[1IP-63] The Grand Timeline Grant Proposal

2.1 General Proposals
1

Hello 1inch community! I’m posting my draft proposal here for discussion.

Simple Summary

The Grand Timeline project requests a grant from the 1inch DAO to support the development of a unique educational project that aims to create the first comprehensive visual timeline of blockchain and Web3 history. The project will serve as an engaging and accessible “source of truth” for the crypto community and beyond, helping to attract new people to the Web3 space and drive its mass adoption. The project is the first of its kind, not only for web3 but in general.

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(Zoom in Figma https://www.figma.com/design/pENhenndHyIMwzW2LgKzNd/)

Abstract

The Grand Timeline is a historical research and data visualization project that maps the entire history of blockchains and Web3 on an 8 meter / 26 feet wide static canvas, with plans to develop an interactive version in the future. The project aims to solve the problem of fragmented and difficult-to-access information about the history of Web3 by providing a comprehensive, visually engaging timeline.

The objective is to make complex information about Web3 accessible and engaging for current and potential community members, fostering greater understanding and interest in the space. The funding from 1inch DAO will enable to focus on research, design, and development, bringing the project to completion within the next 10-12 months.

Currently, the timeline has five different layers:

  • People
  • Events
  • Price Highs & Lows
  • Phases
  • Hacks & Scams

They are in various stages of completion, with the most significant work ahead being in the Events layer, which requires extensive research, fact-checking, prioritizing, editing, and design, editing again and review.

Motivation

The crypto and Web3 ecosystem lacks a quick, comprehensive “source of truth” that covers the full history, key players, and significant developments in an easily digestible format. Engaging with the existing content often requires significant time and effort, which can be a barrier to attracting new participants to Web3.

The Grand Timeline addresses this gap by presenting the history of Web3 in a new, visual format that captures attention and engages a broad audience, including those outside the existing crypto community. The visual appeal of the timeline will help demystify the history and development of Web3, sparking curiosity and fostering broader adoption.

“Team” and Background

I’m Igor Stepahin, a product designer and researcher, former head of design at Gelato. The Grand Timeline started as my solo side project three years ago, documenting the entire history of Web3 and crypto. I’ve been working on it on and off, but now I want to focus on it full-time to complete it within a year. As the project grows, I plan to bring on an additional researcher and a frontend developer to support its development and ensure its timely completion.

Current Progress

The current version is called v.0.4, which roughly reflects that the project is halfway through. The project was started 3 years ago as a side project and was developed from time to time.

Now, the Figma project is published and work continues openly
→ https://www.figma.com/design/pENhenndHyIMwzW2LgKzNd/The-Grand-Timeline

Here’s the current progress of different layers of data:
■■■■■□□□□□ People
■■□□□□□□□□ Events
■■■■■■■■■□ Highs & Lows
■■■■■■■■□□ Phases
■■■■■■■□□□ Hacks

“Proof of work”, the time-lapse of all progress over 3 years → https://youtu.be/lkVy6JzlyNY

Project Roadmap (10-12 Months)

  1. Website Update (2 weeks): Improve the existing website (grandtimeline.org) to better explain the project’s goals and progress and a quick compromise solution with a custom Figma embed directly on the website until a full interactive version is available — This has already been completed while the proposal was being prepared and reviewed.
  2. Research and Finalization of the Events Layer (8-12 weeks): Complete detailed research on the evolution of Web3, focusing on the DeFi era and the role of DEXs.
  3. Filling the Entire Layer of People (6-8 weeks): Complete profiling of key figures in Web3 history (target: 250-300 people).
  4. Review the Static Version v.1.0 Ready for Printing (6-8 weeks): Finalize the content of all layers and submit for community and expert review.
  5. UI and Prototype of the Interactive Version (4 weeks): Develop a prototype with an intuitive navigation system.
  6. Development of the Interactive Version (8-10 weeks): Develop and launch the web-based UI for the timeline.

Funding Request

Total Grant Value: $25,000
$10k upfront + $15k streamed over 5 months

The funds will be used to pay for working hours on:

  • Research and content development on key events, figures, and milestones in the history of DeFi and DEXs
  • Design and finalization of the static timeline (v.1.0)
  • Development of the interactive version, including UI/UX design
  • Community engagement and content review by crypto historians, journalists, authors, researchers and experts

Payment Structure:
If this proposal passes, 25,000 USDC will be transferred to the Operations Multi-Sig (0x45e84e10e8E85c583C002A40007D10629EF80fAF), and subsequently paid out to 0x4A56342f27ae744755922936030a37dE993Bcdea as follows:

  1. An initial payment of 10,000 USDC will be made upfront.
  2. The remaining 15,000 USDC will be streamed over a period of 5 months.

Year Budget

The goal is to raise $100k-$150k for a year of work on the project, which will fund a full-time Designer-Researcher, Frontend Dev, and Second Researcher and will bring the project to a perfect final release. To avoid bias, the idea is to have the initiative funded by a range of different organizations from our big community.

Current Support and Validation

The project has already received support and small grants from Lido and TON devs, and 17 individual donations on Juicebox, total ~$17,500 within three months of publication which is a good result with zero starting audience and without influential figures behind it.

Notable people in the community who have shown interest / likes / RTs: Camila Russo, Tim Copeland, banteg, Sergej Kunz & Anton Bukov, Roman Storm, Lido Team, Vlad Zamfir, Robert Leshner, Sam Kazemian, Juicebox Team, Riccardo Spagni, some Optimism gov members, Devin Walsh (Uniswap Foundation), Evgeny Yurtaev and more…

Community Benefits

  • The project has been well-received and seen as positive and educational. It has not gotten any negative comments. If 1inch sponsors the timeline, it would be linked to this popular project, which could boost how people see the 1inch brand
  • Clickable 1inch logo featured permanently in the sponsors/supporters section, in the current Figma work-in-progress version, in all printed versions, and in the future interactive version (this section is currently small, the place and size will be adjusted later)
  • The project will be updated and remain relevant for many years, with 1inch and all early supporters remaining there permanently
  • Some suggesting it deserves museum display. While not traditional art, it aims to reach a level of historical significance that could one day see it, along with 1inch, featured in a museum exhibitions
  • Already received an invitation to display the timeline on one conference next year, which also increases visibility for sponsors
  • The DeFi and DEXs history and events section, where 1inch plays a significant role, will definitely receive a lot of attention and be developed as thoroughly as possible (this doesn’t mean there will be any bias in opinion towards sponsors)
  • 1inch will receive a certain number of printed copies to distribute as they wish
  • If the final printed version generates unexpected profits beyond covering ongoing research and project expansion costs, grants will be proportionally returned to the DAO and supporters to ensure fairness (it doesn’t affect the other points)
  • Ultimately, we all benefit from attracting more wonderful new people to web3

Conclusion

By funding “The Grand Timeline,” 1inch DAO will support a unique public good that enhances understanding and engagement with Web3, promoting greater adoption of decentralized technologies. The project’s success will reflect positively on the 1inch brand, aligning it with education and innovation in the Web3 space.

Links

Website https://grandtimeline.org

Article about https://x.com/GrandTimeline/status/1818217503362867394

Figma https://www.figma.com/design/pENhenndHyIMwzW2LgKzNd/

Portraits https://x.com/stepahin/status/1808545844397838775

Time-lapse https://youtu.be/lkVy6JzlyNY

X https://x.com/grandtimeline

Author https://x.com/stepahin

2 Likes
2

Thanks for the proposal @stepahin some questions from my side:

  • How will the team ensure that the timeline remains neutral and avoids bias, especially when major blockchain actors, including 1inch, are directly involved?
  • Will there be opportunities for the broader Web3 community to contribute to or challenge the historical narrative, especially if they feel their contributions have been overlooked?

General feedback:

The proposal doesn’t explicitly mention who the “gatekeepers” of this knowledge will be. While decentralization is emphasized, there should be transparency about how historical data will be vetted and who will have the authority to include or exclude key events.

3

Good question! Thank you!

Currently, at the start, this is a completely author-driven project in which I take responsibility to be objective and unbiased. To avoid any conflicts, I’ve set a simple rule: I only ask for support from people / teams / companies that I’ve already included in the timeline (or plan to include) regardless of their support. Also, I only approach those who are generally seen as positive contributors to the community. I definitely won’t accept support from an unknown blockchain ranked 500th on CMC or from bad actors by public consensus. This approach helps me avoid potential conflicts of interest.

I’ve thought about creating a voting system where experts, researchers, writers, journalists, key figures, creators, and founders could vote on what to include/removed/edited on the timeline. This would help ensure that the timeline reflects what the wider community believes about historical events. I would consider this after the v1.0 release. But now I see two problems that won’t allow this to be done at such an early stage:

  1. Creating such a voting system would require a lot of extra work and resources.

  2. The project first needs to become as authoritative as top crypto media / knowledge base for such a system to work and for the community to participate in it (I believe this moment will come). Right now, no one would participate in this, it simply wouldn’t work OR a small group of people would easily seize control.

So, I’ve decided to first do a lot of work to show that I have an objective view, I’m not biased and don’t promote anyone’s specific narrative or controversial view… And only then, having demonstrated this, published current progress, to appeal to the community and major players like 1inch for support.

4

Update

While this long process with my proposal is going on, I have already done the first point of my plan and made a new website. Now you don’t need to go to Figma to explore the timeline, it works directly on the website, zoom and drag — https://grandtimeline.org (only desktop for now, I test on prod like Andre).

5

Update

Added receiving address for funds.
The first point of the plan is marked as completed.

Proposal details ready for snapshot.

1 Like