[DIP-32] Revision of DAO Governance, Committees, and Budget

Abstract

Motivation

Proposal Particulars

Governance Revisions

SSV Foundation Secretary Services

The SSV Foundation Secretary Services (hereinafter “FSS”) is a service provided by the SSV Foundation to the SSV DAO to facilitate participating in the SSV DAO governance, aiming to enhance governance development and efficiency through active involvement in discussions and proposal submissions. FSS seeks to support the SSV ecosystem by supporting key initiatives, promoting diversity, and engaging with the community.

The SSV Foundation shall provide the FSS to all existing and future DAO committees and actively participate in its governance, with full voting rights as an unpaid member.

For regular community initiatives, FSS’s involvement may begin when a proposal passes the "Temp Check" as proposed in this proposal. At this point, the FSS can assist the proposer in developing a comprehensive proposal and assigning an official DIP number, marking the proposal as a key initiative. For avoidance of doubt, anyone can steward a proposal end-to-end and doesn’t need to rely on FSS. Such a service is mostly there to ease any community member to go from an idea to a quality proposal with a chance of inclusion in a reasonable time.

Additionally, FSS is responsible for facilitating the implementation of any passed proposal unless it is otherwise specified in the proposal or assigned to any other operational entity in the SSV DAO.

The ssv.network DAO Multi-Sig Committee (“MC”) can task FSS with further clarification, facilitation, or execution if the instructions of any passed proposal are unclear or require further investigation. However, the FSS clarifications, facilitations, or executions are consultative only and are not binding on any passed DAO proposal, guidance, or policy.

To accomplish its mandate, FSS has full discretion to establish working groups in accordance with the DAO constitution and allocate budgets for operational costs, external service providers, or development from the SSV Foundation’s budget within its DAO-defined limits. However, the FSS cannot contravene proposal-established DAO budgets.

Introducing Governance “Temp Checks”

A Temp Check is used to gauge community sentiment on a proposal or topic. They do not necessitate service provider involvement or a high level of precision or technicality and can be expressed less formally and in layman’s terms.

The Temp Check is as follows:

1. A post on the forum with the title [TEMP CHECK] - X, where X is replaced with the topic name, e.g., “[TEMP CHECK] - Should the quorum be reduced?”

2. After a minimum of 3 days of the post being on the forum, it can move to the SSV Network Snapshot with the following settings:

3. Proposal Name: Same name as the forum post

4. Voting period: 3-7 days

5. Quorum: Not required

6. Voting options: at least one option must be “No”

A successful vote is a vote that has reached a simple majority on any of its affirmative voting options. Any Temp Check must have at least one objecting voting option to be valid. Temp Check votes do not have any binding effects for the DAO or any of its mentioned organs, nor do they cause any immediate action.

However, the FSS, as described in this proposal, are tasked to assign the successfully voted temp check proposal an official DIP number and try to support the proposer to express their thoughts as a full-fledged proposal, which can proceed as a regular proposal.

Successful Temp Checks shall be seen as the future will of the DAO, and therefore, FSS shall take reasonable efforts to have that will materialize or present another Temp Check with additional details, gauging the sentiment again with additional context.

Thus, Temp Checks give everyone on the SSV DAO a clear path to present early thoughts and ideas and develop them into full-fledged proposals with considerable chances for inclusion.

Core Contributors

DAO Core Contributors have emerged organically over the past few years, evolving from highly engaged groups like the dGC and dLeaders. This community role, never formally introduced, will be officially recognized with the passing of this proposal.

The Core Contributor role is a community role and can be awarded to highly engaged individuals regardless of any formal DAO role (i.e., Committee Members), independent of such a function, and adheres to the following rules:

• The SSV Foundation will invite and facilitate the onboarding of Core Contributors, along with the criteria and reasoning for selection, carefully monitoring the engagement of observed or recommended candidates.
• Adding new or removing existing Core Contributors requires a simple majority vote among the acting lead links of each acting (m-sig, GC, VOC) or future committee and the SSV Foundation. Each entity has one vote.
• Being added or removed as a Core Contributor doesn’t change the status of any program or committee assignment. Those remain independent of this community role.
• Nominations, revocations, and voting results must be announced publicly.
• New committee members are automatically recognized as Core Contributors and can’t be revoked as long as they are active committee members.
• The Core Contributor role persists until active revocation.
• Persons associated with development teams who work for the ssv.network DAO, such as SigmaPrime and SSV Labs, cannot be awarded the DAO Core Contributors role.

Core Contributors will receive the following benefits:

• @ssv.network mail address, identity, and access to dedicated communication channels
• Invitation to SSV DAO Meetups and partial expenses coverage
• Invite to the DAO All-Hands calls
• Exclusive invites to Events and other benefits
• Swag welcome package curated by the SSV Foundation

For avoidance of doubt, Core Contributors will not receive any additional governance power other than the one given by committee or program participation, if any. Further, the selection or removal of Core Contributors is completely independent of the formation of existing or future committees, where this remains fully in control of the DAO and the defined committee policy following a DAO vote. The DAO retains the right to nominate Core Contributors or override any Foundation decisions to add or remove Core Contributors through a proposal.

The following is a list of the initial Core Contributors and is subject to change according to the policy presented in this proposal:

Committee Revisions

The SSV DAO is proactively preparing for the launch of SSV 2.0 by streamlining existing committees that have successfully fulfilled their initial mandates. These committees will transition to a lean operational mode, focusing on developing future strategies. To navigate current market conditions effectively, committee composition will be adjusted, ensuring that a powerful core team remains to plan for future initiatives. Additionally, the DAO is clarifying roles and dissolving outdated programs and working groups from its early stages. To enhance transparency, dedicated voting spaces on Snapshot will be introduced for each committee, making the decision-making process more accessible and accountable.

Verified Operator Committee

The Verified Operator Committee's composition will be reduced to four compensated members, including secretary services from the SSV Foundation and a dedicated contributor from SSV Labs.

• @GBeast (Lead Link, Facilitator)
• @metanull (Member)
• @Hackworth (Member)
• @BumpyTale (Member)
• SSV Foundation (FSS) (Secretary, unpaid)
• SSV Labs (Member, unpaid)

FSS shall participate with full voting rights as an unpaid committee member.

Grants Committee

The Grants Committee's composition will be reduced to four compensated members, including secretary services from the SSV Foundation and a dedicated contributor from SSV Labs.

• @Jon (Lead Link, Facilitator)
• @Spacesider (Member)
• @mickael (Member)
• @BumpyTale (Member)
• SSV Foundation (FSS) (Secretary, unpaid)
• SSV Labs (Member, unpaid)

FSS shall participate with full voting rights as an unpaid committee member.

Dedicated Committee Voting Spaces

Dissolving the dGC, dLeader, and dMarketing programs

DAO Budget Revision

The SSV DAO recently passed DIP-26 and successfully implemented its particulars. However, market conditions aren’t in favor of an aggressive budget, and the budget burn down is less linear than expected and more infrequent. Therefore, the following adjustments to the Mechanics and Budget are proposed:

Mechanics

The Operational Budget Track under DIP-26 outlined the requirement of the MC to mint the Monthly Budget in every First Scheduled Batch. With this in mind, the changes to DIP-26 include:

1. The Monthly Budget will continue to be minted only with regard to half of the Monthly Budget intended for the sale by service providers chosen by the Foundation.

For transparency to the ssv.network DAO community, the Foundation has exercised its discretion to stop selling SSV by virtue of the Reserve and Operational Budget Tracks Common Provisions of DIP-26, under point 2.