Getty and GFX Labs have been key players in contributing to the protocol over the past year. They’ve
- Added markets,
- Coordinated with Chainlink to improve the oracle system,
- Adjusted CFs and COMP speeds,
- Facilitated and provided discussion,
- Helped me diagnose and disclose these COMP speed bugs, and
- Were one of the top responders to the proposal 62 bug, partaking in damage control, diagnosis, and recovery
Compound Labs has done a phenomenal job in creating such an excellent product. Hats off to them and all of the developers (I may criticize the codebase and the state of things a lot, but please know I love and respect all of you)! Now, while I believe Compound protocol is great as is, it’s important to realize how early we are in the adoption of DeFi.
I think DeFi, in general, has so much room to grow - Compound as well. In order to continue growing Compound and to retain our position as an industry leader, much effort is needed. While Compound Labs is building Compound Treasury and Gateway, I think there will still be demand for the existing protocol and its future iterations. With that being said, GFX Labs has done an excellent job in outlining the TLC the protocol needs.
GFX Labs’ TODO list is extensive and it’ll take a lot of resources to accomplish all of those high-value items. It certainly won’t be cheap - they’ll need to hire a significant amount of people in a variety of different roles, and in a rapidly growing and competitive industry.
I plan to also submit a proposal similar to GFX Labs’. Together, our firms will work together to complete the items on GFX Labs’ TODO list and more. We’ve already been working together for almost the past year - listing additional markets, building and improving processes/requirements, oracle improvements, and more. With our combined skill sets (for reference, I created a product and bootstrapped a business about 12 years ago which I exited last year and is still profitable under different ownership), I believe working together on the protocol will have a Compounding effect. But this proposal isn’t about that, so back to GFX Labs’ proposal.
I think we can all agree that Getty and GFX Labs has already provided value to the protocol, that their TODO list is of high importance, and that GFX Labs consistently executes. So the big question is what is the right amount of compensation?
I think the requested base fee of $5M for a year will provide GFX Labs with sufficient financial security to commit resources in maintaining, growing, and improving the protocol. I think the work GFX Labs has already done and is planning on doing will well exceed $5M in long-term value for the protocol.
However, I have some quims about the proposed bonuses. There can be many reasons other than GFX Labs’ work that can cause the price of COMP to increase - macro sentiments and changes, Compound Labs’ work, BTC correlation, overall industry growth, marketing and PR, TVL changes, COMP distribution changes, other key players’ work, etc. The same can be roughly said for revenue increases.
Then, of course, there’s the question of whether Compound has the resources to pay those high bonuses, and where to draw the money from.
I think it would be best to drop the bonus compensation and work with only the base fee. At the end of the 1-year term, GFX Labs can then renegotiate a new work contract using the past year’s work as justification for any increases or decreases in compensation.