👨‍🔬 Governance Lab #105

Lab Report #105 – Aave's $5M GHO Liquidity Plan on Gnosis, GnosisDAO's $30M Annual Budget Proposal, StargateDAO's Intent-Based Capital Strategy, and more

Jul 18, 2025

gm frens 👋

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

At a Glance 👀
👻 Aave DAO considers $5M USDC allocation for GHO market making on Gnosis Chain
🟣 GnosisDAO discusses $30M annual budget proposal for Gnosis Ltd operations
🌉 StargateDAO explores capital strategy focused on intent-based infrastructure

Let’s dive in 🏊

Aave DAO

Aave DAO deliberates $2M USDC allocation for GHO market making on Gnosis Chain

The kpk team has proposed an ARFC that would allocate $5M USDC from the Aave DAO treasury to support active market making for GHO on Gnosis Chain. The program would begin with an initial $250,000 tranche and scale based on GHO’s total value locked, with funds managed non-custodially through a dual-safe architecture.
According to the proposal, liquidity would be deployed to concentrated pools on Balancer and Uniswap v3, primarily targeting GHO/USDC.e and GHO/EURe pairs. The strategy is intended to reduce reliance on passive liquidity incentives, minimize slippage, and improve price stability, particularly as Gnosis Chain expands integrations with real-world assets and payment rails like Gnosis Pay.
The capital would be held in a DAO-controlled “Avatar Safe,” with operational management delegated to a separate “Manager Wallet” controlled by kpk. Onchain permissions would restrict the manager to predefined actions, aiming to preserve custody and reduce operational overhead for DAO signers. Monthly reporting and a public dashboard would track liquidity, spreads, and fees.
The ARFC is currently in the forum discussion stage and would proceed to Snapshot following community review.

Gnosis DAO

GnosisDAO evaluates $30M annual funding for Gnosis Ltd operations

Gnosis Ltd has introduced GIP-128, a proposal that would allocate $30 million annually from GnosisDAO to support its operational budget. The funding would cover software development, ecosystem expansion, and marketing, distributed in quarterly tranches with reporting requirements.
As described in the forum post, the intent is to formalize the existing working relationship between GnosisDAO and Gnosis Ltd while providing long-term stability for protocol development. The proposal includes commitments to publish detailed reports and budgets at the start of each year and quarter.
Some contributors have raised concerns about governance accountability, potential conflicts of interest, and the size of the funding request. Others argue that formalizing this structure would provide clarity and ensure Gnosis Chain remains competitive as an execution layer.
The proposal remains under discussion. No Snapshot or onchain vote has been scheduled at this time.

StargateDAO

StargateDAO explores capital allocation toward intent-based infrastructure

The Stargate Foundation has introduced a proposal that would allocate treasury resources to support intent-based systems, including protocols such as Anoma, CoW Swap, SUAVE, and others. The post frames this strategy as a way to align Stargate with emerging infrastructure that abstracts user actions into high-level intents.
According to the proposal, intent-based execution could improve bridging UX and enhance cross-chain composability. The proposed strategy would involve identifying high-impact projects in this category and deploying capital in the form of grants or strategic investments, though no specific funding amount has been proposed.
The initiative is positioned as a forward-looking treasury move that could secure Stargate’s relevance in a future dominated by MEV-aware and intent-centric architectures. Community members have requested more detail on selection criteria, allocation size, and how potential investments would interface with Stargate’s core protocol.
The proposal is in early discussion and has not yet advanced to formal governance.

Proposal Tracker™️

✅ VOTE PASSED | World Liberty Financial - Make $WLFI Token Tradeable

Summary: This proposal requests approval to make the WLFI token tradable on secondary markets. WLFI was previously used solely for governance (e.g., snapshot voting on USD1 airdrops). The vote, initiated July 9, 2025, has already received ~99.9% support from ≈20,900 WLFI holders, signaling strong consensus toward market tradability. The implementation plan includes phased unlock schedules, notably excluding WLFI allocations held by founders, team, and advisors from initial trading windows.

💬 DISCUSSION | Uniswap DAO - Strategic Renewal for Support of Uniswap v3 Deployments

Summary: This proposal outlines a targeted renewal of DAO-funded Uniswap v3 deployments via the Oku interface on select chains. GFX Labs recommends continuing funding only for high-performing chains—Mantle, Gnosis, Linea, Blast, Polygon zkEVM, Taiko—based on TVL, volume, and fee generation since their initial rollout. The plan includes formal mechanisms for offboarding underperforming chains to ensure orderly transitions and maintain community trust.

💬 DISCUSSION | Arbitrum DAO - Consolidate Idle USDC to the ATMC’s Stablecoin Balance

Summary: This proposal recommends transferring idle USDC, held by Arbitrum’s main DAO treasury, into the stablecoin balance managed by the Arbitrum Treasury and Management Committee (ATMC). The move aims to increase capital efficiency without requiring new emissions or spending decisions. The ATMC will hold the funds in a non-custodial multisig under DAO oversight, preserving all governance rights and retaining DAO authority for any future spending or redeployment decisions.

From the Lab

A Better Funding Flywheel with 0xJustice

We're continuing our Interview Series—a collection of sessions with industry leaders sharing one big idea with our team. For Session 006, we explore quadratic funding, bonding curves, and sustainable token launches with Justice Conder (0xJustice), co-founder of the Quadratic Accelerator (q/acc). Justice breaks down how q/acc combines quadratic funding, bonding curves, and structured vesting to turn launch hype into lasting liquidity and meaningful community ownership.

▶︎ READ the post