👨‍🔬 Governance Lab #084

Lab Report #084 - Balancer-CoW Token Swap, Gitcoin's GTC Evolution, Gnosis Treasury Operations, and more

Jan 31, 2025

gm frens 👋

Welcome back to the Governance Lab, your weekly source for all things StableLab, DeFi, and DAO Governance.

As always, we've filtered through the noise to bring you the governance signals (and drama) that matter.

At a Glance 👀
🎯 Balancer and CoW propose strategic token swap
🌱 Gitcoin DAO outlines GTC utility vision for 2025
🔥 GnosisDAO executes major GNO token burn

Let’s dive in 🏊

Balancer

Balancer and CoW DAO propose strategic token swap

Balancer DAO and CoWSwap have proposed a token swap of 200,000 BAL for approximately 631,850 COW tokens. This swap follows their successful collaboration on CoWAMMs, which launched in August 2024.
The proposal includes a two-year lock-up period for both parties, with specific utility rights attached. CoW DAO will be able to deposit their BAL into veBAL and direct incentives to CoWAMM pools, provided they supply the required 20% ETH portion for the 80/20 pool. Meanwhile, Balancer can use their COW tokens for governance participation and potentially for posting solver bonds on the CoWSwap network.

Gitcoin

Gitcoin DAO unveils comprehensive GTC utility vision

Gitcoin DAO has announced ambitious plans to expand GTC token utility beyond its traditional governance role. The initiative aims to transform GTC into a more dynamic asset that actively supports the protocol's mission of funding public goods while fostering community engagement.
The new utility framework centers on three core functions: empowering trust through legitimacy signaling, incentivizing participation through aligned contributions, and sustaining impact through regenerative funding mechanisms. Grants Lab will lead implementation efforts in Q1 2025, focusing on practical solutions including curation tools, staking models, and dynamic reward mechanisms.

Gnosis

GnosisDAO executes major treasury operations with GNO burn

GnosisDAO has executed a significant treasury proposal (GIP-116) that includes burning 3.15M GNO tokens from the vesting contract. This action follows through on a mandate established three years ago in GIP-35, which committed to reducing the total GNO supply to 3M tokens, representing a 70% decrease from the original supply. The burn is a milestone in GnosisDAO's tokenomics strategy, bringing the total burned amount to nearly 4M GNO and passing the halfway mark of the planned reduction.
Beyond the token burn, other treasury operations include: claiming accumulated rewards from various protocols, managing DeFi positions including WETH withdrawals from Aave, consolidating assets like FRAX and stETH, and implementing infrastructure improvements through the creation of a delegates.gnosis.eth subdomain.

Proposal Tracker™️

⚡ VOTING UNDERWAY | Stargate DAO - HEP-1: Hydra Expansion Program

Summary: This proposal seeks to establish a $10M STG token allocation for the Hydra Expansion Program, with Berachain (Boyco) designated as the initial recipient. The initiative aims to optimize capital efficiency by reallocating current farm incentives to Hydra chains. The framework includes integration with Boyco's liquidity market protocol, featuring 3-month capital lock-up periods and strategic PLL (Protocol Locked Liquidity) generation, while maintaining flexibility for future Hydra chain partnerships and ecosystem expansion.

⚡ VOTING UNDERWAY | Arbitrum DAO - Arbitrum Strategic Objective Setting (SOS) – Defining the DAO’s Interim Goals

Summary: This proposal introduces a Strategic Objective Setting framework for establishing and managing the DAO's short-term (1-year) and mid-term (2-year) objectives through a structured submission and selection process spanning 86 days. The initiative implements a two-phase approach beginning January 2024, incorporating extensive community feedback periods and requiring detailed objective matrices aligned with the DAO's MVP framework.

💬 DISCUSSION | ENS DAO - Renew Service Providers Program for Season 2

Summary: This proposal outlines a renewal framework for the Service Provider Program at ENS DAO, implementing a ranked-choice voting system with budget options ranging from $1.8M to $5.4M annually over a 22-month period. The initiative establishes strict eligibility requirements including team reputation verification, prior blockchain experience, and 10k ENS token endorsement, while implementing a two-tier stream structure allocating funds across one-year and two-year durations.

From the Lab

New Team Member - Kaf

We're excited to announce the newest addition to our team: Kaf. He joins our governance team with a distinguished track record of contributing to various DAOs and producing high-quality DAO content. Please give him a warm welcome! 👏

▶︎ Drop him a follow on X HERE

SUMR is here

We’ll be seeing you soon over at Lazy Summer Protocol ⛱️

▶︎ Delegate to us HERE

Forse for Uniswap Development Update

This week, we shared a Forse development update with the Uniswap community. As part of our agreement with the DAO, we will continue to share biweekly updates on the development of the Forse Terminal. Notable accomplishments include significant progress on the data side and wireframing. These updates also serve to gather feedback from the Uniswap community. We're particularly interested in hearing about: