Dan

solid thoughts @0xSmitty 1. maybe vibes are more of a signal than a sole metric. what if AI agents were leveraged to predict vibe longevity from historical patterns and current sentiment? pair this with some sort of sustainability proof (contracts active after 6 months or something) and subsidies could be released 2. attracting sticky builders/projects is incredibly hard. lately i've been thinking from a flywheel and decentralized perspective, for example if a builder fund was created (where devs stake a portion back into the ecosystem) and successful experiments refund stakes + some sort of yield, funding the next cohort 3. I think quarterly rewards for engaging products is 🔥 could make it perpetual with rolling windows. also adding gamified bounties could be interesting here 4. to extend the idea here, the foundation could reward EV positive subsidies as growth bonds, essentially the foundation lends liquidity, repaid via future revenue sharing and if the project is sustainable it becomes self-funding and if not the capital recycles

Very cool post! Nice to peak behind the curtains and see what you guys are working on, the transparency is appreciated. I can't really speak to what kinds of grants work on DeFi/infra levels as I'm not really involved there, but some thoughts on things that work on the "community" level: 1. All chain metrics are pretty shit and very easy to game. I'm sure you guys are working on something complex for the chain "GDP," would be very curious what that ends up looking like. From a community perspective, I think your best bet really is to try and measure "vibes." Could be done analytically by tracking twitter sentiment, but I don't think it's that hard to intuit when engagement around something is up. As you said, being agile enough to fan the flames in those moments is crucial. 2. I think grants as incentives for community builders overall are pretty meh. The kinds of people you attract from those programs are not the kinds that would stick around. I like retroactive grants, but again need to be careful if they're data driven, it's very easy to tell whatever story you want to tell. 3. I would be interested to see how more widespread retro grants work, something like a "reward" for building the most engaging products of the quarter. No real structure, just a constant, ongoing competition to provide value. This would give builders lots of motivation, and also only reward projects that are already successful. More of a "nice work" than a "please build here" type thing. Reward people for successful experiments. Again the issue is any sort of metric-based judgement will be gamed, so this type of thing probably would need to be more discretionary. 4. A program that might not be too hard is some kind of EV grant system. If there's a project that generates a lot of mindshare, it would be cool if FDN can look at opportunities to make it EV neutral/positive for participants. Say for example when @g1raffe_'s Avax Bingo takes off, FDN could look to subsidize the 20% protocol fee and make it "free to play" for those who entered. Ok those are my ramblings, have a good day

On the whole I agree with the article, new or revamped programs are needed Here are a few ideas below, each leveraging rigorous metrics (past/forward looking) to drive data driven outcomes and AI-enabled systems for scale 1) holistic funding structure to bolster project lifecycle - create grant program between Team1 grants and Retro9000 to fill a pre impact gap then filter successful projects to later stage programs such as Retro9000, InfraBuidl, etc. Ensure that successful projects are then fed to investors/VCs willing to extend funding after successful grant funding traction 2) form a community led board - ecosystem members rotate to assist with co-designing program rules, review current cohorts, prioritize emerging verticals, etc. I would argue this would add many more perspectives in the room to decrease top down biases, creating a venue for community voices to be heard 3) quadratic funding pilots - each dollar donated by the community gets matched by the Foundation; can run early experiments through here 4) AI-curated exploration bounties - agents scan for underserved ecosystem gaps and propose targeted bounties along with matching builders/agents who can deliver

@vohvohh I’m on day 58, the latter weeks of the program wear you down

New Retro9000 Grantees Selected 🔺 6 projects have been awarded retroactive grants totalling $160K from the $40M funding pool, recognising teams shipping L1s and infrastructure tooling live on Avalanche. Build. Deliver impact. Get rewarded.

"Technology earns its stripes when the people using it win." The shift from "is this innovative?" to "does it deliver outcomes?" is what will make the network grow on a sustainable path

Xyber x @AVAX agents can now settle payments through Avalanche MCP servers get another payment rail: faster settlement, lower friction, broader reach this is how agent economies scale

@QuantStatistics I see @JoshMandell6 influence here

Someone just bought $11.9 million of $MSTR 190 calls expiring in March Bitcoin rally soon? $BTC

@comic @TheVeganPilot64 @jackmallers @Strike What would you do differently?

@dan_web3 @TheVeganPilot64 @jackmallers @Strike No reason to even to go public if had none of the above ready for the market.

🇺🇸 MISSISSIPPI, VIRGINIA, OHIO, AND TENNESSEE 🇺🇸 You ask, we deliver: Bitcoin-backed loans are live. You shouldn’t have to sell your bitcoin to live your life. With Strike, you don’t have to 🫡

I get it, but maybe that's an answer in itself. Maybe they are tied up in lawyers and negotiations at the moment. Maybe they don't want to release anything to the public until their plans are complete for competition reasons. Lots of maybes sure. But it's a high conviction bet. And I'm betting on Jack, the management team/backers and the future of Bitcoin. If you are down money on the trade, you can always exit for a loss. There's no need for hostility, it's only investing. Try not to get so emotional with it, it will save you so much time/energy. We only have 1 life..

@dan_web3 @TheVeganPilot64 @jackmallers @Strike It’s been 9 months of nothing…

@TheVeganPilot64 @jackmallers @Strike Same. Bought 100 contracts $35 strike 01/15/27’s. I personally find it intriguing that Jack hasn’t said much. I would encourage anyone to take a longer term horizon when thinking about this company. This X community takes such a short window of time into account unfortunately.

@jackmallers @Strike About to load up on more $XXI

@rodrifernandezt Incredible 🚀🚀🚀

We're helping the Republic of the Marshall Islands tokenize its economy and launch a sovereign UBI program 🇲🇭 This is the most incredible use case of blockchain I've seen to date. The Marshall Islands is a nation of ~1,200 islands spread across an ocean area the size of Mexico. For decades, access to money has been a logistical problem. Physical US dollars are shipped from abroad by boat or plane. To access cash, citizens have to travel long distances across open water. ATMs have limits and regularly run dry, leaving people completely cut off from the financial system. That changes today. Announcing Lomalo, a national payments app, powered by @crossmint, that lets citizens receive, store, and transfer dollar-denominated tokens instantly and peer-to-peer across all islands. Alongside this, the Marshall Islands is launching the world’s first tokenized Universal Basic Income program, delivering benefits directly into wallets for all citizens. The system is built on @StellarOrg with USDM1 — a tokenized sovereign bond backed 1:1 by US Treasuries, combining the utility of digital dollars with sovereign legal protections. Crossmint wallets run quietly behind the scenes, making the blockchain invisible to users while giving the government modern, resilient tools to deploy financial infrastructure at national scale. This is what real-world adoption of blockchain looks like ⚡

@KingOfFreeTime bought 2,000 shares this morning

Anyone else add Twenty One Capital Inc $XXI to the portfolio?

@MikeRodes2 @JoshMandell6 We’ll go back down to $84k over like 5 months is what I’ve understood from Josh. Could be wrong though

@JoshMandell6 in one of your older posts you mentioned 444 then down to 84k. so here is my question if we hit 444 over a weekend i can’t sell my ibit and options. but i could sell my coins. are you expecting a 444k top and rapid decline back to 84 like in a few days or will we have time

I will be coming out with a TV guide version of the path to $444K with prices and listings on the half-hour including cast members! Just wait until you hear what Captain Stubing has to say!

@bariksis Why don’t you step up and make your own prediction? Takes a lot of balls to put yourself out there. Stop crying from the stands and get into the arena, otherwise stfu. I’m on @JoshMandell6’s side regardless if it works out.

So when Bitcoin doesn't hit $444K next week, can we all just leave Josh Mandell behind in 2025, and move on?

Remember that time the market dropped so hard that a floor trader actually broke his femur? Never happened: Sticks and Stones. .

@JoshMandell6 @FinFreedom414 He is referring to paper Bitcoin

@FinFreedom414 There's some of that in Bitcoin

Bitcoiners have to believe that Gold and Bitcoin could at least co-exist on an even footing one day, so get your head straight and realize that you, too, are rooting for this gold rally. Earliest known discoveries of gold jewelry date back to the year 2600 BC. We're so early.

@JoshMandell6 Holy shit, 84k views too. This is wild lmfao

Don't ask why but the high/close I would really like to see today is $117,777.77

1 Week, $100m+ TVL Ondo Global Markets is now the largest platform for tokenized stocks and ETFs.

$STRC success > S&P 500 inclusion. With dividend increase to $10, demand will increase leading to >$100/share. And Saylor will get access to unlimited buying power. This is the cleanest way for $MSTR to scale leverage safely. If $STRC wins, the volatility comes back and the mNAV rises.

Shielded swaps from ZEC to any chain NEAR intents chain (aka basically all of them) 👀