This document (“AIP-1”) proposes the structure of a decentralized autonomous organization called the ArbitrumDAO that would be governed by holders of $ARB, the decentralized token that will serve as the primary token for fostering, developing, authorizing and/or governing the ArbitrumDAO-approved chains (as defined in the ArbitrumDAO Constitution). The ArbitrumDAO Constitution, located at https://docs.arbitrum.foundation/dao-constitution is incorporated herein by reference.
The Arbitrum Foundation, a Cayman Islands foundation company, which will serve the ArbitrumDAO community and be governed by it, aims to foster the growth and development of the Arbitrum ecosystem.
The ArbitrumDAO will have the ability to submit Arbitrum Improvement Proposals (“AIPs”), vote on them and make them a reality through The Arbitrum Foundation.
The guiding values of The Arbitrum Foundation and ArbitrumDAO are described in Section 5 of the ArbitrumDAO Constitution and are incorporated herein.
The Arbitrum Foundation serves the ArbitrumDAO by administering the wishes of the community and otherwise adhering to its guiding values. The Arbitrum Foundation and DAO governance are intended to serve as vehicles enabling impactful, transparent and fair decentralized governance by the broader Arbitrum community.
Through the submission of AIPs, the ArbitrumDAO will be able to collectively decide and effectuate changes ranging from core protocol technology to non-technical decisions that otherwise impact the community and $ARB tokenholders.
Governance powers breakdown
1. $ARB Tokenholders
$ARB tokenholders, who make up the ArbitrumDAO, play the most critical role in the proper functioning of decentralized governance in the pursuit of a trustless, transparent and verifiable Arbitrum ecosystem. As Arbitrum is intended to be a public good, it is only right that governance over it should be governed by those for whom such public good is intended for.
$ARB tokenholders have the ability to directly propose, vote on and effectuate on-chain AIPs with respect to the ArbitrumDAO-approved chains.
2. Special Grants
The Arbitrum Foundation shall be permitted to issue grants out of the Administrative Budget Wallet without undergoing a full on-chain AIP process (such grants, “Special Grants”).
The rationale behind the ability of The Arbitrum Foundation to issue Special Grants is to avoid inundating governance with grant applications, while at the same time alleviating voter fatigue.
The Special Grants application process and criteria will be released at a later date by The Arbitrum Foundation.
3. Directors
As a Cayman Islands foundation, The Arbitrum Foundation is required to have at least 1 director responsible for the management and operation of The Arbitrum Foundation, in particular approving and entering into contractual arrangements on behalf of The Arbitrum Foundation (i.e., the parties actually approving and signing agreements).|
The directors are responsible for ensuring that AIPs do not:
The initial directors of The Arbitrum Foundation are:
The ArbitrumDAO may remove or elect The Arbitrum Foundation’s directors or expand or reduce the number of directors at any time pursuant to a Non-Constitutional AIP
4. Security Council The Security Council is a committee of 12 members of a multi-sig wallet which has the ability to perform both Emergency and Non-Emergency Actions, which are further detailed in Section 3 of the ArbitrumDAO Constitution, which is incorporated herein by reference.
The initial Security Council members, split by cohort, are as follows:
i. September Cohort
ii. March Cohort
Compensation: Security Council members are each paid $5,000 per month in $ARB tokens.
Security Council Elections: Section 4 of the ArbitrumDAO Constitution describes the Security Council election process and is incorporated herein by reference.
5. Data Availability Committee (Arbitrum Nova chain only)
Transactions occurring on the Arbitrum Nova chain are settled on Ethereum mainnet, but, unlike transactions occurring on the Arbitrum One chain, the underlying transaction data batches are posted and stored by the members of the Data Availability Committee on a Data Availability Server (and not on Ethereum mainnet).
The initial members of the Data Availability Committee are authorized representatives of the following parties:
Data Availability Committee members can be appointed and removed at any time pursuant to a Constitutional AIP approved by the ArbitrumDAO. In the event that a Data Availability Committee member is removed (and not otherwise replaced) pursuant to a Constitutional AIP approved by the ArbitrumDAO, or in the event that a Data Availability Committee member resigns without a replacement, the Security Council may execute an emergency action (9-of-12 approval required) to appoint a replacement for such removed or resigned Data Availability Committee member.
Section 2 of the ArbitrumDAO Constitution lays out the AIP process and voting procedures, as well as the various categories of AIPs, and is incorporated herein.
Arbitrum Voting Protocol Procedure
Tally.xyz will act as the initial on-chain voting platform for the ArbitrumDAO to submit and vote on AIPs
Tally will serve as a front-end user interface that allows DAO members to do several things, namely:
Timeline
Solution prepared and ready to be ratified and approved
Overall Costs
Initial Setup Costs of The Arbitrum Foundation and ArbitrumDAO
Total setup costs, including legal costs, DAO administration setup and registration fees to be reimbursed to service providers: $3.5 million (“Total Setup Costs”)
DAO Treasury In order to best provide the ArbitrumDAO with the ability to effectively govern and foster the development of Governed Chains (as defined in the ArbitrumDAO Constitution), 3,527,046,079 $ARB tokens have been transferred to the DAO Treasury. The ArbitrumDAO will have direct on-chain governance powers over the DAO Treasury in accordance with the AIP process as delineated in the ArbitrumDAO Constitution.
The Arbitrum Foundation Administrative Budget Wallet
For the sake of operational and administrative efficiency, a separate account controlled by The Arbitrum Foundation will be created (“Administrative Budget Wallet”). 750 million $ARB tokens will be transferred to the Administrative Budget Wallet for purposes of making Special Grants, reimbursing applicable service providers for the Total Setup Costs and covering ongoing administrative and operational costs of The Arbitrum Foundation. Further funding of the Administrative Budget Wallet shall require approval of an AIP by the ArbitrumDAO pursuant to the AIP process.
This document (“AIP-1”) proposes the structure of a decentralized autonomous organization called the ArbitrumDAO that would be governed by holders of $ARB, the decentralized token that will serve as the primary token for fostering, developing, authorizing and/or governing the ArbitrumDAO-approved chains (as defined in the ArbitrumDAO Constitution). The ArbitrumDAO Constitution, located at https://docs.arbitrum.foundation/dao-constitution is incorporated herein by reference.
The Arbitrum Foundation, a Cayman Islands foundation company, which will serve the ArbitrumDAO community and be governed by it, aims to foster the growth and development of the Arbitrum ecosystem.
The ArbitrumDAO will have the ability to submit Arbitrum Improvement Proposals (“AIPs”), vote on them and make them a reality through The Arbitrum Foundation.
The guiding values of The Arbitrum Foundation and ArbitrumDAO are described in Section 5 of the ArbitrumDAO Constitution and are incorporated herein.
The Arbitrum Foundation serves the ArbitrumDAO by administering the wishes of the community and otherwise adhering to its guiding values. The Arbitrum Foundation and DAO governance are intended to serve as vehicles enabling impactful, transparent and fair decentralized governance by the broader Arbitrum community.
Through the submission of AIPs, the ArbitrumDAO will be able to collectively decide and effectuate changes ranging from core protocol technology to non-technical decisions that otherwise impact the community and $ARB tokenholders.
Governance powers breakdown
1. $ARB Tokenholders
$ARB tokenholders, who make up the ArbitrumDAO, play the most critical role in the proper functioning of decentralized governance in the pursuit of a trustless, transparent and verifiable Arbitrum ecosystem. As Arbitrum is intended to be a public good, it is only right that governance over it should be governed by those for whom such public good is intended for.
$ARB tokenholders have the ability to directly propose, vote on and effectuate on-chain AIPs with respect to the ArbitrumDAO-approved chains.
2. Special Grants
The Arbitrum Foundation shall be permitted to issue grants out of the Administrative Budget Wallet without undergoing a full on-chain AIP process (such grants, “Special Grants”).
The rationale behind the ability of The Arbitrum Foundation to issue Special Grants is to avoid inundating governance with grant applications, while at the same time alleviating voter fatigue.
The Special Grants application process and criteria will be released at a later date by The Arbitrum Foundation.
3. Directors
As a Cayman Islands foundation, The Arbitrum Foundation is required to have at least 1 director responsible for the management and operation of The Arbitrum Foundation, in particular approving and entering into contractual arrangements on behalf of The Arbitrum Foundation (i.e., the parties actually approving and signing agreements).|
The directors are responsible for ensuring that AIPs do not:
The initial directors of The Arbitrum Foundation are:
The ArbitrumDAO may remove or elect The Arbitrum Foundation’s directors or expand or reduce the number of directors at any time pursuant to a Non-Constitutional AIP
4. Security Council The Security Council is a committee of 12 members of a multi-sig wallet which has the ability to perform both Emergency and Non-Emergency Actions, which are further detailed in Section 3 of the ArbitrumDAO Constitution, which is incorporated herein by reference.
The initial Security Council members, split by cohort, are as follows:
i. September Cohort
ii. March Cohort
Compensation: Security Council members are each paid $5,000 per month in $ARB tokens.
Security Council Elections: Section 4 of the ArbitrumDAO Constitution describes the Security Council election process and is incorporated herein by reference.
5. Data Availability Committee (Arbitrum Nova chain only)
Transactions occurring on the Arbitrum Nova chain are settled on Ethereum mainnet, but, unlike transactions occurring on the Arbitrum One chain, the underlying transaction data batches are posted and stored by the members of the Data Availability Committee on a Data Availability Server (and not on Ethereum mainnet).
The initial members of the Data Availability Committee are authorized representatives of the following parties:
Data Availability Committee members can be appointed and removed at any time pursuant to a Constitutional AIP approved by the ArbitrumDAO. In the event that a Data Availability Committee member is removed (and not otherwise replaced) pursuant to a Constitutional AIP approved by the ArbitrumDAO, or in the event that a Data Availability Committee member resigns without a replacement, the Security Council may execute an emergency action (9-of-12 approval required) to appoint a replacement for such removed or resigned Data Availability Committee member.
Section 2 of the ArbitrumDAO Constitution lays out the AIP process and voting procedures, as well as the various categories of AIPs, and is incorporated herein.
Arbitrum Voting Protocol Procedure
Tally.xyz will act as the initial on-chain voting platform for the ArbitrumDAO to submit and vote on AIPs
Tally will serve as a front-end user interface that allows DAO members to do several things, namely:
Timeline
Solution prepared and ready to be ratified and approved
Overall Costs
Initial Setup Costs of The Arbitrum Foundation and ArbitrumDAO
Total setup costs, including legal costs, DAO administration setup and registration fees to be reimbursed to service providers: $3.5 million (“Total Setup Costs”)
DAO Treasury In order to best provide the ArbitrumDAO with the ability to effectively govern and foster the development of Governed Chains (as defined in the ArbitrumDAO Constitution), 3,527,046,079 $ARB tokens have been transferred to the DAO Treasury. The ArbitrumDAO will have direct on-chain governance powers over the DAO Treasury in accordance with the AIP process as delineated in the ArbitrumDAO Constitution.
The Arbitrum Foundation Administrative Budget Wallet
For the sake of operational and administrative efficiency, a separate account controlled by The Arbitrum Foundation will be created (“Administrative Budget Wallet”). 750 million $ARB tokens will be transferred to the Administrative Budget Wallet for purposes of making Special Grants, reimbursing applicable service providers for the Total Setup Costs and covering ongoing administrative and operational costs of The Arbitrum Foundation. Further funding of the Administrative Budget Wallet shall require approval of an AIP by the ArbitrumDAO pursuant to the AIP process.
https://forum.arbitrum.foundation/t/aip-1-arbitrum-improvement-proposal-framework/30/83?u=matt_stablelab
https://forum.arbitrum.foundation/t/aip-1-arbitrum-improvement-proposal-framework/30/83?u=matt_stablelab
https://forum.arbitrum.foundation/t/aip-1-arbitrum-improvement-proposal-framework/30/176?u=camelot
https://forum.arbitrum.foundation/t/aip-1-arbitrum-improvement-proposal-framework/30/159
Response from TreasureDAO shared here: https://forum.arbitrum.foundation/t/aip-1-arbitrum-improvement-proposal-framework/30/154?u=karelvuong
We are unable to endorse the proposal in its current state as there is a lack of transparency on how the funds will be utilised.
At this time given all the new information coming out we feel it is best to abstain from the initial ratification until more clarity comes.
After talking to the community, we will need more clarity on how the fund will be allocated and how the decision will be taken.
https://forum.arbitrum.foundation/t/aip-1-arbitrum-improvement-proposal-framework/30/147?u=griff
https://forum.arbitrum.foundation/t/aip-1-arbitrum-improvement-proposal-framework/30/121
https://forum.arbitrum.foundation/t/aip-1-arbitrum-improvement-proposal-framework/30/120
More clarification and details of 750M are needed. Also, about large sum of $ARB of team transferred to custodian, we need more information.
The program is too larger without strong community oversight or controls
This proposal represents a step backwards when it comes to DAO transparency.
This doesnt clearly lay out the grant system, exclude this aspect, and we can reconsider
Voting against until more transparency about the foundation is shared with the DAO
Further attention is required for the allocation of 750M $ARB. Either more clarification or divide it into smaller chunks per round.
750M ARB tokens need further clarification. So I vote against it. Thank you
https://forum.arbitrum.foundation/t/aip-1-arbitrum-improvement-proposal-framework/30/99?u=404dao
as we describe in our post on the forum, we think this API needs to be improved
https://forum.arbitrum.foundation/t/aip-1-arbitrum-improvement-proposal-framework/30/93?u=bristolblockchain
We are unable to support this proposal due to a lack of transparency surrounding who will control the 750M ARB and how it will be allocated.
https://forum.arbitrum.foundation/t/aip-1-arbitrum-improvement-proposal-framework/30/176?u=camelot
https://forum.arbitrum.foundation/t/aip-1-arbitrum-improvement-proposal-framework/30/159
Response from TreasureDAO shared here: https://forum.arbitrum.foundation/t/aip-1-arbitrum-improvement-proposal-framework/30/154?u=karelvuong
We are unable to endorse the proposal in its current state as there is a lack of transparency on how the funds will be utilised.
At this time given all the new information coming out we feel it is best to abstain from the initial ratification until more clarity comes.
After talking to the community, we will need more clarity on how the fund will be allocated and how the decision will be taken.
https://forum.arbitrum.foundation/t/aip-1-arbitrum-improvement-proposal-framework/30/147?u=griff
https://forum.arbitrum.foundation/t/aip-1-arbitrum-improvement-proposal-framework/30/121
https://forum.arbitrum.foundation/t/aip-1-arbitrum-improvement-proposal-framework/30/120
More clarification and details of 750M are needed. Also, about large sum of $ARB of team transferred to custodian, we need more information.
The program is too larger without strong community oversight or controls
This proposal represents a step backwards when it comes to DAO transparency.
This doesnt clearly lay out the grant system, exclude this aspect, and we can reconsider
Voting against until more transparency about the foundation is shared with the DAO
Further attention is required for the allocation of 750M $ARB. Either more clarification or divide it into smaller chunks per round.
750M ARB tokens need further clarification. So I vote against it. Thank you
https://forum.arbitrum.foundation/t/aip-1-arbitrum-improvement-proposal-framework/30/99?u=404dao
as we describe in our post on the forum, we think this API needs to be improved
https://forum.arbitrum.foundation/t/aip-1-arbitrum-improvement-proposal-framework/30/93?u=bristolblockchain
We are unable to support this proposal due to a lack of transparency surrounding who will control the 750M ARB and how it will be allocated.
