Lisk DAO Season 2 Report

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Lisk DAO Season 2 Report

This thread is written by @Superchaineco with input from the Lisk DAO Grants Council and Steering Committee and provides an overview of the Lisk DAO Season 2 developments between the passing of the proposal on May 14th and the end of the second Season on December 17th, 2025.

This is a work-in-progress report, which will be completed in the second half of December when the season comes to an official end.

For those interested, we’re hosting a Lisk DAO Townhall on December 10th (join here), where we’ll present the progress from Season 2 and discuss the Season 3 plans.

Introduction

Lisk DAO Season 2 launched with the mission of accelerating the Lisk ecosystem by aligning with four core Social and Economic Intents and supporting builders through a structured framework. Running in parallel with Optimism Season 8 and concluding on December 17th, 2025, Season 2 built directly on the foundation laid in Season 1.

Guided by a Grants Council and Steering Committee, Season 2 directed a total of 3,925,000 LSK toward builders, programs, and incentives on Lisk Mainnet. Of this, 3,750,000 LSK was allocated directly to ecosystem growth across Development Grants, Incubation Programs, Ambassador Initiatives, and Ecosystem Incentives.

With the theme “Collaborations that drive real-world development,” the DAO focused on expanding the base of builders, fostering cross-ecosystem collaboration, and deepening onchain activity within Lisk and the broader Superchain.

Summary

Season 2 continued to mature the Lisk DAO’s operational framework and marked a clear step forward in execution. The DAO supported more than 70 applications across grants and incentives, launched LiskDAO.com as the central hub for all programs and funding, and introduced the Year End Builder Reward Campaign to close the season with a transparent snapshot of ecosystem activity. Together, these initiatives strengthened community participation, improved ecosystem coordination, and expanded the tools available to builders.

We believe Season 2 was a success as we made progress on the four socio-economic intents set at the start of the season:

  1. Make contributing to Lisk DAO engaging and rewarding: Continued supporting builders through the Grants Program and expanded coordination with Lisk Accelerators to engage more builders in emerging market regions. The launch of LiskDAO.com and the introduction of the Year End Builder Reward Campaign now provide builders with clearer pathways, better visibility, and direct incentives to participate.

  2. Accelerate Lisk programs and builders: Supported deployments such as Kyo Finance, a Superchain-native DEX expanding to Lisk, alongside new incubator partnerships to grow the builder pipeline. To close the season, we are also launching the Year-End Builder Reward Campaign to incentivise builders to register their progress and capture a complete snapshot of ecosystem activity for 2025.

  3. Grow the TVL of Lisk: Lisk DAO-funded initiatives, such as Kyo Finance and Lisk Surge Season 2, to grow non-LSK TVL and increase trading and liquidity activity on Lisk.

  4. Increase Lisk’s contribution to the Superchain: Lisk has now grown into a top 10 chain on the Superchain in both daily transactions and daily USD-denominated fees. It is also one of the few chains in the top 10 to record a 41% increase in daily revenue over the last 90 days, based on the data shown here, highlighting the momentum and growing economic activity happening on Lisk.

Initiatives

Season 2 Budget was split between four key initiatives that contributed to the Season 2 intents as specified in the proposal.

Below is an overview of the final budgets of each of the Season 2 initiatives:

Initiative Budget Approved Spent Remaining
Development & Infra Grants 1,250,000 1,250,000 1,215,000 35,000
Ecosystem Incentives 1,500,000 1,482,000 1,382,000 118,000
Ambassador Program 250,000 250,000 250,000 0
Incubation & Acceleration Programs 750,000 750,000 750,000 0

After the Season 2 initiatives were completed, 153,000 LSK remained unallocated. The Grants Council, together with the Steering Committee, decided to deploy 70,000 LSK toward the Lisk Year-End Builder Reward Campaign to recognize active builders and capture ecosystem progress on Lisk Mainnet. This left 83,000 LSK remaining at the end of Season 2, which will be carried forward to future DAO seasons.

Season 2 received over 61 applications, with 11 grants approved. All grants are milestone-based, with funding only being released upon completion to ensure accountability and progress.

As indicated in our Mid Report, the Grant Council has supported teams in sharpening their proposal by making a suitable budget for the stage of their project and adding clear deliverables.We produced an S2 Grants Dashboard, which can be viewed here, providing an overview of all approved grants and budget allocations over time.

Key stats and takeaways:

  • Most grantees (10 out of 11) are based in Emerging market regions, showcasing the strong interest and growth of Lisk in that region.

  • So far, the majority of projects can stick to the agreed timeline and deliverables

  • Application rate remained constant throughout the entire season. Some good projects are interested to apply in future seasons.

This approach continues to ensure the DAO supports credible builders with strong potential to deliver tangible results.

Ecosystem Incentives

The Grants Council approved 5 Ecosystem Incentive applications out of 12 total, with 1,382,000 LSK allocated.

One key initiative this season was with Kyo Finance, the leading DEX on Soneium, launching on Lisk Mainnet. Kyo is beginning its Superchain integration with Lisk, marking a significant milestone for cross-ecosystem collaboration.

Another major Ecosystem Incentive grant was approved for Quidax, the biggest CEX coming out of Nigeria and one of Africa’s most prominent regulated crypto exchanges. This initiative focuses on accelerating onchain adoption by subsidising all withdrawal fees from Quidax to Lisk, making Lisk the preferred chain for deposits and withdrawals across African markets.

Through Quidax’s on/off-ramp infrastructure, users will be able to buy LSK, USDT, and USDC with local currencies and move assets directly into Lisk Layer 2. With more than 1.2 million users and 200+ businesses integrating Quidax’s APIs, this partnership is expected to unlock meaningful real-world activity and position Lisk as a core settlement layer for the African fintech ecosystem.In parallel, Lisk Surge Season 2 is underway, building on the success of Season 1, which attracted over $25M in TVL.

Incubation & Acceleration Programs

All 750,000 LSK allocated to incubation and acceleration have been approved to strengthen a pipeline of projects committed to Lisk. This funding supports three established programs that continue to expand global participation.

1. AyaHQ’s Africa Incubator, which has already helped 25 projects launch with 12 graduating into real products; 2. Lisk Spark in Indonesia, run with AngelHack and the government-backed 1000 Startup Digital program, which has attracted over 60 applications and has 7 projects progressing toward deployment; 3. Lisk Crecimiento Growth Program in Latin America, which has been building a sustained pipeline of early-stage founders across the region. Through initiatives such as the Crecimiento Buildathon (60+ applications), the Rayuela Startup Program (24 scouted startups), participation in regional hackathons (78 submissions), and support for founder tracks and residencies in Patagonia. Together, these initiatives provide a structured pipeline for identifying, supporting, and scaling new builders in the Lisk ecosystem.

Ambassador Program

Across H2, Lisk ambassadors drove ecosystem expansion through founder support, developer onboarding, content and high-impact community engagement. Their work accelerated network adoption, strengthened local and regional partnerships, and supported Lisk across key African and Southeast Asian markets. For the full report, please view a complete breakdown of each ambassador’s contributions here.

Founder support
Ambassadors onboarded and mentored dozens of teams across Africa and Southeast Asia, including Bitsave, Slimepay, QuickSmag, Payrit, Orochi, Inherit Wallet, SAVE, Aliniex, Lummy Ticket, Seedlot, Neovestor, Doremi Finance and more. They drove meaningful onchain usage through initiatives like the Azza cashback campaign, Stormbot, Lucred vendor marketing and the growth of Slimepay and QuickSmag, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in activity. They also built pipelines into Lisk incubators and grants, reviewed LiskSpark incubatees, and advanced multiple teams toward graduation and deployment, supported by technical mentorship, code reviews, AA workshops and DevRel validation.

Events and content
Ambassadors represented Lisk at major events across Africa and Southeast Asia, including EthSafari, ETHAccra, Web3 Lagos, DevFest PH, the Stablecoin Summit, Devconnect Hanoi, Coinfest Asia and ETH Jakarta. They ran consistent X Spaces, podcasts, founder spotlights and local AMAs, many drawing more than 200 participants. In Indonesia, they launched Lisk IRL across multiple cities and organized builder dinners, workshops, hackathons, and university programs that activated new developer pipelines. They also produced high-signal content such as EMpower Fund explainers, regional recaps, tutorials, Lisk Growth Garden materials and Panna SDK advocacy.

Ecosystem growth
Ambassadors expanded Lisk’s regional presence by onboarding hubs like BWCN Zambia, strengthening coordination across Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and Zambia, and growing the Lisk Vietnam and Lisk SEA communities. They built institutional relationships with WeThinkCode_, Indonesian ministries, universities like BINUS, AngelHack, 1000 Startup Digital and multiple exchange partners. This work created transparent funnels into LiskDAO funding and incubators, supported by KarmaGAP tracking. Their outreach advanced real-world adoption through Quidax on/off-ramp integrations, fintech and merchant engagement and targeted campaigns that increased users, TVL and onchain activity across Lisk.

Lisk DAO Website

As part of Season 2, we launched the Lisk DAO Website, a unified home for all programs, incentives, funding pathways, and governance resources. The website gives builders, contributors, and community members a clear and accessible overview of everything happening across the ecosystem.

The site highlights active and upcoming efforts such as builder programs, incentive programs, and ecosystem gatherings. It also introduces a streamlined Funding page where teams can apply to the Lisk DAO Fund, get reviewed by the Investment Committee, and access support to scale their products. Together, these additions ensure the new website acts as a comprehensive gateway for builders looking to join, contribute to, and grow within the Lisk ecosystem.

Lisk Year-End Builder Campaign

As Season 2 concludes, the DAO has launched the Year-End Builder Reward Campaign, a focused initiative running from December 3 to December 18, 2025. The goal is to highlight the progress made by builders throughout the year and capture a clear snapshot of activity across Lisk Mainnet.

The program allocates 75,000 LSK in rewards, structured to reward both participation and measurable impact:

  • 1,000 LSK for the first 50 projects that complete their KarmaGAP profile and integrate Divvi.

  • A 25,000 LSK performance pool distributed to the most impactful teams, as determined by the Lisk DAO Steering Committee.

Teams join by updating their project profile on KarmaGAP, linking relevant socials, documentation, and prior Lisk funding, then selecting the Year-End Builder Reward Campaign from the Funding tab. Once submitted, projects appear in the Lisk Year-End Community for transparent tracking.

This campaign strengthens ecosystem reporting, improves visibility into builder progress, and rewards teams contributing to Lisk Mainnet. All eligible projects and winners will be announced on December 18, with payouts delivered within 24 hours.

A detailed breakdown of participation and final results will be published in a follow-up report.

Lisk Year-End Builder Campaign Results

The Lisk Year-End Builder Reward Campaign has now concluded, with a total of 70,000 LSK allocated. A total of 45 projects successfully completed the program and met all participation requirements. All eligible teams received the 1,000 LSK participation reward for completing their KarmaGAP profile.

An overview of the full campaign, including all participating projects and their submitted information, is available on the Lisk Year-End Community page on KarmaGAP

Beyond participation rewards, a 25,000 LSK impact pool was distributed to the most impactful teams. Twelve projects were selected by the Lisk DAO Steering Committee based on execution, traction, and overall ecosystem impact. The three most impactful teams were LearnWay, Jamit, and ElementPay.

All rewards were distributed within 24 hours of the campaign’s conclusion 2025 and a full overview of all participating projects and reward allocations is available in the campaign sheets.

Future Outlook

Season 2 demonstrated clear progress across grants, incentives, and ecosystem coordination. With 70+ applications, new incubator partnerships, and the first Superchain integrations live, the DAO is set to continue scaling impact across builders, liquidity, and participation.

We see strong reasons to continue the Lisk DAO Seasons as the primary framework for ecosystem development. For the next season, our focus is on deepening the connection between funding and measurable onchain impact. This means strengthening the way we evaluate builders, improving transparency around progress, and ensuring that every LSK spent contributes directly to real usage, adoption, or growth on Lisk.

The newly launched EMpower Fund and Lisk DAO fund will play a key role in the 2026 strategy of Lisk DAO. Our aim for Season 3 is to attract promising teams to the Lisk ecosystem and forward them to the funds and accelerate fund portfolio companies through our growth programs and initiatives.

Next season, we aim to further integrate Karma as the central hub for grant applications, endorsements, milestone tracking, and public reporting. By moving our processes into a transparent, community-visible system, we can create better accountability while giving delegates, ambassadors, and builders clearer ways to collaborate.

Our goal is to sharpen incentives, support builders who can deliver tangible results, and make the path from proposal to measurable impact more open, structured, and aligned with the long-term health of the Lisk ecosystem.

We warmly invite all Lisk stakeholders to test, participate in, and share feedback on the current programs. Join the Lisk DAO town hall on December 10th (join here) to discuss this report and the upcoming proposal with the other Lisk Ecosystem stakeholders

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Thanks for the Timely report.

I’m happy to see that the milestone completion rate is high, way higher than in season 1. I believe Karma Gap has helped tremendously with accountability and project tracking. Good one :100:

Looking forward to see more info on the ambassador program :+1:

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Thanks for update

I have a few questions, as there are still some aspects that are not fully clear, particularly regarding transparency and impact measurement

  1. How do the councils measure the impact of the funds allocated to each project building on Lisk, and how do they ensure that these allocations are properly accounted for and used effectively?

  2. What baseline data is used before funding is provided, and how does the DAO measure delta impact (before–after) that can be directly attributed to Lisk DAO funding?

  3. Is there a publicly accessible document or dashboard that lists which projects have received funding and the amount allocated to each?

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First off, thanks to @Superchaineco for the thorough Season 2 report. Appreciate the detail.

A friend in the Celo ecosystem shared this governance discussion from their forum recently:

It’s worth our attention here because the ‘CeloPG’ entity is managed by EcoLabs B.V., the SAME GROUP running Superchain Eco as well as also having a key role in our DAO’s Strategy Council. Issues in one program like that can highlight things to watch in connected spaces like ours.

In Celo, the community has been reviewing how funds are allocated in their public goods programs. Looking at public data, there is a concerning pattern of money going repeatedly to projects that seem tied to the program operators; happening across cycles and different initiatives (in one program apparently half of the funds!).

With those shared ties, let’s check our own processes now, before any questions come up so we don’t repeat mistakes. Kinda what @FujiAR highlighted on transparency and accountability.

A Few Questions for the Steering Committee and Grants Council:

  1. Recusal Policies: Are there clear, written guidelines for when council members or their related projects apply for funding in programs they help run?
  2. Affiliation Disclosure: Do we have a public list showing connections between DAO leaders and ecosystem projects?
  3. Tracking Insider Flows: Are we monitoring what share of program funds goes to projects linked to DAO contributors? Some hard numbers would help.

As Lisk is gearing up for Season 3, I think we should roll out a simple governance policy document. Include recusal steps and regular updates on contributor-project relationships. It’s straightforward to implement and goes a long way toward earning trust; helping Lisk DAO stand out for strong standards and not repeat past mistakes.

I’d love to hear from @Superchaineco and others in the community. What do you think? I’ll keep an eye on the Celo forum and keep us updated.

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Looking great! Thank you for the update!
We can attest that our direct collaboration via the Lisk Emerging Market Founder Residency at Edge City Patagonia was a huge success across the board! Lisk’s impact in emerging markets is tangible and making strong progress! Excited for 2026!

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Hi @FujiAR & @FourthEyeDelegate

Thanks for raising these questions. We really appreciate the focus on transparency, accountability, and impact measurement.

These are important topics, especially as Lisk DAO continues to grow and mature, so we’re happy to address them openly.

  1. About EcoLabs

EcoLabs is a Web3 ecosystem builder and venture collective dedicated to growing the Ethereum ecosystem. Our contributors operate semi-independently and have been trusted partners for many OP chains for the past 3 years through our Superchain Eco initiative.

To ensure execution in line with partner priorities, we work closely with ecosystem partners and shape teams that have the right skillset, network, and bandwidth to fulfill their duties.

  1. How we measure impact and track funding

At a high level, LiskDAO takes a data-driven approach when allocating funds. We focus primarily on current and future onchain activity. If a project already shows traction, we look at how DAO funding can help accelerate and amplify that momentum.

All grants and incentives are milestone-based. Funds are only released once agreed deliverables are completed, which helps ensure capital is used as intended and tied directly to progress.

For onchain-focused initiatives, we track metrics such as transactions, active users, integrations, and TVL. Where it makes sense, we also look at efficiency. For example, when it comes to ecosystem incentives, we try to assess growth relative to spend. A simple benchmark we often use is whether each 1 LSK spent results in roughly 5 USD or more in TVL growth, depending on the initiative and context.

  1. Baselines and before–after impact

Before funding is approved, projects are evaluated against a pre-grant baseline, such as existing usage, deployments, or pilot activity. After funding, councils look at before-and-after changes to understand what impact can reasonably be attributed to LiskDAO support.

Not every project optimizes for the same metric, but the principle is consistent. Funding should translate into measurable outcomes, whether that’s more users, higher transaction volume, increased liquidity, or meaningful real-world integrations.

  1. Transparency and public reporting

Season 2 was an important step forward operationally. The DAO reviewed 70+ applications and approved 16 milestone-based grants. We have a season 2 Grants Dashboard here, that tracks approved projects, budgets, and spending over time. These dashboards are meant to give anyone a clear view into how funds are allocated and how programs evolve throughout the season.

Looking ahead to Season 3, we’re open to going further. One idea we’re exploring is a public overview of all funded projects and their team members, potentially through a Karma community view that makes affiliations, milestones, and progress easier to see.

  1. Conflict of interest and recusal

No contributor of the Lisk DAO grants team is affiliated with a comparable program in another ecosystem, which is a transition that we proactively pushed for to avoid conflicts and allow operators to have full focus.

In the case of a Lisk DAO operator who has (in) direct relationships with a team that applies for a grant, the person in question is removed from the review and decision-making process for that application.

This is a procedure that has been live since the first season and continues to be in place for Lisk DAO grants.

  1. Affiliation Disclosure / Tracking Insider Flows

There is only 1 issued-grant that would fall in this category - the creation of the Lisk Super Vault application. This grant was reviewed and approved by Felipe, the grant committee member with no exposure to Superchain Eco, which is the entity leading the development of this solution.

So far, 20,000 LSK has been issued to this grant based on its milestones. The funds have been used to fund paying for the design and development of the solution.

No other affiliation with ecosystem projects exists.

Looking ahead to 2026

As the scope of Lisk DAO evolves, and more stakeholders participate, we see value in establishing standard guidelines for resource governance, accountability, and CoI guidelines. We look forward to exploring these further with stakeholders and discussing in future Lisk DAO Townhalls.

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