FellowFund: Bet your fellows make it
Overview
FellowFund is an on-chain fellowship funding platform designed to fund builders instead of projects, addressing the inefficiencies and risks of traditional Web3 funding mechanisms. It leverages prediction markets as a "truth engine" to evaluate the future outcomes of individual contributors, eliminating the need for complex governance and impact evaluation overhead.
Problem Statement
In Web3, 90% of community-funded projects (e.g., Gitcoin, Retro PGF) fail or turn out to be rug pulls, largely because most Web3 projects are experimental by nature. Current funding mechanisms focus on projects rather than individuals, often leading to inefficient resource allocation and governance bottlenecks.
Solution
FellowFund shifts the funding paradigm by focusing on individual builders. Through prediction markets, the platform enables the community to evaluate contributors' potential impact based on metrics such as:
Open-source contributions (commits)
Hackathon participation (events attended, POAP)
Public talks and workshops
This approach allows the community to act as a decentralized governance body, where bettors stake in the future success of builders. The market incentives ensure that:
Accurate information surfaces through collective intelligence.
Manipulation and bad actors are minimized, as markets naturally favor informed participants.
Complex impact evaluation overhead is removed, streamlining the funding process.
How It Works
Fellowship Creation
DAOs or ecosystem operators create a fellowship pool with funds allocated for specific epochs.
Builder Applications
Builders like Alan (e.g., a contributor in NounsDAO) apply providing verifiable metrics (e.g., OSS contributions like GitHub commits, attendance in hackathons/events through POAP).
Prediction Market Creation
A decision market is created for each applicant, allowing bettors to trade tokens (LONG/SHORT) based on whether the builder's impact metrics will meet or underperform a predefined target (KPI).
Market Resolution
At the end of the epoch, verifiable proofs are submitted and validated through off-chain TEE (Trusted Execution Environment). The market is resolved based on these proofs:
Successful builders receive fellowship funds.
Winning bettors are rewarded based on accurate predictions.
Key Features
Prediction Markets: Decentralized, market-driven truth engine for evaluating builders.
Verifiable Metrics: Proof-based validation of impact (e.g., vlayer Labs, Phala Network).
Multi-Protocol Support: Deploy fellowships and markets on multiple chains (Mantle, Flow, Polygon, Roottock.
Seamless UX: Account abstraction and onboarding via Web3Auth, proof of human with WorldID.
Benefits
Efficiency: Removes governance bottlenecks and impact evaluation overhead.
Accountability: Market incentives encourage accurate assessment of builders.
Transparency: Public, on-chain data ensures trust and credibility.
Community-Driven: Empowers ecosystems like NounsDAO, Optimism, and Gitcoin to fund high-impact individuals.
Tech Stack
Frontend: React + Web3Auth + WorldID for seamless onboarding.
Smart Contracts: Solidity for fellowship creation, market management, and fund distribution.
Infrastructure: Phala Network for TEE-based validation, Blockscout for transaction transparency.
Protocols: Router for prediction markets, The Graph for data querying.
Use Cases
Hackathons: Decentralized funding for contributors with real-time accountability.
DAOs: Streamlined, impact-driven fellowships for ecosystem growth.
Public Goods: Transparent and scalable funding for high-impact builders.
Why FellowFund? FellowFund introduces a novel approach to funding in Web3, shifting the focus to individuals while leveraging prediction markets for transparency and efficiency. It fosters innovation, reduces risks, and ensures accountability in a way traditional funding mechanisms cannot achieve.
How it's Made
How It's Made
Overview
FellowFund dApp has modular architecture to support multi-chain deployments, efficient prediction markets, and seamless user experience. The project integrates cutting-edge Web3 tools, protocols, and design principles to ensure scalability, transparency, and innovation.
Technologies Used
Smart Contracts:
Solidity: Core contracts for fellowship creation, application management, prediction markets, and fund distribution.
Token Pools: Used for creating and managing LONG/SHORT token pools for prediction markets.
OpenZeppelin: Leveraged for security best practices and reusable contract modules.
Frontend:
React + Next.js: For building a responsive and dynamic user interface.
Web3Auth: Simplifies user onboarding with native account abstraction and gasless transactions.
Infrastructure:
Phala Network: Integrated for TEE (Trusted Execution Environment) to securely validate off-chain metrics.
The Graph: Query and index fellowship data for analytics and transparency.
Blockscout: Used for displaying transaction details directly on the frontend.
How It Works Together
Smart Contracts: The backbone of FellowFund, handling all logic for fellowship creation, applications, and decision markets.
Frontend Integration: Connects smart contracts with React-based UI for an intuitive user experience.
Prediction Markets: Auto Router V2 pools manage LONG/SHORT tokens, which users trade based on applicant outcomes.
Metric Validation: Phala Network’s TEE infrastructure validates off-chain metrics, ensuring verifiable proofs for market resolution.
Data Transparency: The Graph indexes fellowship and market data for querying, while Blockscout links provide transaction transparency.
User Experience: Web3Auth powers account abstraction, enabling a frictionless onboarding process with gasless transactions.
Partner Technologies and Benefits
Web3Auth:
Simplified the UX by eliminating traditional wallet complexities.
Enabled multi-chain compatibility and native account abstraction.
Phala Network:
Provided secure, tamper-proof TEE verification of impact metrics.
Streamlined off-chain metric validation to avoid computational overhead.
The Graph:
Made data retrieval seamless and fast, enabling transparency for users and bettors.
Blockscout:
Enhanced trust by making transaction details easily accessible and verifiable.
Hacky and Notable Aspects
Auto-Generated Prediction Markets: Markets are dynamically created for each fellowship applicant, using metadata and collateral-backed token pools. This allows efficient scaling with minimal manual intervention.
Wrapped Trading Interface: Integrated the Uniswap API with custom wrappers for deadlines and UI consistency. This simplifies trading mechanics without requiring users to switch platforms.
TEE-Driven Market Resolution: Off-chain TEE validations are combined with on-chain triggers, ensuring results are both secure and transparent.
Multi-Chain Deployment: Contracts were designed to support deployments on multiple chains, allowing cross-chain interactions and maximizing accessibility.
Gas Optimization: Leveraged account abstraction and gasless transactions to improve accessibility, especially for non-technical users.
This architecture and technology stack make FellowFund a robust, scalable, and user-friendly solution for decentralized fellowship funding. Let me know if you’d like more technical details or architectural diagrams!
To build a capital efficient grants tool
Capital Allocation
We are solving this through decision markets for grantee's applications
Global