This is the 12th edition of dYdX Epoch Review, presenting updates from the dYdX community and ecosystem. To learn more, join us on Discord,Twitter, and theCommunity Forums.

A summary of the epoch highlights can be found in this video and deck.

Epoch 11 Highlights

• Total volume on the dYdX protocol decreased to approximately $22B, with Average Daily Volume decreasing to $821M. Ending Open Interest decreased to $291M and Total Value Locked decreased to $486M.
• 8K unique wallets earned 5.8M $DYDX through trading, liquidity provider, and staking rewards. 55K unique wallets have previously earned $DYDX rewards from retroactive, trading, and liquidity mining rewards. 24K unique wallets currently hold $DYDX and 3K unique wallets currently hold $stkDYDX.
• 47 addresses were eligible for LP rewards in Epoch 11. Competition in the pool increased compared to the previous epoch. Market makers meeting the 0.25% threshold in Epoch 11 are now eligible to earn rewards in Epoch 12. 50 addresses (37 existing and 13 new) did more than =>0.25% of maker volume in Epoch 11.
• $152M $USDC from 615 users was staked to the Liquidity Staking Pool. This is a significant decrease from $272M $USDC in Epoch 10. At the start of Epoch 12, only $40M $USDC is actively staked and earning rewards. The drop in staked $USDC is likely because the dYdX community almost unanimously supported the Snapshot vote to turn off rewards from the Liquidity Staking Pool. 4 market makers have borrowed $38M $USDC from the staking pool. One market maker has borrowed over $22M $USDC.
• 34.5M $DYDX from 3,066 users was staked to the Safety Module. This is a decrease from Epoch 10 where 36M $DYDX was staked. The top 2 stakers account for over 30% of staked $DYDX.
• 11.86% of the total $DYDX supply (excluding unearned Retroactive Rewards transferred to the Treasury and the $DYDX vested in the Community Treasury) is considered liquid at the end of Epoch 11.
• If you hold $DYDX and/or $stkDYDX but have no time to review proposals, gas is too expensive to vote, or you don't have enough information about potential delegates, consider delegating the proposing power and/or voting power of your $DYDX and/or $stkDYDX to one of the 12 Endorsed Delegates.
• On June 22, dYdX Trading Inc. announced dYdX V4 - The dYdX Chain, a standalone blockchain based on the Cosmos SDK and Tendermint proof-of-stake consensus protocol. In line with the initial announcement of V4, dYdX Trading Inc. is planning to fully open source V4 by the end of 2022. With dYdX V4, dYdX will be entirely community-controlled.
• On July 3, the dYdX community almost unanimously voted in favor of the  Snapshot poll to wind down the borrowing pool. Sixtant is proposing to (1) turn off rewards generated by staking $USDC to the Liquidity Staking Pool, (2) remove the deposit functionality for the Liquidity Staking Pool from https://dydx.community/dashboard, and (3) send the remaining rewards (383, 562 $DYDX per epoch) allocated to users who stake $USDC to the Community Treasury.
• On June 22, the Snapshot poll to add 10 new assets (15 total in combination with the previous Snapshot vote) to the dYdX exchange concluded with almost unanimous support from the dYdX community (13M $DYDX / $stkDYDX (100.0%) from 279 voters (98.9%)). This is a follow up to the previous proposal which proposed to add 5 assets. The 15 assets proposed are APE, GMT, FTM, AXS, OP, WAVES, GALA, SAND, MANA, 1000SHIB, THETA, RSR, ZIL, VET, and ENS. These assets can be reviewed using the Asset Listing Tool created by Chaos Labs.
• The forum discussions and proposals continue to cover various important topics. Most notably, (1) Reverie posted a DRC to request for an additional ~$5.5M in $DYDX to launch V1.5 of the dYdX Grants Program, (2) the dYdX Foundation started a discussion about adoption of a set of values that are common to the entire dYdX ecosystem, (3) Wchood created a thread to increase the position limits of the BTC perpetual contract by 2.5x to 425 contracts and the ETH perpetual contracts by 2.5x to 7,050 contracts, (4) B12A1N created a thread exploring V4 Trading fees and utility for $stkDYDX and Hedgies.
• dYdX Foundation announced that 15 out of the dYdX Foundation’s 205 Hedgies have found new homes with dYdX community members! Read more about it here.

Epoch 11 ended on July 5 at 15:00 UTC. Epoch 11 rewards will be claimable here on July 12, at 20:14 UTC (7 days after the end of the epoch and a 5 hour delay). Once tokens have been claimed, they can be transferred, staked to the Safety module, or delegated to dYdX governance.

Performance Indicators

for Epoch 11 (June 7, 2022 15:00 UTC - July 5, 2022 15:00 UTC)

*** Data excludes activity from 4 addresses identified as wash trading during Epoch 11.

Trading Rewards

3,835,616 $DYDX were earned over the course of Epoch 11 and will be distributed to 6,162 traders. Trading rewards were distributed proportionally based on a formula rewarding both fees paid, $stkDYDX, and average open interest.

Competition in this epoch decreased compared to the last epoch, as evidenced by the decrease in the traders eligible for rewards and the number of active traders. Fees paid decreased significantly by 22% compared to the last epoch (-$7.3M).

A breakdown of the adjusted trading activity and Trading Rewards distribution can be found below:

Source: Foundation Metrics Page

dYdX Trading Inc. identified 4 Ethereum addresses that conducted clear wash trading during Epoch 11. These addresses were removed from receiving Trading Rewards for Epoch 11. Their fees paid and open interests were also excluded from the Trading Rewards calculations, so other traders were not diluted. Additionally, these addresses were excluded from potential eligibility for the Liquidity Provider Rewards program for Epoch 12 and their volume was excluded from calculations as well. Learn more about Wash Trading here.

• $$0xe9b0799fa75b877d5614a7afe4292dc0187627f9$$
• $$0x637c0c0009a1e698b462322181efc18b1b0734d8$$
• $$0x86f2f159bd0c74262be84ef371763cafe74a40e0$$
• $$0x2b8b0745188e162b5e61eb2b51e78a30175bd15d$$

In Epoch 9, the community voted in support of updating the trader rewards formula to increase the fee weight parameter from a=0.67 to a=0.8 and decrease the open interest weight parameter from b=0.28 to b=0.15.

As an input to the Trading Rewards calculation, users’ fees paid, $stkDYDX, and average open interest were reset to 0 at the start of Epoch 12.

Learn more about the trading rewards program in our documentation, or our recent blog posts.

Liquidity Provider Rewards

1,150,685 $DYDX were earned over the course of Epoch 11 and will be distributed to 47 market makers based on a formula rewarding a combination of uptime, two-sided depth, bid-ask spreads, $stkDYDX, and the number of markets supported.

In Epoch 11, there were 47 addresses in total eligible for LP rewards. The following chart displays the rewards distribution by market maker over the course of the epoch:

Source: Liquidity Provider Rewards Dashboard

The Foundation Metrics Page has maker volume charts to see which addresses did >=0.25% of maker volume in a given epoch.

50 addresses (37 existing and 13 new) did more than =>0.25% of maker volume in Epoch 11, and thus are eligible to participate in the LP rewards program in Epoch 12.

As an input to the Liquidity Provider Rewards calculation, market maker’s uptime, two-sided depth, bid-ask spreads, $stkDYDX, and the number of markets supported are reset to 0 at the start of Epoch 11. New market makers providing >=0.25% of maker volume in Epoch 11 will be eligible to join the pool in Epoch 12.

In Epoch 9, the community almost unanimously voted in support of updating the LP rewards formula. As a result, the formula now includes volume at a parameter weight of 0.45 and a reduction of the parameter weighting of $stkDYDX and depth/spread to s = 0.2 and d = 0.35, respectively. Learn more about the trading rewards program in our documentation, or our recent blog post.

Liquidity Staking Pool

$152M $USDC was staked to the pool over the course of Epoch 11 from 615 users. 383,562 $DYDX were earned over the course of Epoch 11 and distributed pro-rata every second to stakers.

$USDC staked by address at the end of the epoch is as follows:

Source: https://etherscan.io/address/0x5aa653a076c1dbb47cec8c1b4d152444cad91941

83 users requested to withdraw before the Blackout Period in Epoch 11. These inactive $USDC funds can now be withdrawn and are no longer earning $DYDX rewards. Users must request to withdraw their funds before the Epoch 11 Blackout Window (last 2 weeks of the epoch) to withdraw their funds starting in Epoch 12.  On July 6, the Snapshot poll to wind down the borrowing poll concluded with the community voting almost unanimously in support of (1) turning off rewards generated by staking $USDC to the Liquidity Staking Pool, (2) removing the deposit functionality for the Liquidity Staking Pool from https://dydx.community/dashboard, and (3) sending the remaining rewards (383, 562 $DYDX per epoch) allocated to users who stake $USDC to the Community Treasury. The full implementation of the proposal requires an on-chain vote.

4 market makers borrowed $38M $USDC from the staking pool. The maximum amount borrowed by a market maker was just over $22M $USDC. These borrowed funds are used to increase liquidity on the dYdX platform.

Source:Dune

Learn more about the liquidity provider rewards program in our documentation, or our blog post.

Safety Staking Pool

34.5M $DYDX was staked to the pool over the course of Epoch 11 from 3,066 users. 383,562 $DYDX were earned over the course of the epoch and distributed pro-rata every second to stakers. The top 2 stakers account for over 30% of staked $DYDX.

$DYDX staked by address at the end of the epoch is as follows:

Source: Etherscan

At the beginning of Epoch 4, there was strong community backlash against large investors staking their locked tokens in the Safety Module. In the event of a shortfall, $DYDX staked to the Safety Module could be slashed. As a result, investors would be in default of their obligations and would be required to purchase an equivalent amount of $DYDX. While investors are technically permitted to stake their locked tokens, the dYdX Foundation requested for investors to not stake their locked $DYDX and to withdraw any $DYDX currently staked. Several large investors unstaked their $DYDX. Investors are required to comply with the transfer restrictions enforced through contractual agreements with the dYdX Foundation. The dYdX Foundation will continue to monitor investor wallet addresses and work with larger investors to ensure competitive returns from the Safety Staking Pool.

366 users requested to withdraw before the Blackout Period in Epoch 11. These inactive $DYDX funds can now be withdrawn and are no longer earning $DYDX rewards. Users must request to withdraw their funds before the Epoch 11 Blackout Window (last 2 weeks of the epoch) to withdraw their funds starting in Epoch 12.

Learn more about the safety staking pool in our documentation, or our blog post.

Community Treasury

Approximately 766,703 $DYDX vested in the Community Treasury over the course of Epoch 11. The Community Treasury now holds 33,891,239 vested $DYDX tokens.

In Epoch 5, Reverie officially launched the DGP with 752,000 $DYDX transferred from the Community Treasury to the Grants Committee multi-sig. Read more about the DGP below.

Learn more about the community treasury in our documentation.

What’s Next?

Epoch 11 has ended.

Welcome to Epoch 12! Epoch 12 started automatically on July 5 at 15:00 UTC and will end on August 2 at 15:00 UTC.

Epoch 11 ended on July 5 at 15:00 UTC. Epoch 11 rewards will be claimable here on June 12, at 20:14 UTC (7 days after the end of the epoch plus a 5 hour delay). Once tokens have been claimed, they can be transferred, staked to the Safety module, or delegated to dYdX governance.

Circulating supply

11.86% of the total $DYDX supply (excluding unearned Retroactive Rewards transferred to the Treasury and the $DYDX vested in the Community Treasury) is considered liquid at the end of Epoch 11. These earned $DYDX tokens can be claimed in perpetuity.

Claim your $DYDX rewards

The Merkle root was proposed on-chain on July 5 at 20:14 UTC and the 7-day waiting period has begun. Epoch 11 rewards will be claimable here on July 12, at 20:14 UTC (7 days after the end of the epoch plus a 5 hour delay). Once tokens have been claimed, they can be transferred, staked to the Safety module, or delegated to dYdX governance.

The Merkle tree data, which is a list of (address, reward) pairs, is available here.

Under the hood, the Merkle Distributor smart contract (0x01d3348601968aB85b4bb028979006eac235a588) will distribute $DYDX token rewards according to a Merkle tree of balances. The tree will be updated at the end of each epoch with each user's cumulative reward balance. An update is performed by setting the proposed Merkle root to the latest value returned by the oracle contract. The proposed Merkle root can be made active after a waiting period has elapsed. During the waiting period, dYdX Governance can freeze the Merkle root, in case the proposed root is incorrect or malicious. Root updates can be unpaused by a ShortTimelockExecutor.

Governance Forums

Snapshot Poll - Wind down the Borrowing Pool? - In Progress

On July 3, Sixtant creates a Snapshot poll to wind down the borrowing pool. Sixtant proposed (1) turning off rewards generated by staking $USDC to the Liquidity Staking Pool, (2) removing the deposit functionality for the Liquidity Staking Pool from https://dydx.community/dashboard, and (3) sending the remaining rewards (383, 562 $DYDX per epoch) allocated to users who stake $USDC to the Community Treasury.

The poll ended on July 7, with nearly unanimous support from the dYdX community to wind down the borrowing pool (17M $DYDX / $stkDYDX (99.98%) from 580 voters (91.77%)).

The following reasons were provided for winding down the borrowing pool (1) the dYdX community is paying $DYDX rewards for under-utilized $USDC capital, (2) prospective borrowers provided inadequate disclosure, and (3) the structure of the borrowing pool negatively impacts competition among LPs.

Note, turning off rewards for staking $USDC to the Liquidity Staking Pool and sending the remaining rewards allocated to users who stake $USDC to the Community Treasury are changes that require an on-chain vote. The subject matter of the on-chain proposal will fall under the requirements of the Short Timelock.

Snapshot Poll - Adding 15 New Assets to the Starkware Priority Timelock Executor -  In Progress

On June 18, the Snapshot poll to add 10 new assets to the dYdX exchange was created by Reverie. This is a follow up to the previous proposal to add 5 assets. The 15 assets proposed are APE, GMT, FTM, AXS, OP, WAVES, GALA, SAND, MANA, 1000SHIB, THETA, RSR, ZIL, VET, and ENS. These assets can be reviewed using the Asset Scoring Tool created by Chaos Labs.

The poll ended on June 22, and the dYdX community almost unanimously supported adding the assets (13M $DYDX / $stkDYDX (100.0%) from 279 voters (98.9%)).

Below, we outline the steps for adding new assets to dYdX:

1. dYdX community members post about the new asset they want to be listed.
2. The Asset is listed on the Asset Scoring Tool.
3. New Asset Listing Group creates a proposed list of new assets and gets additional feedback from community members and market makers.
4. Snapshot vote is created to confirm support for adding all of the new assets.
5. If the Snapshot vote passes, the group will proceed with a proposal to be voted on-chain by the community.
6. dYdX Trading will announce when new assets are open for trading.  

Adding new assets to the dYdX exchange requires an on-chain vote and falls under the requirements of the Starkware Executor. Starkware Executor: 5M $DYDX to create the DIP, 20M $DYDX minimum quorum, and 5M $DYDX minimum vote differential.

DRC: dYdX Grants V1.5

On June 30, dYdX Foundation hosted an AMA with Reverie about V1.5 of the dYdX Grants Program (“DGP”).

On July 1, Reverie updated the budget for dYdX Grants Program (“DGP”) V1.5. The updated budget is for ~$5.5M in $DYDX from the Community Treasury to continue DGP operations until V4. DGP V1.5 aims to focus on fundamental categories that the dYdX community will need to manage in V4 which includes asset listing, risk, international marketing and growth, and analytics.

DGP V1.5 will continue the efforts of DGP V1.0, but in a higher-impact and more targeted manner. This will be achieved by doubling-down on the highest impact grantees and expanding the overall scope of the program to tackle additional funding categories.

In response to a DRC posted by mxdydx.eth to increase the accountability and transparency of the DGP, Reverie posted an expanded overview of the criteria and questions used by the DGP to assess applications.

dYdX Foundation Values and dYdX Ecosystem Values

On July 8, dYdX Foundation announced the adoption of the dYdX Company Values and started a discussion about the dYdX ecosystem adopting the same values. The alignment of the dYdX ecosystem with a common set of community values may be necessary to, among other things: (1) guide discussions and provide an efficient decision-making framework, (2) track and measure performance and maximize impact, and (3) in general, ensure that all dYdX community members and efforts are moving in the same direction.

The dYdX community should review the values and discuss what values should be adopted across the dYdX DAO:

• Think 10x bigger - We challenge ourselves to think 10x bigger. We focus on what we could achieve, rather than trying to protect what we have. We are long term focused, and realize our goals will likely take years to achieve. We make bold decisions, and accept that we will likely not entirely achieve our goals. We are motivated by the chance that we do.
• A players only - We only hire world class talent. We do not hire if we have not yet found an A player for a role. We consider an A player to be someone who is top of their field, has high integrity, and whom we genuinely like. We heavily invest in developing employees and retaining top performers.
• Act like a founder - We take ultimate responsibility for our areas of focus. We act as owners, and always push for what we each think is best for dYdX. We take initiative to champion value-add initiatives even when we are not directly told to do so. We assume authority. We think from first principles and empower ourselves to be great decision makers.
• Ruthlessly prioritize impact - We exclusively focus on driving exponential outcomes for dYdX. We ruthlessly prioritize and continuously ensure we are working on the highest value tasks. We are not distracted by things that do not drive us towards our goal.
• Decentralize through transparency - We believe that in order to decentralize ownership, decision making, and execution we must empower our teammates and the community with knowledge. We default to sharing as openly as we can, and prioritize clear and concise communication. We are honest and prioritize speaking plainly over sugar coating our messaging.
• Move fast - We believe that in almost all instances, fast is better than slow. We believe progress is exponential, and moving faster increases our exponent. We prioritize moving fast over always being right.

After community feedback, a Snapshot vote will be created to determine the values that will be adopted across the dYdX community. Adopting a common set of values across the dydX ecosystem does not require an on-chain vote and the Snapshot vote will be governed by the Minimum Requirements for Binding Snapshot Polls.

Other active governance discussion threads

Wchood created a thread to increase the position limits of the BTC perpetual contract by 2.5x to 425 contracts and the ETH perpetual contracts by 2.5x to 7,050 contracts.

B12A1N created a thread exploring V4 trading fees and utility for $stkDYDX and Hedgies.

DGP Update

In Epoch 5, Reverie officially launched the DGP with 752,000 $DYDX transferred from the Community Treasury to the Grants Committee multi-sig. The Grants Committee, consisting of 8 committee members committed to dYdX community growth, managed a multi-sig to fund RFPs. So far, the DGP has released 11 rounds of grant approvals (62 grants) with over $2M in pledged funding. On May 12, the DGP announced that approvals are currently paused because of the recent downturn in the market. The DGP plans to preserve the remaining capital for existing commitments with grantees. You can view the full list of completed grants here.

On July 1, Reverie updated the budget for dYdX Grants Program (“DGP”) V1.5.Even though new approvals are currently paused, applications will remain open and you may reach out to Reverie to discuss future grants. Reach out and read more about the DGP here.

Delegation

On February 11, dYdX Foundation posted an open call for Endorsed Delegates. As we move towards V4, Endorsed Delegates are needed to help ensure community-led growth, development, and the self-sustainability of the dYdX protocol.

If you hold $DYDX and/or $stkDYDX but have no time to review proposals, gas is too expensive to vote, or you don't have enough information about potential delegates, consider delegating the proposing power and/or voting power of your $DYDX and/or $stkDYDX to one of the Endorsed Delegates:

• Blockchain at UCLA,
• Blockchain at Michigan,
• Mx,
• WOO DAO,
• Blockchain at Columbia,
• Xenophon Labs,
• Dartmouth Blockchain,
• Blockchain at Berkeley,
• BoilerBlockchain at Purdue University,
• LeMayMay, and
• Alucard.eth.

If you’re interested in delegating the voting power and proposing power of your $DYDX or you want to become an Endorsed Delegate please follow the instructions here.

Hedgies Allocation

dYdX Foundation purchased 205 Hedgies to promote the growth of the dYdX protocol and governance. On February 14, dYdX Foundation posted a list of potential actions that may result in dYdX community members being rewarded with Hedgies.

We are happy to announce that 15 Hedgies have found new homes with dYdX community members! Below, we announce the recipients and the reasons why they were chosen.

• Bargu#6268 - Bargu has been a proponent of dYdX and a helpful community member to new users. He has created a dYdX Medium and Twitter helping with various initiatives.
• Raho#2007 - Actively providing feedback and experience for all things governance related. Raho provides tangible value from his experiences at Rabbithole and Messari.
• annalovescats#5224 - For completing the first governance bounty and positively contributing to the dYdX ecosystem.
• Hugh (Commonwealth) - For initiating and contributing to thorough discussions on Commonwealth for the betterment of the protocol.
• 0xCLR - For contributing with thoughtful discussions on governance.
• Callen - For contributing with thoughtful discussions on governance.
• Richiebonilla.eth - For supporting Ambassadors in the clarity-embassy and providing insights and support on product feedback.
• Nascor#8103 - For upholding good governance and taking the initiative in applying for grants committee position.
• Chrizzo#9198 - For completing a thorough token holder questionnaire response.
• ChriX#1927 - For completing a thorough token holder questionnaire response.
• Amplify#1634 - For completing a thorough token holder questionnaire response.
• Anil2ec4#1684 - For being active in the dYdX Turkey community, providing feedback, support and guidance to new and prospective dYdX community members.
• Alucard.eth - For being nominated by the community for his efforts to uphold and build the dYdX community, Ambassador Program and multiple other impactful initiatives for dYdX.
• Espacio Cripto - For providing an extremely in-depth analysis of their grant impact.
• Ax07 - For starting discussions about Hedgies utility after V4.

Want to get your hands on one of the dYdX Foundation’s 150 perpetual-loving quill balls? Easy. Get active in Governance!

Ambassador Program

On April 16, dYdX Foundation announced the Ambassador Program. Season 1 started on June 1. An update from each Burrow is provided below:

Analytics Burrow

So far in Season 1, the Analytics Burrow has completed or is working on the following initiatives:

• Built a unified Dune dashboard for dYdX, setting a standard for the protocol and ecosystem (https://dune.com/dydxanalytics/dydx-unified-dashboard). Though many dashboards and queries existed for dYdX there wasn’t a single dashboard that covered the entire protocol. The dashboard is under the official dYdX Analytics branding which creates a trusted HQ for dYdX on Dune.
• Building (at MVP stage) a unified analytics dashboard website with a highly reactive and functional UX. The Analytics Burrow is aiming to launch publicly in 2-4 weeks and intends to set an industry standard for how in-house analytics dashboards look and function.
• Operational adjustments: closing job openings (sufficient talent as is which includes some early Season 1 hires), optimizing bounty programs to increase the quality of work while decreasing costs, increasing cross-burrow collaboration to extract maximum talent value from the working groups, and implementing feedback from the core dYdX team to improve processes.
• Creating surveys to establish the relationship between $DYDX holders and voters, deliver education and insights about internal DAO performance metrics, and external on-chain performance metrics.

dYdX community members can learn more about the Analytics Burrow here.

Ambassadors

• Starkwhale
• Mackay
• Dmitry

Governance Burrow

So far in Season 1, the Governance Burrow has completed or is working on the following initiatives:

• Governance research around Venomics, xmodel and the Cosmos ecosystem,
• DRC: Grants Committee Accountability & Transparency - We are very pleased to see the active discussion on Commonwealth and count this as a big win for the burrow,
• Lens Protocol collaboration,
• Research work around staking and voting systems,
• Governance Education Twitter series,
• Internal documents: Governance Handbook & Governance Burrow Onboarding,
• Meet the delegate series (ongoing),
• Governance Bounty Program operation in Wonderverse (and POAPs) (ongoing),
• Research around Cosmos Ecosystem (ongoing),
• Framework for new markets suggestions in the forums (ongoing),
• Bounty program - fully ported to Wonder and working on a set of parameters to refine the program and prepare to scale it (ongoing),
• Improving the governance process (ongoing),
• Increasing governance participation (ongoing),
• Creating internal procedures and frameworks to standardize work in the Burrow (ongoing), and
• Research and education on Cosmos Ecosystem (ongoing).

Ambassadors

• Mx
• NTInc
• AndyGG

Media, Content & Marketing Burrow

So far in Season 1, the Media, Content and Marketing Burrow has completed or is working on the following initiatives:

• building the dYdX Ambassador website to promote the Ambassador Program as an industry-leading program within the crypto space,
• created promotional videos (Ambassador program season 1 launch & dYdX exchange promo video),
• development of dYdX media brand kit,
• created and updating a community tooling doc for DGP deliverables,
• created and updating a point of reference for dYdX Resources,
• started DeFi acronyms series on Twitter,
• created various banners for other burrows & community events,
• created an affiliate doc,
• created a task manager and media request database in Notion,
• provided feedback and insights on various community deliverables,
• created promotional videos for dYdX Foundation and Ambassador Program,
• posted a job description for a professional video creator,
• created an audio visualizer template for talks, AMAs, podcasts, etc., and
• created POAPs for all dYdX community events to increase engagement.

Ambassadors

• Mirrash
• James S
• Alexios

Risk Analysis Burrow

So far in Season 1, efforts from the Risk Analysis Burrow have focused on the following:

• Bounty Programs - A lot of focus is on the asset explorer and market commentary. We are encouraged by the amount of dYdX community feedback we have received for both initiatives. Moving forward, we aim to improve the bounty system across burrows.  
• Risk Report - Collation of ongoing proposals disseminated to the community to stimulate risk-related discussions.
• Exploring non-USD collateral options for dYdX - Shared a short write up on the collateral options for dYdX ecosystem: https://forums.dydx.community/discussion/5948-exploring-collateral-options-on-dydx.
• Ongoing research - Comparing CEX vs dYdX to understand maker volume distributions to reevaluate the rewards parameters.

Ambassadors

• 0xCChan
• Jakob.Phsyiker

Student Burrow

So far in Season 1, the Student Burrow has completed or is working on the following initiatives:

• consulted with other college students who have experience organizing web3/DeFi events and created budget proposals and plans for Fall 2022 dYdX collegiate events,
• contacted numerous groups who could become involved with the dYdX community (Endorsed Delegates, Ambassadors, etc.),
• conversations with crypto college groups to understand how college blockchain clubs operate in terms of delegation. Exploring how college groups can get involved in governance in V4.
• drafted two articles, one introducing dYdX and the need for collegiate talent in the fully decentralized V4, and the other about discussing the benefits of partaking in one of dYdX's grants programs and conducting independent projects in crypto vs. partaking in traditional on-campus jobs or research, and
• helped organize the dYdX event at Consensus.

Ambassadors

• Zaid
• Felix

User Onboarding and Education Burrow

In Season 1, the UO&E Burrow prioritized the following initiatives:

• international growth of the dYdX protocol through multilingual educational onramps,
• educational onboarding through resource organization and indexing (creation of the dYdX Academy & dYdX DAO info pages),
• community engagement through events, activities & bounties (increasing awareness and knowledge about dYdX), and
• market research to pinpoint opportunities for improving onboarding processes as well as gauge the industry standard for UO&E across crypto exchanges.

To take advantage of these opportunities, the UO&E Burrow has focused most of its efforts on the following initiatives:

• Community Engagement through Bounties – As part of its efforts to make the dYdX Academy and other dYdX DAO info pages more accessible, the Burrow shared language translation bounties with the dYdX community. Overall, the UO&E Burrow was encouraged by the number of responses and translated information pages into 15 different languages. Over the course of Season 1, the  UO&E Burrow will continue translation efforts to stimulate international growth of the dYdX protocol. Many community members were interested in helping with translation work, and the UO&E Burrow plans to continue to utilize the community talent pool to assist with creating a more accessible and user-friendly onboarding experience! If you’re interested in helping with translation work (and have a knack for languages/translations) please reach out to one of the UO&E Burrow Ambassadors.
• Creating Indexes and Resources – The aim of dYdX Academy and other info pages is to provide dYdX users with organized and comprehensive knowledge about the dYdX ecosystem. The creation and maintenance of an organized index will assist all users of dYdX with onboarding and education.
• SEO analysis – Both the dYdX DAO info and dYdX Academy info pages are highly ranked on SEO for Google. The UO&E Burrow believes this demonstrates the measurable/data-driven impact of its educational efforts.
• IRL & Digital Events -  Events are key to bring the community together. The UO&E Burrow planned an IRL activity at Consensus in June, and are currently developing dYdX Thinkific courses, quizzes, and are also planning to host masterclasses for the community on topics of their choice. dYdX community members who have ideas or comments should reach out to the UO&E Ambassadors.
• Raising Educational Awareness about governance - With the dYdX protocol moving towards full decentralization in V4, it’s extremely important to provide educational resources to community members so they can learn more about how governance works and the different components of the dYdX DAO. In light of this, the UO&E Burrow created an Endorsed Delegates directory and is planning community initiatives/campaigns to encourage community participation in the Endorsed Delegates program. Stay tuned as the UO&E Burrow releases more information about its upcoming campaign! POAPs and other prizes may be awarded.

Ambassadors

• Alucard
• Upload
• Gabbie

Please reach out to any of the Ambassadors, if you have any questions, thoughts, or want to chat! An overview of the key deliverables from each Burrow is linked here. Follow weekly updates on Commonwealth to learn more about what the Ambassadors are working on. The Burrows are collaborating on a monthly newsletter which should answer any questions and close any gaps in communication. Additionally, everyone is encouraged to check out @dYdXAmbasadors on Twitter.

dYdX Trading Updates

Legends Competition

On July 6, dYdX Trading Inc. announced the first Legends Competition – a trading competition for crypto influencers to compete against one another for cash prizes and bragging rights! Check out the Twitter Spaces that dYdX Trading hosted with the participants here.

Each competitor will start with $2,500 $USDC on July 6 (14:00 UTC). On July 13, contestants with the best percentage PNL ranking will be awarded (1) $30,000 $USDC + 1 Hedgie, (2) 15,000 $USDC + 1 Hedige, and (3) $5,000 $USDC + 1 Hedgie.

dYdX Chain

On June 22, dYdX Trading Inc. announced dYdX V4 - the dYdX Chain. dYdX V4 marks the full decentralization of the dYdX protocol and will be developed as a standalone blockchain based on Tendermint consensus and Cosmos SDK.

The fundamental problem with every L1 or L2 that dYdX V4 could have been built on is that none can handle even close to the throughput needed to run a first-class orderbook and matching engine. Cosmos was selected because it offers high throughput, no trading gas fees, decentralization, and customizability.

dYdX Trading Inc. plans to open source V4 by the end of 2022. In the meantime, read the FAQs included in the announcement, trade on dYdX, participate in discussion on Discord and Commonwealth, follow @dydxfoundation and @dYdX on Twitter, and stay tuned for more V4 announcements.

dYdX Company Values

On June 13, Antonio, CEO and Founder of dYdX Trading Inc., publicly released the dYdX Company Values. The values will be used to (1) inform decision making, (2) guide hiring decisions and performance management, and (3) help the dYdX Trading Inc. team move in the same direction as it scales.

Make sure to read the FAQs, the dYdX Foundation’s announcement to adopt the values, and the community discussion about defining values for the dYdX ecosystem.

Affiliate Program

On May 27th, dYdX Trading Inc. announcedthe self service affiliate program. The program enables all dYdX users to spread the word about dYdX and earn in the process. Those who use affiliate links to onboard new users to the exchange will receive ongoing payments based on trading fees generated while new traders onboarded will earn a discount of 5% on trading fees.

Hedgies

On January 26th, dYdX Trading Inc. announced the Hedgies, a 4,200-piece collection of NFTs. 2,443 Hedgies were included in the Initial Distribution. Over the next two years, the remaining Hedgies will be distributed by dYdX Trading Inc. as rewards for top-performing traders in Trading Leagues. In terms of utility, holding a Hedgie results in a one-tier increase in the fee tier discount on the dYdX protocol. Explore the Hedgies on hedgies.wtf or OpenSea and follow the Hedgies on Twitter, @HedgiesOfficial.

Trading Leagues

On January 25th, dYdX announced Trading Leagues, a first of its kind product that enhances the trading experience and rewards traders with weekly prizes. Trading Leagues is a new type of competition structure that rewards elevated performance on a consistent basis. There are 5 leagues: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. All traders will start in the Bronze League and work their way up each week, based on performance. In addition to bragging rights, traders can compete head-to-head for top spots, Hedgies, and even cash ($USDC) prizes. If you want more information about Trading Leagues, check out the FAQ here.

New Features

• Max bid update! You can trade up to 10,000 ETH and 500 BTC on dYdX. Read more about it here.
• Stop Market and Take Profit Market orders are live on dYdX (web). Triggers for stops are updated to improve reliability. Read more about it here.
• The governance burrow created the mid-epoch governance review, an initiative to summarize all things governance related for the Epoch. Read the review here.
• Integration with TradingView. Reach the announcement here.
• On June 20, the dYdX academy released a new video about limit orders on dYdX. Watch the video here.
• Want to transfer $USDC between accounts without paying gas fees? Read more about the create_transfer API here.
• Gasless deposits are live. The minimum threshold is $500 USDC for your first deposit and $1,000 USDC for subsequent deposits. Read more about it here.
• Want to practice your trades with no risk? Head here and practice today!
• To increase responsiveness about language and localization issues, dYdX Trading Inc. and dYdX Foundation created the 🌎#┃issue-reporting channel on Discord.
• Bridging from Arbitrum to dYdX is now live! Read more about it here.
• Check out Hedgie Displays - animated derivative NFTs to be used for physical video displays by only the owner of the respective Hedgies NFT.

Social

• On June 10, dYdX Foundation released a token holder questionnaire to gain greater insight into the relationship and overlap between $DYDX holders and traders. The questionnaire ended on June 24, and 3 respondents were rewarded with Hedgies for providing in-depth responses.
• On June 13, the dYdX Foundation hosted a discussion on Discord regarding general updates, current governance proposals, and an Epoch 10 review. The discussion was followed by a community hangout and AMA. The transcript for the Epoch 10 Review & Discord AMA is available here.
• On June 15, dYdX Trading launched the ‘Depth and Spread’ podcast, which focuses on trading, market microstructure, and exchanges. The podcast aims to demystify how professional traders do their job and provide insights that are as actionable and concrete as possible. Listen to episode 1, “Trading through the Terra Crash,” with Sixtant’s founders Mattew Downey and Josu San Martin here.
• On June 22, the ‘Depth & Spread’ podcast released episode 2 on frontier markets, where Ivo, Head of Research at dYdX Trading interviewed Mitchell Dong, CEO of Pythagoras. Listen to the episode here.
• On July 1, Corey, Growth Lead of dYdX Trading Inc., spoke on Cosmos Spaces. Listen to it here.
• On June 15, Token Terminal hosted Corey, Growth Lead of dYdX Trading Inc., on the 15-minute fundamentals podcast. Listen to it here.
• On June 29, Antonio, founder and CEO at dYdX Trading Inc., went on the Bankless podcast to discuss the dYdX V4 - the dYdX Chain announcement. Watch the interview here.  
• The dYdX Foundation released a mid-epoch 11 governance review. Read the tweet thread here and the blog post here.
• On June 30, dYdX Foundation hosted an AMA with Reverie to discuss DGP V1.5. Listen to the AMA here.
• The dYdX Foundation is looking to hire a People Operations Coordinator! See the job posting here.
• The DGP is currently paused, but please reach out if you have an idea for a future grant or any other questions. You can read more about it here or apply here.
• Want to learn more about dYdX, DeFi, and much more? Check out the dYdX Academy and watch for updates at 🎓┃dydx-academy on Discord.
• Looking for more information about the dYdX ecosystem? Check out the dYdX DAO info docs here.
• Make sure you RSVP to the following events: Hedgie Huddle, and the Epoch 11 Review and AMA.