What happens when anyone, anywhere on the planet, can build innovative new platforms on an open and transparent financial system where traditional gatekeepers are rendered utterly meaningless?

The answers are revealing themselves on a daily basis as the grand experiment of crypto transforms and evolves. And here at ShapeShift DAO, we have a front-row seat to the action!

ShapeShift embodies the core crypto values of decentralization, transparency, permissionlessness, and user empowerment through self-custody of digital assets. These values infuse everything we do, from nurturing a vibrant global community of contributors to building an open platform that all manner of crypto projects can plug into. 

From our perspective out here on the bleeding edge of the crypto frontier, we can say one thing with supreme confidence: the quantity and quality of projects that share these values is accelerating at an insane pace.

So—what if there were a way for the DAO to tap into this Cambrian Explosion and support the crypto ecosystem’s newer entrants? What if crypto founders could benefit from the DAO’s capital, products, knowledge, experience, and connections? What win-wins might emerge from carefully cultivated, mutually beneficial partnerships?

Enter vFOX

Simply put, vFOX is a sub-DAO dedicated to making strategic allocations on behalf of—and for the benefit of—ShapeShift. Its existence was codified into the DAO through a recent governance proposal. Now, after a few weeks of initial setup, it’s time to get this thing launched.

Per the terms of the proposal, the vFOX sub-DAO will initially be allocated up to $1 million to allocate to any number of projects that the vFOX Committee deems to be a good fit. In practical terms, deal sizes of $50,000-$250,000 will likely be the sweet spot. vFOX will be focused exclusively on tokenized projects, rather than traditional equity deals.

In order to create greater transparency and make it easier to track vFOX’s allocations and performance, the sub-DAO has its own governance token (also called vFOX). For the initial $1,000,000 investment allocation, 1,000,000 vFOX were minted, 900,000 were transferred to the ShapeShift DAO Treasury, and 100,000 were retained in the vFOX treasury.

The vFOX proposal also created a Committee dedicated to “managing sourcing and closing of dealflow, as well as sub-DAO treasury DeFi positions on behalf of the vFOX treasury.” The initial Committee will consist of the following three Foxes:

Jon: ShapeShift Co-Founder and Tokenomics Workstream Contributor (@shapeshiftcoo)

Willy: Head of Decentralization at the FOX Foundation (@willyogo)

Kent: Leader of the ShapeShift DAO Tokenomics Workstream (@seven7hwave)

The Committee (and the broader ShapeShift community) offers a wealth of relevant experience and connections. And while attention and support from the committee members is great, the support of the large and active community of FOX Token holders is invaluable. Above all, the one thing that sets vFOX apart from all other potential partners is the open-source ShapeShift platform, app.shapeshift.com. At its core, ShapeShift is uniquely positioned to provide vFOX partners with a low-friction, sexy interface where new platforms can connect with an existing and growing user base of DeFi pioneers. 

And what types of projects, you might be wondering, could be a good fit for vFOX? These are our main focal points:

Web3: Yup, it’s a big, inclusive tent and we’re here for all of it.

DeFi: We use myriad DeFi platforms on a daily basis to manage, diversify, and grow the ShapeShift treasury. Time and again, we’ve seen how early-stage projects can create novel financial primitives (a.k.a. money legos) and unlock new superpowers for crypto holders.

DAO tooling: As a DAO ourselves, we’re dyed-in-the-wool true believers in the inevitable power of DAOs to transform the way humans build, interact, and collaborate. We look forward to partnering with the projects accelerating this movement.

Scalability solutions & cross-chain bridges: Infrastructure is beautiful too! The mainstream is coming to crypto—and the supporting frameworks to make that happen (while also preserving decentralization) will be well-positioned to capitalize on these trends.

New protocols and DAOs: ShapeShift has always been bullish on the multi-chain thesis (before that was even a term), and we would love to find ways to help support new up-and-coming protocols and DAOs that we can support by integrating into our decentralized interface.

GameFi: We love the explosion of community-owned games that are appearing across the spectrum and are here to support these efforts, making ShapeShift a portal for helping find the best games across crypto that share a truly community-first ethos.

And much more: These are some of our top synergies we’re looking for, but are open to any discussions for the right potential fit. If your project is tokenized and looking to raise capital on chain via the vFOX DAO and our partners, please reach out!

Pursuing Promising Potential Partners

Are you the founder of a crypto project that’s seeking early-stage capital in the form of tokenized allocations?

Do you believe your team could benefit from ShapeShift DAO’s collective knowledge, network, resources—and potentially even its user base?

If so, we’d love to get in touch! To get your project onto vFOX's radar, fill out this short form, or drop by and say hi in the ShapeShift Discord’s vFOX channel. (Join the Discord, then use the “role selector” channel to choose vFOX.) 

We’re bouncing off the walls with excitement at the prospect of discovering win-wins for the crypto ecosystem and the emerging projects that will drive the next wave of innovation.

See you out on the frontier,

The vFOX Committee