Token Terminal x Polkadot data partnership - Polkadot ecosystem on Token Terminal and their partner platforms (Bloomberg, MarketVector)

Dear Polkadot community,

Full proposal details available: ➡️ here ⬅️

We’re excited to open up a discussion around the proposal we plan to submit to vote, which is the result of negotiations between Token Terminal & Parity Data initiated on January 15th, 2024.

Proposal Overview

Token Terminal, supported by Parity Data, proposes to integrate Polkadot's ecosystem data into its product suite, enabling direct data sharing with major partners such as Bloomberg, MarketVector, and Coinbase SMA, for unparalleled exposure of Polkadot to their institutional investor base. Not only will the data be accessible, but most importantly the readily computed metrics with the appropriate definitions.

Executive summary

① Token Terminal will build and maintain a full-stack end-to-end data pipeline for Polkadot → this data ownership is a direct requirement from the demand side of Token Terminal’s institutional partnerships with Bloomberg and MarketVector, as a prerequisite for Token Terminal’s crypto data to be featured for investor and TradFi audience on their platforms
② Everything sourced through this model, where Token Terminal operates the infrastructure and data pipelines, unlocks direct data sharing with Bloomberg, and eligibility of DOT native token for MarketVecotor indexes, which are announced to be propagated to Coinbase SMA platform (marketing window to institutional investors and private wealth asset managers)
③ Token Terminal currently covers 16 competitor blockchain networks
④ In this way Parity Data will facilitate data integration by providing data engineering and analytics expertise for Substrate data, access to DotLake for QA purposes, relevant codebase, and unblocking all technical questions that arise during the project.
⑤ This initiative will integrate data across all active Polkadot parachains (as blockchains, not businesses) connected to the Polkadot relay chain (~50), as well as establish parachain price feed, resulting in a unified dataset on Token Terminal’s web platform.
⑥ Polkadot’s data (and its application ecosystem) would be available across all of Token Terminal’s data products & channels (incl. the Bloomberg Terminal)
⑦ Polkadot’s data (and its application ecosystem) would be covered in long-form research article & fundamentals podcast episode (TT 300k monthly visits, X 100k followers, Newsletter 40k subscribers, YouTube 5k subscribers)
⑧ Polkadot’s native token DOT would become eligible for Token Terminal-powered cryptoasset indexes, the first of which was launched in collaboration with MarketVector (owned by VanEck) in late ‘23.
⑨ The Team supporting the integration from Parity side would get access to all three (3) of Token Terminal’s data products, in order to perform QA of integrated data.
⑩ Parachain exposure - the full Polkadot ecosystem's integration into Token Terminal’s platform will offer parachain projects unprecedented exposure to investors and decision-makers through unbiased metrics. This opens us an opportunity for Token Terminal to do bilateral deep-dives with parachain founders to highlight specific use cases and value propositions of Polkadot parachains.
⑪ The partnership will span 16 months covering integration and maintenance.

Proposal Details

Duration: 16 months
Requested Funding: ~~181,574 DOT~~ [171,827 as of March 4th EMA30]
Implementation: Phased integration and maintenance, ensuring full coverage of Polkadot’s ecosystem across Token Terminal’s platforms.
Collaboration Basis: Token Terminal approached Parity Data due to a year-long successful collaboration on increasing Polkadot and Kusama relay chain metrics coverage on their platform (mainly API sourced and therefore not eligible for further data propagation to Bloomberg), ultimately advocating for a full Polkadot ecosystem integration.
Pre-Proposal Actions: Parity Data shared detailed information on DotLake to enable Token Terminal to make an informed decision on the integration effort required, which was reflected in the lower total cost and timeline, than it would have been in case of a linear non-chain-agnostic onboarding without expert support.
Integration Uniqueness: This partnership marks the first full Polkadot ecosystem data integration by a platform vendor independently, offering a vertically integrated data supply chain for complete metric auditability directly by platform owner.
Parachain Benefits: Parachains gain unprecedented exposure to investors and decision-makers through unbiased metrics on Token Terminal’s platform, enhancing their visibility within the crypto space.

Strategic Importance & Value for the Ecosystem

This integration stands to position Polkadot prominently on the global blockchain analytics map, filling a critical gap in market analysis and investment insight, especially for those with a traditional finance background. By leveraging Token Terminal's established reputation and technical infrastructure, we can ensure that Polkadot’s unique value proposition reaches a broader, more diversified audience of investors and decision-makers. As a platform with a unique distribution outside of the retail-driven crypto community, Token Terminal is uniquely positioned to help crypto protocols attract mindshare among a new and growing stakeholder base: institutional investors. Since these investors often manage outside capital, access to high-quality and standardized data becomes paramount especially given the prospect of an upcoming market upturn.

Looking forward to your feedback, questions and suggestions. We’ll collate and keep a record of all questions and answers coming from different channels in this unified doc → Token Terminal x Polkadot proposal Q&A.

Thank you,

Parity Data Team

update: after the Discussion has been concluded, the proposal link was switched to the final one, which will be used in the referendum - with an updated DOT rate