Welcome to this week's edition of our newsletter, where we're taking a fresh approach to sharing insights. Moving away from the typical summaries, we're weaving together the significant themes in governance that have emerged over the past week. While slightly subjective, this approach offers a broader, more interconnected understanding of the dynamic space.
As always, your perspectives matter to us – do share your thoughts through our poll or send us items that pique your interest.
The dialogue around regulation is not just confined to governmental bodies but is also a significant concern within DAOs. For instance, 1inch DAO recently made strides in legal and regulatory compliance with a noteworthy proposal that passed, underscoring the proactive steps being taken within the community. Similarly, Mango Markets DAO is navigating regulatory waters, actively considering legal representation in response to external inquiries, as reported by CoinDesk. And take note, DAO anon: the CFTC is urging policymakers to take action against the “the pseudonymity and disintermediation” in DeFi by enforcing digital identity — to aid in “countering the financing of terrorism,” they say.
Grants Galore
There's a clear trend of evolution and experimentation in grant programs. Aave's decision to extend support to its Grants DAO is a testament to its commitment to nurturing innovative projects, as seen in its recent proposal. Nouns DAO's contemplation of a new grants program for creators, highlighted in their proposal, is another example of how these organizations foster growth. Nouns Garden Round 5 — an evolution of Prop House — is also open until January 17th. The discussion in Arbitrum's community about establishing Key Performance Indicators for grant programs reflects a thoughtful approach to ensuring efficacy and accountability in these initiatives.
A different but significant development in ‘grant’ initiatives has surfaced in the form of delegate compensation programs where the DAO compensates engaged voters and proxies based on a baseline set of participation requirements. We’ll write more about this in the future, but for now, we’re keeping an eye on the Arbitrum community voting on an experimental delegate incentive system, which would run for six months.
2023 Rewinds
Many DAOs have published their year-in-reviews, from ApeCoin's comprehensive progress report to The Noun Square's creative retrospective titled “Last Year in Nouns” to PoolTogether's unique forum stats-based review, offering insights into the achievements and challenges faced by these communities.
Keep Your Eye On
Optimism is planning a “Delta Network Upgrade,” which will apply to all OP Chains; it introduces “Span Batches,” which “de-risk launching new OP Chains by meaningfully reducing L1 costs for inactive chains.” RetroPGF results on Optimism are also expected to be announced today.
