Creation and funding of the mStableDAO Funding subDAO

After this successful internal motion it is hereby proposed to put into existence a Funding subDAO committee within the wider mStableDAO signer group. This step is done to streamline the process and strike a solid balance between decentralization and tempo for ratifying regular expenses, along with funding of relevant entities, DAOs and core contributors to the mStable ecosystem.

The Funding subDAO committee will consist of 3 signers from the mStableDAO, and be a 2/3 multisig. A new Gnosis Safe will be deployed for this subDAO, and all funding requests from the ecosystem will be handled by this committee going forward.

mStableDAO Funding SubDAO

Signer 1 - 0x021c1a1cE318E7B4545f6280b248062592B71706
Signer 2 - 0x8092923e19c86965733BD6F3fE6C13F549C3Bf44
Signer 3 - 0xd576E7A3D3791C3BcF907eeDe72B2a500a8f54D5

Gnosis Safe - 0xfcF455d6Eb48b3289a712c0b3bC3C7Ee0b0ee4C6

Funding the subDAO will be handled in the monthly mStableDAO signer calls as required.

The current Cat Herder will provide a short summary of activities for the Funding subDAO in each signer call, so the wider mStableDAO signer group can stay up-to-date on the committee. The Cat Herder will also be responsible for assuring that all streams, balances, and upcoming payments will be handled in a timely and precise manner, and one signer from the subDAO will be chosen to liaise with the Cat Herder to handle transactions.

In line with the request in this forum post by the Genesis Team, the first action item will be to fund this newly created subDAO with 2.08m mUSD from the treasury in order to fund mStable development for the next 12 months.

Funding breakdown and destinations

Scarcejim as head of operations and project co-lead has calculated a projected burn rate for the next 12 months of mStable’s operations with a fully built out team that factors for:

• New hires across engineering, BD, Marketing, Community Management, and DAO operations
• Salaries in line with DeFi market expectations to retain talent
• Funding set aside for future security audits
• A “buffer” to manage uncertainty for the next 12 months of funding.

In total, the projected annual burn rate is approximately 2.08m USD, with the vast majority of this going toward salaries, and includes buffers for unforeseen expenses. Broken down, this includes:

• Current contributor salaries - 997,000 USD
• Budget for future hires - 610,000 USD
• Office space, legal, accounting, other operational expenses via operational entities - 274,600 USD
• Security audits - 200,000 USD

Funding request broken down by area of responsibility

Funding request broken down by current vs. future hires

Should this funding request be granted, there will be a commitment to retrospective quarterly transparency reporting so that all stakeholders in the mStable ecosystem can scrutinise how funding is spent and allocated by core contributors.

Should this request be approved and the subDAO be funded, funds will distributed between three destinations:

• D44 Ventures UG, a Berlin-based software development company founded by three mStable core contributors. It is currently contributing to mStable’s core development. The entity hires software engineers and soon will be hiring business development professionals to help scale mStable. Importantly, D44 doesn’t own these areas but rather is a core contributor to them. More granular information about D44’s function can be found here.
• Barnem Ltd, an operational and services company. It is responsible for handling mStable’s fiat operating expenses, fiat invoicing, organising core contributor work processes, and assisting with community growth and culture. More granular information about Barnem’s function can be found here.
• Directly to core contributors via Sablier stream. Core contributors have been given the option to opt-into receiving their compensation directly via Sablier stream from the DAO. Those who opt into receiving a stream will not be compensated for their work from either entity listed above.

Please note that this proposal supersede the USD funding request for the Swiss-based mStable Association, approved here. This is because the non-action letter from FINMA has not yet been approved, meaning it is not able to fund contributors through grants from the Association as of yet. Given this, and the need to continue to fund mStable’s development, we are proposing that the Association’s funding would need to be subject to another Meta vote following the possible FINMA non-action letter should Meta Governors and the community feel it is necessary. The above structure is designed to be effective without the mStable Association.

Should the mStableDAO Funding subDAO be created, and be funded with 2.08m mUSD from the treasury in order to continue to fund the development of mStable over the next 12 months?