VIP-7: Delegated Voting

Proposal Summary

The goal of this proposal is to enhance the governance process for token holders who might be less active than others in governing ValleyDAO. We introduce a delegated voting system, facilitating such holders to entrust their voting rights to informed and pre-approved volunteer representatives.

What is Delegated Voting

Overview: Delegated voting is a mechanism that allows GROW token holders to entrust their voting power to informed and dedicated volunteer delegates.

Objective: This system ensures that every GROW token holder, irrespective of their activity level, can actively influence ValleyDAO's direction and decisions.

Operation: Upon selection, a delegate uses a sanctioned ETH wallet to vote, representing the interests and intentions of the token holders who entrusted them with their voting rights.

Benefits: Delegation amplifies the voices of all GROW token holders, including those less active, ensuring a more encompassing representation in ValleyDAO's governance.

How to Delegate Votes

• Token holders will access Snapshot to choose a delegate.
• Snapshot offers comprehensive profiles of all delegates, detailing qualifications, core values, social media links, and ETH addresses. This ensures token holders make well-informed choices and that their selection aligns with their interests and values.
• The delegated voting power corresponds directly to the GROW balance in the token holder's account.
• Delegating voting power does not impact token ownership or usage.
• Delegators retain the autonomy to modify or retract their delegate choice whenever necessary.

How are Delegates Selected and Managed

Overview of the Selection Process

Step 1: Application Submission

• ValleyDAO members can initiate the delegate process by submitting a delegate application form.
• Members must also furnish their wallet details to the core team for reference.

Step 2: Identity Verification & Whitelisting

• The core team undertakes a rigorous verification of the submitted details.
• Successfully verified members are put to a community vote on Discourse and Snapshot

Step 3: Periodic Delegate Review & Voting

• Every 3 to 6 months, a comprehensive review of the delegate roster takes place.
• The community casts their votes on:
  • Performance evaluations of current delegates.
  • Potential addition of new delegates.
  • Possible removal of inactive or inefficient delegates.

Key Details

Minimum Delegates: A minimum of five delegates are always maintained to diversify decision-making and provide varied options for vote assignment.

Current Delegates: As of now, core team members Albert Anis, Daniel Hussey, Hamza Qureshi, and Morgan Richards are serving as delegates.

Open Applications: ValleyDAO always welcomes applications from its members who wish to assume the delegate role. A delegate application form will be created shortly after this proposal passes the community scrutiny.

Onboarding and Expectations

Influence: Delegates have no upper limit in the total influence they can acquire within the DAO.

Alignment: To ensure alignment, delegates are mandated to lock up a portion of their GROW tokens before officially commencing their duties. The lock-up amount is the greater of:

• 20% of their total GROW allocation at the time of their application
• 1,000 USD worth of GROW tokens at the time of their application.

This locked-up portion will remain untradeable for the duration of their delegation period, plus 1 month. The delegate's lockup contract will automatically renew every six months, unless the delegate decides to step down from their role. Even if a delegate chooses to offboard themselves before the completion of the initial six-month period, they won’t be able to access their locked-up tokens until a month after they officially leave their delegate position.

Active participation: Delegates are expected to participate in community discussions, answer questions, and vote on proposals as long as they're active. It's also a good idea for the delegate to clearly explain why they vote the way they do, so that tokenholders understand the thought process.

Conflict of Interests: Delegates must proactively disclose conflicts of interest. Potential conflicts should be disclosed on their profile and within the delegate application. When a conflicting interest arises, the delegate must abstain from voting.

Offboarding Process

An existing delegate is offboarded as follows:

1. Nomination for Offboarding: A delegate can be nominated for offboarding either by a core team member or through a proposal backed by at least three token holders. Reasons can vary from ineffective representation and inappropriate behaviour to undisclosed conflicts of interest.
2. Core Voting: If the core majority agrees to the offboarding, the proposal is forwarded to Snapshot for further voting.
3. Final Voting: A successful Snapshot vote culminates in the delegate's offboarding.

OR

Voluntary resignation: A delegate wishing to voluntarily exit should notify the core team at least one month in advance.