additional criteria may be introduced during the operation of the A8 Grant Council.

Valid Voting Outcome

Council members can vote with three options: Approve / Reject.

A valid funding approval requires:

  • All 10 council members to vote.
  • At least 6 out of 10 votes in favor of approval

Monitoring and Distribution Phase

Depending on the applicant's architecture complex, vision, category and proposed OP usage milestones, A8 Grant Council will corporate, define appropriate usage milestones and strictly follow the one-year lock-up for OP tokens starting from the grant confirmation date, following Ancient8 and Optimism's Collective Grant Policy.

Once approved, grants will be disbursed via a smart contract, adhering to both Ancient8 and Optimism's current and future grant policies/procedures.

The A8 Grant Council will continue to monitor the progress of granted projects, requiring periodic reports and tracking key milestones.

1.2 Existing Projects Rewarding Process

A8 Reward Council

The A8 Reward Council consists of two subcommittees:

A8 Foundation Council: Consisting of 5 members from or authorized by the Ancient8 Team. Including:

A8 Security Council: Members of or authorized by the Ancient8 Security Council, responsible for overseeing proposals, voting, and fund disbursement.

Registration Phase

Duration: 15 Jan - 08 Mar, 2025

The A8 Reward Program is organized into seasons, each lasting four months, with two seasons per year. The program will continue until the allocated OP funding is exhausted.

Applications must meet minimum program requirements for both on-chain and off-chain contributors. For instance:

On-chain contributors:

  • Minimum activeness duration
  • Minimum number of wallet interactions
  • Minimum number of transactions
  • Verified contracts
  • If the applicant is an Infrastructure builder, the requirements will include metrics of entities utilizing this particular infrastructure solution
  • Excluded projects which were elected within top 3 of the past seasons
  • Off-chain contributors: No minimum requirements, but proposals will be preliminarily reviewed by the A8 Reward Council with final decisions made by Governance members.

Off-chain contributors: No minimum requirements, but proposals will be preliminarily reviewed by the A8 Reward Council with final decisions made by Governance members.

Screening Phase

Duration: 09 - 24 Mar, 2025

The A8 Foundation Council continuously monitors the activities of proposed candidates to filter applications.

Basic registration requirements are mandatory. In addition, projects will be evaluated and shortlisted based on comparisons with other applicants in categories such as Games, Infrastructure, and Off-chain contributors.

Screening criteria:

  • Fundamental needs
  • Onchain metrics (targeting onchain builders)
  • Social media engagement
  • Contribution level towards Ancient8 Ecosystem and Superchain
  • Activeness level towards information provision and transparency with the A8 Foundation Council.
  • Other possible screening criteria during the screening phase from A8 Foundation Council

Decision-Making Phase

Duration: 25 Mar - 08 Apr, 2025

A8 Reward Council members conduct a thorough review and make final decisions on each project based on the Season 1 Standard Rubric as per below link with certain criteria on:

  • Business Model and Targeted Segment
  • Current onchain and offchain contribution
  • Ancient8 Ecosystem Leverage and Contribution
  • Go-to-market Strategy

Additional criteria may be introduced during the operation of the A8 Reward Council.

Valid Voting Outcome

Council members can vote with three options: Approve / Reject.

A valid funding approval requires:

  • All 5 members to vote.
  • At least 4 out of 5 votes in favor of approval

Reward Allocation Phase

$OP allocation for Grantee

Depending on the applicant's architecture complex, vision, category and proposed OP usage milestones, A8 Grant Council will corporate, define appropriate usage milestones and strictly follow the one-year lock-up for OP tokens starting from the grant confirmation date, following Ancient8 and Optimism's Collective Grant Policy.

Once approved, grants will be disbursed via a smart contract, adhering to both Ancient8 and Optimism's current and future grant policies/procedures.

The A8 Foundation Council will continue to monitor the progress of granted projects, requiring periodic reports and tracking key milestones.

Ancient8 Grant Forum

Ancient8 utilizes Charmverse as the one-stop hub for all of the Ancient8 OP Grant Program Season 1 operation and information delivery for our Applicants, $A8 Stakers and communities.

All information can be found publicly here: Ancient8 Grant Forum on Charmverse

How to Join as an Applicant

Follow these steps to apply for the Ancient8 Grant Program:

Step 1: Submit projects’ basic information via this form for initial approval via Ancient8’s official social channels

Step 2: Sign up on Charmverse and accept the Applicant role invitation to join the Ancient8 Grant Forum via the private invitation link sent to your submitted Telegram by @ronaparajit 

Step 3: Set up your profile and include all relevant project details.

Step 4: Go to the “Applications” section and choose the project type (Prospective or Existing).

Step 5: Complete the required information, and click “Publish”.

Once submitted, your application will be reviewed by the Ancient8 Council. Make sure to check the Ancient8 Grant Forum and your Application Proposal Page regularly for updates and key announcements regarding your application status.

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About Ancient8

Ancient8 is building an Ethereum gaming Layer 2 with the OP Stack, designed for on-chain gaming and tradable consumer dApps on the Optimism Superchain. Our Space3 Game Publishing platform, SuperchainERC-20 Launchpad, and Gosu Creator DAO create a seamless distribution and growth ecosystem for game developers. On its mission to onboard the next 100M Web3 users, Ancient8 has already supported 150+ games and empowered 1M+ users to thrive in Web3.

Ancient8 has raised $10M in total financing from leading investors including Pantera, Dragonfly, Hashed, Makers Fund, Mechanism, Coinbase, IOSG, Jump and Animoca.

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