👨🔬 Governance Lab #030
Lab Report #030 - Safety Module Emissions, UF Funding, MakerDAO RWA Vaults, Arbitrum Incentives, and more
gm frens welcome back to the Governance Lab, your weekly source for all things DAO Governance, DeFi, and the latest from the StableLab team. Grants and Incentives are the theme this week. The ecosystem is thriving with various grants and incentive programs helping keep protocols and teams afloat. Optimism has RPGF. Arbitrum has its Incentives Program. Uniswap has its recently launched UNI-ARB grant program and the Foundation that provides ecosystem grants. All this and more, below. Enjoy 🙏
At a Glance 👀
💨 Aave DAO discusses Safety Module emissions & Balancer holdings
🦄 Uniswap Foundation requests a second tranche of funding
💵 MakerDAO votes to increase RWA exposure
🗳️ Arbitrum DAO’s Incentive Program begins, onchain vote is live
Let’s dive in 🏊
Emissions & Holdings
Aave DAO discusses changes to Safety Module emissions and Balancer holdings
ACI founder Marc Zeller has proposed a reduction in the emissions paid out by the Aave Safety Module to stakers by 30% and introducing a 90-day SM emission cycle. The move claims to save valuable AAVE emissions while the DAO works on SM upgrades. The Safety Module, a mechanism created to protect the protocol against shortfall events, currently pays stakers 1,100 AAVE each day. Should this proposal pass, that amount would be reduced to 770 AAVE.
In another development at Aave DAO, Dydymoon has submitted a proposal to update the Balancer holdings held by the DAO. As a result of AIP-42, which changed the incentive structure for veBAL and vlAURA, this proposal seeks to optimize the Aave DAO’s emission power by securing more AURA. The options presented are to either convert the remaining BPT to AURA or retain the BPT while acquiring AURA tokens. Discussions in the forum have primarily focused on maintaining a great working relationship with Balancer by not dumping the BPT holdings.
Deep in the Tranches
Uniswap Foundation seeks its second tranche of funding and elections for reviewers of the UNI-ARB grant program begin
The Uniswap Foundation has submitted a proposal to receive the second tranche of their initial funding request. Established last year, the UF was formed to help steward the decentralization of the Uniswap DAO.
In their proposal, the UF outlines highlights of its past year, including the list of funded projects, details on the launch of new innovations, the current makeup of the team, and other past community initiatives. Over the course of the previous year, the UF had costs totaling $5.7M in grant rewards and $3.15M in operational expenses. According to the proposal, the UF aims to distribute $10-15M annually and double its team size within the next year. UF's main focus moving forward is to develop the Hooks ecosystem, launch the TL;DR Fellowship, organize IRL delegate events, and continue building for 2024. The proposal requests a total of $62.37M in UNI.
Also at the Uniswap DAO, elections for reviewers of the UNI-ARB grants council are currently underway. If you're interested in contributing to the growth of the UNI-ARB ecosystem and assisting in fund distribution, see more details here.
Raise the Ceiling
MakerDAO votes to raise RWA exposure
MakerDAO is currently running a poll seeking community consensus on a range of proposed changes to two RWA vaults, Clydesdale and Andromeda. The changes include several adjustments including reactivating Clydesdale, setting its Target Available Debt at 50M DAI, establishing a 24-hour Ceiling Increase Cooldown, and setting the Max Debt Ceiling to 3B DAI. For Andromeda, the proposed change aims to set the Max Debt Ceiling to 3B DAI. The outcome of this poll, and subsequent ratification via Executive Proposal, would double MakerDAO's exposure to RWA T-bills.
❲ Links ❳
🚀 Launches & Deployments
veYFI launches Oct 19th
Announcing the Decentralization Research Center
📑 Insights & Reports
The State of Web3 Grants Report
Important Factors that Determine the EDSR
Decentralizing Nouns DAO Frontends
How SubDAOs Are Making A Bear Market Comeback
🧗 Milestones & Updates
MakerDAO Real World Asset Report August 2023
Optimism Cycle 15 Grants Roundup
Optimism Season 4 RFG Recap
BGD Aave Governance V3 Activation Plan
🔒 Security, Risk, & Hacks
GMX V2 Risk Portal
Spark Protocol on Polygon zkEVM: Risk Assessment
Understanding Crypto Hacks and Exploits with DefiLlama
🗞️ Miscellaneous
Mich Settles Entire Aave Debt Position
Oracle-less: Challenging the Status Quo
📺 Podcasts & Listens
Rune: Unveiling MakerDAO’s Endgame at Korea Blockchain Week
❲ Proposal Tracker ❳
Notable Developments
🗳️⚡ LIVE | dYdX v4 Launch Incentives Proposal
99% ‘YAE’ Vote Ends: Oct 1st 14:46 UTC
🗳️⛓️ LIVE | TokenLogic Service Provider Proposal
55% ‘YAE’ Vote Ends: Sep 30th 05:33 UTC
🗳️⛓️ LIVE | AIP 9: Arbitrum Short-term Incentive Program
98% ‘For’ Vote Ends: Oct 9th 16:51 UTC
Aave - Events and Sponsorship Budget
Summary: Here, Aave Companies presents a budget proposal aimed at supporting activations and events to foster the growth of the Aave ecosystem and brand. The proposal seeks 550K GHO for the remaining months of 2023. Focus areas include sponsoring hackathons, hosting side events, releasing merchandise, developing the GHO Pass, and organizing rAave. Initially part of the AGD renewal post, community members requested the AGD assign this budget to Aave Companies for future management. Any unused funds will be carried over to Q1 2024.
Osmosis - Deploy 2M OSMO to the ampOSMO/OSMO Pool
Summary: This proposal aims to allocate 2M OSMO tokens into the ampOSMO/OSMO stableswap pool. Within the Cosmos ecosystem, the ERIS protocol stands as the second-largest liquid staking provider. As the sole Osmosis-native liquid staking token, ampOSMO plays a vital role. By depositing this liquidity, the proposal aims to leverage community-owned liquidity, fueling growth and integrations for the Osmosis ecosystem. To oversee and manage these funds, a 4 of 6 multisig will be established.
Hop Protocol - Treasury Diversification
Summary: This proposal aims to diversify the Hop DAO treasury by swapping 50% or 837K ARB (~$686K) to USDC. This exchange aims to provide the DAO with more productive assets that help de-risk and cover operational costs. Hop DAO’s ARB holdings were obtained through the Arbitrum airdrop.
Alchemix - Updated Deploy Alchemix on Arbitrum
Summary: This proposal aims to deploy Alchemix on Arbitrum as part of the protocol's multi-chain vision. The proposal entails deploying the alUSD Alchemist smart contract on Arbitrum while enabling AAVE V3 strategies. It also includes the initial deployment parameters, such as a Max LTV of 50% and a Max Loss of 5bps. Accepted collaterals consist of aUSDC, aUSDC.e, and JonesUSDC. To facilitate alAsset liquidity, Alchemix will collaborate with Ramses.
From the Lab
Arbitrum Incentives Program
Voting for AIP-9 at Arbitrum is currently live on-chain. The proposal ratifies a previously approved Snapshot vote, aiming to distribute up to 50M ARB to qualifying protocols deployed on Arbitrum. Our analyst, Matt, has joined as a contributor, supporting the administrative forum process. This includes filtering proposals to ensure they comply with the rules, overseeing the progression of these proposals to Snapshot, coordinating with other Arbitrum stakeholders, facilitating calls with applicants and delegates, and more.
The deadline for applications passed on September 27th at 11:59 PM EST.
For a full breakdown of the program timeline and what’s next, see here.
❲ Our Voting ❳
📆 September 22nd → September 28th | 🗳️ Total Votes: 25
See our full vote history and rationale here.
Meme
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