Below are some general philosophies around grant projects that Alchemix adheres to. Sometimes these philosophies conflict with design goals, and should be addressed on case-by-case bases:

• PAYMENT - All grant payouts are priced in USD, but paid in ALCX. Grants are paid retroactively at the end of each milestone. Where budgets are written in, they are suggestions - if you feel the scope is not accurate, feel free to suggest alternative budgets and milestones and clarify the reason for the deviation in the application. Generally, grant payouts should be back-loaded (more money paid for later milestones) to ensure adequate incentives to complete the entire project.

<aside> 💡 Grants are priced in USD, and paid in ALCX.

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• MILESTONES - Grants are split into milestones, as noted in the Questbook application. Payment is made upon the completion of milestones 2,3, and 4. Where possible and applicable, partial or full completion of milestone 1 is encouraged to be submitted with the grant application. The milestones are as follows:
  1. Minimum Viable Product Submitted - This milestone is complete once a minimum viable product has been submitted for review. In the case of larger projects, this may simply be a detailed spec. Milestone 1 is not expected to have payments of its own and instead be bundled with milestone 2.
  2. 1st Round Review And Feature Requests - Alchemix contributors will provide feedback on the Milestone 1 submission. Milestone 2 funds will be paid out once all comments have been addressed, or have been accepted to be addressed in the full-featured build milestone 3). Note that if Milestone 1 is only a spec, the payout will be smaller than if a partial build of the grant is submitted.
  3. 2nd Round Review - Once milestone 2 is complete, the grantee shall work to address applicable remaining comments and build out the full-featured project. A full-featured project means that in the eyes of the builder, the project is done and ready to launch pending approval from Alchemix. Where applicable, this means fully functioning code, suitable tests, a demo or testnet, a fully formatted website or draft article, etc. Once submitted, Alchemix will review and provide feedback. Milestone 3 funds will be paid upon the completion of the Alchemix review, assuming all comments from the first review have also been addressed.
  4. Approval, Deployment, and Handoff/Maintenance - The first step in Milestone 4 is for the project to have all comments of Milestone 3 and any subsequent reviews addressed. Next, the project should be deployed such that it is available for use. Lastly, any relevant handoff of ownership should occur and any periodic maintenance payments should begin (note the grant application should clarify is maintenance/ownership of the project is required, and who will own/maintain it). Congrats, the project is live!

<aside> 💡 Milestones include submission of the project, review comments, addressing review comments, deployment of the project, and applicable handoff or continued maintenance.

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• KEY PLAN - Grants have a “key” next to them to indicate how complete the spec is. Grants with complete specs are better for applicants who wish to be told what to build, whereas grants with less complete specs allow more freedom of expression by the applicant on what they want to build and achieve. Note that WIP and NS grants may still require discussion and thought on the technical feasibility of the projects (ie, they are not guaranteed to be viable).

<aside> 💡 Key plan:

• PRIORITY - The lists of suggested grant projects contained in this notion page are listed in priority order (higher up the list means higher priority)
• TIMELINE - Grant projects are generally “wishlist” items that the core team has not built due to priorities elsewhere. Therefore, they should be treated as “side projects” by applicants where Alchemix contributors will support the project, but cannot always provide immediate answers if there are more pressing matters elsewhere. At the same time, the hope is to enable an ecosystem of community builders that can help each other in the future, and efforts will always be made to help support the projects where needed. In short, sometimes answers may not be fast but they will always come.

<aside> 💡 Grant projects are more like “side projects” with flexible deadlines. They will not always be the highest priority, but will always receive support from Alchemix contributors.

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• OWNERSHIP - Grant projects are only subject to external review and therefore are not part of the Alchemix core contracts/protocol. Generally, they will be listed under https://app.alchemix.fi/utilities. If projects prove successful, they can eventually undergo 3rd party audits and be adopted into the primary protocol.

<aside> 💡 Grant projects are considered 3rd party Alchemix utilities

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• MAINTENANCE - Many projects require maintenance after they are launched. Additionally, Alchemix contracts are currently upgradeable meaning dependencies can change in the future. For each grant project, the following considerations and decisions will need to be made:
  1. Where possible, build immutable projects. When determining if immutability is feasible, consider how established the necessary dependencies are, future migration scenarios, and maintenance requirements.
  2. Where possible and applicable, projects should avoid holding user funds (they should be atomic in their use case). If a project needs to hold user funds, it will either need to be managed by the 3rd party, or potentially audited before becoming an official part of Alchemix.
  3. If maintenance is required (updating data, upgrading contracts, contract admin controls, hosting a website) the grant program should specify who is responsible for this and if applicable, the recurring payment required for support.
  4. As a baseline, applicants should expect to receive input and guidance from Alchemix contributors. If a grant requires more direct contribution from Alchemix contributors in any capacity, including during the grant, during the launch, or after launch / in perpetuity, the expectations of Alchemix should be explicitly noted in the application.

<aside> 💡 Applications should consider the immutability of a project. Where maintenance or operations of a grant project are required after launch, the responsible party should be explicitly noted in the application. Where Alchemix resources are required beyond general guidance, these should be explicitly noted in the application.

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