Peeramid labs: Research grant for DAO novel token mechanics

[peersky]

Project Abstract

This document is a research proposal focused on decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and Polkadot's ecosystem.

It aims to investigate the limitations of current DAO governance, explore interoperability, and address challenges within the Polkadot ecosystem.

The research will delve into decoupling governance from speculative investment, utilizing privacy-preserving techniques, and improving participation rates through merit-oriented protocols.

The methodology includes literature review, community surveys, and data analysis. The expected results are a refined research paper, deeper understanding of DAO governance challenges, and potential contributions to the Web3 community.

The team has experience in decentralized governance and blockchain development, and the project is currently in the initial research phase.

The research findings will be shared through publications and presentations, with the long-term goal of enhancing DAO governance and contributing to a more secure and participatory Web3 ecosystem.

Grant level

• Level 1: Up to $10,000, 2 approvals
• Level 2: Up to $30,000, 3 approvals
• Level 3: Unlimited, 5 approvals (for >$100k: Web3 Foundation Council approval)

Application Checklist

• The application template has been copied and aptly renamed (project_name.md).
• I have read the application guidelines.
• Payment details have been provided (Polkadot AssetHub (USDC & DOT) address in the application and bank details via email, if applicable).
• I understand that an agreed upon percentage of each milestone will be paid in vested DOT, to the Polkadot address listed in the application.
• I am aware that, in order to receive a grant, I (and the entity I represent) have to successfully complete a KYC/KYB check.
• The software delivered for this grant will be released under an open-source license specified in the application.
• The initial PR contains only one commit (squash and force-push if needed).
• The grant will only be announced once the first milestone has been accepted (see the announcement guidelines).
• I prefer the discussion of this application to take place in a private Element/Matrix channel. My username is: @_______:matrix.org (change the homeserver if you use a different one)

[github-actions]

CLA Assistant Lite bot All contributors have signed the CLA ✍️ ✅

[peersky]

I have read and hereby sign the Contributor License Agreement.

[peersky]

recheck

[keeganquigley]

Hi @peersky thanks for the applications. I have a few initial comments:

• Your GH repo appears to be private. Would everything under the grant be open-source?
• User survey collection isn't typically covered under the W3F grants program and could be removed.
• How would the current Polkadot OpenGov system benefit from a multi-token model?
• Are you aware that Polkadot already has built-in conviction voting?
• I would argue that Polkadot governance is already pretty novel compared to other EVM off-chain voting mechanisms. It's not clear to me exactly what you'd be researching for the paper part? And how will it benefit our current governance model?

[peersky]

Hi @peersky thanks for the applications. I have a few initial comments:

• Your GH repo appears to be private. Would everything under the grant be open-source?

• User survey collection isn't typically covered under the W3F grants program and could be removed.

• How would the current Polkadot OpenGov system benefit from a multi-token model?

• Are you aware that Polkadot already has built-in conviction voting?

• I would argue that Polkadot governance is already pretty novel compared to other EVM off-chain voting mechanisms. It's not clear to me exactly what you'd be researching for the paper part? And how will it benefit our current governance model?

thanks @keeganquigley for your prompt response to our application.

• Link had typo, my apologies for that. Our repository is indeed open source and so are the papers available there. Im fixing link, would that require squash commits again?
• Understood regarding surveys, we can remove it
• This research will focus on multiple aspects that may be used to deepen polkadot governance decentralization and autonomy by proposing way to enhance fellowship program.
• Our research conviction voting is touching different aspects of governance processes from Polkadot implementation. We discuss ability for participants to demonstrate repeatedly their conviction to same proposal within changing alternatives and context. This may be used to select the proposals to vote on in case of limited origin capacity to process proposals, or to indicate conviction of fellowship members.
• Currently fellowship rank upgrades are handled by approvals of higher scoring rank holders and hence depends on those actor availability. Our research will focus on how to setup constant flow of fellowship from DOT holders, trough something we can coin as conviction election, alternatively (and/or) it may be used to establish flow of fellows to specific origins expertise. Even if taken out from context of fellowship problem, the proposed research may be used to help DOT holders to identify competent actors to delegate to their tokens.