​ GIP-121: Should GnosisDAO accept a combined total of 7.5% ownership for incubating karpatkey DAO?

Simple Summary This proposal signals GnosisDAOs acceptance of a 5% allocation of karpatkey DAO’s airdrop, bringing GnosisDAO’s total stake in KPK to 7.5% of the fully diluted supply.

Abstract karpatkey has led the active DAO treasury management space after becoming GnosisDAO’s treasury manager in GIP-20 2 and GIP-58 1, and GIP-95 1. Specifically, GIP-20 laid the foundation for karpatkey DAO as a project incubated by GnosisDAO. Following in the footsteps and tradition of the sister projects such as CowDAO and SafeDAO, karpatkey will launch a DAO and a governance token (KPK).

This proposal allocates 5% of its airdrop to GnosisDAO, bringing GnosisDAO’s total stake in KPK to 7.5% (GIP-20) 2 of the fully diluted supply.

This is a revision of GIP-92. https://forum.gnosis.io/t/gip-92-should-gnosis-dao-spin-off-karpatkey-dao-and-deploy-the-kpk-token/8115

Introduction karpatkey is the leading DAO service provider for active, non-custodial treasury management.

The project was founded in 2021, beginning with initial engagements to manage treasury funds for Gnosis Ltd and GnosisDAO. As a result, Gnosis and karpatkey have always been deeply connected.

Gnosis has supported karpatkey’s efforts to build and test sophisticated DAO treasury management products and processes. In turn, karpatkey has provided many essential contributions to GnosisDAO, Gnosis Chain and other Gnosis-incubated products (see karpatkey’s 2022, 2023, and 2024 reports for more details). Together, these mutual contributions have focused on creating long-term value for stakeholders in Gnosis, karpatkey and the broader ecosystem, including GNO and future KPK holders.

With Gnosis’ support, karpatkey has expanded to serve a dozen DAO treasuries. Within its network, the team has established and served on a selection of finance working groups, including GnosisDAO, ENS, Balancer, dYdX, CoW, Lido and Aave. They have also contributed to specific initiatives for Uniswap, Safe, Arbitrum and Sky (formerly MakerDAO). Many of these relationships have generated significant value for Gnosis by supporting incubated projects, delivering new integrations and joint initiatives, and even providing strategic investment opportunities. The fact that karpatkey has continued to grow and thrive in the recent bear market is a testament to the product market-fit that their solutions have found.

At heart, karpatkey is focused on risk management and resilience, helping leading DAOs to thrive by ensuring that they can survive in perpetuity. The team is characterised by its prudent, rigorous and long-term-oriented approach. This mentality has been key in enabling karpatkey to preside over more than 10,000 DAO transactions across more than $2 billion in assets with zero funds lost. The same mentality helps them develop and maintain tooling and frameworks that can help the entire industry become more resilient.

Like COW DAO and Safe DAO before them, karpatkey has gradually extended its activities from the Gnosis ecosystem outwards and cultivated its own healthy business model and community. With GnosisDAO’s blessing, the time has come for karpatkey to formally launch its own public DAO.

About the KPK Token The goal of the KPK 4 token is to align the parties actively contributing to the delivery of karpatkey’s success. Tokenholders can vote on key decisions, such as treasury management, budget allocations, and strategic initiatives like buybacks or M&A activities, to align with karpatkey’s long-term sustainability. The token’s utility is focused on facilitating community-driven decision-making and fostering an active, engaged ecosystem.

KPK will be deployed initially on Ethereum Mainnet, with a fixed supply of 1 billion tokens. It will be non-transferrable at launch, with karpatkey DAO reserving its right to decide if and when to activate transferability.

How does GnosisDAO benefit from this proposal? As described in the introduction, GnosisDAO has been an essential and fundamental partner to karpatkey since beginning its services to GnosisDAO in 2021. In appreciation of its support, this proposal seeks to allocate a further 5% of the KPK token supply to GnosisDAO immediately upon launch, combined with the 2.5% specified in GIP-20, increasing GnosisDAO’s share of ownership up to 7.5%.

By positioning GnosisDAO as a key tokenholder in karpatkey DAO, this proposal seeks to maintain strong and strategic alignment between the two DAOs, ensuring an ongoing place for GnosisDAO at the centre of karpatkey’s network and at the forefront of its technological innovation and progress.

Specification This proposal directs karpatkey to deploy the KPK token and allocate 5% of its airdrop to GnosisDAO, bringing GnosisDAO’s total stake in KPK to 7.5% of the fully diluted supply.

Upon approval:

KPK will be deployed by the karpatkey team, formalizing vesting for the 2.5% KPK allocation from GIP-20 (2-year vesting, already vested) and establishing a 2-year vesting plan for the 5% allocation to GnosisDAO. The vesting terms for the airdrop align with karpatkey’s 2024 investment round 2 and will begin on TTE or 1 year after this proposal passes, whichever comes first. This proposal does not disqualify GnosisDAO from future additional airdrops. All remaining KPK beside the GnosisDAO allocation will be sent to the karpatkey treasury.

Governance processes for karpatkey DAO will be introduced gradually in the coming weeks.

The launch of the KPK token and karpatkey DAO will not affect karpatkey’s ongoing service arrangements under GIP-20, GIP-58, and GIP-95. If this proposal is not approved by GnosisDAO, karpatkey will proceed with launching its token and DAO independently while continuing its plans. GnosisDAO will remain a close partner and receive the 2.5% allocation from GIP-20 alongside other investors. Any future allocations or investments involving GnosisDAO will remain open for discussion and subject to mutual agreement between both DAOs.

Disclaimer The plans outlined in this proposal are for discussion purposes only and can be subject to further changes. They may also need to be (re)structured to account for legal, regulatory, or technical developments and governance considerations. This document should not be construed as an offering of securities, taken as the basis for making investment decisions, nor be construed as a recommendation to engage in any transactions.