👨🔬 Governance Lab #040
Lab Report #040 - wstETH Bridges, Prisma Grants Program, Balancer Maxis Funding, and more
Welcome back to the Governance Lab, your weekly source for all things StableLab, DeFi, and DAO Governance.
We recently wrapped up Season 1 of our podcast, StablePod. It has been an intriguing journey filled with unexpected twists and turns. Through this project, I developed a profound appreciation for the art of storytelling and engaging conversations. There are very few people at the edges building these mechanisms we so closely track and admire and I want to continue bringing you insights and inspiration for whatever you may be building. In case you missed it we interviewed builders deep in the weeds such as Charles St. Louis at DELV, Justine at Optimism, Marc Zeller at Aave, and many more. I look forward to Season 2. This week's major storylines below. Enjoy.
At a Glance 👀
❌ Lido DAO fails to approve multiple canonical wstETH Bridges
👨✈️ Prisma DAO discusses Pilot Grants Program
🏀 Balancer Maxis request Q1 Funding
🎙️ New StablePod episode w/ Greg (Ajna Finance)
Let’s dive in 🏊
Endpoints
Lido DAO fails to approve multiple canonical wstETH Bridges
Lido DAO failed to pass three important proposals this week, putting a wrench in its strategic goal of expanding its presence across L2 networks. The proposals sought to grant the community control over the wstETH bridges on Mantle, Linea, and zkSync Era, effectively putting the power in the hands of the Lido community to manage the endpoints of the wstETH token contract. This ownership and recognition of the bridges benefits both parties involved. By acknowledging these deployments, Lido establishes a strong foothold in the proposed networks, leveraging their ecosystems while also gaining additional control and failsafe capabilities. From the perspective of the network expansion teams, this proposal serves as formal recognition of the use of wstETH smart contracts as the "canonical" and correct version controlled by the Lido DAO stimulating further network activity. With all three proposals barely missing quorum (47M of 50M), it’ll be interesting to see how the community proceeds.
Pilots
Prisma DAO looks to launch a Grants Program
Prisma DAO, the community responsible for stewarding the LST-backed stablecoin protocol, is discussing launching a pilot Grants Program. This program aims to fund the development and growth of the Prisma ecosystem and mkUSD stablecoin, drawing inspiration from successful initiatives at Compound, Uniswap, and Aave.
The proposal outlines a two-quarter pilot phase, comprised of a committee of five reviewers: Wavey (Yearn), Winthorpe (Convex), Nader Ghazvini (Frax), Tetranode, and DeFi Dad (4RC). Grant category types include Rapid Grants (up to 20k mkUSD), Community Grants (up to 100k mkUSD), and Large Grants (over 100k mkUSD and outside the current scope of the PGP).
Grant Funding will be directed towards protocol and application development, tooling, audits, hackathons, and bounties. The proposed budget for the Grants Program is 500k mkUSD, with 450k allocated for grants and 50k for committee compensation. This pilot program will shape and help design future iterations of the PGP, ultimately driving sustained growth of the Prisma ecosystem.
Ballers
Balancer Maxis request Q1 Funding
This week, the Balancer Maxis submitted a proposal for a budget extension to continue serving the Balancer DAO. After the departure of their leader and long-time Balancer contributor, Solarcurve, in Q3 2023, the Maxis have undergone a transformation. The core contribute group now describes themselves as a team of full-time, professional experts, rather than just a collection of passionate enthusiasts. In their latest proposal, the Maxis outline four key initiatives for 2024: expanding Balancer's presence beyond Mainnet, supporting the design of Balancer v3, and enhancing the automation of both on-chain and off-chain processes. To fund this 3-month engagement, the Maxis are requesting 108,095 USDC, 35,718 BAL, and 20 ETH.
❲ Links ❳
🚀 Launches & Deployments
STRK coming soon
Redacted launches Dinero Mainnet
📑 Insights & Reports
State of DAO Delegation Report
The Token Holder’s Guide to Delegation
Introducing Gyroscope Governance
Modularity, The Way Forward To Building DeFi Systems
Wintermute DeFi Governance Digest December 2023 | Week 2
LayerZero: The Language of the Omnichain
🧗 Milestones & Updates
Gauntlet Aave November 2023 Update
🔒 Security, Risk, & Hacks
Yearn Fat Fingers a $1.4M Loss of Treasury
🗞️ Miscellaneous
Synthetix ends SNX token inflation
RariDAO Delegation Incentives Program
New Starknet Governance Hub
Launch Lyra V2
Aave: FlashLoans Update
ApeChain on zkSync
ApeChain on Arbitrum
Optimism: Special Voting Cycle 16c Recap
📺 Podcasts & Listens
Andre Cronje: The Founder of Yearn on Lightspeed
❲ Proposal Tracker ❳
💬 Uniswap - Lower Onchain Proposal Threshold
Summary: Abdullah from Michigan Blockchain and Cameron from Consensys have jointly proposed a reduction in the voting power threshold required to post an on-chain proposal at Uniswap. The current requirement of 2.5M UNI is considered outdated and inhibits decentralization of the Uniswap DAO. With only 33 delegates currently meeting this threshold, the proposal aims to lower it to 1M UNI, enabling 47 delegates to submit on-chain proposals. This change would promote diversity and inclusivity within the pool of active delegates.
💬 Infinex - Alpha Launch
Summary: This proposal outlines a detailed framework for the upcoming launch of Infinex Alpha on Mainnet. Infinex, a frontend built on top of Synthetix, aspires to bridge the divide between DeFi and CeFi by delivering a seamless trading experience. Outlined within this proposal are the necessary steps to be taken before the full public launch. The proposal stipulates the involvement of 13 alpha users to rigorously test the product. Each test account will be allocated 1K USDC by the Infinex Council. Additionally, a new landing page will be deployed and funded, to be handled by the Infinex core contributors.
💬 Mantle - Drive Demand for mETH and Increase Mantle Treasury Security
Summary: The Reserve Protocol core team is proposing to integrate mETH, Mantle's LST, into their product ETH+. ETH+ is an index offering users attractive yield opportunities from ETH liquid staking tokens. Currently, ETH+ boasts a TVL of $5M and is overcollateralized, backed by rETH and stETH. As part of the proposal, 1000 ETH from the Mantle treasury will be allocated towards minting ETH+. This proposal aims to achieve several key objectives. First, it seeks to diversify Mantle's LST exposure and yield, providing enhanced protection against depegs and slashing events. Additionally, it aims to stimulate demand for mETH, leading to increased market interest and participation.
💬 Redacted Protocol - Policy Committee
Summary: This proposal aims to establish a Policy Committee, replacing the current Strategic Asset Committee established in early 2022. The committee will be responsible for overseeing the treasury composition of Redacted DAO, managing BTRFLY emissions and treasury to support the launch and growth of pxETH, adjusting parameters for Hidden Hand, Pirex, and Dinero protocols, and whitelisting bribe assets for Hidden Hand. By modernizing the existing committee entity, the proposal aims to streamline the management of the DAO in preparation for the upcoming product launch of pxETH. The newly formed committee will consist of seven members, including four Redacted development team members (0xSami, Never, Kolten, Funky), one elected DeFi leader, and two elected community members.
💬 RariDAO - Continuation of Rarible Protocol Transfer to Community
Summary: This proposal outlines a clear path for the transfer of ownership and control of the Rarible Protocol smart contracts to the Rari DAO community. The primary objective of this transfer is to further decentralize the Rarible Protocol by handing over the Exchange contracts bundle, a crucial component of the protocol. By doing so, the community will gain the authority to set fees for future transactions powered by the protocol. The proposal encompasses three key components that need to be considered for the contracts' ownership: governance design, the DAO's commitment to not surpass a specific threshold for protocol fees, and the expansion of the Security Council to include five seats, thereby granting them emergency upgrade powers. To ensure the integrity of the implementation, the proposal also includes a budget request of 10K USD to conduct a comprehensive security audit.
From the Lab
Bringing DeFi Back to First Principles 🎙️
In our Season Finale of StablePod, we’re joined by Greg Di Prisco Co-founder at Ajna Finance, the innovative oracleless lending and borrowing protocol. We discuss the recent Ajna griefing exploit and their plans for redeployment, building DeFi from first principles, Greg’s biggest lessons from his time at MakerDAO, and the future of the Ajna ecosystem.
Matt at Arbitrum DAO Day 📢
On Thursday, Matt joined ‘Arbitrum DAO Day’, a virtual summit dedicated to the Arbitrum ecosystem. As the Program Manager for the innovative Short-term Incentives Program at Arbitrum, Matt shed some light on the process, how it evolved, and the future of the program.
❲ Our Voting ❳
📆 December 8th → December 14th | 🗳️ Total Votes: 28
See our full vote history and detailed rationale HERE.
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