Impact on Optimism Episode 5 - Optimizing Impact Evaluation of Web3 Public Goods, ft. LauNaMu of Metrics Garden
How can we leverage crypto rails to develop reliable onchain impact evaluation mechanisms? 🤔
For the fifth and final episode of the Impact on Optimism series, we’re excited to welcome LauNaMu of Metrics Garden, a project aiming to become the one-stop hub for Impact Evaluation in Web3. We dive into the challenges of impact evaluation for public goods, how Metrics Garden leverages Ethereum Attestation Service & other blockchain tools to make onchain impact visible, and how these tools can help communities fund what matters most. We also discussed LauNaMu’s role in Optimism’s RetroPGF rounds as a Badgeholder, and the partnership between Metrics Garden and Optimism to help badgeholders evaluate impact more effectively.
Key Takeaways
Traditional public goods funding mechanisms can make it difficult for public goods projects or organizations to achieve long-term sustainability. Grants can be unreliable and funds can ebb and flow with economic conditions. As such, it’s important to build more consistent and reliable mechanisms for public goods funding that can help projects spend less time chasing grants, and more time building for long-term sustainability.
Web3 is in the midst of a reckoning around the importance of data to support the allocation of public goods funding. One of the biggest challenges is coming up with reliable and consistent metrics for evaluation across diverse projects with different outcomes. Furthermore, most of the data used to evaluate projects to date is self-reported and difficult to verify. It’s important to experiment around new mechanisms for data collection and impact evaluation that addresse these key challenges.
Identity is extremely complex, and there is no single standard of what identity looks like in crypto ecosystems. Social graphs can help individuals navigate these complexities by connecting the dots between interactions across the ecosystem. Another important tool is onchain attestations, such as Ethereum Attestation Service (EAS), which provides an interoperable reputation layer that can be used across chains.
Optimism is actively engaging in numerous experiments related to impact evaluation, community engagement, and the allocation of public goods funding. One of these experiments is being run in partnership with Metrics Garden, where they are working to develop a standardized way to evaluate projects. They are doing this by collecting standardized data from the users of projects to better understand the impact that it has had on their everyday life.
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Episode Time Stamps
03:30 - Earlier today you gave a presentation at the Octant Accelerator Demo Day – tell me more about this!
06:30 - What makes you Optimistic today?
08:35 - To help lay the groundwork for the conversation, can you please give an overview of the challenges that exist when it comes to impact evaluation of Web3 public goods?
12:05 - With that in mind, can you please give listeners an intro to Metrics Garden, and how you’re working to address these challenges?
15:40 - I understand that you leverage Ethereum Attestation Service to allow individuals to attest, onchain to the benefits they’ve experienced from a project. What makes onchain attestations a powerful tool for impact evaluators?
22:25 - What is a social graph, and how does it tie in to Metrics Garden?
26:15 - You’re active in Optimism’s Retro Rounds (previously RetroPGF) community. What do you believe to be the benefits of RetroPGF as a funding mechanism compared to traditional grants?
29:40 - The allocation of funds from RetroPGF is decided by Badgeholders, and I understand that you yourself are a Badgeholder. Tell me more about the Badgeholder role, and your experience participating in RetroPGF as a Badgeholder.
38:35 - Earlier on we spoke about some of the challenges when it comes to impact evaluation in Web3, and RetroPGF is not immune from these challenges. I understand that for RetroPGF 5, you will be helping to create a tool to standardize impact evaluation for badgeholders. Tell me more about this.
45:30 - What’s the best way for listeners to follow and learn more about Metrics Garden and support your work?
47:45 - To wrap things up on a final note of inspiration, what makes you optimistic about the future of web3?
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DISCLAIMER
While we may discuss specific web3 projects or cryptocurrencies on this podcast, please do not take any of this as investment advice, and please make sure to do your own research on potential investment opportunities, or any opportunity. We host a variety of guests on this podcast with the sole purpose of highlighting the social impact use cases of this technology. That being said, Crypto Altruism does not endorse any of these projects, and we recognize that, since this is an emerging sector, some may be operating in regulatory grey areas, and as such, we cannot confirm their legality in the jurisdictions in which they operate, especially as it pertains to decentralized finance protocols. So, before getting involved with any project, it’s important that you do your own research and confirm the legality of the project. More available HERE.
