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2024 September Polkadot OpenGov Report

This is Fine. September was fully loaded with important developments, including the conclusion of the Decentralized Voices' second cohort, a fresh proposal for the Marketing Bounty, and the head ambassador drama that unfolded in the month's final days. Let’sdive in for the details of these events and more.

The Third Cohort​

The Web3 Foundation recently announced the requirements for the 3rd cohort of the Decentralized Voices (DV) program. Applicants had a 10-day window, with submissions closing at the end of September. The new cohort prioritizes group applications over individual ones, introduces strict rules to prevent quid pro quo, and merges delegations for the Kusama and Polkadot networks.

The program extends the delegation period from three to four months while reducing the overall number of delegations. Delegates will now be incentivized with 3,500 DOT for their work at the end of their term, promoting a results-driven approach.

Formerly, concerns were raised regarding misconduct among some delegates in the second cohort. It appears the foundation responded by implementing changes aimed at establishing a more stable delegation system with integrated checks and balances.

Following the announcement, several promising organizations have emerged as candidates. Permanence DAO stands out with its strong roster, with four former DVs and four DF grant recipients including Jeeper from OpenGov.Watch team. Le Nexus brings together a group of highly skilled developers and respected figures in the ecosystem from various teams such as Parity, Chainsafe, Talisman, Astar, Bifrost and many more. Other known organizations, like The Kus DAO, have also applied to the program and stand out with their fully transparent voting system. We believe that prioritizing organizational applicants will not only strengthen the future of the program but also enhance the accountability of decisions made by the DVs.

HAlving​

September ended with a fresh drama surrounding the ambassador program. Ten of the twenty head ambassadors came forward with a halving proposal to reduce the number of ambassadors to ten, arguing that it would cut down on bureaucratic work that was holding the program back. This sparked heated debates across social media and governance platforms.

Several follow-up proposals quickly emerged. The first aims to cancel the halving proposal. The second calls for the demotion of the proposal’s submitter. A third proposes demoting all twenty ambassadors and sunsetting the program entirely. Finally, the most recent proposal suggests demoting all ambassadors without sunsetting the program, allowing for a fresh start.

The situation was discussed during the recent ambassador meeting, and we further explored the implications during our OpenGov.Watch office hours, focusing on which structural improvements are needed for the program. Discussions revolve around improvements in the framework of the program, picking up on the points that are highlighted in Alice und Bob’s former report.

We remind everyone that all the proposals in OpenGov are subject to token holder voting. All these discussions are live on-chain as referenda, and as with every matter in OpenGov, token holders will make the decision. We should de-escalate the drama on social media and respect the decisions made by token holders.

Reforming the Marketing Bounty​

A new marketing bounty with a revamped structure has been proposed. However, the proposal quickly drew criticism, particularly because Giotto was listed as one of the curators. In response to the community’s concerns, Giotto stepped down from the curator position. Following this, we at OpenGov Watch agreed to temporarily fill the fifth curator seat for the first six months of the bounty, until a suitable candidate is found that both the other curators and the network can agree on.

We think that the new bounty is structured much more conservatively compared to its predecessor. This new structure is more thoughtfully planned, balanced, and expansive, broadening the bounty’s scope beyond just advertisement to include developer-targeted marketing and product-market fitting partnerships. We discussed this topic in depth during our OpenGov.Watch office hours, which you can check out for further details.

Additionally, we are integrating our upcoming proposal for bounty accountability standards into the current marketing bounty draft. This will enforce a more predictable budget and increased transparency. Our goal is to contribute to the creation of a dedicated marketing department that can handle all marketing-related proposals, thus relieving some of the workload on the general assembly of OpenGov.

Legislation via Wish for Change​

Another focus this month has been the efforts toward legislative action through a series of Wish for Change (WFC) referenda. The first of these legislative clauses will require all bounties to comply with accountability standards and propose a target budget for 2025, aiming to create a more predictable and structured approach to network governance. Just like in the marketing bounty, the general aim is to push all the proposals to related departments so the network has an effective way to separate legislative and executive arms. This would lead to more efficient decision-making and help streamline the governance agenda by clearing it of relatively less significant tasks.

Following the WFC on bounty accountability, there will be additional proposals focusing on general spending standards. These efforts aim to solidify the budgeting framework for the upcoming year, with the hope of completing both WFCs before January to have a draft budget in place by the start of next year.

The legislative efforts via Wish for Change won’t stop at bounty accountability, spending standardization, and budgeting. Our broader vision is to help Polkadot build a modular constitution through continuous reforms and legislative actions across all key areas of governance over the course of 2025.

Notable Mentions​

  • Vote Count Experiment: An interesting experiment was conducted to demonstrate that vote counts on referenda do not necessarily equate to popular support. With just 3.5 DOT, Oliver Tale-Yazdi managed to vote with 1,000 accounts on a proposal, effectively challenging the notion that high vote counts reflect broad public support.
  • USDC Running Out: The USDC reserves of the treasury were nearing depletion, prompting a reaction from stakeholders. After Jay Chrawnna’s emergency budgeting intervention, Centrifuge halved its proposal to leave some of the USDC in the treasury. The DAO then issued a new 5m DOT streaming swap order to buy stablecoins on Hydration. Unlike the previous approach, the new proposal automates based on the amount of DOT rather than USDC, offering the treasury greater control over its DOT reserves.
  • Roots Program: The Events Bounty launched a new Roots Program to fund a series of meetups up to $2,500. We continue to be impressed by how efficiently this department operates and suggest other bounties follow the Events Bounty’s example to improve their internal processes.
  • The Community Foundation & Ledger: A marketing proposal aimed at creating a partnership with Ledger to distribute 50 devices in a joint social media campaign sparked an interesting discussion about legal fees for the Polkadot Community Foundation (PCF). Nearly half of the ask was earmarked for legal fees, raising concerns of the PCF’s high fees. The network is now searching a solution to reduce these fees in future proposals.

Get Involved​