@trigs.eth
OK the incentives make sense, but what makes this a protocol?
If you've read my recent article you will have a little bit of insight into answering that question.
https://paragraph.com/@trigs/what-is-a-protocol
If you break down the full workflow in a rudimentary way, you can separate out the 'incentives' from the 'protocol'.
The protocol side is largely the builders and users. These are the individuals who stand to gain the most from using the protocol. They are also the individuals who will grow to own and maintain the protocol as it decentralizes.
The incentive side is the economic value of the protocol. The more funds that are injected into the system as KPI rewards, the more value is being generated by the protocol.