RAF #1

Learnings from RAF Round 1

Our first Retroactive Funding round (RAF1) awarded 1 million OBOL to 46 projects using a quadratic voting mechanism. Projects were evaluated on technical impact, contribution to decentralization, and public goods alignment.

Top-funded projects included:

• Dappnode — integrated Obol into their Dappstore, enabling 16k+ validators to use Obol setups.

• Ethereum on ARM — ran distributed validators on low-cost devices.

• Stereum — offered one-click node deployment with Obol pre-installed, backed by strong GitHub and beaconcha.in adoption metrics.

Key learnings:

• Impact evaluation is challenging without clear data; future rounds may require stronger entry thresholds.

• Quadratic voting worked to elevate broadly supported projects, but needed clearer onboarding.

• Delegates requested better UX for wallets and real-time visibility into vote progress.

• Community engagement was strong but limited in feedback volume — improving outreach will be a focus

We’re using these insights to shape future RAF rounds, with an emphasis on transparency, fairness, and long-term ecosystem impact.

👉 Read the full blog post here