2024 August Polkadot OpenGov Report
The Summit
The main highlight of August was the Web3 Summit in Berlin that has been organized after a long break from the COVID pandemic. It was a huge success with diverse people from different ecosystems, a wonderful avenue, and inspiring talks. Our focus was of course network governance. On the first day, Alice und Bob presented the concept of network constitutions by defining different forms of constitutions. Another amazing talk was from Robin Berjon on The Public Interest Internet, where he discussed the importance of good governance and how it can help the broader society. One of the main highlights of the event was of course Gavin Wood’s keynote on Individuality and Web3 Citizenship.
We approach these three ideas as parts of a puzzle. Good governance is needed, not only in web3 but in the whole world. To establish good governance practices, we ask the question of constitutionalism. And to talk about constitutions, one needs to define the constituents. You can watch these amazing talks and others from the web3 summit on the YouTube account of the Web3 Foundation.
Effectiveness & Efficiency
Effectiveness and efficiency are crucial in establishing good governance. While we can always fine-tune the balance between them, we should never ignore them for the sake of the other. August was a fruitful month in showcasing this. We selected three cases to discuss.
Beyond The Chain
The Events Bounty funded a small meetup in central London. It is reported that the meetup was full of people from outside the ecosystem and the cost of this small & packed event was only £2000. We think this is a great example of showing a balanced spend in effectiveness and efficiency. We admire the general direction of the Events Bounty and congratulate both the bounty and event organizers on their success.
The Beer Stand
ChaosDAO published the final report of the free beer stand they organized during the Polkadot Decoded last month. By only spending the 22% of the DOT they requested and returning the rest to the treasury, they showcase a remarkable example of efficiency.
Assurance Legion
Another great work is done by the Polkadot Assurance Legion. Formulated as a bounty to co-fund security audits for the rollup teams, PAL’s latest community report is a great example of transparent reporting directly and concisely.
The Polarization Trap
During the last couple of months, we continuously observe a very dangerous trend of polarization within the ecosystem. So how can we evade polarization and succeed in establishing good governance? We already mention different characteristics of good governance such as transparency, effectiveness, efficiency, participation, and accountability. Let us also mention inclusiveness and what we need to be careful about.
One of the most important resources of any society is its social capital. We can only talk about a society with the people who create its fabric and form the networks of cooperation and shared values that enable collective action.
Leaders emerge from this collectivity. Traditional leaders derive their authority from customs and beliefs, often resembling a king or tribal chief who commands respect due to long-standing tradition. The next step is rational-legal leaders. They gain their authority from a system of well-established laws, rules, and regulations.
In contrast, a charismatic leader can be the most unpredictable of the three. While they have the potential to inspire people with their compelling rhetoric and strong personal presence, they also pose a significant risk of polarization. Their fragile authority is rooted in personal charisma and the ideological narrative they promote, which can quickly divide communities.
Polarization is one of the main traps that lead to a dysfunctional society. As divisions deepen, people leave, diminishing the social capital that is vital for the community's strength and resilience. We should remember that contrary voices are the difference between a society of individuals and a mindless cult.
Notable Mentions
- Sub0 Reset: After July’s failed sub0 proposal, there is an alternative proposal for a Sub0 this fall, again in Bangkok. With a price tag of nearly half a million, Sub0 Reset aims to coincide with DevCon and promises a transparent budget with efficiency in spending.
- Delegit: Web3 Summit also hosted a hacker house event. One of the seven winning projects of this event was the Delegit app prototype. Developed by the people from the Polkadot community, Delegit allows users to compare their votes with potential delegates and gives suggestions on where to delegate voting power per user voting behavior. We cannot wait to access the app itself once it is fully developed.
- Bounty Cleanup: Head Ambassador Leemo has proposed a cleanup for the bounties that are not used or proposed but never received funding. This is mostly maintenance work and does not concern any working bounties. On the other hand, the proposal to close the highly controversial AMI bounty has been accepted and the proposal has been executed, closing down the AMI bounty and returning the funds to the treasury.
- Regulatory Compliance: Three proposals providing services of regulatory compliance & AML services are being currently voted on.
- The cheapest of the three, proposed by Don Diego Sanchez of ChaosDAO and Scorechain requests $510k for the development of an open-source tool to provide KYT services and three-year maintenance.
- The second one from Global Ledger asks 20k DOTs for the first milestone and combined asks 400k DOT which equals $1.6 million on today’s DOT price. The most expensive one is an improved proposal from Chainalysis, asking $6.5 million divided into three annual payments of $2.17 million.
- The Chainlaysis proposal is again a controversial one. It has been kicked out of confirmation five times already and currently holding slightly above the 50% mark with 5 days remaining on the confirmation period.
- More Sponsorships: Conor Daly is back with another sponsorship proposal which costs approximately $7,5 million. The proposal is currently failing by a wide margin. OpenGov has previously sponsored Conor Daly with around $2,1 million. An overview and report of the previous proposal is provided in the new proposal.