The problem: Right now if I want to interact with the protocol, whether it be delegating, indexing or curating, I have to go to an exchange to buy GRT. Then I have to transfer that GRT to my wallet, then from my wallet to the protocol. This is complex, especially for people just getting into the crypto scene. It is also expensive to move the GRT around that much until it finally ends up in the protocol. Gas costs should be better in the future but I would argue that this transferring of the token from exchange to wallet to protocol will still be slightly expensive and annoying.
The solution: Make GRT available for purchase directly on TheGraph website so that you can immediately interact with the protocol. I believe this would avoid gas fee’s altogether. It would encourage delegation, especially for small time delegators. This also provides an option that doesn’t use a third party like connectwallet or metamask, potentially making things easier for new crypto users who want to delegate GRT but run into issues.
Problems: I’m sure doing this would take considerable work. I’m also sure that there are many reasons why this might not work that I am not aware of.
Interested to hear what people think!
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It’s great to see that you took matters into your hands and opened this subject to discussion from the community.
One potential issue I see with the solution is that The Graph is using the ETH blockchain. That means users would still have to pay gas fees for protocol interactions (delegating & undelegating, for instance). This is independent of whether users are using MetaMask or not. Also, The Graph would have to develop and operate its own exchange which comes with its own challenges and risks.
I’m interested to hear what other community members are thinking though.
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Agree with @SpaceTraveler, someone should pay the Gas fee anyway.
And another aspect of this: who will sell GRT? So far, it was not previously described that Foundation can do that. So it should be someone else from Network participants and it leads us to create a much-complicated mechanism for it. Because creating a transparent and fair P2P exchange it’s not so easy, actually, it’s a totally different product.
The easy way it’s just to implement 3rd party solution as a widget on the site. But, in this case, you will spend almost the same money on fees and you save only time here.
I understand you, totally, and I believe that we will have an easier way to buy tokens right on the platforms where we plan to use them, but it seems that it is our bright future, for now, it’s a bit complicated to implement. 
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I don’t think Edge & Node should be handling transactions while also offering a Cryptocurrency protocol. This would be a conflict of interest in this regard. Crypto Exchanges like Binance are equipped and specialized for this, not Edge & Node. Others do it best which wouldn’t make much sense for Edge & Node to go down this path.
However, You can buy ETH through MetaMask using a debit card. You can also convert that new ETH into GRT also in MetaMask. This isn’t particularly complex as its all done in MetaMask.
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Speaking for myself only, this is not something anyone working on the protocol or technology needs to get involved in. The legal and technical hurdles are great, and many organizations already fill this need whether centralized (Coinbase, Binance, Kraken) or decentralized (Uniswap, SushiSwap, 1inch).
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