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A Monthly Builder Incentive Program
Anyone can ship an agent that answers questions. Almost none can ship one that gets paid, proves who it is, and gets trusted enough to transact again. That gap, between "it works" and "it's economically real," is the whole game right now.
Metis is building the execution and data layer for that game: the chain where AI Agents don't just run, but live, transact, and build wealth. Andromeda's decentralized Sequencer removes the single point of failure that trustless agent-to-agent activity actually needs. The infrastructure is designed around what agents require from day one, not retrofitted onto a human-first chain.
Metis Rise is how we back the builders putting that thesis to the test. It's a monthly incentive program that rewards teams who deploy new AI Agents on Andromeda Mainnet, acquire real users, and generate real on-chain economic activity. Not another demo. Not another idle contract.
It runs as a 3-month pilot before we evaluate it for long-term adoption.
Shipping something that looks like it works isn't the hard part anymore. Getting it used, transacted with, and trusted, repeatedly, is.
What's missing isn't ideas. It's infrastructure:
Web3 isn't a default requirement. It only earns its place when a project genuinely needs to solve one of these four problems. If an idea doesn't need any of them, it's probably not a fit here.
That's also why deployment on Andromeda Mainnet matters. It isn't a box to check. A decentralized, trust-minimized settlement layer is what an agent economy needs to function without a human co-signing every transaction.
One direction worth building around: an Agent Task Marketplace with escrow.
The problem: on existing outsourcing and crowdsourcing platforms, an AI Agent acting as the requester has no way to verify a counterparty's reputation, whether that counterparty is a human or an agent. Payment still runs through manual invoicing, and delivered work comes with no re-verifiable proof. Agent-to-agent and agent-to-human delegation ends up depending on human backstopping.
A working Task Agent looks like this:
Discovery, negotiation, payment, verification, and settlement all happen on Metis Andromeda Mainnet, with a re-verifiable proof at every step. That replaces manual reconciliation and verbal trust with programmable trust.
Other directions worth exploring:
What we're not looking for: generic marketplaces with no scenario focus, token-only ideas with no real use case, API-key wrappers with a thin Web3 veneer, and proofs that only live in a private database and can't be independently re-verified.
Open to all Builders, not limited to OpenClaw Summer Builder Bootcamp participants. This is for new projects built and deployed on Metis Andromeda Mainnet, not existing, mature Andromeda projects.
Any application category is welcome. Any AI Agent framework, architecture, or hosting setup works, including ClawUp (https://clawup.org), GOAT AgentKit (https://agentkit.goat.network/), or self-hosted backends. Dual-chain architectures are fully supported: agents deployed on GOAT Network or using GOAT Flow (https://www.goat.network/news/introducing-goat-flow) / x402 for identity and commercial challenges qualify 100%, as long as primary user transactions, settled volume (m.USDC, m.USDT, or METIS), and gas burn occur on Metis Andromeda Mainnet.
If your agent uses GOAT Network for identity (ERC-8004) or x402, your Metis execution wallet must match, or be linked in metadata to, your registered GOAT identity address. This lets our indexers attribute activity correctly.
Each month, Builders need to meet:
A valid user must meet the activity floor and at least one legitimacy signal: a unique Telegram ID, Privy login, or Web3 social handle, or a wallet older than 14 days or with prior Metis transaction history.
Wallets funded directly by the deployer or from the same upstream source, self-transfers, and test transactions don't count.
Only Builders meeting all requirements enter the monthly ranking. The Top 3 get rewarded. Ranking is based on Valid Monthly Active Users (80%) and METIS Gas Consumption (20%). Settled volume counts toward the per-user floor but is not a ranking input.
Max monthly cash pool: $1,500, paid in METIS or stables.
If only one Builder applies and qualifies in a given month, they receive the full #1 reward. No competing field is required to unlock it. The pool doesn't roll over. If fewer than 3 Builders qualify, only those Builders are paid.
Winning here comes down to one thing: real users, real usage. Metis doesn't run acquisition or marketing for individual projects, so growth is on you. Here's what we do offer:
🌿 Selective amplification. Standout Builder posts tagged @MetisL2 may be reshared or featured by our official accounts. This is opportunistic, not guaranteed for every Builder.
🎥 A recurring Builder livestream series. It gives qualifying and standout teams a standing stage in front of the ecosystem.
📊 A public leaderboard. It updates daily with unverified estimates of user counts and gas consumption on Metis Andromeda Mainnet. Anti-Sybil screening and funding-source checks run at the monthly payout snapshot.
Top 3 finalists go through a security review and anti-gaming screen before payout. No third-party audit is required to apply. These checks are not a full security guarantee.
This isn't the first time we've backed builders through this gap. The OpenClaw Summer Builder Bootcamp ran a full curriculum on growth and distribution alongside product, because knowing how to acquire users, not just build for them, is half the job. Metis Rise is where that training turns into an ongoing reward for the teams who actually apply it.
Metis Rise is organized by Metis, with ClawUp, GOAT Network, and LazAI as ecosystem partners.
ClawUp and GOAT AgentKit are among the supported ways to build and host your agent, and GOAT Network supports dual-chain setups through GOAT Flow and x402. LazAI is the decentralized AI data and application layer in the Metis stack.
Our media partners are Foresight News, Cryptothreads.io, ODAILY, BlockBeats, and BD Ventures.
Applications are open on a rolling basis. Applications submitted in Month N enter Month N+1's ranking cycle, so every participant gets a fair 30-day window. Approved teams receive an onboarding email right away and use the rest of Month N to deploy. User activity and gas indexing start on Day 1 of Month N+1.
