Hydrating the Funding Gap

Lets see what people comment 🙌

How about getting some more eyes on Hydration and get listed on exchanges so that you can expand and onboard users outside of the Polkadot ecosystem ?

Hi guys, first of all, congrats for the job done so far. I really like the product you developed.

Do you have a report on how have been spent the previous $5M in 2 years ? At first sight, without knowing anything about the size and the location of the team, and how this amount was used, it could seem that burning $2.5M / year can be a lot.

Very happy to see this discussion as for those following I’m sure they have been wondering too where the next lot of funding comes from. The team has my full support and I would like to make a few observations:

• In the true spirit of hydration, while the world has gone crazy with inflation these last years the ask stays the same. In my experience others would have used this to add at least another 10%. That being said I am hoping there is more funding coming from outside POL to help grow the team and pay you all more in the near future

• Out of curiosity I have looked into the DAI raised vs current POL and it looks like $22,856,696 raised vs $22,331,467 POL(constantly changing, info from stats) which suggests the first ask of $5m has only cost POL $500k as of today (a red day at that too)

So yes please, get payed and keep up the outstanding management of the POL.

I only support the team's further work on the project, I can clearly see the results of the development over these two years and see no reason to NAY this request (this is far from the money this work is worth)

YES.
The token economy of web3 is a mechanism with enormous potential, and its proper use can bring tremendous power. I personally think this will gradually become the foundation of hydration.

Missionaries are crucial to us, and token economics is the mechanism for screening and uniting missionaries. I believe that at least the majority of people in IGL are missionaries. Of course, we also need to use mercenaries.

Mercenaries chase salaries, missionaries chase HDX, and incentives are compatible.

Just like traditional companies should be accountable to shareholders. Furthermore, hydration and HDX holders advance and retreat together.

People need to eat, and IGL missionaries should have a basic salary. But whether they can gain more wealth and honor should be determined by the price of HDX, as most of them should already have a large amount of HDX.

For hydration, for ourselves, skin in the game

YES ! It's rare to see money well spent in Polkadot Hydration is a clear example.

A bit sad there is no better option for this funding but I'll still support it because you are doing a great job and we need you to keep going with the same momentum, whatever the market conditions.

Given web3’s early adoption stage and challenging funding environment, this request makes complete sense.

Your track record is exceptional.
Improving TVL, consistent delivery, and genuine innovation extending beyond Polkadot into broader DeFi.

The current environment challenges us all, builders, investors, believers. That’s precisely why we need alternative funding for proven innovation, especially when we believe in the value being delivered.

This request isn’t just understandable, it’s the smartest way to move forward unphased by market disruption.

I see what you’ve delivered and how it brings value beyond APR and APY.

You will have my AYE with maximum conviction once you decide to go with your proposal.

While the concept of protocol-owned liquidity is certainly valuable, it pales in comparison to the impact of a well-funded, capable team actively building the protocol.

This proposal requests roughly one-tenth of the protocol’s owned liquidity to fund another year of development. In that light, it feels underwhelming and lacks the necessary ambition. The long-term upside of maintaining the current pace for another 10 years is far less compelling than doubling down on a team that has already proven its effectiveness.

Crypto is a fast-moving industry embedded in an already turbo-charged capitalist environment. In that context, we should be increasing funding—hiring more developers, PMs, marketing specialists, and beyond.

Therefore, I am voting NAY on this modest request—not out of disagreement with the team, but because I believe we should raise the ask to $5 million USD to accelerate development and expand growth for this exceptional protocol.

NAY to this shy request. AYE to doubling down on the proven Hydration team.

GODSPEED.

i think 2 years of funding is more reasonable but the money is split 50/50, the stable coin needed is still 2,5M, the rest which is HDX equivalent to 2,5M $ at the current market.

@lolmcshizz as @Crane mentions above https://hydration.subsquare.io/posts/234#12 is the $2.5m fixed or can this discussion open up the possibility to ask for more if it’s needed to get some more things done faster? 3 weeks is a good meme and hydration is known to run generously off the devs working underpaid to current industry prices but what if we are able ask a bit more to get the backlog of work through?

Thank you! I fully support this funding request. Hydration has proven its value in the last 2 years by launching some great products.

From a transparency perspective, it would be great if you can share the following information:

1. Total number of FTEs that would be working in the hydration project for the next 1 year
2. Hydrstion product roadmap for next 12 months. How would this money be used?
3. What is the expected revenue uplift (annually) with this 12 month of development work. Also please share a rationale of this forecasted revenue uplift

Looking forward to hearing from your team.

Thank you!

I've passed through the articles and i've seen no roadmap nor milesstone for this 2,5M$. Yes, Hydration team has delivered a great job and I'm very supportive but go see your banker and ask him 2.5M$ without explaining what you are planning to do : answer will be a big NO.
So untill a roadmap with milesstone is added to the proposal, i will vote NAY. Once plan is clear i will change my vote ;)

So they want to take 2.5M USD out of the "decentralised" ;) protocol owned liquidity...

That literally means only one thing, the team is out of/ running out of money + runway. They generate no real revenue and users are ~3K at best.

Probably means they're down to a handful of developers too.

No doubt they have enough coins to just vote themselves the money. But damn, HDX going to 0 for sure.

They'll take the money, they always do.

0% chance a VC would invest in this so it's not like there is any other choice for them at this point.