It’s now official! The Decentralized Treasury Model has been approved by Particl stakeholders with a resounding majority vote and will be enabled on the coming hardfork!
You and anyone else can now submit proposals on the CCS platform and request funds from the treasury to support projects and initiatives to improve the Particl ecosystem. And that’s precisely what the Particl team is doing today!
This blog post will explain, in great detail, a proposal the team has published today on the CCS platform to fund the development and support of the Particl project. It will show the team’s strategic vision moving forward and how it intends to use the requested funds.
Follow this link to read the official proposal and go to its CCS page. You can ask questions or leave comments right from inside the proposal’s page.
Table of Contents
- The Funding Request in Short
- Particl Team's Funding Request
- The Team's Vision Moving Forward
- Supporting and Expanding the Team
- Budgets and Expenses
- A New Legal Entity to Support the Project
The Funding Request in Short
particlOver the past few weeks, the Particl team has proposed an out-of-the-box strategy to fund the development and expansion of the Particl ecosystem and the team’s operations.
The strategy consists of a new decentralized treasury model that gets automatically funded by the protocol using a portion of the network’s staking rewards. Anyone with a project or initiative that benefits Particl can then submit proposals (referred to as funding requests) to request funds from the treasury and get them approved by stakeholders through an on-chain vote. This provides the Particl ecosystem with an adequate PART income source intended to support and enhance the Particl project.
For a project, idea, or initiative to be funded from the Treasury Fund, it needs to be first published on the CCS platform as a proposal, and then, go through an on-chain voting round. That’s why, today, the Particl team is officially pushing its funding request. We are seeking the approval of stakeholders to claim funds that will go into the development and promotion of the ecosystem and its related operations for a duration of 6 months.
Particl Team’s Funding Request
- Funding request: 35,250 PART (monthly)
- Duration: 6 months
This funding request suggests bootstrapping the Particl team by claiming 35,250 PART, monthly, from the Treasury Fund for a duration of 6 months. Once this period expires, the proposal will no longer be valid. The team will then need to publish a new, updated funding request and get it approved by Particl stakeholders to claim funds again.
Additionally, to protect itself from price volatility and ensure uninterrupted operations, the team is opting to claim funds based on a price of 1 PART = $1. Although this leads to an initial larger claim, it does, on the flip side, bring more financial stability and security to the project.
Any unused PART will be safely deposited into the team’s reserve fund to provide funding for unforeseen expenses or increase individual cost-related activities.
Funding Distribution Breakdown
The funds requested by the Particl team are intended to serve multiple different purposes other than just funding development. Here is how the funds are intended to be split.
- Development (60%), to fund the development of the Particl ecosystem and expand the current development team. Resources will also be allocated to work on various items other than Particl Core, Desktop, and Marketplace. This includes, but isn't limited to, Particl Copay, the SMSG network (SMSG 2.0), BasicSwap (atomic swap DEX), web and mobile platforms, and so on).
- Marketing and community (20%), to increase Particl’s brand awareness and exposure within the cryptocurrency, blockchain, e-commerce, and other related industries. Also includes onboarding new community members, expanding on welcoming efforts on current platforms, as well as expanding social media communities.
- Management, legal, and administration (8%), to fund any administrative or corporate costs (i.e., human resources, accounting, project management, legal costs, corporate fees, etc.).
- Business development (12%), to pursue strategic opportunities, develop partnerships/relationships, and identify/capitalize on new markets for Particl's line of products. This also includes the advisory and exchange listing budgets.
The Team's Vision Moving Forward
In the past, the Particl team has had to constantly deal with a limited amount of capital and, for this reason, has had to almost exclusively focus on development. This has given birth to groundbreaking products such as the Particl Marketplace, the Particl Desktop client, the PART privacy coin, cold staking, and the up and coming Particl V3 and BasicSwap DEX releases.
Other areas, such as marketing, user adoption, business development, and community growth, have been underfunded and lacking. Allocating resources to these areas has been an overwhelming request from the community, and that’s precisely what the team intends on doing with the funds it’s requesting.
More Focus on Promoting Particl’s Awesome Products and Growth
Particl has consistently been recognized for the quality and uniqueness of its blockchain products, but it has been limited in its capacity to promote them the way they deserve. That’s all about to change!
As part of the team’s strategy moving forward, a portion of the funding claimed from the Treasury Fund will be allocated to various promotions and initiatives aimed at increasing Particl’s exposure and growing the ecosystem. This will establish a vital balance between development, marketing, and growth.
Additionally, a new and completely redone Particl.io website is being built and is scheduled to be released once Particl V3 has gone live on mainnet.
Supporting and Expanding the Team
For the last few weeks, the Particl team has gone through a heavy internal restructuring process in preparation for the introduction of the decentralized treasury. As we carefully reflected on the last few years of this journey, we have identified several areas and processes that must be improved and have worked on making these changes to be ready for action as soon as the funding allows it.
This restructuring has led to a major change in the team’s leadership, communications (internal and external), and roles. This led to clear strategic objectives and a defined vision for Particl’s growth.
At the time of this writing, we can confirm the following Particl team members to be taking part, full or part time, in this new Particl journey phase.
- Cryptoguard — Project management and communications
- Gerlof van Ek (crz) — Project and development management, Lead Designer, UI/UX, and front-end developer
- Imran — Treasury and business management, strategic partnerships
- Henk Swardt — Development management and coordinator
- Tecnovert — Lead core developer
- Arnold Bansemer — Lead desktop developer
- Kewde — Marketplace developer, OMP, and core
- Juha Kovanen — Marketplace developer
- Martin — UI & UX integration and front-end developer
- Dros — Marketing, branding, and business research & development
- Dasource — Technical research & development
Note: More (or new) team members may soon join the ranks. This list represents the current situation at the time of writing this blog post.
Team Expansion
Funding the aforementioned core Particl team members is just the beginning. A greater focus will be on expanding and growing the team by hiring new talents or contracting work with partners.
The expansion process is planned for later in the year and will be strategically deployed at the opportune time to expand at the right pace and without friction.
Additionally, you may see the team add, over time, various advisors to its advisory board to provide valuable inputs, connections, exposure, and advice.
Encouraging and Stimulating Third-Party Contributions
Although the team is requesting capital from the treasury to fund its operations, we strongly reiterate that Particl is moving towards community-led governance. The team strongly wants to see the Particl ecosystem increase its level of decentralization in all aspects, and encouraging community-led initiatives is one of the best ways to achieve this.
To that end, the team is committed to building and delivering tools, documentation, guidance, and support to the community in pushing forward new ideas and projects.
Budgets and Expenses
Infrastructure Expenses
“Expenses” refers to any payment, recurring or not, that has to be made to assure the well-functioning of the project. These include, but are not limited to, platform and service subscriptions, legal and corporate fees, domain registrations, server maintenance, etc.
At the current moment, these expenses are being assumed by team members in a personal capacity. The funds being requested as part of this proposal are intended to cover all project expenses and take that financial burden off individual team members.
Budgets
“Budgets” refers to PART deposit addresses, each with a specific purpose, that the team will set aside to support various initiatives that benefit the Particl ecosystem. Budgets are funded using claimed funds from the treasury and do not include team member salaries. Here is the detailed breakdown of these budgets.
Marketing Funds (Recurring on a monthly)
- Content Creation, to bring more regular content to Particl News, Youtube, social media channels, and other mediums.
- Digital Ads, to increase Particl’s exposure in key online locations (i.e., Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, etc.) through the deployment of targeted ads.
- Vendor Onboarding and Outreach Program, to grow the number of active vendors on the Particl Marketplace and ease the platform’s adoption.
Marketing Funds (Event-based)
- Giveaways, Airdrops, Contests, and Rewards, to help grow the project with new members/users and keep things interesting within the community.
- Influencer and Sponsorship Marketing, to increase Particl’s exposure by leveraging influencer marketing (and their communities).
- Media and Promotional Content/Campaigns, to increase Particl’s exposure in blockchain and technology-related media.
- Events and Conferences Attendance/Sponsorships (incl. virtual), to increase Particl’s exposure in related events and form new, valuable relationships.
Exchange Listings and Partnerships Fund
- Exchange listings fees and similar related costs, to get Particl listed on quality exchanges and other third-party services.
- Partnership and team collaboration funds, to ease the establishment of partnerships and collaborative projects with other teams.
Legal Fund
- Legal costs, to pay for any required legal services.
- Corporate fees, to pay for any corporate or administrative fees.
Each month, these budgets will receive a percentage of the funds claimed by the Particl team from the treasury model.
However, it’s important to note that not all the funds reserved for a specific budget will necessarily be spent within that same month. In other words, if, for example, a particular budget receives 1,000 PART a month, it doesn’t mean that precisely 1,000 PART will be used throughout the month. Any unused funds will remain in the PART deposit address, growing the available funds for that specific budget to be used later on, as needed.
Although these are currently entertained budgets, they are subject to change as we progress and dynamically adapt strategies. The funding attribution (the number of PART each of these budgets receive every month) will be constantly reviewed and adjusted based on results and intended strategies moving forward. New budgets may also be added, while others may be retracted. The Particl team wants to retain a good level of flexibility to adapt rapidly to any situation and to the ever-evolving blockchain industry.
The Reserve Fund
Any extra fund collected from the treasury, which hasn’t been spent on salaries, expenses, or budgets, will be deposited into the team’s Reserve Fund. This includes potential donations from private individuals and other similar sources of income for the team.
This Reserve Fund serves as a flexible buffer to safeguard the project against sudden price drops and emergency/miscellaneous expenditures. Over time, it is expected to grow in size and value, providing the project with an ever-growing safety cushion that will provide much-needed flexibility.
A New Legal Entity to Support the Project
To support and represent the project, as well as to manage funds and deal with any legal matter, a new legal entity will be formed in the crypto-friendly jurisdiction of the Cayman Islands. This new entity has several benefits over the previous legal setup of the Particl Foundation, which is located in Zug, Switzerland.
- A more flexible legal entity operating within a well-respected and pro-blockchain jurisdiction.
- Clear and progressive legal guidance for blockchain and cryptocurrency projects.
- More financially efficient structure with a much lower “burn rate” (smaller monthly costs) and corporate maintenance costs.
This new legal entity will serve several functions for the Particl project, such as acting as the main point of contact for third parties (i.e., exchanges), holding custody and managing any funds claimed by the team from the treasury, emitting contracts and enter into agreements with partners, execute payments (i.e., salaries, expenses), own assets (i.e., Copay servers), publish releases (i.e., Particl Copay), and so on.
The Particl team has, at the time of this writing, already entered into a signed agreement with a new legal advisor and has begun preparing the groundwork to set up the new entity as soon as the proposal is approved. This ensures the new legal entity will be ready very soon after the voting period for this proposal ends so that the project can move forward swiftly.
Note: The legal entity will be a formal representative of the team. It is not responsible nor necessary for the operation of the Particl project and network.
Let’s Summarize
There’s a lot going on in this blog post, so let’s recap a bit. Here’s what this proposal gets you.
- Strategic restructuring of the team leading to clearer communications, more defined roles. It also secures the commitment of those involved and brings overall quality improvement in all business areas.
- Support from a flexible and impeccably regulated legal entity which will significantly reduce administrative burdens and costs.
- Expansion and funding in all critical areas, including development, marketing, legal, business, etc.
- New engaging, easy-to-understand, and compelling website for Particl focusing on the products and their benefits.
- Dedicated campaigns and actions to crowd the Particl Marketplace with vendors and customers.
- Commitment to grow the user base and community.
- Financial resources for getting listed on more prominent exchanges, third-party platforms, and the development of strategic partnerships.
With the upcoming major releases of Particl V3 and the atomic swap DEX, the Particl project will have highly marketable and working products that will make it stand out above the crowd. This will open the door to a new era for the Particl project from all angles. You will find key efforts in the domain of marketing, roll-out, and vitalization of Particl’s products.
To read the official proposal, visit its page on the CCS platform by following this link.
The proposal is currently in its discussion phase for a minimum of one week, so please leave a reply directly on its CCS page if you have any feedback or comment. As always, the schedule for this proposal’s voting period will be clearly announced a few days before it starts on all the usual Particl channels.
We hope that you are as excited as we are about this proposal. It has the potential to significantly change things around by giving you, as a stakeholder of Particl, tremendous value. Let it be the trigger that lights the spark for the Particl ecosystem, giving it the needed exposure, recognition, resources, and workforce that it deserves.
Be a part and cast your vote on this pivotal proposal!
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