ADR 21: Marketing Fund Allocation

Changelog

14 Jan 25: Added timeframe, additional funding option and further steps. 21 Jan 25: Amended funding options. 01 Aug 25: Adjusted funding source and updated for latest changes in ecosystem. 15 Aug 25: Rewrite of ADR 021. Added research and updated plan details for execution. Included front end update. 23 Aug 25: Instead of ending 5% burn to pay for marketing fund, change reserve income to network revenue to pay for marketing fund 26 Aug 25: Formatted file and ran lint.

Status

Proposed

Vote options

Make mimir ADR21 with one of the following options

  1. End 5% burn, add 5% marketing
  2. Keep 5% burn, change reserve income (roughly 5%) to network revenue to pay for 5% marketing

Context

THORChain is the leading decentralized liquidity protocol that facilitates cross-chain native swaps and is integrated in numerous wallets and front end platforms. Despite its technical innovations and widespread utility, there is currently no dedicated fund allocation for marketing efforts. It also lacks its own dedicated front end that purely supports THORChain. This lack of marketing limits overall protocol awareness, which in turn reduces the ability to attract new users, and ecosystem growth. As a result, THORChain's full potential remains underutilized, especially among less-informed audiences who are not yet familiar with its capabilities. This is evident by numerous mainstream DeFi analytics platforms omitting the THORChain protocol from its research or results.

As of August 2025 a dedicated front end is being developed as part of the plan to help promote THORChain in general and its native swaps.

Proposal

This ADR proposes the allocation of a dedicated marketing fund, sourced from 5% of the protocol’s revenue.The goal is to create a marketing virtuous cycle (similar to the liquidity black hole theory). To do so the fund will support the following initiatives:

  1. Drive Traffic to the Front End SEO, PPC, PPV, etc. to get users on the THORChain dedicated front end.

  2. Press Releases Issue press releases on new features, new pools, etc. on THORChain. We have to pay to get the word out otherwise no one will know.

  3. Exposure on Analytics Platforms Have THORChain represented on all the analytics platforms. When analysts use these platforms they need to see THORChain pop up to encourage them to look further into it. Otherwise THORChain is out of sight out of mind.

  4. Public Relations Start creating positive content about THORChain. When you search THORChain online there are lots of negative articles. Still suffering from the negative news from the hacks, THORFi default, and Bybit. We need to grab hold of the narrative and change it.

  5. Pay Front Ends & Investment Bankers Front ends want a kick back like every other industry in the world. Exchanges like Changelly are paying the wallets to integrate them. If THORChain doesn’t play the game it will stay on the sidelines. Investment bankers need to be paid to pitch THORChain to institutional investors. We have to pay to play.

  6. Brand Awareness Have booths at conferences. Sponsor events. This is more later stage marketing, after the above steps are done and there is money left over to allocate. This type of marketing becomes more important when THORChain gets huge and needs to maintain its dominance in the market.

Key Benefits of Marketing

  1. Increased Adoption Instead of waiting for other front ends to promote trading to their users, and hope THORChain gets those flows, we can take matters into our own hands to try and grow the user base and volume.

  2. Community Growth Targeted campaigns can attract new users and developers to the social media channels, fostering a stronger and more diverse community around THORChain.

  3. Ecosystem Awareness By showcasing THORChain in popular websites, newsletters, and analytics platforms, marketing efforts can enhance awareness of THORChain’s utility in the broader DeFi space.

  4. Brand Reputation Consistent marketing efforts can establish and maintain THORChain as a leader in DeFi, improving its reputation and trust among stakeholders.

  5. Long-Term Sustainability Consistent and constant education about the benefits of THORChain will eventually silence the critics of THORChain. Investors will view THORChain as a serious business and want to make serious investments in it.

  6. AI Training The more content online about THORChain, the more there is for AI to be trained on and learn about THORChain and be able to introduce it to the users of AI. When AI itself starts trading crypto online it should already know and use THORChain.

Analytics

Value of a User to THORChain

830k unique addresses have swapped on THORChain since the launch of MCCN. Let’s assume each address represents one user, so 830k people have used THORChain to date. A total of $85.3M in liquidity fees have been paid. That means the average user on THORChain has paid $103 in fees to the network.

The market cap of RUNE right now is $520.5M. That means the market is valuing RUNE at $627 per user on THORChain.

Therefore one user is worth between $103 to $627 to THORChain.

If we can spend less than $103 to get a new user to THORChain, the marketing campaign is definitely profitable. If it costs between $103 to $627 to attract a user, it might be profitable depending on how you look at it. If it costs more than $627 to acquire a new user, then the marketing is not cost effective.

The numbers above have to be constantly monitored and more detailed analysis can be done, however this gives us a starting point on how much can be spent on SEO, PPC, PPV, to attract new users.

Marketing Fund Budget

5% of revenue from the last 3 months:

  • 2025-06: 61,792.05 RUNE / $92,416.70
  • 2025-07: 37,566.24 RUNE / $56,335.98
  • 2025-08: 14,064.83 RUNE / $18,857.83

Average: RUNE/month: (61,792.05 + 37,566.24 + 14,064.83) ÷ 3 = 37,807.71 RUNE

USD/month: ($92,416.70 + $56,335.98 + $18,857.83) ÷ 3 = $55,870.17

Therefore, if you redirected 5% of revenue to marketing, you’d have roughly: ~37.8k RUNE or ~$55.9k USD per month.

Marketing Quotes

The following are quotes received from various platforms to give you an idea on how much things cost.

Blockman $8500 400+ PRs Free content production Account manager Campaign report Completed in 2 days https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17QkDft98Ku6ir9GHViMsn-d8YCGHMyYkHMN6chOSxO8/edit?gid=1090334780#gid=1090334780

Coinage $50,000 3x 5min videos, 6 episode Ads, 8x live stream ad, 6 newsletter banners 6 Week partnership

The Defiant $36,200 Article Bundle: Newsletter, Web & Twitter Post 5days $5.5 Newsletter banner 1 month $12k Explainer video and article bundle $18.7k https://sponsor.thedefiant.io/advertise

CoinDesk $70,000 / $18,000 Combination of ROS and Targeted Digital Advertising, newsletters, audio/video mentions / Dedicated thought article https://www.canva.com/design/DAGMhFm1h-o/AfCYqC3gwO3yecvCURtMRA/view

CoinMarketCap $3CPC / $5CPM Homepage Ads. Price determined by location on the website. ETA CTR 0.5% https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1CbWpEJTDi6ZEuoTDVeCpp7gFSgeQDMfh-X4CjXzOVXs/edit?slide=id.p9#slide=id.p9

CMC social package $100,000 Tweet x1 TG post x2 (pinned for 24-hrs) Newsletter slot x5 Instagram post x1 Dedicated newsletter x1 Sponsored deep dive article x1 CMC Community Live session x1 (similar to Twitter Spaces) - includes an additional tweet and mobile-app notification push to CMC users for exposure https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1CbWpEJTDi6ZEuoTDVeCpp7gFSgeQDMfh-X4CjXzOVXs/edit?slide=id.p9#slide=id.p9

CryptoRank $30,000 / $20,000 Blockchain analytics integration / Article support https://telegra.ph/THORChain-Integration-and-Promotion-on-CryptoRankio-01-16

CoinTelegraph (Formula agency) $29,000 1 PR/month PR strategy(X, TG,DC), and evaluation, Media moderation Organic distribution SMM strategy Weekly content - 21x posts/wk KPI reporting Addon services - Native articles @ $13k a piece Ongoing https://docsend.com/view/e7ccd98xpqdpekm5

Coingecko $8CPM / $15,000 / $10,000 / $30,000 / $10,000 Top leaderboard banner / Educational article / Tactical article / Quarterly industry report (+social posts, promotion in newsletter, app notifications, promotional slider) / Sponsored Feature newsletter Per CPM / article / report / week

Theblock $25,000 / $20,000 / $5000 / $153,000 Run of site ads (in article and sticky footer) / Sponsored ad in daily newsletter / 1x sponsored post / All Podcasts sponsor (3) Per week / week / QTR

Proposed Marketing Strategies

  • SEO, PPV, PPC on all social media and search engines.
  • Focus on regions and demographics with high adoption potential for DeFi solutions.
  • Utilize THORName referral codes to track marketing campaigns.
  • Enter into long term contracts with publishing channels to get better per unit pricing.
  • Collaborate with DeFi analytics websites to ensure accurate integration of THORChain data for joint promotional efforts.
  • Produce and distribute blogs, videos, and infographics explaining THORChain’s technology and benefits.
  • Launch referral programs and trading competitions to incentivize user engagement towards the dedicated frontend.
  • Highlight case studies showcasing successful use cases and integrations.
  • Sponsor industry events to attract the attention of institutional and retail users.

Funds and Governance

Allocation

5% of THORChain’s revenue. The specific percentage will be controlled by node mimir.

The loss in revenue to the network can be offset by redirecting the reserve income to the network revenue. The reserve income currently equates to ~5% of the network revenue therefore will result in no change to node or pool income.

The 5% Burn can be preserved since reserve income will cover the 5% marketing fund.

The Treasury will kick start the marketing fund with $250,000.

If a marketing campaign is obviously successful and warrants further investment, but the marketing fund has no money left, the nodes can be campaigned to raise the % of revenue going towards the marketing fund, nodes could distribute RUNE from the reserve, and/or the Treasury can be asked to add more to the marketing fund to keep the campaign going.

The goal of the marketing fund is to be high velocity. As money comes in, it will be spent. As THORChain’s revenue goes up, so too does the marketing spend. The revenue will be highest during a bull market, therefore the marketing spend will be the highest during a bull market, which matters because that is when people are paying the most attention and THORChain can capture market share. After the peak of the bull market, the marketing fund should slow down expenditures to preserve cash for the bear market to ensure there is constant and consistent marketing going on until the next bull market occurs.

The fund may need to save up cash to make large purchases in the future. Such as paying for wallet integrations.

Governance

The marketing fund will be overseen and managed by a marketing committee made up of two node operators, Kenton and Scorch, and a member of Nine Realms (9R).

To assure no conflicts of interest, none of the committee members are asking to be paid to do this. They stand to benefit from the growth of THORChain. This enables as much money as possible going towards marketing efforts.

The marketing fund will go into a public wallet address similar to the developer fund address in the constants.

Vultisig will be used with a 2 of 3 signature approval.

All receipts and expenditures will be detailed and saved in a google drive folder for the community to review.

Accountability and transparency

Marketing committee members will provide updates and reports to the Discord and THORChain community as necessary. These reports will include spend, ROI and general marketing performance to enable the community to assess the effectiveness of campaigns, provide feedback and to allow the committee to make adjustments, cancellations or new deals.

Engagement is encouraged since there is a lot of intellectual capital within the THORChain community. The community may be able to help get better pricing and/or offer their expertise for free.

Timeframe

The intention of the marketing fund is to last forever. Marketing is an ongoing process no different than research and development.

Review Period A 12 month review period will occur with the community and NOs. A decision to keep or adjust the marketing members will occur via mimir vote.

Alternatives Considered

  1. Status Quo Continuing without dedicated marketing risks limited growth and adoption, especially in the face of competition.

  2. Volunteer-Driven Efforts While cost-effective, volunteer-driven marketing lacks the consistency and scalability needed to make a significant impact. It also means it's driven by people already in the THORChain ecosystem so will limit the new people being exposed.

Risks

  1. Mismanagement of Funds To mitigate this risk, a 2 of 3 signature wallet will be used forcing at least 2 members to be in contact with each other and hold each other accountable. The community will be able to audit the wallet address and receipts uploaded to google drive.

  2. Low ROI It could take months before finding a strategy that works to gain new users.

  3. Non measurable ROI The effects of marketing are notoriously hard to measure. It may not be readily apparent or easily quantifiable as there are many variables in play at the same time.

  4. Correlation is not Cause A positive correlation of marketing spend to user acquisition might be developed, and decisions made based on that correlation, only to realize after the fact the correlation was spurious.

Consequences

  1. 5% of revenue going to marketing efforts will result in a reduction of buy pressure on the RUNE token.

  2. The reserve will stop growing when the income stops.

Next Steps

  1. Present this ADR to the THORChain community, solicit feedback and approve funding and governance course of action.

  2. Begin assessing marketing companies and possible pilot marketing campaigns to measure costs and initial impact to refine strategies.

  3. Present costs with KPI's to the community

  4. Action and continuously manage marketing activities with discord updates when available.

Conclusion

Investing in marketing is essential for THORChain to achieve its long-term vision of becoming the largest crypto exchange in the world. By increasing awareness and adoption, a dedicated marketing fund will catalyze growth, enhance the protocol’s reputation, and solidify its position in the DeFi ecosystem.

Decision

Approved via node consensus.