With the passing of proposal 895 the community has voted to support permissioned CosmWasmon the Cosmos Hub — unlocking a variety of potential smart contract use cases that can help build additional utility for $ATOM stakeholders.
The first among these we believe could be extremely useful would be DAO DAO — decentralized governance tooling and human organization tooling in Web3 — empowering communities to rapidly turn tokens into meaningful votes and actions. DAO DAO smart contracts are audited and widely used across the broader Cosmos.
DAO DAO Github Link | DAO DAO App
The following is a list of some of the key utilities that DAO DAO can unlock for the Cosmos Hub:
- No-code UI for making proposals, voting, and exploring DAOs
- Sophisticated organizational structures using SubDAO hierarchies and Authz
- Seamless cross-chain accounts, allowing for Interchain staking and app integrations
- Vesting payroll management and retroactive compensation solutions
- Treasury spends and swaps
- Manage staking and rewards
- On-chain, governance gated key / value store
- Proposal inbox, push, and email notifications
- Discord integration
- Customizable DAO widgets
- DAO Press: publishing tools for a DAO run blog and official communications
- DAO-managed validators
- Smart contract management (instantiate, execute, migrate, manage admins)
DAO DAO is open source and uses the flexible well known BSD-3-clause license. 1
We would love to get comments on the Cosmos Hub Forum on how you would feel about DAO DAO smart contracts on the Cosmos Hub once permissioned CosmWasm gets implemented on the Cosmos Hub.
Potential SubDAOs for better social coordination
With DAO DAO, the Cosmos Hub community could establish and govern a range of SubDAOs dedicated to advancing the Cosmos Hub in a manner that is transparent, flexible and secure, surpassing the current multisig paradigm that has hitherto managed a significant portion of our capital and funds. SubDAOs serve to construct decentralized organizations with specific mandates, mitigating the opacity and risks associated with reliance on predominantly private organizations.
By equipping our community with tools for managing incentives, coordinating decision-making, and facilitating communication, DAO DAO stands to enhance our operational efficiency and cohesion.
Here is a (creative) list of long-term potential SubDAOs that one could imagine that may emerge:
- Validator DAO: Validator DAO could implement mechanisms for assessing validator performance and coordinating upgrades to the validator set, thereby enhancing the security and decentralization of the network. Could serve as a means for gathering validator specific feedback and help signal validator operator specific consensus.
- Community DAO: A Community DAO could serve as a forum for community engagement, governance participation, and resource coordination. It could host discussions, organize events, and support initiatives that foster collaboration, inclusivity, and alignment of interests among Cosmos community members.
- Marketing & Outreach DAO: A Marketing & Outreach DAO could focus on promoting awareness, adoption, and usage of the Cosmos Hub and its ecosystem. It could devise marketing campaigns, engage with media outlets, and cultivate partnerships to enhance the visibility and reputation of the Cosmos brand globally.
- Research & Development DAO: A Research & Development DAO could drive innovation, experimentation, and prototyping of new technologies, protocols, and features for the Cosmos ecosystem. It could fund research projects, coordinate collaborations, and incubate promising ideas to advance the state-of-the-art in decentralized infrastructure and applications.
- Education & Onboarding DAO: An Education & Onboarding DAO could develop educational resources, training programs, and support services to onboard newcomers, developers, and stakeholders into the Cosmos ecosystem. It could create tutorials, documentation, and mentorship initiatives to facilitate learning and skill development within the community.
- Security & Compliance DAO: A Security & Compliance DAO could establish standards, protocols, and procedures to ensure the security, integrity, and regulatory compliance of the Cosmos Hub and its ecosystem. It could conduct audits, assessments, and enforcement activities to mitigate risks and maintain trust in the network.
- Ecosystem Integration DAO: An Ecosystem Integration DAO could foster collaboration, interoperability, and synergy with other blockchain networks, protocols, and projects. It could explore partnerships, standards, and cross-chain initiatives to expand the reach and utility of the Cosmos ecosystem across diverse use cases and industries.
These SubDAOs could operate autonomously within the broader governance framework of the Cosmos Hub, leveraging DAO DAO smart contracts to facilitate transparent decision-making, efficient resource allocation, and community participation. By specializing in specific domains and objectives, they could effectively address the diverse needs and priorities of the Cosmos ecosystem, driving its growth, resilience, and innovation.
I also want to acknowledge that a variety of contributors are already doing the vast majority of the above functions (often multiple in parallel). Over the next multiple decades, I would envision a world where these Cosmos Hub SubDAOs help aggregate and enhance existing contributors (not disclude them or isolate them). Additionally, these specific SubDAOs could become powerful means of onboarding & empowering more contributors into the Cosmos Hub ecosystem.
Cosmos Hub has a path to become the leading governance community in all of Web3, aiming to expand the influence of the most powerful interchain asset ($ATOM) & the adjacent ATOM Economic Zone — ultimately improving both the breadth & reach of the broader IBC ecosystem.
We acknowledge that these are aggressive (if not radical) long term initiatives, we do believe though that DAO DAO is a key first step in the journey towards a more organized and cohesive Cosmos Hub governance.
Potential Risks
While DAO DAO smart contracts offer numerous benefits, there are also risks associated with their implementation on the Cosmos Hub. By addressing these risks proactively, the Cosmos community could maximize the benefits of decentralized governance while mitigating potential drawbacks. Some potential risks include:
- Security Vulnerabilities: Like any smart contract system, DAO DAO contracts may be susceptible to security vulnerabilities, bugs, or exploits that could result in loss of funds, disruption of operations, or manipulation of governance processes. We should however note that DAO DAO contracts have been audited by Oak Security, and the DAO DAO team is committed to securing future audits.
- Centralization of Power: Depending on the design and implementation of DAO DAO contracts, there’s a risk of centralization of power within certain groups or individuals who may control a significant portion of voting power or resources, potentially leading to governance capture or unfair influence. Note that you can use DAO DAO contracts to make a centralized system or a radically decentralized one.
- Complexity and Governance Overhead: Introducing DAO DAO contracts adds complexity to the governance structure of the Cosmos Hub, requiring ongoing maintenance, monitoring, and decision-making regarding the operation and evolution of the contracts. This could result in increased governance overhead and decision-making friction.
- Coordination Challenges: Coordinating multiple SubDAOs and their activities within the Cosmos ecosystem may pose challenges in terms of alignment of objectives, resource allocation, decision-making processes, and communication channels, potentially leading to inefficiencies or conflicts.
- Legal and Regulatory Risks: The use of DAO DAO contracts may raise legal and regulatory concerns, particularly regarding compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and governance standards. Failure to address these risks adequately could result in legal liability or regulatory intervention.
- Community Discontent or Disengagement: Mismanagement, disputes, or failures associated with DAO DAO contracts could lead to disillusionment, discontent, or disengagement among members of the Cosmos community, undermining trust in the governance process and ecosystem viability.
Next Steps
At AADAO, we use DAO DAO extensively for our own operations and are actively developing a grant for DAO DAO to deploy onto Gaia. Our grant will likely cover costs related to the infrastructure, maintenance and continuous development of DAO DAO, as well as some customizations and feature requests to better align DAO DAO with the Cosmos Hub.
Once DAO DAO is ready to be deployed onto Gaia, a “White List Proposal” will go onchain for Cosmos Hub governance to approve the deployment of DAO DAO.
At AADAO, we are excited to actively advance this integration partnership, unlocking the next stage of social coordination for the Cosmos Hub.
We would love to get comments on the Cosmos Hub Forum on how people would feel about DAO DAO smart contracts on the Cosmos Hub once permissioned CosmWasm gets implemented on the Cosmos Hub.
Authored by @Carter_Lee_WoetzelStrategy CommitteeAtom Accelerator DAO (AADAO)
Co-signed by Noah SasoCo-Founder & Lead DAOerDAO DAO 1
