Sismo Governance Update #1: Progressive Decentralization and Community Treasury
TL;DR: The Sismo Genesis Team owns a Treasury multisig wallet with 46,296 $ENS tokens from the ENS DAO token distribution and proposes to transfer 70% to a newly-created Community treasury for the community to support Sismo’s development.
Sismo Governance was launched in mid-October 2021 by the Sismo Genesis team as a way to onboard the first waves of members (or Zikies) in the Sismo community and to engage in open discussions with Sismo’s future users and contributors. You can learn more about the composition of the different generations in this post.
As it stands today, Sismo Governance is being kickstarted as a proto-community using a basic set of governance and communication tools (Snapshot based on ENS subdomains, Discord gated by Guild & Collabland, and a Gnosis Safe multisig) to support transparency and a close feedback loop on the way to Product-Market Fit.
The Sismo Genesis team commits to engage in the process of progressive decentralization over the coming months and years, to continuously integrate better governance tooling, delegate more responsibilities and invite more community participation in the protocol’s growth and maintenance.
Coopahtroopa defines DAOs as “internet communities with a shared cap table and bank account” which seek to:
- Provide members with a voice through governance.
- Flatten hierarchy and create fluid workstreams.
- Allocate resources to achieve a core mission.
Let’s have a look at how Sismo Governance is structured today in the frame of this definition and where it can improve.
Current state of Sismo Governance
As of now, Sismo Governance enables its members to voice their opinions and participate in the decision-making process of the organization and protocol using Snapshot, though it does not yet create open workstreams nor allocate resources.
The Sismo Genesis team submits proposals to Sismo Governance in order to consult them about tactical and strategic decisions. Sismo Governance Snapshot space is configured to use the ownership of a Sismo ENS subdomain as a means to identify members allowed to vote. Only owners of [name].sismo.eth subdomains (obtained during the onboarding) can participate in proposal votes. This initial voting method acts as a basic Sybil-Resistance mechanism in the absence of a governance token. The Sismo’s Discord is the recommended communication tool for the community to discuss Sismo-related topics. It is token-gated to be only accessible by Sismo community members holding NFTs corresponding to their specific onboarding generation.
Its current limitations are the following:
- The community still requires going through an onboarding process to be joined.
This is a deliberate choice to focus on onboarding potential future key contributors while not spending resources managing huge inflows of unwanted personas (airdrop hunters and the like). - The Genesis Team does not yet delegate the right to submit governance proposals to the community.
This requires establishing a proper governance process and constitution which will take time to set up. - Sismo protocol is still in alpha, so the community cannot participate in configuring its parameters.
It is still early in the development process of the protocol. - Proposals are not binding or using a mechanism enforcing their outcomes on-chain.
Such enforcement mechanisms are mostly useful once the protocol is live and its admin rights have been handed over to the communtiy, not before. - The Sismo Community does not have the right to vote on the allocation of a treasury.
This is about to change.
The first step towards community empowerment: The Sismo Community treasury
The Sismo Community had no asset in a dedicated treasury until now. The Sismo Genesis Team owns a Treasury multisig wallet holding 46,296 $ENS tokens that were allocated by the ENS DAO as part of its “External Contributors” share of its token distribution. The ENS token allocation distributed to Sismo acts as a reward for past collaborations between both projects and an incentive for future continued synergy between the communities.
The Sismo Genesis Team proposes that 70% of those tokens (32,407 $ENS) be transferred from the Sismo Genesis Treasury to a newly created Sismo Community treasury. The remaining 30% of the tokens would remain in the Sismo Genesis Treasury to cover tax expenses related to the airdrop (investigation in progress) and other operating costs.
With this transfer, the Sismo Genesis Team would provide the Sismo community with the resources and to ensure the long-term viability of Sismo and to fund continuous development and improvement of the Sismo protocol.
These funds could then be allocated by the community to fund:
- Sismo protocol development,
- Grant programs,
- Working groups and committees,
- Incentivization initiatives,
- Ecosystem development engagements,
or any other measures that promote the growth and wide usage of the Sismo protocol.
The SIP-3 proposal will be submitted next week to the Sismo Governance Snapshot to ask for the community’s approval for the fund to be transferred to the Sismo Community treasury. Do not hesitate to share your feedback on Sismo’s Discord governance channel if you are a member of the community.
Stay tuned for more updates
If the Community treasury funding proposal is accepted, lots of discussions are going to happen in Sismo channels to start thinking about the best use for these funds. Don’t hesitate to register on sismo.io to have a chance to onboard as part of Gen[A]. The Genesis Team has a lot more improvements in mind for Sismo Governance and would be happy to hear your ideas on Sismo’s Discord.
See you there!
