OpenBlock Labs Review
Incentive efficacy and sybil analysis
of 10
OpenBlock Labs is a blockchain data and modelling firm offering incentive design, protocol analytics and sybil detection. For Arbitrum DAO it monitored the Short-Term Incentive Program (STIP) under a DAO procurement, and published efficacy and sybil analyses of STIP and of the Long-Term Incentives Pilot Program (LTIPP).
No money changes hands. This is a non-commercial project: no advertising, no sponsored placements, and no affiliate or referral links. Links to the services below earn us nothing. Every overall score is the plain average of the criteria shown on the page, so you can check the arithmetic yourself — see our rating methodology and how the site is funded.
By Dan Reyes · Updated Sep 22, 2026
Role
Program evaluation
Website
openblocklabs.com
Criteria with nothing published
1 of 6
Sources last read
2026-09-22
Scores
Each criterion carries equal weight. The overall score is the average of these 6 scores — (5.0 + 5.0 + 10.0 + 10.0 + 5.0 + 0.0) ÷ 6 = 5.8.
Pros
- Publishes its sybil-detection method: funding-source thresholds followed by Louvain clustering on an asset-transfer graph
- Its STIP efficacy report states its metrics and normalises growth by the value of ARB claimed, comparing incentivised protocols with others
- Covered the whole 50 million ARB STIP across 30 protocols, and later LTIPP
Cons
- No disclosure of ties to incentive recipients, although it also sells incentive services to protocols
- The public STIP dashboards it linked on the governance forum now return 404
- Its public research list has had no new report since 2024
What does OpenBlock Labs do?
OpenBlock Labs is a blockchain data and modelling firm offering incentive design, protocol analytics and sybil detection. For Arbitrum DAO it monitored the Short-Term Incentive Program (STIP) under a DAO procurement, and published efficacy and sybil analyses of STIP and of the Long-Term Incentives Pilot Program (LTIPP).
In this ranking it is listed under program evaluation.
How OpenBlock Labs scores, criterion by criterion
Each mark comes from a fixed scale published on our methodology page, and each links to the page it was read from.
| Criterion | Mark | What we found | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Named programs | 5 | Names two programs it evaluated with network and period: Arbitrum STIP Round 1 (distributions from November 2023, analysed to 29 March 2024) and Arbitrum LTIPP (3 June to 2 September 2024). Other clients on its site are listed without periods. | openblocklabs.com, read 2026-09-22 |
| Disclosed volume | 5 | The STIP report states that 30 protocols shared 50 million ARB, about 736,000 of it returned; the LTIPP report gives no total distributed. | forum.arbitrum.foundation, read 2026-09-22 |
| Impact report | 10 | The STIP efficacy analysis (7 May 2024) reports TVL, daily users, volume, fees and borrowing, normalises growth by ARB claimed at the average price over the program, and compares STIP protocols with non-STIP protocols. | forum.arbitrum.foundation, read 2026-09-22 |
| Abuse protection | 10 | The February 2024 analysis describes a two-phase method: flagging wallets by shared funding source (60 or more funded by one address in a month, or 10 or more in one transaction), then Louvain clustering on an asset-transfer graph. | forum.arbitrum.foundation, read 2026-09-22 |
| Open data | 5 | Forum updates linked public dashboards and a public sheet of STIP contract addresses; the dashboards now return 404, so only part of the data remains open. | forum.arbitrum.foundation, read 2026-09-22 |
| Independence | 0 | Not published. Neither the STIP monitoring proposal nor the reports disclose relationships with the protocols being monitored. | forum.arbitrum.foundation, read 2026-09-22 |
OpenBlock Labs publishes nothing we could find on independence, so that criterion scores 0. That is a record of what is published, not a finding about what the firm does privately.
Who it suits
DAOs that want a data-led check of whether incentives worked, with sybil screening of the addresses that claimed them.
How it compares
Castle Labs
Program assessments and retention analysis
Gitcoin
Public-goods funding rounds
Metrom
KPI-linked liquidity campaigns with open data
Merkl
On-chain incentive distribution at scale
Questbook
Milestone-based DAO grant programs
Thrive Protocol
Milestone-based ecosystem grants
Blockworks Advisory
Statistical program retrospectives
Galxe
Quest campaigns and airdrops with identity checks
Turtle
Liquidity campaigns through a vetted LP network
Karma
On-chain grantee accountability
Layer3
Quest campaigns with on-chain rewards
Boost
Self-serve on-chain reward campaigns
Sources
Scored from published primary sources rather than hands-on use. Every figure above comes from one of the pages below, on the date shown. Manufacturers change prices and specifications without notice — if something here no longer matches the source, tell us and we will correct it.
- 1.OpenBlock Labs: Named programs — checked
- 2.OpenBlock Labs: Disclosed volume, Impact report — checked
- 3.OpenBlock Labs: Abuse protection — checked
- 4.OpenBlock Labs: Open data — checked
- 5.OpenBlock Labs: Independence — checked
Frequently asked questions
What does OpenBlock Labs do for chains and DAOs?
OpenBlock Labs is a blockchain data and modelling firm offering incentive design, protocol analytics and sybil detection. For Arbitrum DAO it monitored the Short-Term Incentive Program (STIP) under a DAO procurement, and published efficacy and sybil analyses of STIP and of the Long-Term Incentives Pilot Program (LTIPP).
How is OpenBlock Labs's score of 5.8 calculated?
It is the plain average of six marks, each from a fixed published scale: named programs 5, disclosed volume 5, impact report 10, abuse protection 10, open data 5, independence 0. (5 + 5 + 10 + 10 + 5 + 0) ÷ 6 = 5.8.
Nothing here is financial advice. Editorial policy · How we score · How we're funded.