In our original proposal from 19 days ago, we showcased all the amazing accomplishments of INLEO and how we onboarded the entire Dash Ecosystem using a radically innovative tech stack that we've developed exclusively for the Hive ecosystem.
We're currently at about 12.5M HIVE POWER out of the 32M HIVE POWER (39%) of what we need to get funded for this proposal. After receiving some feedback from large HIVE stakeholders and some in the community, we decided to write a followup to the original proposal to outline the plans for this marketing proposal much more clearly. We've also reduced the ask by 50% and will be matching the DHF's investment into marketing with our own capital to make it abundantly clear that this is a value add for the Hive ecosystem in every way possible.
Let's start with a clear statement: marketing for Hive must be done by the Hive apps that successfully onboard new users. We do it at a ridiculously large scale (we are the #1 onboarder of new accounts by a wide margin).
INLEO is an outward facing interface to the Hive blockchain. It brings people an "X-like" experience while deploying all data and value back into Hive. It's an experience that they are familiar with already as users of X (formerly twitter). We have a much easier time onboarding people because of this fact. We have also built the only fully decentralized swap rails to/from HIVE and Hive-based assets via our https://leodex.io cross-chain trading interface that connects HIVE and Hive-based assets to Maya Protocol for swap aggregation (and soon, ChainFlip and Thorchain Aggregation as well).
What Our Proposal is About
You can read the original proposal if you want more intricate details (along with our accomplishments in 2024 and roadmap in 2025), in this one we are listening to feedback and making it a concise read.
What INLEO's Proposal is:
In short, our proposal is to replicate our incredibly successful "Join INLEO, Earn DASH" campaign that brought (and continues to bring) massive awareness to Hive. Our proposal outlines a clear roadmap to do this exact same campaign with 10 other ecosystems, with 100% of the funds requested being used clearly and transparently for marketing these 10 campaigns ($50k per campaign, which will now be cut in half as we match the $25k per campaign we're requesting from the DHF with our own $25k out of pocket). We have already spoken with many of the leaders/team members in these ecosystems and have a roadmap for integrations in 2025, provided this proposal is funded:
- ChainFlip integration - "Join INLEO, Earn FLIP"
- Thorchain integration - "Join INLEO, Earn RUNE"
- Thorchain UI Integrations - "Join INLEO, Earn THOR (or insert other Rune-based tokens)"
- Solana Integration - "Join INLEO, Earn SOL"
- SOL Token Integration - "Join INELO, Earn SOL-Based Assets"
- BASE Integration - "Join INLEO, Earn on BASE (Coinbase's Blockchain)"
- Arbitrum Integration "Join INLEO, Earn ARB"
... and many more!
While the title of each campaign is "Join INLEO, Earn XYZ", it is very clear that INLEO runs on Hive and that we are a Layer 2 ecosystem that is built on Hive. We have a deeply entrenched philosophy that the way to grow Hive is through the front-facing applications, while explaining that Hive is the technology and ecosystem underpinning it all. This can be seen very clearly in all of the corresponding materials with the Dash campaign. Here's just one of hundreds of examples where Dash's team talks about Join INLEO, Earn DASH but with Hive running it all:
Our new technology stack that combines INLEO's Hive-Based Social Media tech with LeoDex's Cross-Chain Swapping tech makes this possible with over 50 cryptocurrencies (and growing as we integrate more chains, protocols and tokens).
What INLEO's Proposal is not:
Our original proposal post was met with some questions about what we are actually asking for. What we are asking for is the marketing budget to collaborate with these partners. INLEO is paying for the tech and operational costs of these integrations and our proposal simply asked for a ~$50k budget per integration in order to co-spend on marketing with our partners (such as ChainFlip, Thorchain, ChainLink, Arbitrum, Solana, etc. etc.).
Our partners are willing to match our $50k spend and spend their own $50k on marketing. This combined = $100k spent to market "Join INLEO, Earn XYZ". The success of marketing the "Join INLEO, Earn DASH" campaign was immediately recognized by a spike in interest, activity and even price of HIVE from December to January of this year.
- We are not asking for development costs to be covered
- We are not asking for operational costs to be covered (team salaries of any kind)
- We are not asking for money to "refer" people (our referral program uses LEO token inflation to allow users another way to earn outside of the standard rewards pool for inviting their friends to join Hive)
- We are not asking for money to pay our partners (our marketing funds received from the DHF will go straight to paying for marketing on each partnership. Our partners are actually paying just as much money from their own pockets to market the partnership as we are)
Our Original Ask vs. Our New Ask With This Proposal
Originally, we asked for ~$480k in total marketing funds from now until the end of 2025. One major piece of feedback we received is that "this is too much".
First, I'd like to remind people how expensive it is to integrate with other chains from a technical perspective, an operations perspective AND a marketing perspective. We budgeted $50k per integration for marketing only (with 10 integrations planned throughout the year 2025).
This $50k DOES NOT cover technical costs nor does it cover operational expenses.
The $50k is merely what it costs to put up a co-marketing budget.
What is a co-marketing budget? These ecosystems want to co-fund a marketing campaign in order to make our integration successful. Bear in mind that many of these organizations have multi-billion dollar DAO Funds. This is a very common practice amongst crypto projects who partner with each other. It is a way for each project to invest in the success of the collaboration.
Without this budget, these partners would not even consider collaborating with us. To them, $50k is not much money (many of them asked us to put up north of $250k to spend on marketing and I negotiated down to $50k). Obviously Hive is a much smaller ecosystem with a much smaller DAO of community funds that we must all care for. While $50k may sound steep, it is small in contrast to the budgets these other multi-billion dollar ecosystems spend yearly on marketing. I have already pre-negotiated this figure with these ecosystems.
This all being said, I have listened to HIVE stakeholders and taken their feedback into consideration. I understand that a $480k ask is a large pill to swallow - even though it means onboarding 10 multi-billion dollar ecosystems to the Hive blockchain - just like we did with Dash. - which will far and away add more in market cap to HIVE than the total $480k cost.
Our New Ask - We Will Spend $240k and Ask The DHF to Match Our $240k to Get $480k
I want Hive to succeed. I want INLEO to succeed. I want to see us onboard the masses to Hive (finally) in a way that we have all dreamed of making happen. We now have the technology and connections to make this possible. We need $50k per campaign to make any of this worthwhile. I will put up my own $25k per campaign if the DHF can match me and put up the other $25k.
Originally, I was offering to cover the tech and operational expenses of making these integration campaigns possible and asking for the Hive DHF to cover the Marketing Expense.
I want to see us do 100 of these campaigns over the coming years - onboarding millions of Hive users and potential HIVE & HBD investors. In 2025, I know that we can do 10 of these campaigns and be highly successful with them - just like we were with Dash.
My new ask is this: I will cover the Tech expenses, the Operational expenses AND I will cover 50% of the co-marketing budget of each campaign.
I will personally put up $25k to match each $25k put up by the Hive DHF in order to do each campaign, thereby reducing the total ask of this proposal by 50%. This $50k gets spent on marketing and this is something that we can outline in detail as the campaigns unfold.
- Old Ask -> I pay for Tech & Ops expenses, Hive DHF pays for the $50k marketing expense
- New Ask -> I still pay for the Tech & Ops expenses, Hive DHF puts up $25k to match my $25k for marketing expenses
Why Would We Spend Our Own Money on This?
This cuts our original ask from the DHF from $480k to $240k. I have pre-negotiated the $50k marketing spend with each of the partner ecosystems. That $50k isn't going down to $25k, it needs to stay at $50k. To make this work, I am matching the DHF's investment with my own investment in marketing.
My goal is to prove that this model we used with Dash works at scale so that we can onboard these 10 communities and then do more in 2026 and beyond. We will make these next 10 integrations so successful that everyone will be jumping hand over fist to make the next 10 happen in 2026.
I know that spending $240k of my own capital on these integrations and matching it with $240k from the HIVE DAO will lead to so much more than $480k in value added to HIVE's market cap. As a very large HIVE stakeholder, this is what I want to see happen more than anything else.
We have built the technology to open the floodgates to Hive. Match my resources to spend $240k each on marketing and let's onboard the next generation of Hive users and HIVE Investors.
Thank you for taking the time to read and consider this updated Proposal for how INLEO plans to grow Hive through strategically partnering with the biggest names in Crypto. Just like we did with Dash over the past 3 months. We hope you consider voting for the updated ask that is 50% less than our original proposal and allow us the opportunity to prove how Hive can be successful on the global crypto stage by putting our technology, money and time on the line.
Vote on the Revised Proposal
You can vote on our revised proposal, where we are asking the DHF to match each $25k investment into marketing for these campaigns with another ~$25k to make each campaign successful. We will spend a total of $50k on each campaign and run 10 of them from now until the end of the year. Partnering with some of the biggest names in crypto... Just like we did with Dash.
- Vote on PeakD: https://peakd.com/me/proposals/332
- Vote on Ecency: https://ecency.com/proposals/332
Posted Using INLEO
