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Overview

Tip Genius is a video game coaching tool that automates and integrates the search of tips into your game so you can more effectively learn and improve. I believe this same concept of integrating assistance directly into applications could be incredibly helpful in onboarding and educating millions of users to Cardano. My proposal is to expand Tip Genius to a browser extension that provides relevant, easily-digestible, high-quality tips on how to use DeFi dApps live while you interact with them.

DeFi is undoubtedly difficult to understand and navigate. People aren't used to being their own banks and the UX is lacking. To make things worse, the cost of error is astronomical - one bad click and you can lose all your money. You shouldn't need to scavenge the internet, potentially running into scams and bad advice, to figure out how to participate in a crowdfund or loan an asset.

Cardano puts emphasis on ensuring dApps are high quality and secure, but there's a gap in properly educating users on how to interact with these applications. Cardano also strives to bank the unbanked, a group that's less likely to be financially literate. A well rounded UX with built-in coaching will be vital to fostering a seamless blockchain experience for all.

Tips come in the form of short videos which showcase exactly how something would be done and a description with a sentence or two of complementary details. They offer straight-to-the-point directions and information live based on your interactions with a dApp, making learning accessible, effective, and safe. The content is strictly educational on how things work and doesn't provide financial advice. Some example tips would be "Here's how to swap Ada for another token on SundaeSwap" and "Be careful when selling on cnft.io, people might list their items for below floor - the lowest price an NFT asset class is selling for - but never send them when prompted to artificially lower the floor. This trickery lets them buy discounted assets as people list theirs for the new floor.". Tip content will be maintained through community curation and the project will be converted to a self-sustaining DAO once the tooling is available. Until then, our tip content will be audited by reputable community members/groups to ensure quality. Importance will be placed on creating a fair spread of tips for new and existing DeFi dApps throughout the ecosystem. Tips will be written in English and translated to the primary languages of the African nations with highest Cardano adoption over the next year.

Tip Genius originally launched for CSGO with great success, but the game developer blocked all third party apps not long after. The application is re-releasing for Valorant in the next few weeks - it's currently going through alpha/beta testing. Please DM me here or email me at genius@tipgenius.info if you'd like to try it out, I'd love to get your feedback.

As the founder of Tip Genius, a first cohort Plutus pioneer, and blockchain enthusiast, I believe I could execute on this idea successfully - especially given the Tip Genius server-side architecture and UI visuals can easily be extended to support this use case.

Roadmap

In the next 0-3 Months

• Tip Genius fully released for Valorant

• Browser extension developer hired

• Browser extension UI developed

• Support for DeFi tips to the Tip Genius back end implemented

• 100+ tips created and audited

• Browser extension beta tested

In the next 3-6 Months

• Browser extension fully released with 100+ tips for 10+ projects

• Continue adding tips as projects release and update

In the next 6-12 Months

• Translate tips to 6 total languages
• Transition Tip Genius browser extension into a self-sustaining DAO owned product

Auditability

• App is released in 3-4 months
• At least 100 tips are made in the first 3 months
• At least 250 tips are made in the first 6 months
• Tips are audited before addition to the Tip Genius knowledge base

Risks/Open Questions

• What's the most fair mechanism for picking projects to make tips for?
• Will this be able to reach a point of self sustainability before the tips run out? Would projects create or pay for tips to be created?
• DAOs are currently in an experimental stage, what would be the best model for this project?

How would this help seed Cardano's Grassroots DeFi ?

I think this would impact every single goal of the category. By creating an experience unique to Cardano that provides a comfortable and enjoyable onboarding journey, DeFi on Cardano can rapidly accelerate in all aspects and new projects will be driven to launch on Cardano.

Funding breakdown

• Browser extension client = 1 developer for 370 hours at $40/hr = $14800

• Tip Genius server architecture modifications = 1 developer for 240 hours at $50/hr = $12000

• Tips for 50 to 150 projects through the next year = 500 tips * $20 per tip = $10000

• Tips translation to 5 languages = $7500

• Tip audit costs = $4000

• Hosting/Website/Administrative costs = $1500

• Total = $49800