EGP-31: Foundation Update and ELFI Request

EGP#: 31

Title: Foundation Update and ELFI Request

Author(s): HyperVue Foundation

Type: Protocol Proposal

Status: Proposed

Date Proposed: 2024-07-05

Date Ratified: <yyyy-mm-dd>

Summary of Topics

• Rebranding and transition to the HyperVue Foundation

• Foundation team background

• ELFI request details

• HyperVue Foundation participation in governance

• Next steps

Paragraph Summary

This proposal is being submitted by the HyperVue Foundation (Formerly Element Foundation), a Cayman Islands entity created alongside the launch of the Element DAO in 2021 to aid and support the decisions proposed and made by stakeholders and owners of the Element protocol (ELFI holders & community members).

As we begin a new chapter in line with the mainnet deployment of the Hyperdrive, the next version of the Element Protocol, the Foundation gears towards assisting the DAO and protocol to reach their full potential.

Rebranding and Transition to the HyperVue Foundation

In conjunction with the launch of the Hyperdrive Protocol on mainnet, the Element Foundation has rebranded to become the HyperVue Foundation.

The rebrand serves as a cornerstone for our engagement with stakeholders, partners, and the broader community, ensuring that the Foundation effectively conveys the innovative vision of the Protocol and its continuous growth.

True to the initial mandate, the Foundation is committed to identifying and providing solutions for various gaps and potential friction points within the DAO or the protocol. Those things include but are not limited to:

• Assisting in facilitating grants and deploying support towards builders, partners, organizers, researchers, and others to further Protocol growth.

• Improving governance processes and providing different solutions to create a better overall experience in the decision-making process of the DAO and the Protocol.

• Methods of growing the Protocol’s ecosystem.

• Supporting research of various products alongside partners to further scale the Protocol.

Foundation Team & Board

Windra Thio, Executive Director (ED)

As the Executive Director of the Foundation, Windra will be tasked with navigating its overall direction and executing its goals with the assistance of the Board.

Windra was a co-founding team member of Element and led the strategy and growth efforts of Protocol Version 1.

Re’em Sal, Head of Growth

As the Head of Growth of the Foundation, Re’em will oversee all Foundation growth initiatives in ecosystem development and governance strategy.

Re’em is one of the Protocol's longest-tenured community members. He was one of the co-founders of Component and has been an active participant in the DAO since its inception.

Board Members:

The current Foundation’s board members will be comprised of the following individuals:

Diederik Loerakker (proto), Protocol Researcher at OPLabsPBC, previously Ethereum Foundation.

Tim Beiko, Ethereum Foundation

Scott Moore, Co-founder of Gitcoin & kernel0x

Mariano Conti, Former Head of Smart Contracts at MakerDAO

Advisors:

Simona Pop, Advisor for Optimism Foundation, ENS Public Goods Lead Stewart, previously co-founder of ETH Bounties and governance strategy Gitcoin.

The Foundation team will continue to expand as we look for suitable individuals and discover roles in the future, but the tentative plans are to fill the roles of:

Foundation Ecosystem and Community Team:

• Tasked with generating community engagement and growth through various online and offline events.

Grants Lead:

• Streamline a grants process and aid in grants application management, which is necessary for the Protocol’s ecosystem.

Governance Lead:

• Support various delegates, GSC members, and individual voters.

• Continue to assist in seeking out new qualified candidates for the GSC and further encourage voter participation and activity.

Foundation Tech and Security Team:

• Assist in the execution of various necessary proposals.

• Ensure the technical execution of the Foundation is secure and safe.

• Manage the relationships of the developers and builders within the Protocol’s Ecosystem.

Finance:

• Manage the finances, treasury, and budgeting of the Foundation.

The team's 3-year scaling plan includes budgeting for ten full-time employees, three advisors, and five board members.

Budget

The Foundation is requesting 10m in ELFI. The expected allocation of the Foundation’s total treasury is laid out as follows:

Some of the initiatives we are already currently looking to push forward include:

1. A defined and clear direction with how the DAO governs the Hyperdrive Protocol.

2. Initiatives to further encourage Governance participation for the GSC and community members.

3. Exploration for distribution avenues to further the decentralization of the protocol and its voters.

This amount, along with our current treasury, will allow us to sustain the Foundation for the next three years, subject to any unforeseen circumstances. We plan to revisit this topic and request additional ELFI if we feel the necessity to do so.

The total ask amount is the estimated total amount of ELFI we believe is necessary to accomplish our mission of ensuring the success of the DAO as well as its stakeholders. Following three years of operation, should the foundation and the DAO have strong reasons to believe that the DAO is sufficiently operational and can achieve all of its goals and missions without the necessity of HyperVue, the foundation will begin taking steps towards winding down and returning all of the unused ELFI to the DAO.

If traction is strong and the foundation proves to be successful in achieving its goals from the perspective of the foundation as well as the community, we may make an additional request to extend our budgeted amount beyond the three years after an initial assessment of 12 months of operation.

HyperVue Foundation’s Participation in Governance

As we are an external entity, as are any other entities serviced and incentivized to assist the decisions made by the DAO and the Protocol, we are requesting that initially, 20% of our requested amount (2m ELFI) be utilized primarily as tokens for delegation to various community members to participate and aide in the governance process of the DAO. However, the Foundation may also choose to self-delegate to vote on various proposals.

Proposed Code

The proposed code will be added soon.

Test Cases

Previous proposals have transferred ELFI before.

Next Steps (Voting Outcome Summary)

We plan to discuss all the above with the community as it undergoes the comment phase of the process. If remarks and sentiment are positive, the proposal will move to an off-chain snapshot vote, which will be followed by an on-chain proposal.

Additionally, to answer anyone’s questions, Windra (Executive Director) will be present to take questions and discuss the proposal in the upcoming DAO Community Call on July 11th, 2024 and will be available in the Element DAO discord @Windra.

1. Foundation Update and ELFI Request Proposal Posted on Element DAO Forum (July 5th). a. We welcome all questions and comments over the next week. b. Once the feedback has been addressed, this will move to be officially Proposed.

2. Once Proposed, there will be a 1 week review period before it moves to the next stage, Offchain Poll (Snapshot).

3. Foundation Update and ELFI Request Proposal Snapshot (Offchain Poll)

   • On Snapshot, the governance community will vote for: I. Yes: You agree that the HyperVue Foundation should be granted 10m ELFI. II. No: You disagree that the HyperVue Foundation should be granted 10m ELFI. III. Abstain: You formally decline to vote either YES or NO.
   • Snapshot Voting Period Ends (Off-chain Poll). If this proposal passes the Off-Chain Poll, it will proceed to the On-chain Vote, where the vote options will remain the same as on Snapshot.

4. Foundation Update and ELFI Request Proposal On-chain Vote a. On-chain Voting Period Ends b. If this proposal passes, the proposal will officially be Accepted and the code will proceed to the Execution stage (Timelock) where the HyperVue Foundation will receive the requested ELFI.

5. Foundation Update and ELFI Request Proposal Timelock Execution a. Once the Timelock has passed, the HyperVue Foundation will receive the requested ELFI.