🗳 This Week in Governance - March 21: Mobilizing Rewards and Treasuries
A weekly resource covering crypto governance, politics, and power.
📣 Key Points
Aave launches Merit, a new rewards program
Arbitrum considers big boost to gaming
Farcaster.vote: more than just a polling frame
Uniswap discusses how to mobilize the $6B treasury
CityDAO rejects proposal for GPU cluster in Wyoming
Voting Activity (L7)
🗳️ 93,506 ballots
👥 32,151 voters
📜 282 proposals
🌐 80 active DAOsQuery more data using the Governance API
Aave launches Merit, a new rewards program
Aave has launched "Merit," a new rewards program designed to incentivize user behaviors aligned with the protocol's goals, through its first airdrop a couple of days ago. The program rewards actions that benefit the Aave DAO directly from its revenue. It distributes 280 WETH to WETH borrowers in the initial phase, with plans for future airdrops to GHO borrowers and stakers. Spearheaded by the Aave Chan Initiative and approved by the Aave DAO, Merit aims to become a sustainable feature of Aave, promoting long-term user engagement and protocol success by utilizing a booster-based model for reward distribution. The program is not without its detractors, as evidenced in the forum discussion, with some claiming, for example, that Merit introduces "dilutions" that discourage the use of other protocols — which contradicts the value of growing the DeFi ecosystem inclusively.
Arbitrum considers big boost to gaming
The Arbitrum Gaming Catalyst Program (GCP) is designed to bolster the gaming ecosystem on Arbitrum by allocating 200 million ARB over two years, aiming to establish the network as a prime choice for game developers. This initiative seeks to accelerate game development through funding, mentorship, and resource allocation to established and independent game builders, focusing on attracting top talent and producing high-quality, engaging games. The program emphasizes strategic resource allocation to ensure efficient use of funds, with the ultimate goal of diversifying Arbitrum's use cases beyond DeFi, fostering a vibrant gaming community, and ensuring long-term growth and sustainability of the network. Discussion in the forum has been lively, and there is an active Snapshot proposal to gauge sentiment.
Farcaster.vote: more than just a polling frame
Vocdoni recently posted about the development of Farcaster.vote, which Vocdoni says constitutes a significant advancement in decision-making platforms. Farcaster.vote, introduced via Farcaster frames in February, offers a secure, decentralized, and tamper-proof polling solution built on a cryptographic chain of trust. The platform emphasizes a deterministic, reproducible, and verifiable process for each step, from vote casting to result announcement. It is designed to be censorship-resistant and maintain integrity even under attempts to shut it down. It operates on a sophisticated system of user identification, signers, and a census compiled into a Merkle tree, with each component contributing to the platform's goal of transparent and accountable decision-making processes.
Uniswap discusses how to mobilize the $6B treasury
The Uniswap Treasury Working Group (UTWG) has proposed a strategic approach to managing the Uniswap DAO's treasury, which holds assets worth nearly $6B, primarily in $UNI tokens, aiming to address its volatility and underutilization through diversification and investment in revenue-generating activities. The UTWG plans to conduct eight weeks of research and interviews to formulate at least two viable treasury management strategies, considering the necessity for a legal framework to ensure tax compliance and limit liability. The proposal emphasizes the transition of Uniswap's treasury management towards sustainability and growth, aligning with the concept of treating the treasury as an endowment to support the protocol's long-term objectives despite the current lack of plans for productive capital utilization and the challenges posed by the treasury's single-asset composition.
📚 Reads
DAOs & qDAUs: A Match Made Onchain, from Tally
MakerDAO Impact Analysis: March 8 Accelerated Proposal, from Block Analitica
Slorg is Sorry Slerf Was Burnt, by Matt Levine
🎧 Listens
Is UNI a Security After Uniswap Turns on The Fee Switch? on Law of Code
Funding the Future Onchain: Empowering Open Source & Public Goods with Gitcoin, on The Defiant
Maybe Bots Aren’t So Bad w/ Brian Flynn, on On the Other Side
Memecoin Presales, MakerDAO’s Endgame, and Blackrock’s Blockchain Bet, on The Chopping Block
📜 Highlighted Proposals
Arbitrum: Stable Treasury Endowment Program
The Stable Treasury Endowment Program (STEP) proposed by the ArbitrumDAO aims to diversify $35 million ARB from its treasury into stable, liquid, and yield-generating real-world assets (RWAs), particularly those backed by treasury bills or money market instruments to support the RWA ecosystem on Arbitrum and foster ecosystem growth. This initiative represents a trial for broader treasury diversification efforts, establishing a legal and infrastructural framework for future investments. It operates as an investment rather than a grant, allowing Arbitrum governance to retain control and recall investments under agreed conditions. The program involves a comprehensive process, including a request for proposals (RFP) from service providers, evaluation by a qualified committee, and DAO approval for allocations, aiming to increase capital efficiency, mitigate risk, and promote the integration of RWAs within the Arbitrum ecosystem. Voting begins on March 23rd.
CityDAO: Compute Cloud - Build a GPU Cluster in Wyoming
This proposal outlines a plan to establish the world's first crowdfunded compute cluster in Wyoming, positioning CityDAO as a pioneer in the AI field while generating income for its DAO treasury. With a budget of $600,000, the plan involves purchasing 300 Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPUs, among other equipment, anticipating a $30,000 monthly income through a business model that involves renting out GPU capacity. The initiative aims to enhance CityDAO's status, offer compute resources at a discount to its members, and adapt to the increasing demand for AI computing power while also acknowledging potential risks related to market demand and regulatory compliance. Voting concluded on March 21st; almost 57% rejected the proposal.
Lido: Rewards-Share Program 2024
The Rewards Share Committee proposes a new Rewards-Share Program aimed at promoting liquid staking technology and tokens, such as stETH, by sharing middleware usage fees with institutional applicants who surpass a 40,000 ETH stake threshold, a notable shift from the prior Tiered Rewards Share program. Unlike its predecessor, this updated program removes tiered rewards, instead allowing the Committee to assign rewards shares up to 50% of the DAO's 5% share of staking rewards, with quarterly payments. The initiative seeks to bolster the institutional adoption of stETH, aligning with Lido DAO's broader objectives to enhance its performance and support its goals. Voting ends on March 21st.
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