There are 3 parts to this essay. Part 1 was published 3 days before the vote. Part 2 includes the addendums added based on feedback. Part 3 is the latest version of the proposal for the vote.
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!
Addendum: Added more notes based on feedback and questions from the community, along with a 3rd option for the vote (see below)
Addendum 2: Removed the 3rd option based on feedback
Here are some notes based on feedback and questions from the community, along with a 3rd option for the vote.
Why 280M JUP over 3 years for 65 people? Reason is simple - Many of these people are extremely proven leaders, technologists and engineers who can get much more elsewhere in places that are much more famous, but they have chosen to work with us. In return, I want to make sure they have a strong alignment towards doing the maximum possible for Jupiter & JUP to grow. Also, their JUP is also cliffed and vested, and I promise not to let anyone undeserving receive the precious resource that is JUP.
They will anchor 3 major areas of expansion this year and more:
If done well, these will add much, much, much more value to Jupiter and crypto at large compared to this initial commitment. 280M is 4% of total supply, and i believe they will be able to deliver much more than that. Talk is cheap obviously, so the pressure is on for everyone, including myself to deliver the neccessary tech, products and vibe.
As the main driver of this expansion, I stand by this decision 100%, but i also know that it is a pretty big number early on our journey. That’s why I am offering to use my personal allocation 100% with no net emissions, with the bonus coming only in 2030, which is forever in crypto terms, therefore i think it is fair.
Re bonus: It is not even that i want more money, it is that i want to own a bigger share of JUP if i do lock in for 5 years.
I also stand by our track record of investing heavily in the future of the project. Me and Siong have not cashed out any of our own JUP or from the treasury, choosing to invest in talent and infra for future of Jupiter & crypto. I don’t think you will find many founders in our position who will do the same.
Based on the critique by some that the first will increase net emissions, and the bonus is too much, I offer a 3rd vote option.
The core of team needed for the next major expansion is now set for the next 2-3 years. We are now in the phase of consolidating and shipping, and will not be embarking on any new major expansion. This is unless the protocol adoption grows dramatically across the 3 fronts, which will be a really, really good problem to have.
A similar conversation will be happening soon for working groups, which has a similar dynamic. We need to provide sufficient cash comp to allow them to focus either full time or part time on Jupiverse, and we need to give them strong JUP alignment for the most proven ones.
End of the day, we have 2 options for Jupiter.
You know which one Jupiter is.
End of the day, that’s what this is all about - we take big bets, and we play to win, and we take full accountability for results.
We received feedback that the Option 3 could confuse voters, or may split the voter base who disagree with the bonus and thus weaken the mandate if Option 2 were to win. With this considered we have decided to remove Option 3 from the voting options.
The 2030 Lock-In Vote Begins: Let’s Go!
Today, I would like to kick off a vote that’s deeply personal and important for me. I am asking for the community’s help to stay fully locked in for 5 more years while sending a powerful signal that we are here to build Jupiter for the long term, regardless of all ups and downs.
First off, Jupiter has always aimed to be the one of the most long term projects in the space - focused on the highest quality products, deepest community and most meaningful technology.
We build our strategic operations around the same long term ethos, whether it is in reinvesting the treasury on growth initiatives, setting fees in a way that balances out project needs/ecosystem sustainability, performing a major supply/team allocation burn, team cliff lock, community eats first principles and most recently, sending half of revs to the litterbox trust.
In addition, we have executed 2 Jupuaries so far totaling 1.7B JUP, representing more than 1B in present value to the community, which was all done way before a single team member received a single JUP.
These 2 Jupuaries, the very consistent community building approaches we adopted all throughout the first year of JUP, the G.O.A.T principles of the $JUP token, ASR, and an amazing Catstanbul event laid the groundwork for one of the best and vibrant communities in the space.
On the team side, we have grown from 15 people during the JUP launch to about 80 strong today, with new core skills across the entire stack - from deep blockchain tech, cryptography, mobile, distributed systems, community growth, liquidity systems, etc.
These new people are now driving areas that are critical for the next 10x expansion of Jupiter, driving our journey from a defi protocol into hopefully one of the most important projects in the world in the future.
There are 3 main areas for Jupiter:
A lot of these efforts are obviously just recently announced at Catstanbul and very new. That said, I have been working with them over the past few months, and while it took us quite a while to organize internally and set the appropriate priorities, I am extremely confident that the output will be apparent in the immediate months/year to come.
This new set of team members come from various strategic acquisitions (including 2 unannounced) and also recruiting the very best people we can find from the ecosystem. As the main cat/person (weremeow, geddit?) responsible for this expansion in scope and team, i will be directly accountable for the success or failure of these core initiatives.
The cash components of all acquisitions, team salaries and bonuses are all paid out via the team treasury. Additionally, these new team members have been allocated approximately 280M JUP (with a 3-4 year vesting schedule) for long term alignment.
Initially, the plan was to release the required JUP from the team strategic reserve (see audits and essays for details on the reserve), but right before Catstanbul, i had an idea.
What if I front the tokens using my full JUP allocation (283M after the 30% cut) and take the chance to secure a strong mandate from the DAO and community to lock-in for another 5 years, and in return for this commitment, ask for a 220M JUP bonus in 2030?
There are a lot of questions about this proposal, so let’s dive in:
I strongly believe in the quality of the team we have assembled, the importance of the work we are embarking on, and the potential of this work to return strong value to the jupiverse.
As mentioned, I am the main one who started this expansion, so it is appropriate for me to have my full skin in the game.
First off, signaling. In a world of extreme short term gains and daily meme metas, i would like to signal to the ecosystem, market and team that we are very, very committed to taking the long term approach to 10xing Jupiter from where we are now.
It is also an extremely strong signal to the team, partners and community that we are here to ride through all ups and downs, bears and bulls, joys and despair, a critically important attribute if we aim to get anywhere near our lofty goals.
Lastly, it would be nice to just simply focus 100% on one singular, fully aligned, zero distraction goal for next 5 years - maximize the fuck out of jupiter n JUP. I really, really want to make it, you know?
The most obvious reason is that I am requesting a bonus from the community reserve, so it needs to be voted on.
Next, I previously committed to not touching my tokens till June 2026, so if i want to use my allocation for this purpose, i need to get this buy-in.
Lastly, I think there are some really important questions that concern the entire crypto ecosystem around founder motivation, team comp, community involvement in projects, talent recruitment that are very, very much under discussed, so this is a good way to spark the conversation.
There are so many reasons, let me iterate it here.
First off, i am not a saint, i would like a clear reward for showing this kind of strong commitment.
Secondly, given that it does in fact bite into the community reserve, this means the community is giving me a clear mandate to lock in and focus. If there was nothing, it will not be a very meaningful vote, would it?
Thirdly, I want more ownership in the protocol i started and built from scratch. 220M JUP bonus from the community reserve, plus the 280M JUP i will have a solid 500M JUP in 2030. This represents 7% of total supply currently.
Given that I started Jupiter from scratch, rode through countless waves over 4+ years to bring it to where it is today, committing 5 years of lock in, i don’t think 7% is a lot if Jupiter continues to do well over this period.
There will be 3 options for the vote.
If option 1 is passed, if the community feels it is not deserved, it can be vetoed upon and the bonus can be adjusted or removed.
Also, I briefly proposed a 3rd option yesterday, but was convinced by many members of the community that there was too much overlap with option 1 and will distract from the spirit.
5 years is an eternity in crypto, but i am betting it will fly by with friends around ;)
In a very real sense, this is my own degen long term leverage play.
I want to believe, lock in, ride it and shoot not for the moon, but for Jupiter.
Help me!
meow