The goal of Jupiter has never been to create just another protocol - since before JUP launched, we have always indicated that we aim to build not just the best possible decentralized liquidity product, but also the best possible community, ecosystem and technical platforms to drive the backbone of crypto forward.
When we launched JUP, we were a relatively small team of 15 people who had built up Jupiter from scratch and through multiple failures and external crises for nearly 4 years. This set of team members was allocated 20% of total supply (2B JUP). It is crucial of course to know that it was impossible to have predicted the success of Jupiter and the token many years in advance, so we were all working with nothing but raw faith and love for the cause.
Last year, as part of the 30% token supply burn, the team voluntarily burned 30% of this allocation (600M JUP), bringing it down to 1.4B JUP. In addition, the team also voluntarily locked the first cliff of the team vest for 2 more years. The combination of these factors ensured no supply shock during the crucial first year, strong alignment of the original team, as well as a much healthier set of token foundations moving forward.
On my personal end, after the 30% supply burn, I have an allocation of about 280M JUP, which will be one of the key discussion points of today’s essay as well.
One of the most important things that i always tell other entrepreneurs is that in the worst crypto times of the last cycle, when everything crashed - we did not shy away from, but instead doubled down on recruiting the best people we can find. Alongside the very early team members, this formed the core of what became Jupiter.
Similarly, over the last year (cat year 0), we doubled down on bringing on a new set of team members to complement the original team we had. We are now a team of about 80 people, with new core skills across the entire stack - from deep blockchain tech, cryptography, mobile, distributed systems, community growth, liquidity systems, etc.
These new team members are now driving many key areas of Jupiter, old and new, including:
These are only at the product and engineering level - at the community level, we now have a team fully equipped to grow the jupiverse into a worldwide movement, work w the DAO and working groups to have the most effective decentralized community in the world, and of course unify the community via regular online and offline events.
If there is one thing I’ve learned as a founder, it’s that the only moat you can build is talent. Talent is what defines a project, talent is what creates innovation, and talent is what builds exponential value. We take talent seriously, and that’s why this has been a core core focus of mine.
It took a while to unify the teams and form effective working units, but i am confident that we now have one of the best team in crypto (if not the best), and the quality of products/platforms/planet shall show itself regardless of market conditions.
And of course, this expansion is what we need to drive value to Jupiter - we need world class products, differentiated platforms, and a relentless focus on community, comms, content. And there is only one thing that matters - the right people working on the right things with the right alignment.
With this as the main goal, we have strategically sought out the very best people from all across the crypto ecosystem as well as acquired teams that have a very strong culture and strategic fit.
A large part of this expansion comes from the team treasury:
For people working directly on the jupiter platforms, and focused day in day out on driving and increasing value - they have been allocated JUP that will be distributed over the next few years. This is crucial of course, for long term alignment.
Let’s now discuss where the JUP for the long term alignment of these new set of ~65 team members will come from.
As outlined in the mint audit and over the last 2 audits (Audit 1, Audit 2) , we have 2 distinct reserves - the strategic reserves and the community reserve. We encourage everyone to take a look at the 2 audits.
This reserve, as outlined in the genesis JUP essay, is managed by the team and meant to be the engine for future growth. It is meant to be one of the key engine for future growth, for undertaking crucially important partnerships or expansions. Without it, we would stall in a space that moves lightning-fast.
While the Strategic Reserve is controlled by the team under the 50/50 principle, we are committed to transparency as always. We do need the full leverage to make rapid decisions, but we will always be accountable and public about how these funds are used before they leave the reserve.
We recognize this is a matter of deep trust, given that emissions from this reserve is effectively a bet that the results will be worth much more than what is given out. We will not abuse that trust.
Similarly, there is a community reserve, which is the pool still unallocated after the 3 jupuaries and current DAO commitments. For this reserve, all eventual use before release should be approved by the DAO, which is why we performed the crucial votes for the 2 jupuaries, and why JUP allocations for working groups are also subject to a DAO vote.
Now that the core context is set, it’s a good time to talk about the proposal. I would like to put forth to the community 2 options for funding the new team members recruited in cat year 0.
Essentially, the ~65 new team members that we recruited in cat year 0 will require approximately 280M JUP over next 3 years.
The original plan was to use the team strategic reserve (which will not require a vote), but i would like to put forth a proposal that i think can drive even more alignment.
In this scenario, we will unlock 280M JUP from the team’s Strategic Reserve starting in July 2025 for use over the following 3 years.
Notes on option 1:
In this scenario, the team’s Strategic Reserve will not be touched for this purpose. Instead, I will use my personal allocation of 280M JUP to front the new talent alignment.
That means I will not get a single JUP personally until 2030. At that point, I will take back my 280M JUP from the team’s Strategic Reserve, and request that the community gives me a bonus of 220M JUP from the community reserve.
Notes on option 2:
At this point in time, let me turn personal for a hot minute and share some pretty personal reasons why I am suggesting this vote - trying to drive a project like Jupiter to greater heights every single day is an insanely high mentally challenging job - and i need all the focus, motivation, and the right time orientation as i can get.
So it comes down to 3 things for me:
And of course, these are the 3 things that cats likes - lasers, catnips and time.
To recap, over the next few years, we have 3 core goals:
This is the reason for 5 years - i think it is the appropriate timeframe to evaluate if a lot of the key ideas that i am pushing for actually manifests, in some sense, this is me putting myself up for a test, with a nice bonus at the end of it if we passes.
Lastly, I think this proposal is fun because it is trying to hit the g spot of alignment. Alignment between long term needs and short term demands, alignment between the need to execute fast strategically vs the need for open debate, alignment between personal motivation and community contribution.
If nothing else, i hope this proposal and vote will help everyone understand key ideas behind Jupiter - how we do alignment, how the reserves work, and our strategy on team building.
LFGGGG!