Dear Bankless Nation 🏴,
In the words of J.P. Morgan, "The wise man bridges the gap by laying out the path by means of which he can get from where he is to where he wants to go." BanklessDAO currently finds itself on the brink of a transformative journey, tracing a path to its future.
Recent Rollups have underscored the need to appraise our collective journey thus far and deliberate on the way forward as a community. While the views among community members have been optimistic, now sounds like a perfect time to reflect and see where we want to go next as a DAO. These discussions have been brewing over the past couple of weeks and have now been finally blown wide open by Icedcool in this Forum post. Like Above Average Joe rightfully said in our most recent Community Call, “It is not a proposal. It is a mandate.” This week’s editorial goes into more detail so give it a read and then navigate to Forum to leave your comments.
Another governance topic to draw your attention to is the Legal - Next Steps. As a follow-up from last week’s Legal AMA, DAOlexa made this post to get a vibe check on ‘where to next’ with legal. There has been some pushback on going ahead with legal till a more defined path is set for the DAO but this is where we come in as a community to decide on what we feel is the best way to go at this time.
As we begin this second phase, let us proceed with determination, knowing that the path forward is made easier by the strength of our community and the promise of what lies ahead.
With all that said, welcome to a special spontaneous governance-themed edition of the Rollup. Do enjoy your read and let the community know your thoughts on Forum. Have an amazing weekend!
Contributors: Ifeoluwakiitan, Boluwatife, Chameleon, Tonytad, Warrior, Paulito, Vi-Fi, Kornekt, WinVerse
This is an official newsletter of BanklessDAO. Please subscribe and share to help us grow our audience as we fulfill our mission to build user-friendly crypto onramps.
✅ Vote and comment on Legal Guild’s forum post.
✍️ Leave your thoughts on the Funding Pause and bDAO Reorganization.
🏃♀️ Catch up: Review this week's Community Call notes or listen to the recording.
Proposals in Discussion
📜 BanklessDAO Multisig: Funding Pause and bDAO Reorganization
BanklessDAO is facing challenges with its current structure and funding processes, which were established during the bull run. To address this, the DAO multisig signers will pause funding from the DAO Vault, allowing the community to reassess the organization's mission and redesign its structure. This will involve reexamining organizational units, revising funding models, clarifying brand allocation processes, and energizing the community to focus on shared goals. Let us know what you think about this proposal on the Forum.
📃 (Temp Check) DAO Purpose Consensus
This proposal aims to collect the community's opinions on what the DAO missions should be moving forward. This is to give us a distinct identity from HQ. This is a collective decision, and as such, every opinion counts. So head to the Forum and drop your thoughts.
⚖ Legal - Next Steps
Following the post about legal entity for bDAO, the Legal Guild organized a Legal Entity AMA where some folks from the Legal Guild addressed legal questions that arose regarding incorporation, jurisdictions, and other relevant considerations the community had. This post has some follow-up actions by the Legal Guild. Go check it out and drop your thoughts.
Is BanklessDAO Officially Coming to an End?
Author: Boluwatife
“To be alive is to be in a perpetual state of revolution. Whether I like it or not, pain is the fuel of revolution.” When Glennon Doyle made this quote, I am sure she was not thinking about DAOs, or more specifically she was not thinking about this great community. Despite this, as BanklessDAO stands at a crossroad trying to determine where to go next, it is fair to say the community members feel every emotion she felt, if not more while writing it.
BanklessDAO, as a community, has reached an important turning point in its evolution. This pioneering web3 community rapidly expanded during the 2021 cryptocurrency bull market by attracting a massive number of talented contributors and capital as interest in the space skyrocketed. However, BanklessDAO's operational model and funding allocation processes that were effective in times of abundance proved ill-suited for the bear market conditions. Although a good number of contributors built through that, certain customs have gone sour and proved to be nonessential. Now, BanklessDAO must undergo significant changes in order to adapt and remain sustainable.
Initial Steps in the Reform
The first phase of this necessary organizational reform involves the BanklessDAO multisig wallet holders deciding to pause all funding distributions from the DAO's central treasury. While temporarily stopping funding may seem like a drastic measure, BanklessDAO's constitution explicitly tasks its multi-sig signers with maintaining the perpetual existence of the DAO in line with its core mission, vision, and values. Allowing funding to continue unabated during this period of uncertainty jeopardizes the long-term viability of the DAO.
This compulsory pause will provide time and space for in-depth reflection on BanklessDAO's fundamental goals and ideal operational framework. It is an essential stepping stone in methodically and sustainably restructuring the DAO. When first launching BanklessDAO, the Genesis community members modeled it based on approaches that were successful during the crypto bull market mania; when contributors, money, and attention were abundant. However, with current uncertainty and unsolved branding crises, BanklessDAO must carefully re-evaluate how it funds its wide array of working groups, content initiatives, and technology projects to identify and support only the most essential activities.
As Marvel said during the most recent community call, “The DAO was not designed, it exploded! It blew up and everyone reacted the best they could. What a time.” While everyone took the best actions and made the best decisions they could at the time, the rapid, unchecked expansion of BanklessDAO provides a cautionary example of the dangers of scaling too quickly. In times of plenty, it adopted a complex organizational structure with far-reaching teams and initiatives that now require more resources to sustain than are available. Some of which are currently even redundant. Pausing all funding forces a ground-up reassessment of each operational unit and a redesign of funding allocation models tailored to value quality rather than quantity.
Additionally, this pause enables the re-formulation of brand usage policies and affiliation guidelines. BanklessDAO's reputation has suffered recently due to repeated conflation with the separate entity BanklessHQ as well as other inappropriate co-opting of its brand name. Going forward, BanklessDAO must define clear practices to prevent brand dilution and unauthorized usage. People would agree that while the BanklessDAO brand retains significant value, preserving it requires careful stewardship. Amidst these conversations, certain individuals think that the name should be dropped completely.
Charting the Course Together
With funding on hold, the stage is set for working groups to emerge and map out a new direction for BanklessDAO. Leveraging inputs across its diverse community, contributors will propose updated organizational structures, funding approaches, and brand management standards. This ground-up process aims to re-align BanklessDAO around a clearly defined central mission and orient resource allocation toward initiatives that best serve its renewed purpose.
While most funding is suspended temporarily, the Grants Committee assures that BanklessDAO will continue providing support for essential fiat operational costs to keep its core infrastructure functioning. Ongoing server hosting, security measures, and other critical backbone services require uninterrupted support. Teams can request these basic operational funds through existing channels and processes designed to evaluate genuine needs.
The Grants Committee will also selectively consider funding distributed work and initiatives that were completed before the funding freeze date, February 14, 2024. The deadline for the request of funds is February 21, 2024. A focused framework and strict timeline will govern the exceptions under these special circumstances.
So to answer the question of the header — No, the BanklessDAO community is not coming to an end, but growing to get better. It is well known that there is an overwhelming rush of emotions going through everyone’s mind right now. However, we can console ourselves with the fact that to have a revolution, an item must be alive; therefore BanklessDAO will pull through this. To do this, the community needs all the help and feedback it can get, so please check out the official Forum post and do whatever feels right to you.
With a tightened sense of shared purpose and rebuilt funding structures, BanklessDAO aims to regain its momentum and leadership position in the web3 space. However, this requires first acknowledging the painful lessons from its fast rise and then instituting necessary changes. In times like this, organizations must re-focus on what is truly vital. While the exact path forward is still unclear, the broader BanklessDAO community will chart the course together. This collective experience promises to forge a stronger, more resilient DAO that is poised to fulfill its mission in the challenging new era ahead for cryptocurrency and onboarding.
Ornella said that the BankessDAO community can be represented by “People, vibes, culture, spirit ❤️”. Be rest assured that we will never lose that.
Have an amazing weekend!
⛴️ BanklessDAO Content
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🗺️ Sobol Editor Training
Do you want to become a cartographer or editor on sobol.io? Are you interested in learning how to map the DAO or another community on Sobol? If yes, join McEal on Saturday, February 17 at 12:30 UTC in the Co-working room, in the Ops Department channel. After you attend this session, you will become a BanklessDAO Sobol editor and can claim editing bounties. Have any questions? then join us here to learn more.
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