This thread is written by @jashdotfi from @Superchaineco with input from the Lisk DAO Grant Council and Steering Committee and provides an overview of the Lisk DAO Season 1 developments between the passing of the proposal on March 10th and now May 14th.
Introduction
Lisk DAO Season 1 launched with the mission of accelerating the Lisk ecosystem by aligning with five core Social and Economical Intents and supporting builders through a robust, structured framework. Running in parallel with Optimism Season 7 and concluding on June 11th, 2025, this inaugural season marks a critical phase in Lisk DAO’s evolution.
Guided by a Grants Council and Steering Committee, Season 1 aims to direct up to 3,500,000 LSK to fuel builders and dApps on Lisk Mainnet. Season 1 sets a strong foundation for long-term ecosystem growth, fostering innovation and utility while offering valuable insights to inform future governance decisions, including the potential LSK Token Burn.
With the theme “Lisk Season 1: A Foundation for Real-World Acceleration,” the DAO is focused on empowering the next wave of Lisk-native development.
Reflection on the first 8 weeks of operations
The first weeks of Season 1 were primarily focused on setting up the Lisk DAO Hub, the location where all Grants are coordinated, built on top of Charmverse, and having conversations with various Lisk Ecosystem players and builders to better understand the priorities and desires of the ecosystem.
In mid-April, the first Builder Grant application started to flow in. At the same time, initial conversations with key stakeholders about the most efficient strategies for the Ecosystem Incentives started.
Due to the relatively slow start of the program, we did not manage to publish a valuable enough mid-report by April 30th.
Now, things have accelerated with over 20+ grant applications in the last 14 days alone, an active proposal up for vote to allocate the Program’s grant budget, and the first Ecosystem Incentive program has started.
As such, we’re excited to publish the Lisk DAO Season 1 Mid-report now and share more insights, learnings, and expectations for Lisk DAO Season 1 and beyond.
Initiatives
The Lisk DAO Season 1 Budget is split between three different key initiatives, which all aim to progress the Season 1 Intents as specified in the proposal.
Below is an overview of the current budgets of each of the Season 1 initiatives:
| Initiative | Budget | Approved | Spent | Remaining** |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Builder Grants | 600K LSK | 123.5K | 41.1K LSK | 476.5K LSK |
| Builder Programs | 400K LSK | 0 LSK | 0 LSK | 400K LSK |
| Ecosystem Incentives | 2,500K LSK | 1,050K LSK | 192.5K LSK | 1.450K LSK |
Initiative Progress
Builder Grants
The Builder Grants program has made steady progress, with 123.5K LSK in funding already approved across five projects. These grants follow a milestone-based structure, where funding is released only upon completion of predefined deliverables. This ensures accountability and keeps the program results-driven.
Since launch, the Grants Council has received a growing volume of applications. Most of this activity has come in the last three weeks, showing strong momentum building in the Lisk ecosystem. As a result of the slow start, we’ve also removed the requirement for Grants to have to complete all deliverables by the end of this season, and are reviewing each proposed timeline individually based on its merit for the Lisk ecosystem.
A key challenge has been teams requesting the maximum amount of LSK without demonstrating the value or clarity to justify it. In response, the Council has doubled down on helping applicants right-size their proposals and focus on smaller, tangible deliverables.
The core learning so far is that most builders are still validating ideas. As such, the Council has expanded from the initial focus on TVL-heavy projects and is now also focusing on small, high-impact grants (typically 15–25K LSK) for MVPs and proof-of-concepts.
This approach keeps the bar high for quality and ensures the DAO is backing real builders with real potential, without overcommitting resources too early. Over the next month, more grants are expected to be approved as projects refine their proposals and the ecosystem continues to mature.
Builder Programs
While no LSK has been allocated yet from the 400K LSK budget, a live proposal is currently up for vote that would fund three proven Builder Programs already supporting Web3 talent across Africa and Southeast Asia. This marks a key step forward in activating the Builder Programs track for Season 1.
The proposal aims to allocate the full 400K LSK to scale initiatives that have already shown traction in onboarding developers and launching early-stage projects. Building on the momentum of Lisk’s 2024 regional builder programs, these initiatives are designed to identify, support, and grow the next generation of Lisk-native teams in emerging markets.
Here’s what’s proposed:
- Lisk Incubation – Africa Incubator: AyaHQ is a talent-focused incubator helping African founders build and launch Web3 projects. 25 projects joined the program, with 12 graduating into real products. AyaHQ continues to provide hands-on support and help local builders break into global markets.
- Lisk Spark – Indonesia’s First Web3 Incubator: Lisk Spark is run in partnership with AngelHack and Indonesia’s government-backed 1000 Startup Digital program, Lisk Spark has attracted 60+ applications with 7 projects now progressing toward deployment.
- Lisk Pioneer Program – Go-To-Market Readiness: Led by Key Difference, this 4-month accelerator focuses on helping Lisk-based teams refine their tokenomics, prepare for investors, and hit key product milestones. Out of 190 applications, 10 teams will be selected.
Each program offers a regionally tailored approach to high-growth markets for developer onboarding and project scaling, while contributing directly to Lisk’s long term goals of supporting founders and builders from all around the world to thrive on Ethereum for the first time. If passed, this proposal will mark a major deployment of funds under the Builder Programs initiative and create a consistent, global entry point for developers building on Lisk.
Ecosystem Incentives
Ecosystem incentives have been kicked off by approving Lisk Surge, a DeFi incentive program in collaboration with Jumper. Out of the 2.5M LSK budget, 1.05M LSK has been approved, with 192.5K LSK distributed to date. Lisk Surge is a 9-week liquidity initiative designed to accelerate DeFi on Lisk and grow non-LSK TVL on the network.
Structured into three 3-week phases, the campaign introduces rolling incentives tied to Superchain-priority assets like WETH, USDT0, and WBTC. Each phase brings new pools, more assets, and different yield opportunities. Rewards will be distributed through Velodrome and other integrated DeFi solutions.
All 1.05M LSK allocated to the Surge program will be distributed directly to users. The Grants Council and Steering Committee will actively track the distribution of rewards throughout the campaign and publish a final report at the end of Lisk Surge to document the process, results, and key learnings from the initiative.
The Grants Council is also working closely with Builder Grant recipients to ensure those teams can participate in Lisk Surge where relevant, helping them integrate liquidity, growth, and user activity into their launch strategies.
Future Outlook
Based on the increased activity over the past few weeks, we’re optimistic about Lisk Season 1’s potential to drive meaningful progress toward our specific social and economic goals. Through various initiatives from LiskDAO, grants, and teams, we believe contributing to and participating in Lisk governance will become increasingly rewarding.
On the economic front, we’re confident that both existing and new solutions within the Lisk ecosystem can benefit from the Lisk Surge program. As a result, we expect growth in non-LSK total value locked (TVL) and revenue on Lisk.
However, we recognize that the initial end date of June 11 may not be ideal, as many grantees and initiatives may need additional time to mature and deliver results. Nevertheless, we plan to publish the Season 1 Report during the week of June 17–20 to provide valuable context for the potential LSK burn vote.
Looking ahead, we see strong reasons to continue the Lisk DAO Seasons. Our recommendation is to align the timelines of the Lisk Team, Airdrop, and DAO to ensure that Season 2 becomes an ecosystem-wide initiative. This approach would offer meaningful benefits to both builders and users through various programs.
By embracing this unified, full-ecosystem approach, we have a real opportunity to demonstrate Lisk’s potential to grow into a thriving and cohesive ecosystem.
In our view, the Lisk ecosystem should make a major strategic decision about its future — such as the proposed token burn — after evaluating the results of Season 2, likely around November or December of this year.
For now, we warmly invite all Lisk stakeholders to test, participate in, and share feedback on the current programs. Let us know not just what you think, but how you believe we can create meaningful value for the Lisk ecosystem.
Standing still will never lead to a thriving ecosystem — but with shared effort, we truly have a shot at building something unique.
