SIP | Can the Devs Do Something (RARE)?

  • Author: Kyle Olney, Director of Product @ SuperRare Labs
  • Status: Implemented
  • Type: Governance
  • Implementer: Contributors, as directed by SuperRare Labs
  • Sponsor(s): John Crain
  • Link to Temperature Check Poll: Discord
  • Created Date: 04/15/22

Summary: Allocate 5M RARE to fund developer bounties for ongoing network development activities

Abstract: As a modestly sized startup with limited resources - the ability for SRL to parallelize development objectives necessary to accommodate voluminous stakeholder demands is severely limited. Given the competitive landscape and endless product opportunities, we propose the allocation of 5M RARE to fund a pool which will be earmarked for product development bounties that benefit SuperRare Network in its mission of decentralization.

Motivation: In Q1, SuperRare Labs was informed by one of its 3rd party software providers (Mirror Labs) that they would be sunsetting their Token Race product effective immediately in Q2. This product is currently used to facilitate the Space Race, SuperRare’s first decentralized curation game. The sudden loss of this product will negatively impact the ability of SuperRare Labs to continue with its mission to decentralize curation of the world’s premier cryptoart marketplace. Engineering bandwidth constraints, combined with a roadmap full of existing development objectives, require that we immediately begin a search for 3rd party contributors who can build a replacement so that the Space Race can continue and SuperRare Labs can keep fulfilling its mission to decentralize control of the network.

Specification: Following the completion of product design specs, SuperRare Labs will open a request for proposal (RFP) process, where various developers (whether open source, contract or volunteer) can bid to build + deploy a replacement Token Race product so that the Space Race can continue unimpeded.

SuperRare Labs will, in consultation with the Governance Council, select the best 3rd party developer as needed to deliver the desired scope of work in a reasonable time-frame and at acceptable cost. After the initial Statement of Work (SOW) is completed, this software will be *open-sourced and made available for ongoing contributions by network participants.

Excess funds not utilized for the purpose of a Space Race replacement will remain allocated for subsequent development grants as necessary to fund ongoing product development bounties, subject to authorization of the Governance Council.

Benefits: The allocation of these funds will i.) allow SuperRare Labs to augment its existing development capabilities in the midst of a historically tight labor market, ii.) prevent discontinuation of the Space Race for an unknown period of time and iii.) set the stage for further community development grants which will multiply the development velocity of SuperRare Network.

By developing the muscles necessary to manage 3rd party software contributors, we begin the process of decentralizing and open-sourcing core software development assets that can serve as public goods for the SuperRare Network.

Drawbacks: The allocation of these tokens to 3rd party development means they can’t be allocated to other programs. SuperRare Labs staff will still need to provide managerial oversight + acceptance testing of work executed by 3rd party developers. Final decision of the winning RFP will likely be decided by SuperRare Labs in consultation with the Governance Council for the sake of expediency, rather than via plenary vote of the DAO.

Outcomes: Upon passage, SuperRare Labs will begin the scoping and solicitation of RFPs as needed to deliver the desired product experiences. After delivery of the final SOW, a natively owned product platform will be used to facilitate further Space Races and its code will be *open-sourced for the benefit of ongoing community contributions.

*To prevent against the cannibalization of treasury resources by competitors who would outsource their product innovation to SuperRare, the Apache 3 / copy-left licensing framework will be applied so that novel intellectual property developed by SuperRare network cannot be misappropriated for commercial purposes without compensation being provided to the community who funded it.

4 Likes

This is a brilliant idea. One thing that I’d love to see is a SuperRare API, so that I can build some tools myself! I’m sure if you provided some basic access to SR data, people would build some amazing things!

4 Likes

This is huge. There’s a lot of talented people we can motivate out there.

I’m assuming we also offered to take the source code for the token race off of mirror’s hands?

2 Likes

Correct. We both offered to pay special licensing fees for continued use & attempted to acquire usage rights under an open-source framework - and neither request was amenable for the Mirror team given their current business needs.

We are SUPER keen to get a public API stood up for 3rd party use as soon as we practically can. The primary historical barrier to doing so has been a clear vision of what the API would be utilized for by 3rd party collaborators.

As a Space Operator who is also a software developer, it would be incredibly valuable to get your help documenting whatever desired functionality you’d expect from such an API so we can ensure the time we allocate to standing this up would be time well spent!

2 Likes

Yea I’m super pumped for a public API and I think data is a great place to start. I’d also love to see the smart contracts well documented. For example the auction house could be used by anyone to trade any type of NFT. Would be awesome to see what people build!

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Oooo, smart contract documentation. That would be awesome!

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yeah, happy to engage more on that, just DM or email me!

3 Likes

I think we’re in a good spot to move forward, I will sponsor this proposal.

Having built in support of the SuperRare, Graphrica would love to know how it could support SuperRare with it’s dev needs!

2 Likes

Awesome! This will go up for vote soon. In the meantime I’d love to connect and learn more about Graphrica. Feel free to shoot me a dm on twitter, https://twitter.com/superrarejohn

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Have sent you a DM. Thanks John!

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Hi, I am an artist. the SR team said to post here. I would love to team up with someone to create the design portion of the space race platform. i can show my work if youre wanting a designer! looking forward to this!

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With the announcement of the RFP process we should setup a discord channel or something similar where people can advertise. @justanidea curious to hear your thoughts around this

@lordcharles Really excited for this SIP to be implemented. I think setting up a Discord channel is a great idea to post RFP and get the community involve. Happy to step this up!

1 Like

For what it’s worth:
“*To prevent against the cannibalization of treasury resources by competitors who would outsource their product innovation to SuperRare, the Apache 3 / copy-left licensing framework will be applied so that novel intellectual property developed by SuperRare network cannot be misappropriated for commercial purposes without compensation being provided to the community who funded it.”
Should read:
“*To prevent the cannibalization of treasury resources by competitors who would outsource their product innovation to SuperRare, the Apache 3 / copy-left licensing framework will be applied so that novel intellectual property developed by SuperRare network cannot be appropriated for commercial purposes without compensation being provided to the community who funded it.”

3 Likes

This SIP has been implemented. For more info on how to participate in the Grants Program, please refer to this forum post: April 2023 Update on the RareDAO Grants Program