The Uniswap Foundation is piloting a new way to fund builders, allocating $900K in grants through Butter’s Conditional Funding Markets. Lending protocols can apply for funding. Forecasters can earn by predicting which teams will deliver.
Unichain lending protocols will be the first projects funded by Butter Conditional Funding Markets
We’re excited to announce that Unichain lending protocols will be the first projects funded through Butter Conditional Funding Markets (CFMs), a novel mechanism that uses futarchy to allocate grants based on predicted outcomes.
Last year, we announced a grant to Butter to build Conditional Funding Markets, a new tool for futarchy-based grant funding decisions. Earlier this year, we partnered with Butter and Optimism Governance to apply CFMs for grant funding allocations, with promising results. Today, we're excited to announce a new grant initiative designed to accelerate Unichain’s lending ecosystem. Three Unichain lending protocols will be eligible for grant funding through Butter's CFMs.
Grant opportunities:
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Round 1: One $100,000 grant
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Round 2: Two $400,000 grants
These grants will be distributed based on the outcome of Butter’s Conditional Funding Markets.
How Conditional Funding Markets work
In this pilot, forecasters will predict how much TVL a given lending protocol will generate on Unichain over a three-month period if it receives a grant.
Each forecaster can buy and sell positions in potential outcomes, putting skin in the game based on which protocol they believe will drive the most growth. The higher the forecasted outcome, the higher a protocol’s "price" in the market. Grants go to the protocols with the highest priced outcome positions at the time of market close.
This mechanism surfaces collective market intelligence, aligns incentives, and ensures that grants go to the teams forecasters believe will generate the most impact.
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Participation is permissionless (outside US jurisdictional constraints)
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Forecasters are rewarded based on accuracy
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Lending protocols gain valuable insight into market perception, and the opportunity to unlock significant funding
Key dates & participation guide
For lending protocols:
June 6: Applications re-open
June 18: Applications close
June 27: UF selects finalists to move on to the CFM
July 3: Selected teams publish public roadmaps outlining their plans for growing TVL on Unichain and grant utilization
July 11: First $100,000 CFM closes (protocol with highest prices receives the grant; all protocols roll over to second CFM)
August 1: Second CFM closes (two protocols with highest prices receive $400,000 grants)
October 3: First CFM resolves (oracle reports actual TVL results)
October 29: Second CFM resolves (oracle reports actual TVL results)
Lending protocols: Submit your grant application here.
For Forecasters:
July 7: First CFM goes live (deposit USDC and prepare to predict TVL outcomes for the $100,000 grant recipient)
July 7-11: Study applicant roadmaps and make predictions in first CFM
July 29: Second CFM goes live (deposit USDC and predict TVL outcomes for the two $400,000 grant recipients)
July 29 - August 1: Study applicant roadmaps and make predictions in second CFM
October 3: First CFM resolves (oracle reports actual TVL results, forecasters redeem based on accurate predictions)
October 29: Second CFM resolves (oracle reports actual TVL results, forecasters redeem based on accurate predictions)
Note that dates are subject to change. Stay tuned for updates.
Learn more about futarchy
New to futarchy and Conditional Funding Markets? Explore the concepts behind this novel funding mechanism:
Note: This post was previously released and has been reposted with the latest updates.