[SEP 31] [OBRA]: Next generation frontend for decentralized Safe Registry

Please refer to the full proposal text on the SafeDAO forum. Some parts may have been removed to fit within the character limit on Snapshot.

Title:

[SEP 31] [OBRA]: Next generation frontend for decentralized Safe Registry

Authors:

@isolo

Created:

2024-06-14

Abstract

Daoism Systems has successfully developed the dSAFE SDK, providing a decentralized alternative to the Safe Transaction Service. As a follow-up project, we now propose to develop the next-generation frontend, which includes a UI/UX optimized web interface and an innovative Telegram bot called NinDAO. This integration will leverage account abstraction to enhance user-friendliness, enabling voting and transaction management directly through Telegram.

Aligned Strategy

Wildcard Strategy: Our initiative supports the SafeDAO strategy of driving decentralization, improving user experience, and expanding the Safe ecosystem through innovative solutions.

Funding Request

We are requesting $96,000 USDC in total.

Budget Breakdown:

• UX/UI design with a web3 specialized design studio: $10,000
• Senior Frontend Developer: $8,000 per month for 4.5 months = $36,000
• Project Manager: $5,000 per month for 5 months = $25,000
• Senior Tech Lead / Backend (50% time): $5,000 per month for 5 months = $25,000

Relation to Strategy budget: The requested funding is 96% of the total initiative budget.

Upfront Funding

No upfront payment is requested. Funding will be streamed according to SafeDAO’s terms for mid to large projects over a duration of 20 weeks.

Payment Terms

Initial Cliff: No payments for the first 4 weeks as per Mid to large projects (≥ 10k USDC).

Payment Distribution: After the 4-week cliff, payments will be streamed over the remaining 16 weeks, with 4,800 USD per week.

Initiative Description

The Safe protocol's reliance on a centralized transaction service poses several risks, More information on this topic can be found here. To address these risks, we developed the Decentralized Safe Registry (dSAFE) SDK using Ceramic Protocol and ComposeDB. This provides a secure, resilient, and transparent alternative by decentralizing storage and management of Safe transactions. Users benefit from reduced risks, improved resilience, and greater autonomy with an IPFS-hosted front-end. Building on this, our next step is developing a UI/UX optimized web interface and the NinDAO Telegram bot, enabling seamless governance directly through Telegram, further enhancing the Safe ecosystem.

UI/UX Optimized Web Interface

To enable and simplify the use of the new decentralized dSAFE SDK, a user-friendly frontend is essential. A UI/UX-optimized web interface will not only make interactions with the platform easier but also help attract more users. By providing an intuitive and accessible user interface, we can make the benefits of decentralized technology more widely available and increase adoption within the Safe community and beyond.

NinDAO Telegram Bot

DAO tooling facilitates the creation, management, and governance of decentralized autonomous organizations, encompassing voting, proposals, and collective treasury management. These tools are fundamentally about enabling conversation and coordination for groups, projects, or collectives practicing self-custody over shared assets. However, most current tools are neither intuitive for seasoned DAO members nor accessible for newcomers.

NinDAO represents the next generation of DAO management by leveraging Telegram, a familiar chat interface, to transform group chats into DAOs using Safe multisig. This intuitive solution bridges Telegram, Wallet Connect, and Safe Multisig, allowing users to manage DAOs directly within the chat. Users can handle on-chain governance operations, manage the treasury, and execute multisig transactions without leaving Telegram.

As the next step NinDAO could incorporate Telegram native account abstraction based access to Ethereum ecosystem. By incorporating account abstraction, NinDAO significantly simplifies web3 usage, making DAO management more accessible and user-friendly. This innovative approach enhances usability for both web3 natives and newcomers, promoting ownership in a secure and intuitive manner.

Furthermore, by integrating familiar Telegram identities with Account Abstraction technology, we can greatly improve Safe usability and boost its adoption.

In a nutshell:

• Next-Generation DAO Management: Transforms group chats into DAOs using Safe multisig, allowing users to manage governance operations seamlessly within Telegram.

• Enhanced Accessibility through Account Abstraction: Simplifies web3 usage by leveraging a familiar chat interface, making Safe management accessible to both experienced users and newcomers.

• Broadening Safe Technology Adoption: By integrating with Telegram, NinDAO makes Safe technology more accessible to the general public, attracting more users and expanding the Safe ecosystem.

Current Status

NinDAO won a Gnosis Safe bounty at the ETHLisbon hackathon. NinDAO also became SafeDAO Guardians. We have also successfully completed the backend development of the dSAFE SDK, which is currently functional and integrated with the Safe Transaction Service. Additionally, a feasibility study for NinDAO has been conducted and successfully tested, proving its viability. You can find a short introduction Video of NinDAO here. We have also developed a self-funded foundation for the Telegram bot. NinDAO is now ready for finalization and launch, ensuring a seamless and innovative DAO management experience through Telegram.

Risks

Building composable and integrated projects can be challenging, as our product's successful functioning often relies on other teams and projects. The current implementation of NinDAO depends on Telegram, WalletConnect, MetaMask, the Safe API, Safe smart contracts, and more, leading to high complexity.

Timeline and Milestones

|What|Description|Duration| |--- |--- |--- | |UI/UX Design (Desktop, Mobile, NinDAO)|Create a comprehensive design for both desktop and mobile interfaces, as well as the NinDAO Telegram bot. Conduct user research, develop wireframes, prototypes, and finalize designs.|Weeks 1-4| |Desktop & Mobile Frontend Development|Develop the frontend for both desktop and mobile platforms based on the finalized UI/UX designs. Implement interfaces, integrate with dSAFE SDK, and perform initial testing.|Weeks 5-8| |NinDAO Bot Development|Develop the NinDAO Telegram bot, enabling seamless DAO management within Telegram. Implement core functionalities, integrate Wallet Connect and Safe Multisig, and conduct testing.|Weeks 9-17| |Testing and Deployment|Ensure all components are fully functional, secure, and ready for public launch. Conduct comprehensive testing, fix bugs, optimize performance, and prepare for deployment.|Weeks 18-20|

Initiative Lead

The project will be led by Daoism Systems under the leadership of Arseny (Technical Director) and Ilja (Product Ownership & Project Management).

Team

• Arseny, co-founder, CEO, and Technical Director - Will lead the technical project development: Arseny is a software engineer, entrepreneur, investor building in web3 since 2017. Previously, he has worked on Ocean Protocol and API3 DAO, PrimeDAO, and was a founding member of Curve Labs. Currently, he is the co-founder and CEO at Daoism Systems.

• Ilja Solomonovs, co-founder, Product and Operations Director - Will lead the project: Ilja is a serial entrepreneur with a background in finance and business development. He has founded several tech startups at the cutting edge of innovation. In 2021, he joined web3 as the co-founder, COO-CPO at Daoism Systems.

• Daoism Systems Developer Team / Network - Experienced developers contributing to multiple projects. More information about Daoism Systems can be found here.

Additional Support/Resources

We already have strong expertise for the technical implementation of the project. However, it would be advantageous to collaborate on a promotion campaign upon completion to raise awareness of the product. This can be achieved through Twitter postings, articles on Mirror, and joint AMAs. We can also facilitate marketing support from partners such as Ceramic Network.

Implementation Dependencies

The implementation of this initiative does not require any prior changes in the current governance processes.

Link to Phase 0 proposal