[DIP-35] Amendment of the [DIP-28] budget

Proposals DIP (DAO Improvement)
1

Proposal Summary

It is proposed to the ssv.network DAO (hereinafter: “DAO”) to amend the budget for marketing expenses listed under [DIP-28] by adding an additional 487.000 USD to the already passed budget. This will allow additional marketing budget to be subject to the discretion of the SSV Foundation, while allowing SSV Labs to continue to manage assets mentioned in [DIP-16].

Motivation

As the year continues, and the DAO aims to capture more of the staking and restaking mindshare, it is necessary to add additional funds for all marketing activities that the DAO might want to undertake.

SSV Labs, as its current project promotion services provider will be able to undertake even bigger marketing campaigns as outlined in DIP-31, along with other service providers that the DAO would like to engage.

Project Promotion Roadmap

The primary objective of the Project Promotion Roadmap is to further solidify SSV Network’s position in the ecosystem. SSV Labs marketing efforts have driven significant engagement, increased brand awareness, and expanded community participation. To maintain this momentum, we outline necessary funding for PR, branding, community management, events, and other marketing initiatives and services that will shape SSV’s market presence in 2025:

  1. Social Media Management: Development of Twitter, for community engagement and professional outreach.

  2. Events: Organizing and managing professional events and conferences, online and offline, including sponsorship, presence, production, promotion, content, and logistics. We will shift towards fewer, high-impact events and side event sponsorships with a focus on major summits including:

    1. Staking Summit
    2. Token2049
    3. Staking Summit #2
    4. EthCC
    5. Devconnect
    6. Side event sponsorships, in proximity to events from the above list
    7. Online events acceleration (Twitter spaces, podcasts, AMAs etc.), including edited video content, shorts, video based interviews and related giveaways

From the list provided above, at least two events will be attended.

  1. Website Management: Managing a user-friendly ssv.network website with SEO-optimized landing pages. Including an updated ssv.network website for SSV 2.0 and continued maintenance for SSV - DVT website.

  2. Public Relations: direct KOL engagement, Direct media paid campaigns including podcasts and video based AMAs: Ongoing work with a PR agency and/or directly with relevant industry KOLs and/or directly with crypto media outlets to manage media relations, press releases, and crisis communications. Expanded media and social network presence through sponsorships of crypto media. Collaboration with DeFi-specific KOLs to promote educational content via paid tweets. Published content in crypto media, ideally top tier publications.

  3. Community Engagement: Rewarding contributors (SSVDivers), DAO engagement initiatives, and growth tools. Continued moderation and automation improvements for enhanced user experience.

  4. Co-Marketing with Partners: Collaborating with ecosystem partners for broader outreach and community reach.

  5. Newsletter and Communication: Regular newsletters and transparent communication to keep the community informed and connected.

  6. Swag Operations: Creating and distributing branded merchandise (swag) to the ssv.network community members, via swag vendors.

  7. Brand Management: Major brand refresh and upgrade for SSV 2.0. Additional efforts include decks, illustrations, event branding, and digital content production.

  8. Content Creation and Management: Produce diverse and engaging content to educate and captivate SSV’s audience.

  9. Market Research: Keeping up to date with market trends and community needs.

  10. Graphic and Video Production: Ongoing creation of media, videos, and graphics for campaigns and platforms.

  11. Tools & Software Provision: Ensured operational efficiency through high-quality marketing tools. Continued usage of Kaito, Canva, Figma, Hotjar, Google Analytics, and other essential marketing and research platforms.

  12. User Experience Feedback: Gathering feedback to improve our platforms and strategies.

  13. Analytics: Using data analytics to gauge the effectiveness of our marketing efforts.

  14. Ambassadors Program: Continue the existing Ambassadors program.

Effect

If this proposal were to pass, the ssv.network DAO Multi-Sig Committee (hereinafter: “MC”) will be required to make available 487.000 USD to the SSV Foundation, for marketing expenses. The MC will provide these funds in the first scheduled batch of:

  1. June 2025 and
  2. September 2025.

This amount is in addition to the already passed budget from [DIP-28], passed on the 30th of January 2025, in the amount of 250.000 USD.

Neither of these amounts contain any compensation for SSV Labs, while SSV Labs will continue to provide its project promotion services and manage certain DAO assets on its behalf until the DAO attains the necessary facilities to manage them, itself.

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2

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It would be best to provide a breakdown of the funds, just like in previous proposals（https://snapshot.box/#/s:mainnet.ssvnetwork.eth/proposal/0x9aefa94b68781eeba184b3e20bd36dd6b0aed35aaf4fe058ded039761daecbfb）. I believe this will help everyone better understand which specific areas the additional funds are mainly being invested in. Thank you.

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4

I support this proposal. Expanding the marketing budget makes sense as the network grows and competition for staking and restaking attention heats up. The additional $487,000, distributed across June and September 2025, gives the DAO more flexibility to fund bigger campaigns without delays.

5

Thanks to Ivan for putting forward DIP-35. As a DAO member, here’s my high-level take:

1. Proposal Summary

  • Additional Budget: Requests +$487,000 (USD) for marketing on top of the $250,000 already approved under DIP-28.
  • Disbursement Schedule: Funds to be released in the first scheduled batch of June 2025 and September 2025.
  • Use Case: To scale up marketing campaigns (per DIP-31 roadmap) and engage additional service providers alongside SSV Labs.

2. Rationale & Benefits

  • Market Momentum: As staking and restaking competition intensifies, extra marketing invest­ment can boost SSV’s visibility and mindshare.
  • Flexibility: Additional funds allow quick pivots to sponsor high-impact events, KOL partnerships, or new content channels.
  • Leverage Existing Providers: Builds on SSV Labs’ ongoing promotional efforts while enabling the DAO to onboard complementary agencies for PR, paid media, or community programs.

3. Discussion Points & Suggestions

  1. Budget Breakdown: Could we see a rough allocation plan (e.g., event sponsorships vs. paid media vs. content production) so the DAO can track spend against objectives?
  2. KPIs & ROI: Let’s define clear metrics—e.g., new active validators sourced via campaigns, social engagement lift, or website conversion rates—and report quarterly.
  3. Coordination: How will SSV Labs and any new vendors coordinate to avoid overlap and ensure cohesive messaging?
  4. Transparency: Propose publishing a brief “marketing impact” report after each tranche to summarize activities and outcomes.

4. Conclusion
DIP-35’s additional $487k will strengthen our marketing firepower at a critical growth phase. With a clear spend plan, measurable KPIs, and coordination framework, I’m supportive of this amendment and look forward to seeing SSV’s brand and community engagement accelerate.

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6

There will be any “competitive match” between SSV and other DVT technologies (like Obol)? Maybe some marketing work could be directed to address the question “what dvt should I choose for my staking business (as operator) or my eth staking as end-user”?

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7

Ethernodes support this proposal.

The ssv.network must remain highly competitive in the DVT (Distributed Validator Technology) landscape, and maintaining strong, strategic marketing efforts is essential to achieve that. The additional budget will allow the DAO to capitalize on upcoming opportunities outlined in DIP-31, which signal major growth and differentiation opportunities, especially through the development of based apps.

The shift towards based applications significantly enhances the utility and attractiveness of validators operated via SSV, setting the network apart from competitors. Investing further into marketing will help ensure that the broader ecosystem understands and adopts these innovations, strengthening SSV’s leadership position.

Therefore, we agree with allocating the additional 487,000 USD to the marketing budget and fully support the outlined disbursement schedule.

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Despite wanting to minimize expenses, I support this proposal because marketing is a critical effort as we transition to based apps/SSV 2.0.

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Marketing has been a weak point recently. I’m in favor of trying something new, let’s see if this is it.

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10

Hi everyone!

As with DIP-31, I have made adjustments to the DIP-35 as edits, which include:

  1. The addition of the project promotion roadmap from DIP-31 for better clarity on what efforts and services are provided un what proposal.
  2. Reaffirming the commitment of SSV Labs to continue the project promotion services which started from DIP-16.

@Yuting thank for again for providing your feedback to us! Regarding the cost breakdown for specific project promotion services, while the proposal that you referenced does deal with project promotion services, this proposal no longer allocates the funds for SSV Labs to perform these services, which, by extension, means that we cannot provide a cost breakdown, since its at the SSV Foundations discretion which initiatives would be approved and which will be denied.

Maybe it is worth reaching out to the SSV Foundation and as for some kind of transparency in terms of what marketing activities it approves and which are not approved.

@Gufete_DragonStake Thank you for your feedback Gufte!

As noted above, this is more of a question for the SSV Foundation, which campaigns might be approved. I will definitely pass it along within SSV Labs if we can suggest something to the SSV Foundation as an initiative.

@Hackworth Thanks for the feedback!
Please do let me know what you’d think the SSV Foundation should focus more on, and what SSV Labs might do to better support what you think could make SSV a more household name :folded_hands:

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:vertical_traffic_light: Voting is now live:

[DIP-35] - Amendment of the [DIP-28] budget

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