TL;DR Summary

Platform reward emissions are ending on February 9th. Suggesting an extension of the current reward rates, specifically with the parameters found below.

Proposal for platforms rewards are:

• Continue rewards: YES
• Schedule: 90 days (~3 months) - starting from February 9th at 8PM UTC. Community re-examination to occur once a month or as-needed, as reward schedules can be updated/modified by governance at any time.
• Reward type: Utilize the newly ratified esSEAM
• Amount: See table below

Context & Motivation

The initial platform rewards on Seamless Protocol were established at the Token Generation Event (TGE) and SEAM launch. Since then, SEAM emissions have incentivized protocol growth and governance participation. This reward schedule is set to expire on February 9th, 2024, at 8 PM UTC. Given the 7-day on-chain proposal delay, the DAO must promptly decide on potential reward replenishment, specifying the schedule, emission rate, type, and amount if continued.

Seamless Protocol has maintained a top 2 DApp positioning on Base over the past 2 months due to platform rewards [DeFi Llama here]. Therefore, the Seamless Protocol community should continue extending these rewards emissions, albeit starting to tamper market expectations through the introduction of esSEAM and slowly reducing emission rates in order to create a healthy and sustainable growth trajectory. Complete cessation of reward emissions at the moment would significantly impact the protocol’s current usage and TVL, as well as reduce the growth of governance participants. As such, it seems advisable to continue rewards while devising a plan to decrease emissions over time or optimize for long-term community alignment. The initial step is to use esSEAM for this upcoming rewards top-up.

Given the time sensitivity, a fast-track vote is recommended, with in-depth analysis and discussions slated for the coming month(s). Reward schedules can be modified at any time through on-chain governance voting, acting as a default placeholder until further community analysis and discussions occur.

Specifications/Technicals

Due to the urgent nature of the proposal, we recommend subjecting it to an exceptional ‘fast-track’ procedure. In this case, the Snapshot vote will be skipped. Instead, the proposal will be presented for an on-chain vote 24 hours after its publication on Discourse or with at least 10 DAO members commenting on the proposal on Discourse, with a qualified majority supporting it.

Under this proposal, esSEAM will be used for emission rewards to achieve long-term community alignment while supporting growth in governance participation. esSEAM, a wrapped version of SEAM, retains governance abilities with a 1-year unlocking period for full liquidity. This ensures ongoing rewards for liquidity contributors and borrowers, while fostering extended alignment.

Additionally, it is recommended to initiate a “Community Reward Review” period during the last week of each month. This open discussion period, to be hosted in Discourse, would allow the community to suggest modifications or extensions to the reward schedule. As such, the first review discussion period would be in late February to modify the reward emission schedule. Subsequent reviews would follow at the end of each month, with a discussion in late April for Reward Extensions unless addressed in a prior Community Reward Review (given the 3 month proposed reward period would end in May).

Lastly, the current proposal underscores the necessity for the DAO to establish a responsive mechanism for addressing urgent issues. Consequently, the DAO is committed to developing a clear, efficient, and transparent procedure specifically designed for handling emergency situations, referred to as the 'fast-track procedure’. This should be moved to another Discourse discussion soon after this proposal for community feedback and refinement for this process.

Discourse link