Proposal #1

Dearest Diatomies,

PLEASE READ 100% of this message!

We’ve been deliberating on many intersecting factors over the last couple weeks. We have spent time in the General channel, the Diatomies Channel and have connected directly with the Whalez owners in order to listen, resolve concerns where possible, and explore the ways forward.

Due to a combination of some key mistakes, bad luck (Copperlaunch…), and bad market timing (in the OHM space and the general crypto market, we’ve been punched in the gut right at the starting line.

Our goal is to re-ignite the spark for Diatom and move forward with the vision to collectively protect the ocean, shift toward a truly autonomous approach to decision-making, and establish the necessary culture of unity, teamwork, and respect that is required for any DAO to succeed. ReFi to the moon.

In order to do that, we see 2 key challenges to overcome to reignite the engine:

1. Culture & Workflow
2. KYC

Culture & Workflow

The core team has endured scores of sleepless nights to launch 4 products in 4 months (NFT Sale, Whitelist Sale, Batch Auction & Bonding/Staking). On top of that, we’re pushing the boundaries of innovation across many fronts (DAO, ReFi, Web3, Regenerative Systems Design). Then, we often return to a Discord community that is dominated by toxicity, ridicule and even malicious threats.

In a startup environment (this is indeed a startup), Diatom would be achieving vastly more than 99% of startups in 3 months. Yet, somehow our broader crypto community is possessed by a hunger for non-stop innovation-on-demand–which is not how innovation works.

We’re also not thin-skinned, nor naive. We know there are also thousands who support the progress so far–mistakes and all. We truly do love the Diatom community, who believes in this collective vision of a better world through the power of ReFi.

However, if a healthy and balanced relationship cannot be re-established, we will be forced to offer everyone refunds and pivot the vision of PRC into a different entity. To date, not a single dollar of funds raised have been paid to the team, nor to any of the development costs of anything related to PRC development (costs outlined below).

In summary, this is not the type of work environment / relationship that we were expecting, nor can sustain in order to launch the vision of PRC, and are proposing concrete shifts below.

KYC

It’s recently become clear that for something like PRC, Diatom will need to introduce elements of KYC (Know Your Customer). The full details of this will require further research and consultation.

The main reason for this is that PRC requires a mechanism capable of a) funding “real world” initiatives in fiat, and, b) in order to sell PRC, Diatom will need a proper KYC process to interface with corporations. These two requirements introduce challenges (challenges that do have known solutions) for the DAO. But it’s important for everyone to be aware of this in relation to this critical vote.

Where do we go from here?

Taking everything into account, the options for moving forward are: either we address the root causes of these issues head-on (with a specific proposal outlined below) in order to reignite the DAO engine, or we refund participants and dissolve the DAO.

Here are the options up for vote:

A) Address these challenges and re-ignite the DAO

If passed this would involve changes to the DAO culture and structure and would be immediately followed by several more snapshot votes on key aspects of moving forward with the DAO (listed below).

Revamped culture and structure plan…

• Researching and enacting KYC (Know Your Customer). This process will take some time and expense but will be necessary with a product like PRC that interacts outside of DeFi with the rest of the world. KYC will likely be required at some point regardless as the crypto/DAO space matures and becomes regulated.

• Shifting to a 2 week sprint model (2 weeks of the team preparing proposals, followed by a snapshot vote, followed by 2 weeks of building and launching - then repeat). This is a model that is working well for other major DAOs.

• A Town Hall every 2 weeks, connected with a new proposal vote.

• Discord Office Hours every Tuesday and Thursday during the 2 week build timeline.

• Outside of Town Halls & Office Hours, the core team will not be active in Discord.

• Proposals made formally in Commonwealth before Snapshot.

• A revitalised community-rules enforcement plan that results in immediate ban after 1 warning for disrespectful trolling and an immediate ban for malicious threats.

• Expanding the core team with clearly proposed job descriptions and proposals from inside and outside the DAO to fill those positions.

We believe that these set reasonable expectations, keeps the core team focused on building while further decentralising decision making, and will ultimately help solve the issues that have previously caused stalls.

If passed, this Snapshot vote will be be followed immediately by several rapid fire snapshots:

• Liquidity - Determining if the DAO should provide liquidity. Options will be: No / $100k -> Sushiswap / $100k -> Uniswap
• Treasury Investment Allocation + Yield Strategy - Proposal detailing what % of treasury is used for yield farming VS investments, and what yield farming strategies will be used.
• 1st Monthly Budget Allocation - A monthly DAO spending budget which renews monthly unless voted otherwise
• Whalez Staking - Whalez are requesting that their unvested tokens be staked so they’re not diluted over time.

B) Refund And Dissolve the DAO

If passed all DIAT holders will be refunded a pro-rata share of their contribution to their treasury investment and the DAO will be dissolved. If passed, the Diatom team will seek a new way forward with PRC and ReFi for ocean protection.

Breakdown of expenditures to date:

• Total: $187,948
• Paid: $94,700
• Outstanding: $93,248

Expenditures breakdown CLICK ME

Your Refund = (Treasury - Expenses) / Pro-Rata of investment

Note: If you claimed and staked your DIAT on Day 1 of launch, you will receive ~95% of your original investment

Note:

• APY will be decreased to 0% during this proposal, effective from next rebase
• Liquidity will be pulled from Uniswap

Vote Duration: 72 hours, ends March 3rd, 8:30 PM EST