DCG’s Ryan Taylor announces the creation of Dash Investment Foundation, giving the network the ability to invest in opportunities by allowing proposal owners to issue equity or other assets in consideration of network funding. https://blog.dash.org/introducing-the-dash-investment-foundation-370cafcc48ee
We are excited to announce that the “Dash Ventures” project is nearing completion, and we are now preparing to formally operationalize the investment fund. This post explains the background of the project, outlines the legal structure selected, and describes the final steps — including supervisor elections — that must be taken to complete its setup. The legal name of the entity is “Dash Investment Foundation”. The Dash Investment Foundation was incorporated on March 21st as a Cayman Islands foundation company limited by guarantee. We believe it is the world’s first ownerless and memberless investment fund. Dash Investment Foundation will be tasked with strengthening the Dash network through investment operations funded by the network itself.
Dash is now the first cryptocurrency network with a proposal system capable of investing in its own ecosystem. No longer must all distributions from the proposal system be grants. The foundation creates a bridge between the network protocol and the legacy financial and legal systems. This opens new possibilities for entrepreneurs and the Dash network to partner and mutually benefit from the funding available through the Dash network via Dash Investment Foundation. Importantly, this capability has arrived in time to benefit developers looking to build applications on the Evolution platform.
Dash Core Group first proposed investigating the creation of a network-controlled investment fund in June of 2018, with the aim of enabling the Dash network to invest in higher-risk opportunities, by enabling proposal owners to issue equity or other assets in consideration of the network funding. Results from initial legal research was promising, and we secured additional funding from the network in August of 2018 to pursue the creation of the legal entity.
Dash masternode operators will elect the six supervisors that oversee the foundation. Key organizational and operational decisions would be put to the supervisors for approval by the foundation’s directors. Day-to-day operations will remain with the directors and investment manager. The supervisors may consist of virtually anyone trusted by the network to carry out supervisory duties, while the directors would consist of experts with the appropriate skills to oversee the foundation.
Glenn Kennedy from Paradigm Governance Partners and Casey McDonald from Calderwood, are Cayman Islands-based governance professionals. They will serve as the foundation’s initial directors and supervisors. We also need an additional slate of 4 supervisors elected by the network. Starting in the second year, all six supervisors will be elected by the network.
Our intent is to enable Dash Ventures to operate completely independently from Dash Core Group. To ensure a smooth handover, I will offer my services to the foundation for the first year as a non-voting participant to answer questions, and provide any expertise, direction, guidance, and counsel to the supervisors to help ensure all intents of the foundation’s constitution are clear.
To fully operationalize the entity, there are three steps remaining:
- Elections: an election must be held for the four open supervisor positions.
- Operational Funding: the Dash Network will need to approve a proposal to fund the foundation’s operating expenses for the first two years.
- Investment Funding: the network will need to fund a proposal that will allocate assets to Dash Investment Foundation to seed its investment program.
A multi-month proposal to fund the operating expenses for Dash Investment Foundation will be submitted to the network for the next proposal cycle. The proposal will request funding for the estimated costs for the first two years of operations. This will include directors’ fees, corporate fees, disbursements, certain legal fees, bookkeeping services, custody and banking services, and a contingent reserve for incidentals or closure if continuation funding is not secured at the end of the first two years.
After both the election and covering the operating costs, Dash Investment Foundation will be able to finalize a few remaining details. These will include:
- Appointment of an investment manager
- Ratifying an overarching mandate for the foundation and internal governance and operational protocols
- Ratifying a mandate for investment objectives (e.g., maximize returns vs. growth of Dash usage)
- Establish investment funding processes (e.g., process for proposal owners to enter legal agreements)
Look for additional communication in the coming days regarding the supervisor elections and the proposal to cover initial operational costs. We are looking forward to completing the process and witnessing the tremendous impact this innovation will have on our network.