Polygon Expansion - KnPOL Incentive Program (K.I.P)

Development
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Synopsis:
This proposal introduces the “KnPOL Incentive Program (K.I.P)”, a non-binding initiative designed to gauge community interest and encourage early commitment to staking POL for the potential K9 Finance Polygon Liquid Staking product (KnPOL).

Participants who pledge a minimum amount of POL and then stake it on the KnPOL platform upon launch would qualify for a matching POL bonus, with a total program cap of $25,000 POL in bonus rewards overall, contingent on securing external grants. This program aims to provide the DAO with crucial data for KnPOL launch planning and to attract initial liquidity, ensuring transparent communication regarding bonus availability.

Proposal: KnPOL Incentive Program (K.I.P)

(1) Introduction and Objective

The K9 Finance DAO is actively pursuing strategic expansion to new blockchain networks, reinforcing its vision for multi-chain growth and diversified liquid staking solutions. As part of this initiative, the DAO is currently reviewing a liquid staking product for the Polygon network, where users will be able to stake POL tokens and receive KnPOL (K9 Finance’s liquid staking derivative for Polygon’s POL token).

This proposal outlines the “KnPOL Incentive Program (K.I.P)” a program specifically designed to cultivate and measure early community interest in staking POL on this potential forthcoming Polygon product. The primary objective is to gather critical data on potential user adoption and initial liquidity for the KnPOL launch. By offering a matching POL bonus to users who fulfil their pledges, contingent on securing external grant funding, this program aims to bootstrap early momentum, provide actionable insights for launch planning, and attract a foundational layer of liquidity for the KnPOL ecosystem.

(2) Benefits to K9 Finance Community

This program offers several strategic advantages for the K9 Finance community:

• Data-Driven Launch Planning:
The program provides invaluable early data on anticipated user demand for KnPOL staking. This concrete information will empower the DAO to refine its liquidity injection strategies, optimize resource allocation for KnPOL development, and ensure a more efficient and impactful product launch on Polygon.
• Cost-Effective Incentivization:
The program is designed to fund POL bonus rewards primarily through successful external grants secured from the Polygon ecosystem. This approach minimizes direct financial outlays from the K9 Finance DAO’s operational treasury for user incentives, maximizing the efficiency of allocated capital.
• Enhanced Community Engagement & Loyalty:
By involving community members directly in the pre-launch phase of a possible K9 Finance Polygon expansion, the program fosters a deeper sense of participation and ownership. It incentivizes and rewards loyal members who are willing to commit early to supporting new product growth, strengthening overall community ties.
• Accelerated Initial Liquidity:
Encouraging users to pledge and eventually stake their POL for KnPOL directly contributes to establishing a vital base of committed liquidity for the KnPOL product upon its launch. This early liquidity is crucial for the stability and trading efficiency of future KnPOL pairs.
• Strategic Ecosystem Alignment:
This initiative strategically positions K9 Finance as a proactive and innovative leader in the liquid staking space. Expanding into Polygon and demonstrating strong community support enhances K9 Finance’s visibility and appeal to a broader audience of DeFi users, aligning with the DAO’s long-term multi-chain vision as outlined in the “Proposed 2025 K9 Finance Roadmap” (Topic ID 517).

(3) Proposal Details

(a) WHAT: The Program Overview

The “KnPOL Incentive Program (K.I.P)” will operate as follows:

• Nature of Commitment:
This is a “soft commitment” program. Participants are not required to lock their POL tokens during the pledge phase. Their POL remains in their full control until the official KnPOL product launch.
• Pledge Mechanism:
Users will submit a non-binding pledge via a dedicated “POL Pledge Form” on the K9 Finance website/dApp, indicating their intended POL staking amount for the upcoming KnPOL product.
• Pledge Eligibility & Minimum:
Any POL held by the user is eligible for pledging. A minimum pledge of 250 POL is required per participant to qualify for the program’s incentives. There is no maximum pledge amount per user.
• Incentive Structure:
Participants who successfully fulfil their pledge by staking the committed amount of POL on the official KnPOL product upon its launch will receive a matching bonus in POL tokens. The POL bonus will be equivalent to the USD value of the POL pledged and successfully staked by the participant.
• Bonus Cap:
A total program cap of $25,000 USD equivalent in POL will apply to the bonus rewards disbursed by the DAO across all qualifying participants based on a first come first serve basis. This means that once the total value of awarded bonuses reaches this cap, no further POL bonuses will be distributed for this program.
• Qualification Fulfilment:
To qualify for the POL bonus, users must actively stake the full amount of POL they pledged (more can be staked but only the figure pledged will receive the bonus) on the KnPOL product once it becomes officially available on the Polygon network. Failure to provide the pledged POL for staking at the time of the KnPOL launch will result in the forfeiture of the POL bonus.
• Intended Use of Bonus:
The bonus POL awarded is intended to encourage recipients to further utilize it by creating liquidity pairs for farming (e.g., KnPOL/POL liquidity pools) within the Polygon DeFi ecosystem, thereby contributing directly to KnPOL’s market depth.
• Success Threshold:
The program aims for a total pledged amount that matches or exceeds the anticipated KnPOL liquidity seed provision (e.g., $20,000 USD equivalent in POL), signalling robust community interest and providing confidence for the KnPOL launch.

(b) WHO: Stakeholders Involved

• K9 Finance DAO:
Holds ultimate governance and strategic oversight of the program. Makes final decisions regarding the KnPOL launch.
• K9 Marketing Sub-DAO:
Responsible for the comprehensive design and execution of promotional campaigns for the “KnPOL Incentive Program (K.I.P)” to maximize community awareness, engagement, and participation. This aligns with their mandate as established in “Establishment of K9 Marketing DAO Sub-DAO” (Topic ID 401).
• K9 Development Team:
Responsible for the technical implementation of the “Pledge Form,” secure data collection, verification of fulfilled pledges against on-chain staking data, and the automated distribution of POL bonus rewards.
• Polygon Ecosystem (Potential Partners):
Key external parties to engage with for potential grants of POL tokens, which are the intended source of the program’s bonus rewards.
• POL Holders / K9 Community:
The primary participants in the program. These users benefit from potential POL rewards and contribute significantly to the future success and liquidity of the KnPOL product.

(c) WHERE: Platform & Location

• Pledge Form:
The “Pledge Form” will be hosted prominently on the official K9 Finance website or integrated directly within the K9 Finance dApp.
• Staking & Bonus Distribution:
The subsequent staking of POL (and receipt of KnPOL) will occur on the Polygon network through the official K9 Finance KnPOL liquid staking product. All POL bonus distributions will also take place on the Polygon network.

(d) WHEN: Timeline & Key Dates
• Pledge Program Start:
The “Pledge Form” will be made available to the community once this proposal is approved and the K9 Quest Airdrop is completed, allowing for clear focus. The exact start date and duration (e.g., 6-8 weeks) will be announced by the K9 Marketing Sub-DAO.
• POL Grant Assessment:
The DAO’s ongoing efforts to secure POL grants from the Polygon ecosystem will continue, with a significant assessment milestone anticipated around November 30th (as previously discussed in the Polygon Feasibility Study).
• KnPOL Launch Contingency:
If the DAO decides to pause or not proceed with the Polygon expansion (e.g., due to insufficient grant funding, unfavourable feasibility study outcomes, or other strategic factors) prior to the KnPOL product launch, the non-binding nature of the pledges means no POL would have been moved or locked by participants. In such a scenario, the “KnPOL Incentive Program (K.I.P)” POL bonus component would simply not activate, and participants would retain full, uninterrupted control of their pledged POL.
• POL Bonus Distribution:
The POL bonus will be automatically sent to qualifying participants upon their successful staking of the pledged POL amount on the official KnPOL product post-launch. Specific distribution triggers and timelines will be communicated by the DAO once the KnPOL launch is confirmed. Bonuses will be distributed in order of successful pledge fulfilment until the overall $25,000 POL program cap is reached.

(e) HOW: Resources & Execution Plan

• Pledge Form Development:
The K9 Development Team will design, implement, and maintain a secure, user-friendly “Pledge Form” on the K9 Finance website/dApp. This will primarily involve web interface development and secure backend data collection.
• Data Management:
Pledged POL amounts and corresponding wallet addresses will be securely recorded and managed by the K9 Development Team. This data will be crucial for verifying pledge fulfilment upon KnPOL launch.
• Grant Pursuit:
The Management Council will actively engage with key stakeholders within the Polygon ecosystem to pursue grants for POL tokens. This is the sole intended source of the POL bonus rewards.
• Marketing & Communication:
The K9 Marketing Sub-DAO will launch a comprehensive campaign to promote the “KnPOL Incentive Program (K.I.P)”. This campaign will transparently communicate all program details, including the non-binding nature of pledges, the contingency on external POL grant funding, the overall program cap, and the process for qualification.
• Pledge Fulfilment Verification:
Upon KnPOL product launch, the K9 Development Team will implement a robust process to verify that participants have staked their pledged POL amounts by cross-referencing pledge data with on-chain KnPOL staking records.
• POL Bonus Distribution:
Upon successful verification of a pledge fulfilment, an automated smart contract mechanism will be developed by the K9 Development Team to send the calculated POL bonus rewards directly to the qualifying participant’s wallet on the Polygon network. This distribution will cease once the cumulative total of awarded POL bonuses reaches the $25,000 program cap. If the automated smart contract is too costly, the development team has the right to oversee the distribution of the reward bonuses manually by following the Pledge form entry in sign up order.

(4) Impact Assessment

• Short-Term Impacts:
• Generates immediate community excitement and demonstrable interest for K9 Finance’s upcoming Polygon expansion.
• Provides critical, real-time data on potential user adoption for the forthcoming KnPOL product, aiding precise launch planning.
• Initiates a low-cost (for incentives, pending grants) marketing and community-building effort around multi-chain growth.
• Requires a manageable allocation of the K9 Development Team’s resources for pledge form creation and data management.

• Long-Term Impacts:
• Significantly influences and potentially strengthens the strategic decision-making process for the full launch of KnPOL on Polygon, as it provides tangible evidence of community support.
• Contributes to a potentially more robust and liquid launch of the KnPOL product by pre-identifying and incentivizing a core group of early stakers.
• Enhances K9 Finance’s reputation as an innovative and community-centric DAO that actively involves its members in strategic initiatives.
• Supports the long-term vision of K9 Finance as a leading multi-chain liquid staking provider, poised to increase overall Total Value Locked (TVL) across ecosystems and expand its global user base.

• Risks and Mitigation:
• Risk:
POL Grant Not Secured / Insufficient Grant Funding: The most significant risk is that anticipated POL grants from the Polygon ecosystem may not be secured or may be insufficient to cover all potential qualified bonuses up to the program cap.
• Mitigation:
The proposal explicitly states that the POL bonus is contingent upon successful external grant funding. This crucial condition, along with the overall $25,000 POL program cap, will be transparently communicated to all potential participants upfront in all program materials. If sufficient grants are not secured or the cap is reached, the POL bonus portion of the program will not activate or will cease, and the DAO will incur no direct financial liability for unfunded bonuses.
• Risk:
Soft Pledges Not Honored: Participants may submit pledges but fail to stake the corresponding POL amount when the KnPOL product launches.
• Mitigation:
The program is inherently designed as a “soft commitment,” meaning participants retain full control of their POL. The POL bonus is only rewarded after successful fulfillment of the pledge by actual staking. This design protects the DAO from disbursing unearned rewards.
• Risk:
Polygon Expansion Canceled: The DAO may ultimately decide not to launch KnPOL on Polygon based on the feasibility study findings or other strategic considerations.
• Mitigation:
Since it is a “soft commitment,” participants’ POL is never locked by this program. If the expansion is canceled, participants retain their POL with no loss incurred due to their pledge, ensuring no direct financial impact on users from the program itself.
• Risk:
Community Disappointment: Users might feel disappointed if the POL bonus is not activated due to a lack of grants, the cap being reached, or if the expansion is canceled.
• Mitigation:
Clear, consistent, and proactive communication about all program contingencies, including the external grant dependency and the overall bonus cap, is paramount. Setting realistic expectations from the outset will help manage community sentiment.

• Metrics for Success:

• Number of Unique Pledges:
Track the total count of unique wallet addresses submitting pledges.
• Total POL Pledged (USD Value & Quantity):
Monitor the aggregate amount of POL tokens committed by the community. A target of $10,000 USD equivalent in POL pledges ($20,000 once paired with KnPOL) would signal strong initial success.
• Pledge Fulfillment Rate:
After KnPOL launch, measure the percentage of pledged POL that is actually staked on the KnPOL platform by program participants.
• Grant Acquisition:
Successful securing of POL grants from the Polygon ecosystem, measured by the total value of POL received.
• Total POL Bonuses Distributed:
Track the total value of POL disbursed, ensuring it remains within the $25,000 program cap.
• Community Sentiment: Monitor social media and forum discussions for overall positive sentiment and engagement regarding the program and KnPOL expansion.

To finish up, I’ve added a simple poll to help provide community feedback.

  • I am Interested in Pledging to stake KnPOL to receive POL as a Bonus.
  • Currently I would not be looking to stake KnPOL to participate.
0 voters

Thanks for taking the time to read & provide feedback to this proposal.

7 Likes
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Here are some reasons why I think we’re ahead of the horse here:

  • Grants aren’t secured
  • We don’t know how much in grants we can get. $90K is required to move forward with the expansion. Additional funds would only help us make sure to reduce debt in this endeavor.
  • We don’t really know the utilities of this expansion at this time. The research talks about ‘potential’ usages, but we don’t have finalized details on if/how the current Dapp will be updated and function.

Observations:

  • $25K is a low amount for a network with $2B MC and $1B TVL. 1 whale would eat up the $25K easily.
  • I would recommend having a max limit set as a percentage of the total pool for the incentive.

I like the idea, I just think this needs to be revisited after grants have been secured, costs have been analyzed, and development is close to being completed before we can really see if this incentive could become a reality.

Thanks Shelby!

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Good work :clap:

Basically I think the idea is good but I think a bit like @Couch_Adventures

We should talk about it when we have successfully completed the financing of the 90k.

Best regards Shelby

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Working on a reply, but work irl is killing me atm, lol.
Anyhow i like the proposal, but my thought at first glance was that we are very short on time, and… oh hmm did u edit the proposal? iirc I read something about voting and stuff before starting?

EDIT:
Sorry so mixing this up with Karma’s proposal, sorry. Gonna get some sleep, will have better look at these two proposal on Wednesday when i’ll be taking a day off. Need to be read through a few times, at least for me, to understand it all…

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Let’s get the grant first..

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That was what i was talking about, we dont have much time. And it is not something to go somewhere and pick up ~

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Thank you for this detailed proposal, Shelby.

For me there are several topics to consider:

  1. The $25k incentive cost might have to be financed on top of the $90k grant minimum that we potentially looking to raise just to kick-start things.

  2. Having a hard cap of rewards paid on first-come-first-served basis would mean that once the rewards run out people will be much less likely to stake more. This could work if full $25k is not reached. But if it is reached - it might make more sense to use a set deadline for all pledgers to stake and then split the $25k between everyone who qualified. That way we can get way more locked still spending only $25k on rewards.

  3. No staking lock period is mentioned in the proposal. Without a long locking period people can simply stake, cash in on rewards, unstake and unwind their position - getting 2x rewards in a short period of time. Can lead to abuse of the program.

  4. Instead of hard POL bonus sent to participating wallets I would suggest to increase the staking rewards of qualifiers instead (using same $25k budget). That way people will have to stake for long period of time and will be getting extra rewards over time as well - thus making sure there is no sudden shock after the campaign is over.

Of course before making any final decisions point 1 must be clarified as without clear budget prospectives effort developing KIP in more detail might prove futile.

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Well written and thoughtful proposal, but to me, this comes down to the “why”.

The results of the Polygon study were that it only makes sense if there is a grant. It was not recommended to crowd fund from the community. It also seems like this is designed to reward users for pledging POL from the potential grant that K9 would receive, which would likely (in the eyes of the grant issuing body) not go over well, since grants are supposed to be used for development vs rewards to the existing community

If the “why” is to signal the interest in current community members to use the new platform expansion on Polygon, I believe this could be achieved in ways that do not cost development time and budget, such as a poll or a form just circulated in the community.

I also believe it’s important as a community that we understand that much of the research report analyzed the ability for the product to get new users in that ecosystem vs. cater to the existing users, since very few of our current community members use Polygon

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Thanks for your input Couch—it’s spot on that grants aren’t secured yet, and that’s a core contingency built into the program. As outlined in Section 3(e) (Resources & Execution Plan) and Section 4 (Risks and Mitigation), the POL bonus rewards are explicitly funded primarily through external grants from the Polygon ecosystem, with no direct outlay from the DAO’s operational treasury unless grants cover it. This ties into the study’s emphasis on minimizing net cash burn (e.g., the $75k–$150k total initial funding needed, much of which is grant-targeted). The $90k minimum for expansion includes the $20k initial liquidity provisioning for the knPOL-POL pool, which this program directly supports by aiming to match community pledges (up to $25k in bonuses) to create a healthier launch pool of up to $50k (50% community, 50% DAO/grants). If the grants fall short, it could help fund the $20K, by the treasury only needing to commit $10k as the other $10k would come from the community pledges due to this bonus program, this is also while protecting the DAO if $10k if funds was not reached to activate the bonus.

On utilities and dApp updates, the proposal is positioned as a data-gathering tool (Section 2: Benefits) to inform those exact details—providing early adoption insights for refining liquidity strategies and resource allocation before full development ramps up. You’re right that $25k is modest for Polygon’s scale ($2B MC, $1B TVL), but it’s intentionally capped low to focus on bootstrapping foundational liquidity from our loyal community first (Section 3(a): Success Threshold targets matching the $20k seed from the study). A percentage-based max per user is a great suggestion to prevent whale dominance; we could implement something like 10-20% of the total cap per pledge to ensure broader participation. I agree this could be revisited post-grants and closer to development completion, but starting the pledge form now (post-airdrop, per Section 3(d): Timeline) could give us low-cost, real-time data without committing funds upfront.

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Thanks Pit 23,
Appreciate the support for the idea and the alignment with @Couch_Adventures’ view on timing. You’re correct that financing the $90k (including the $20k LP seed from the study) is key, and the proposal is designed around that: the entire K.I.P bonus is contingent on securing those external grants (Section 3(e): Grant Pursuit and Section 4: Risks). No bonuses distribute without them, and the program incurs minimal DAO costs (mostly dev time for a simple pledge form initially). This is aimed at gathering soft-commitment data from our community and could strengthen our grant applications—showing Polygon stakeholders tangible interest (e.g., pledged amounts targeting the $20k seed match) may even bolster our case for funding. Once grants are in hand, we can assess expanding the cap or adding utilities, but this provides actionable insights (Section 2: Data-Driven Launch Planning) without financial risk.

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No worries at all about mixing it up—I know the feeling, finding time to respond properly isn’t always easy while working, most of my input for K9 is done in the early AM hours, so please forgive me it its not always 100%. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts once you have some rest & have time to read everything over. Thanks Seizan :saluting_face:

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Hi Rugg’s,
Thanks for taking the time to read over my Proposal, hopefully the additional information I have provided on the forum gives a better insight to the idea for you.

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Thanks for the detailed breakdown—great questions that help sharpen this. On financing, $20k of this was built into the $90k minimum, but it’s grant-dependent (Section 3(e)) and targets the study’s $20k LP seed specifically. By matching pledges, I could see we could build a $50k pool (community + DAO/grants), or we could potentially ease the overall grant ask (e.g., down to $10k for the seed if community hits $10k in pledges). This minimizes treasury exposure if the bonuses can not be secured by Polygon grants.

The first-come-first-served cap (Section 3(a): Bonus Cap) is meant for simplicity and urgency & this was only aimed for the initial seed pool, other incentive programs could be created to run after separately, but your pro-rata split idea after a deadline is a different view —this could maximize locked POL while staying within budget. We could set a pledge window end (e.g., Nov 30), then verify staking post-launch and distribute proportionally if oversubscribed.

On no lock period: this is a valid concern about abuse (stake, claim, unstake). The proposal encourages using bonuses for liquidity pairs (e.g., KnPOL/POL pools) to build market depth (Section 3(a): Intended Use), but adding a minimum stake duration (e.g., 30-60 days) for bonus eligibility could close that loophole without overcomplicating. Alternatively, your suggestion to boost staking rewards over time (instead of upfront POL) aligns well with long-term engagement (Section 2: Enhanced Community Engagement)—we could pivot to that, drawing from the $20-25k budget to enhance yields for qualifiers, ensuring sustained TVL rather than quick flips.

Clarifying budget prospects (point 1) is key, and this program actually supports that by providing pledge data to demonstrate demand during grant talks. Let’s iterate on these mechanics once grants are clearer. Thanks again for your input No One.

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Hi Buzz,

Appreciate the focus on the “why”. The core “why” (Section 1: Introduction and Objective) is to gauge and bootstrap early interest from our existing K9 community before tapping the larger Polygon ecosystem, providing data-driven insights for launch planning (Section 2). The study emphasized new users, but this program rewards loyal members for early commitment (strengthening ties, per Section 2), while signalling demand to grants issuers—pledges show concrete support without costing dev time beyond a simple form (Section 3(e): low-resource pledge form) I also tried to add into the proposal, if it moved forward & a smart contract was to time consuming or costly, the Dev team had the option of a manual fullback for distributing bonus rewards. Since writing the initial proposal, feedback from both Couch & No One have provided additional interesting ideas to consider.

On grants: absolutely, they’re for development, not just rewards (The study notes grants to cover $75k–$150k, including $20k seed LP). The bonuses would come from the $20K Seed grants, bootstrapping liquidity (targeting a $50-$40k pool via matches) If this could be achieved before going to Polygon-native users, if could help attract them to commit even more to the pool due to this healthy starting point .

A poll/form is a solid alternative, but the incentive adds weight—encouraging fulfilment (forfeit bonus if not staked, Section 3(a)) while tracking real intent via minimum 250 POL (to manage scale, avoiding 1,000s of tiny entries for manual distribution if needed). It provides transparency (public running total on the website/dApp). If grants view it as misaligned, we can adjust, but this positions us as proactive without upfront costs.

Thanks for taking the time to review the proposal & providing your input, hopefully this & the other reply’s I have provided give a better view of the concept for everyone.

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Cong good work my dear friend :fire::fire::fire:

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Updated Proposal Statement

After receiving valuable and insightful feedback, I recognize that while the concept has provided interest based on the voting, the current proposal does not fully align with expectations. In light of this, I will temporarily set aside the proposal for further review.

I will look to incorporate the feedback provided to refine and enhance the proposal, ensuring it better meets the community’s needs with the aim to develop a revised version that can be implemented effectively should the community choose to adopt it in the future.

During this time, please continue to leave any additional feedback you feel could be worthwhile.

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Good idea.Pol like a ready to explode.We must more attention for to pol mainnet.

2 Likes