Hi @Mareen , Aman here from DAOstar. Sharing below the DAOstar impact report for 202 and looking forward to your comments!
DAOstar Impact Report 2023
DAOstar is the standards body of the DAO ecosystem. We build interoperable standards for DAOs and DAO tooling. Our members include 80+ key organizations across the DAO ecosystem, including every major DAO framework, a large number of DAO tooling developers, and many major DAOs. Over 150+ people actively participate in DAOstar. You can find the full list of members here
Standards are necessary, but they’re hard to get right. As a nonprofit, no-token, public goods project, DAOstar acts as a Schelling point for builders across the ecosystem. We are builders ourselves, and we know how to build, iterate, and evolve at Web3 speeds.
By the Numbers
- Number of members: 86
- Number of new members in the past quarter: 10
- Number of standards published: 3
- Average time to first release: 4 months
- Average number of companies involved per standard: 5
- Average number of contributors per standard: 6
- Number of active working groups: 7
- Total funding between Q2 2022 - Q2 2023: 155,000 USD
In addition to our member organizations and community participants, DAOstar’s core team, composed of leading DAO operators and researchers, initiate connections between DAOstar members, support members as they draft and publish new standards with editing and logistical support, and occasionally lead the writing of important new standards based on community response and on our internal research on the needs of DAOs.
A list of the presently active working groups and their missions:
Working Group |
Description |
Members |
DAO* Delegations |
Defining contracts and schemas for an on-chain delegate registry |
Karma, Tally, Optimism, Uniswap, Agora |
DAO* Grants Management |
Defining a grants system standard for DAOs and other Web3 entities |
Gitcoin, OpenQ, DaoLens, Station, kycDAO, Solana |
DAO* Attestations |
Building an interoperable attestations system for DAOs and DAO tooling |
Avenue, Govrn, Disco |
DAO* Regulatory Interoperability |
Defining a regulatory API. The plan is to eventually transition into a working group on tax standards. |
Joni Pirovich, Joshua Tan, Primavera De Filippi, Ori Shimony, Jake Hartnell |
DAO* Governor Ecosystem Standards |
Supporting technical developments in the Governor Ecosystem |
Tally, Scopelift, OpenZeppelin, Nouns, JokeDAO |
DAO* Strike Team |
Development and maintenance of EIP-4824 / DAOIP-2 |
Issac Patka, Joshua Tan, Michael Zargham, Eyal Eithcowich, Ido Gershtein Sam Furter, Drew MacArthur |
DAO* Proposal Types |
Standard templates for DAO proposals |
Aragon, Commonwealth, CharmVerse, Metagov, Cultur3 |
Standards
In its first year of operation, DAOstar has published three standards, with three additional standards planned for release in Q2 2023.
- EIP-4824 / DAOIP-2: Common Interfaces for DAOs
- DAOIP-3: Attestations for DAOs
- DAOIP-4: Proposal Types
- (upcoming) Grants Management
- (upcoming) Regulatory Interoperability
- (upcoming) Delegations
- (upcoming) SAFEs for DAOs
- (upcoming) Tax Standards
We summarize some of the key standards and initiatives in the sections below.
EIP-4824:
With the existence of multiple DAO frameworks that change rapidly, it is incredibly difficult for any party to get a holistic picture of the DAO ecosystem. Even the leading DAO discovery engines & aggregators like DeepDAO, Messari and Etherscan are sometimes unable to keep up with the developments. DAOs self-reporting information about themselves in a universally agreed upon schema is the most sustainable solution to this, which is how EIP-4824 was born.
Since the first draft of EIP-4824 was released in February 2022, the DAO ecosystem has moved in the direction of a unified interface for consuming and publishing DAO data. Acknowledging this momentum, several of the large DAO factories including Aragon v3, Moloch v3, DAODAO, Superdao, and Kali now produce EIP-4824 compliant DAOs (see adoption timeline below).
Upcoming DAO factories like Power Protocol, Q and XDAO have also included EIP-4824 compliance in their roadmap.
EIP-4824 has proved to be a good foundation for all the other standards. For example, the Grants Management standard piloted by Gitcoin, Attestations standard built by Avenue & Govrn and much of the regulatory interface work DAOstar’s Regulatory Interop WG did were composed on top of it. This proves the importance of having a global DAO standard.
What’s next for EIP-4824:
- Snapshot integration, which will let any Snapshot-enabled DAO publish a daoURI in minutes
- Last call on the EIP before moving to “final” status
- Multichain indexing
- Adoption by explorers and data aggregator such as DeepDAO, Messari, and Etherscan
- Better daoURI management tools, including improvements to the hosting and explorer infrastructure
“ Aragon OSX is ready to comply with the [EIP-4824] standard. It will make our DAOs more visible and measurable in blockchain explorers and other tooling. It was also quite easy to become 4824 compliant—the daoURI can be populated without much effort and with the data present in our subgraph database.”
Ivan, Head of Ecosystem at Aragon
DAOIP-3: Attestations for DAOs
DAOIP-3 introduces a framework for making attestations about DAO membership, member contributions, and other data. This makes it easier for DAOs to consider participation measures, such as git commits or Discourse posts, when determining membership, adding depth to the existing asset-based membership definition prevalent in the ecosystem.
The standard is already in action, with Govrn and Avenue spearheading the issuance of interoperable attestations!
It is slated for adoption by Disco and White Hat DAO, as well as Karma, Tally, Uniswap, and Optimism via the new delegations registry. Additionally, EAS is dedicated to streamlining the issuance of attestations using the schema.
The project is supported in part by the EU ONTOCHAIN project, part of the EU’s Next Generation Internet initiative.
Regulatory Interoperability: providing the right picture to Policy Makers
The DAOstar Regulatory Interoperability Working Group, a.k.a Millenium Falcon, leverages EIP-4824 to establish an interface that enables regulators to consume DAO data.
This initiative marks a significant stride in bridging the gap between DAOs and regulatory oversight. As the DAO ecosystem continues to grow, it becomes crucial for regulators to gain a comprehensive understanding of DAO operations and activities. By facilitating transparency, accountability, and regulatory compliance, this interface fosters a mutually beneficial relationship between regulators and DAOs.
The working group, led by Joni Pirovich, founder of LawFi DAO and research fellow at Metagov, and includes Primavera De Filippi of Harvard/CNRS, Jake Hartnell of DAODAO/Juno, Ori Shimony of dOrg, Silke Elfirai formerly of Gnosis, and many other prominent figures in the DAO legal space. They recently showcased a prototype of the interface at DAO Harvard, a three-day conference that brought together practitioners, policy-makers, and academics to engage in insightful discussions on DAO research, legal frameworks, and policy responses.
Delegate Registry: for all DAOs, on all chains
The Delegate Registry Working Group is building a global on-chain DAO delegate registry.
A number of DAOs have started utilizing delegation to improve governance and solve the problem of voter apathy. However, the lack of a decentralized and universally accessible repository for delegate information hampers the innovation based on delegate information and restricts the accessibility of data for tools and on-chain voting systems. By establishing this comprehensive and standardized registry, the group aims to empower DAOs and enable them to unlock the full potential of delegation.
The initiative is led by Karma and Tally and supported by Uniswap, Optimism & Agora.
““DAOstar has been a place for thoughtful discussions about the ecosystem for years. In the Delegate Metadata working group, we’ve workshopped standards to help share data across the DAO ecosystem.”
- Raf, co-founder & CTO of Tally
DAOs in Asia: supporting the Asia-Pacific DAO ecosystem
This relatively new initiative by DAOstar is dedicated to providing the necessary support and resources to the DAO builders and researchers from the Asian ecosystem.
We recognize that the Asian region holds immense untapped potential with a multitude of innovative products and research that goes unnoticed. In recognition of this untapped potential, DAOstar has intensified its outreach efforts to projects in the region. Through Metagov Seminar, we facilitated two engaging discussions, inviting notable organizations like SeeDAOn and g0v da0, to share insights on operating DAOs and decentralized projects in the region. Furthermore, we successfully hosted the inaugural “DAOs in Asia Roundtable,” an event that brought together over 10 organizations from across the region.
In addition to fostering meaningful discussions, we aim to bridge the gap between DAO learnings and research, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and ideas across regions. Looking ahead, DAOstar is determined to amplify its presence in web3 events throughout Asia, actively engaging with the vibrant community and investing resources to support these burgeoning communities.
Education & Events
Besides standards, DAOstar ran and presented at a significant number of events in the last year.
- Presented SAFE for DAOs as well as DAO Creative Universe at ETH Denver
- Presented the Grants Management Standard at Schelling Point
- Co-organized DAO Harvard (April 2023)
- DAO Tokyo
- DAO Montenegro, Zulalu & EDCON
We’ve developed relationships with many existing venues in the DAO ecosystem and often curated talks, panels, and other events related to new standards, public goods, and other industry collaborations.
A litmus test of the popularity of DAOstar is examining the speaker lineup of DAO-related events. For instance, during DAO Tokyo (April 2023), 8 out of 10 of the panels featured a representative from a DAOstar One member or an organization closely associated with DAOstar One!
Moving Forward
DAOstar maintains a highly positive outlook for 2023-2024 (we’ve named it season 1!). The organization’s priorities for this period are outlined here: The plans for DAOstar (Season 1) · metagov/daostar · Discussion #53 · GitHub
Having successfully developed standards and facilitated the formation of exceptional working groups, we are more convinced than ever of the collaborative nature inherent in the DAO ecosystem. The significant growth of our round table, now comprising 90 members, instills confidence that more DAOs and organizations will join our shared cause. We have also come to realize that the biggest value DAOstar offers is a space where competition takes a backseat, allowing participants to embrace their builder mindset and hack together on critical public infrastructure. We’ll keep doing that, building the future of internet organizations and shepherding DAOs to a resilient future.