What is the ideal role of the treasury?

[TheNetworkIsBiggerThanYou]

It is my view that we have a structural issue masquerading as a people issue. The current treasury grant system by design is a rather insular process. The sense making apparatus is detached from the treasury mechanism. This makes it difficult for those not currently and actively engaged with the Dash ecosystem to know what problems the network are experiencing and what sorts of services and products the network needs. There is no request for proposals mechanism. There is no incentive structure for people to go out and find firms to deliver products and services to the network.

Until now, the focus has been to build internal capabilities to address any network short comings. The treasury consequently has been viewed as the endless fountain of free money. Funded entities did not require a business model. They did not require adoption of their products or services in-order to survive. Instead of a market based system we have instead a political system, where your entity survives as long as their is funding from the treasury. This is top down economic planning more similar to socialism than capitalism. It is really no surprise that things don't work out as we'd like.

This has led to a number of downsides

• less competitive environment
• entrenched interests that exploit clout for funding
• DFO entitlement
• non-outcome based funding
• the funding of projects and company ventures that are not directly related to the problems being faced by the network
• the believe that all work, no matter how amateur, should be funded by the treasury (and as a consequent less activity overall for those who do not receive funding)

Some have suggested that if you can't produce a solution, it is not worth complaining. I disagree. If we can't accurately describe what the problem is, we can't hope to fix things.

For this reason I think it is important to take this opportunity where it feels like everything is on the table, for us to explore what is the ideal role of the Dash DAO treasury. What are its limitations? Of these limitations which can be addressed by new platform functionality? Which limitations cannot?

Are there certain capabilities that simply need to be performed in-house? If so, what is the ideal structure for this - one large group (core), competing groups of similar standing, or something else entirely?

 

[GrandMasterDash]

Over the years there have been multiple attempts to change the DAO / treasury and they have all failed. The only things MNOs are capable of agreeing on, is changing a number here or there that requires just one or two lines of code AND has the blessing of DCG members.

Bitcoin maxis like to say, they love bitcoin because it's so difficult to change consensus. They should look at the dash DAO then and tell us what makes it so easy! lol

I agree with you that radical changes are needed but how to change the mind of stubborn MNO humpback voters?

 

[TheNetworkIsBiggerThanYou]

Over the years there have been multiple attempts to change the DAO / treasury and they have all failed. The only things MNOs are capable of agreeing on, is changing a number here or there that requires just one or two lines of code AND has the blessing of DCG members.

Bitcoin maxis like to say, they love bitcoin because it's so difficult to change consensus. They should look at the dash DAO then and tell us what makes it so easy! lol

I agree with you that radical changes are needed but how to change the mind of stubborn MNO humpback voters?

Now is an interesting time though. We should theoretically have at our disposal greater functionality in the DAO via platform upgrades. So perhaps now is the time to have this conversation.

In the past were any of these attempts focused on changing how people viewed the treasury (like this poll) or more focused on dialing in the existing framework?

 

[GrandMasterDash]

In the past were any of these attempts focused on changing how people viewed the treasury (like this poll) or more focused on dialing in the existing framework?

I've previously tried to change various aspects of the DAO without success.

Sam has previously said that the DAO could possibly be discussed and upgraded once Platform is out but I don't see that happening because I believe DCGs main priority will be the continuous bug fixing / upgrades to Platform. Plus, they have pretty much said that dollar price is not their concern, which is ridiculous if you ask me.

 

[TheNetworkIsBiggerThanYou]

I've previously tried to change various aspects of the DAO without success.

Sam has previously said that the DAO could possibly be discussed and upgraded once Platform is out but I don't see that happening because I believe DCGs main priority will be the continuous bug fixing / upgrades to Platform. Plus, they have pretty much said that dollar price is not their concern, which is ridiculous if you ask me.

With all respect to Sam and Ryan before him, that discussion is not his decision to make.

Price = supply & demand
Supply changes are being proposed (presumably by people who feel demand can't be generated. This is the loser / death-sentence stance)
Demand is driven by use. Use should (in theory) be driven by services that leverage the increased functionality from platform.

Are you being uncharitable towards Sam here? It seems to me he is working on producing an upgrade that will drive more demand for Dash.

 

[GrandMasterDash]

I am quite hard on Sam, mostly because he seems to be quite stubborn and not particularly open to other people's ideas.

What kind of demand Platform will produce, I don't know, I don't think anyone knows tbh. Sam seems to think there is nothing like it out there, therefore automatically filling some purpose, but I just don't know if that's good enough. Betamax was technically better than VHS but VHS was cheaper, had higher capacity and more mind share. I think a lot of what Platform does can be done in other ways.. perhaps in a clumsy way / not very elegant, but maybe enough to get the job done.

It seems to me, many of the best technical solutions are Just In Time Solutions e.g. you only need good enough privacy when censorship actually becomes a problem. Or, for example, torrents lack anonymity yet good enough to get the job done. You solve one discrete and urgent problem and you might get success. Does Platform do that? Is Platform a VHS or a Betamax?

 

[TheNetworkIsBiggerThanYou]

If platform can produce a stable price mechanism that is superior to the counter-party risk heavy stablecoins we can be reasonably confident that it will produce a significant amount of demand (compare marketcap of stablecoins relative to Dash: https://coinmarketcap.com/view/stablecoin/ )

 

[GrandMasterDash]

Is there a mechanism for a superior stable coin and is there an existing mix of good-enough stable coins to satisfy most people? Not saying you're wrong but wondering what you're idea is of a superior stable coin?

Having said that, forget USD pegs for a while, I have been wondering if it would be good to create a multi-coin basked of, say, dash, decred and atom. A multi-consensus coin, each with it's own DAO that could be contributing to such development. Probably no need for an oracle.

 

[xkcd]

Something else, I'll explain in the comments below.

The purpose of the treasury is to fund the development of Dash, specifically the Core Team. The lesson that Duffield learned from Bitcoin is that poorly funded core teams, such as Bitcoin Core are open to subversion from external entities that will happily fund them in return for favours that suit them. In Dash, the treasury is used to ensure the devs are beholden to the DAO and work in the best interests of the network and only the network and not outside forces, eg big banks, insurance companies, etc.

 

[TheNetworkIsBiggerThanYou]

The purpose of the treasury is to fund the development of Dash, specifically the Core Team. The lesson that Duffield learned from Bitcoin is that poorly funded core teams, such as Bitcoin Core are open to subversion from external entities that will happily fund them in return for favours that suit them. In Dash, the treasury is used to ensure the devs are beholden to the DAO and work in the best interests of the network and only the network and not outside forces, eg big banks, insurance companies, etc.

I'd argue that is option A: build network capacity.

Point well taken.

What do you say to those that argue that networks that have multiple protocol teams are better off?

 

[TheNetworkIsBiggerThanYou]

Is there a mechanism for a superior stable coin and is there an existing mix of good-enough stable coins to satisfy most people? Not saying you're wrong but wondering what you're idea is of a superior stable coin?

Having said that, forget USD pegs for a while, I have been wondering if it would be good to create a multi-coin basked of, say, dash, decred and atom. A multi-consensus coin, each with it's own DAO that could be contributing to such development. Probably no need for an oracle.

Yes there is something that is vastly better, provided we can make it work.

Bitcoin Cash has a service called anyhedge https://anyhedge.com/ and implementation of this from bchbull:

It allows people to sell price fluctuations risk. it is an extraordinary idea because the entire process uses Dash. No pegging. No derivative tokens. There will be much less counter party risk.

The existing mix of stable coins suck. If they did not suck, people would not be selling their crypto for fiat.

 

[GrandMasterDash]

Nice and would be cool to see them add dash. But seems to use oracles so might as well use LUSD or Nephrite for privacy.

 

[TheNetworkIsBiggerThanYou]

Nice and would be cool to see them add dash. But seems to use oracles so might as well use LUSD or Nephrite for privacy.

their oracle use is actually one of two weak links for them. It is pseudocentralized.

I am proposing Dash use oracles via platform (addressing issue #1)

and Masternode Capital for buy-side liquidity (issue #2) to enable a large amount of 1x shorts (stable dash)

 

[Luciamartyyn]

In my opinion, Security and Compliance Measures: The treasury should allocate resources to reinforce security measures and ensure compliance with regulatory standards. This includes funding audits, implementing security protocols, and adhering to legal requirements.

Community Engagement and Education: Dedicate resources towards educating and engaging the community. This can involve initiatives like organizing events, workshops, or creating educational content to foster a knowledgeable and active user base.

Reserve Fund Management: Allocate a portion of the treasury towards building and managing a reserve fund for contingencies, future developments, or unforeseen circumstances.

Ultimately, the treasury's role should be dynamic and adaptive, responding to the evolving needs and challenges of the network and its community. The specific emphasis on each of these roles may vary depending on the network's goals, user base, and market conditions.

 

[GrandMasterDash]

In my opinion, Security and Compliance Measures: The treasury should allocate resources to reinforce security measures and ensure compliance with regulatory standards. This includes funding audits, implementing security protocols, and adhering to legal requirements.

What purpose would dash serve if it was doing what regulators wanted? In such circumstance, surely you might as well buy the dollar?

Who's regulator would you subscribe to, america, england, europe, russia, china? Please clarify which regulator is the correct regulator.