[GP] From Bootstrap to Growth: Continuing Seamless DAO’s Support of Core Contributors

General
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Summary

This proposal seeks the DAO’s approval to allocate an additional 11% in SEAM tokens to core contributors to support the long-term development, strategic hiring, security efforts, and other alignment grants for Seamless Protocol over the next 2–4 years. This allocation will bring the total contributor allocation to 22%, aligning with industry norms while maintaining strong DAO ownership of the token supply and positioning Seamless for long-term success in an increasingly competitive DeFi landscape.

Background & Motivation

Since June 2023, the core contributors of Seamless Protocol have operated as a bootstrapped team, delivering significant value with limited resources. From the outset, Seamless was launched as a fair launch project, allocating only 11% of the token supply to the team and advisors (8% to the core team and 3% to advisors) — well below industry benchmarks.

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Despite these lean conditions, the team has delivered several major milestones:

  • The legacy lending/borrowing platform achieved over $100M TVL
  • Release of Integrated Liquidity Markets (ILMs) v1
  • Successful integration with Morpho vaults, driving over $75M TVL
  • Tokenomics update and launch of staking (stkSEAM)
  • Upcoming release of Leverage Tokens (currently under audit from Spearbit, targeting a May release)
  • Ongoing execution across roadmap and master plan initiatives

This track record reflects both strong contributor performance and growing ecosystem traction. To sustain this momentum, the DAO must evolve its support model — shifting from lean startup conditions to resourcing a high-performing team of professionals.

To remain competitive, attract and retain talent, and scale effectively, the DAO should invest in its contributors. Providing the necessary resources will enable Seamless to mature into a strategically aligned, long-term team capable of delivering on the protocol’s mission/vision and navigating the demands of future growth. For reference, over the course of development, an estimated $3.25 million USD has been operationally utilized across salaries, audits, infrastructure, legal, BD, marketing, and more.

Goals & Objectives

This proposal seeks to increase the core contributor allocation from 11% to 22%. This amount remains below the industry averages of ~23-24% and is intended to ensure that contributors are rewarded fairly and supported sustainably.

The additional SEAM allocation will support several high-priority initiatives:

  • Strategic hiring and team expansion
    • One new full-time contributor and one contractor have already been onboarded
    • Future hiring plans include:
      • Full-stack engineers with individual all-in compensations in the range of $102k-$193k USD per year (note: strong full stack engineers command average all-in costs of ~$152k USD depending on experience and geography)
      • DeFi-native generalists with individual all-in compensations in the range of $117k-$167k USD per year (note: DeFi-experienced non-technical contributors command average all-in costs of ~$147k a year, based on experience and geographical location)
  • Funding essential protocol functions
    • Smart contract audits for Leverage Tokens v1.0, which typically cost between 50,000 and 100,000 USD per audit
    • Two audits have been previously completed: one for the legacy lending and borrowing platform, and one for ILM version 1.0
  • Alignment grants for long-term partners
    • Token grants to support the involvement of governance delegates, strategic partners, and key advisors
  • Sustaining long-term execution
    • The Seamless roadmap is ambitious. This allocation ensures the protocol has the talent and resources needed to meet community expectations and deliver consistently

By approving this proposal, the DAO can invest in the people and capabilities required to scale Seamless with focus and integrity. This would mean the continued execution of the short term roadmap and marching towards the Seamless long term master plan.

Proposal Details

Allocation

  • 11% additional SEAM tokens (11m in SEAM tokens) sourced from DAO-owned and DAO-vesting smart contracts, taken as a subset of the 65% of SEAM reserved on-chain for DAO use
  • SEAM to be moved from the DAO timelock to a secure multisig wallet designated by Core Contributors

Technical Implementation

  • Execute onchain transfer from DAO-vesting smart contracts to DAO timelock
  • Transfer SEAM from DAO timelock to multisig/custody controlled by core contributors

Conclusion & Next Steps

This proposal ensures the Seamless Protocol remains competitive, accountable, and positioned to scale its mission. It reflects a mature, data-driven approach to contributor sustainability while maintaining the project’s core community-first principles.

Proposed Timeline:

  • 10-day community discussion period
  • Followed by a Snapshot and/or onchain vote

The community’s feedback is welcomed and encouraged during the discussion period.

5 Likes
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Thanks for putting together this proposal @Ras ! This is thoroughly thought-out and makes a lot of sense to me. As we’ve seen in the last several months, Seamless is picking up steam and on an ambitious trajectory to build gamechanging DeFi products. Seamless was an OG on Base, and continues to be a leader, especially with the highly successful Morpho collaboration.

With more things brewing, it only makes sense that the budget increases for the core contributors to be able to use. In my opinion, that’s one of the best uses of DAO funds - as a builders supporting a fair launch project, the contributors have demonstrated their commitment to the protocol by staying involved since the beginning. I fully support using DAO funds to be allocated to the core contributors so they can continue to move the protocol forward.

1 Like
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+1 to the above comment. Seamless has been growing rapidly over the past several months, focusing resources on strategic objectives to boost protocol TVL and release new products. Despite the market, it is encouraging to see Seamless growing esp relative to peers. For example, of the top 20 protocols by TVL on Base, Seamless has the largest growth this past month!

This proposal ensures long term alignment for the protocol, furthering Seamless’s mission. I am in support and excited to see the next chapters unfold!

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Thanks @Ras for this proposal. This post really highlights the reasoning for why the additional allocation makes sense, especially considering the ambitious roadmap and the need for sustaining long-term execution of Seamless. Great notes on average compensation as well - adhering to industry standards is important for Seamless to attract top talent to stay competitive. I am in full support of this proposal.

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This proposal strikes a thoughtful balance between long-term sustainability and DAO-first principles. Supporting contributors with the right resources is key to scaling Seamless responsibly and staying competitive in the evolving DeFi landscape. Excited to see the next chapter unfold, full support from me!

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+1 fully support this proposal. The Seamless team has shown impressive results under hard market conditions, and expanding the contributor allocation is a necessary step toward long-term sustainability and growth for the project.

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Core contributors are providing a lot for Seamless Protocol. Seamless is definitely on the right track and is highly noticed protocol in the ecosystem. This amount is reasonable in my opinion and is probably the best possible investment for the DAO!

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Long time coming - let’s keep BUIDLing!! The Morpho Vaults have been doing really well lately, and the roadmap has me bullish.

A suggestion would be to post some of the upcoming job postings publicly in our community Discord and such, there may be some community members looking to take the next step.

1 Like
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I support this proposal. I echo a lot of the sentiment from other commenters here. The primary reasons I support this proposal are due to the high level of achievement Seamless has experienced to date many of which are outlined in the proposal and also because funds and incentives can work to sustain whats built as well as continue to push the positive progress forward. This is a great way to allocate DAO resources.

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Thanks @Ras for putting together this thoughtful proposal. I fully support it. Seamless has accomplished a lot since it launched in 2023 as an OG and fair launch protocol on Base. But things are just getting started, Seamless has an ambitious roadmap and vision. Seamless will need to not only retain it’s current top talent but compete to attract new top talent from the market to contribute to Seamless.

1 Like
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+1 to the sentiment above from my side. @Ras well put together proposal as always.

I do think the mutual contributors x DAO relationship would be best to continue for both sides. As Seamless is finding it’s groove and really growing into it’s own (especially the last few months), it is sensible to continue to grow the group of high quality contributors working on the project.

Bringing the contributor allocation up-to-par with industry averages, while still giving the DAO a larger than average ownership seems like a win-win, and allows for further core contributors to be brought into the fold, hopefully expanding the capabilities of the contributing team and accelerating the overall development and growth of the Seamless ecosystem.

Look forward to other thoughts and comments from the community.

1 Like
12

S/O @Ras for putting this together!

In my opinion, if any proposal deserves unanimous support, it’s definitely this one.

The team has consistently delivered top-notch quality at a remarkable pace.

Unlocking more capital for hiring + initiative funding will only expedite Seamless’s scaling and further making it a Base-native staple.

Well done

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It’s clear this team has punched well above its weight with just 11% of the supply, delivering ILMs, a major tokenomics revamp, integrations, and now gearing up for Leverage Tokens. That’s not just execution, that’s outlier performance.

What I appreciate most about this proposal is how it doesn’t just justify more allocation with results — it ties it directly to the cost of building at a higher level. Audits, comp for top-tier engineers, retaining DeFi-native talent… these are not nice-to-haves, they’re table stakes if we want Seamless to keep leading.

This is rebalancing toward sustainability, without compromising DAO control or fairness. Let’s set Seamless up not just to survive the next cycle, but to lead it.

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love the fact that everyone ignored my message on the other thread. How many accounts do you devs have? You’re responses are all the same. 0 growth