CityDAO Dashboard
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Proposals
CIP-190
Overview
This CIP seeks to reimburse MemeBrains for 2,014.65 USDC of expenses he incurred while establishing a CityDAO presence at ETH Toronto earlier this year, August 2023.
Here is the One-Page Summary Report for CityDAO at ETH Toronto (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kYP4WRE-k6dijiegOvPmntxfynWpMzPkOCGSu1nKYmM/edit) including details on the DAO panel with 100+ attendees, the Bankless DAO after-party collaboration with 75+ attendees, the CityDAO event banner, event badge minting, video interviews with attendees and other photos/videos for social media sharing and branding purposes, and more.
Here is the Master Folder for all ETH Toronto event files 2 including photos, videos, budgeting etc. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16a13CAaDaEkSKWTQq9rDYuen9BoSZmsm?usp=sharing
Here is the Costs Detail Breakdown (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iquuxOrWS6pI_xtQ2yXSVBGfMPmsSvuxRdDTqtA85c0/edit#gid=0) for the 2,014.65 USDC of expenses sought to be reimbursed. Note that the expenses sought to be reimbursed from this CIP are for physical out-of-pocket expenses only. None of the funds requested for in this CIP are for his personal time as this was a volunteer based initiative.
Background
CityDAO has participated at numerous major events in the past such as Permissionless, ETH Denver, DCentral, and more. Participating at these events provides benefits such as; potential recruitment of new contributors, credibility in the ecosystem, IRL meeting points for CityDAO Citizens to get to know each other better, in-person meeting and strategy sessions for Citizens, social media content, and more.
MemeBrains used to have a small event production company from his early entrepreneurial career and produced approx 12 events for the Toronto small-business community ranging from 50ppl - 500ppl in size. He volunteered himself to carry out this initiative for CityDAO.
Yes
No
CIP-187: City Hall
Outline
- Video summary (link)
- Budget / business model (link)
- Overview
- Budget
- Team
- Property Selection
- 90 Day Plan
- Post-close
- Property Multisig
Video Overview
https://vimeo.com/851467740
Budget Estimate
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/152kX9W8a-bSq1x16h2uPf-9Ojhm6yiqT6a2IgU9ShOc/edit#gid=0
Overview
This CIP authorizes the purchase of a multi-functional space in Denver, Colorado that will serve prominently as CityDAO’s City Hall. The space will be collectively owned by CityDAO and available for Citizens to co-work in, serving as a home base for Citizens to build especially during ETH Denver.
The space can be opened up (or rented out) for events, hackathons, build weeks, and used as co-working to achieve a sustainable business model. This CIP allows for the acquisition of the property but does not force CityDAO to acquire one or operate any specific activities.
Potential Uses & Benefits
Once acquired, the following uses can be immediately considered:
- Flexible co-working space for Citizens - the "City Hall" for CityDAO.
- Community events, hackathons, and educational programs.
- Develop local partnerships and sponsorships.
- Any other community-led initiatives that align with CityDAO's values and objectives.
- Citizen Benefits where permitted
By securing the property, this CIP provides CityDAO with the flexibility to explore various optional avenues for community engagement, innovation, and revenue generation, as deemed fit and approved by the DAO's governance mechanisms.
Budget:
Total Allocation: $1,630,000
- Property Cost: Up to $1.5M Released by multisig upon final property selection
- Operating Expenses Reserve Fund: $100k (property taxes, utilities, maintenance, other operating related expenses) Released by multisig upon final property selection
- Project Budget: $30k (travel, legal, brokers, furnishing, etc) Released by multisig upon passage of this CIP If we the full Property Cost is not spent, up to 10% of the extra funds may be allocated to the OpEx Reserve Fund
Flexible allocation The budget outlined is based on current estimates and while it will not exceed 1.63m, may be re-allocated within these categories based on actual needs and unforeseen circumstances. Upon approval from the CityDAO Multisig signatories, the team may redistribute funds between budget categories (Property Cost, Operating Expenses Reserve Fund, Project Budget) up to a limit of 10% of the total allocation without requiring an amendment to this CIP.
Project Team:
This project is fundamentally a DAO-driven initiative and CityDAO citizens retain the ultimate authority and responsibility for the project. While the DAO provides oversight and final approvals, a dedicated Project Team is in place to execute on the DAO's directives and manage day-to-day operations. The Project Team serves as an extension of CityDAO, carrying out the technical, operational, and strategic tasks necessary to bring the project to fruition.
Team Members:
Scott: Lead Coordinator Roles: Property tours, broker liaison, contract management, and other necessary duties.
Lyons: Strategy & Operations Roles: Community engagement, space utilization, and other necessary duties.
Specialists: Legal advisors, property managers, and architects Roles: To be hired from the project budget as needed.
HQ Task Force: Community Liaisons Roles: Real-time updates, property vetting, and community feedback
Note: While the Project Team will endeavor to select and operate the best possible space, there are no guarantees concerning the quality of the space, revenue generation, or specific use of the space.
Property Selection:
Selection Criteria:
- Convenient access from ETH Denver venues
- Newer or remodeled construction that is low maintenance
- Size and layout conducive for co-working and events
- High quality space with good natural light
Selection Process:
Sample Property Selection Process and Criteria
While the criteria and sample process outlined are designed to guide the property selection towards the most favorable outcome for CityDAO and its members, it is understood that unique opportunities and challenges may arise. Therefore, the Project Team reserves the right to adjust these parameters as deemed necessary for the benefit of the project and community.
Sample Properties
1641 California St, Denver, CO 80202
5134 W 29th Ave, Denver, CO 80212
90 Day Plan - Tentative Sample
0-30 days: After the CIP passes, a search will immediately begin for properties. Scott, Lyons, and other interested Citizens will fly out to Denver and tour properties to get a feel for the market and our options. The initial $30k will be converted to fiat for travel to Denver, broker fees, and in preparation for making a deposit. We'll start sharing our favorite properties with Citizens in Discord. 30-60 days: Narrow down the list of properties. Record video tours of the properties, do diligence and put together a plan on the estimated costs and benefits of owning each of the properties. For each property, we will compile a report, video tour, and share them for feedback with the DAO. 60-90 days: If a promising property is identified, we will present it to the DAO on a community call for feedback, questions, and comments. After identifying one we are excited about, we will ask the DAO to do an informal "temp check" vote on that property (not a CIP). If the vote passes, the multisig will offramp up to $1.5m for purchase of the property and transfer $100k in reserve funds to the Property Multisig.
Post-close
After closing on the property, we will plan a CityDAO Build Week where we will invite citizens to come set up the space and help with furnishing, signage, and decorations. We will also try to involve remote Citizens who cannot attend in person for things like design and ideas for the space. Budget permitting, we can subsidize travel and lodging for interested Citizens.
Property Governance and Oversight Multisig
After acquisition, the property will be overseen by a multisig consisting of Scott, Lyons, and one independent member appointed by the CityDAO Multisig or CityDAO Council if the CIP authorizing its creation passes. They will steward the reserve funding in the multisig, from which they will handle things like property management, taxes, and ops hires. Property Multisig shall make best efforts to ensure the property is well kept and managed.
Contingency Plans
If City Hall is unable to sustain ongoing operations due to lack of revenue, management conflict, or other unforeseen circumstances, then the property shall be sold and all funds returned to the CityDAO treasury.
APPROVE
REJECT
CIP-189: The Center for Virtual Organizations and Communities and the DAO Journal
TLDR
The Institute for Research and Theory Methodologies (RTM) is an American non-profit organization (501c3) founded in 2021 to help promote research and scholarship. This proposal seeks $9,990 for a three-year sponsorship for RTM to create a Research Hub and the world’s first peer-reviewed, open access DAO-related journal (official name TBD). As a sponor, the benefit to CityDAO could be enormous – leading scholars, government think tanks and research institutions with huge communities around the world would be introduced to CityDAO. RTM will create and run the journal. We will benefit from its marketing and advertising CityDAO.
How would this benefit CityDAO?
Simply put, this is the best form of marketing that CityDAO could possibly ask for when it comes to recruiting researchers and institutions. Establishing CityDAO as a sponsor for scholarship on DAOs opens us up to an enormous potential group of citizens and participants that we could not possibly find within the web3 ecosystem. The people reached by this project will be highly-educated adults and industry leaders, those with the funds and the understanding to make real contributions to CityDAO rather than those who are just motivated by the NFT prices and the hope of a quick profit. In addition, we can be assured of quality because this journal is being run by RTM, a group of well-published scholars and academic professors with over twenty years’ experience.
What is a Peer-Reviewed Journal?
In the world of legitimate academic research, only peer-reviewed journals matter. This is a harsh but true statement. DAOs operate in a world of blogs, mirror articles, YouTube videos, Twitter posts and various centralized servers. While they serve a purpose, none of these have true validity in the world of scholarship, research and government funding. A peer-reviewed journal is the gold standard.
Peer-reviewed journals publish studies that have been reviewed by academics, in order to create a body of knowledge that is accepted by professors, universities, and institutions around the world. While web3 has produced an endless waterfall of information, very little of it has been rigorously studied and published. As one of the most legitimate DAOs in existence, CityDAO is perfectly poised to sponsor a journal on DAOs. While there are very few journals devoted to blockchain and AI, there is nothing yet devoted to DAOs.
It is extremely complicated, bureaucratic, and time-consuming to create a peer-reviewed journal. It is similar to creating a university; it cannot be done by the average person, which is why this is such a tremendous opportunity. I have worked with RTM for over a year on DAO-related research and this opportunity would put us in contact with many of the most highly placed individuals who are studying DAOs. It would put CityDAO’s name into the minds of highly funded government and research institutions around the world.
But this isn’t web3, is it?
Much of the initial hype and notoriety regarding CityDAO was due to a single blogpost by Vitalik Buterin and the subsequent purchase of citizenship NFTs by a few celebrities. This was followed by news stories in traditional media sources, such as the Wall Street Journal, and a TED talk by CityDAO’s founder.
Since then, despite two years of development, working on various projects, hosting events and contests, participating in conferences, teaching university courses, maintaining partnerships and collaborations, running a consistent podcast, publishing twitter posts and monthly newspapers, nothing has significantly drawn people to CityDAO. Our community has not strengthened. Our Discord server is not an exciting place.
The bear market could be blamed, and may have contributed, but a possible issue is that we have only targeted the web3 community. In web3, while some people care about ideals such as decentralization, transparency and disrupting traditional paradigms, many people only care about NFT prices. However, a focus on price without value will never flourish.
One thing we have learned is that people must be attracted to our ideas and to our community, or else no one will want to join or participate, whether we buy one office or twenty. RTM is presenting an opportunity to join forces with researchers from around the world who study DAOs, each of whom brings with them a wide audience. This is a one-time opportunity.
Background to RTM
The Institute for Research and Theory Methodologies (RTM) was founded in 2021 by Dr. Kara Vander Linden, who has been a research professor for 20 years, working at Saybrook University in California for almost 12 years. The purpose of her organization is to train, mentor, support and connect students, faculty and researchers worldwide. As a relatively new organization, RTM is willing to partner with a smaller organization like CityDAO to focus on research about the DAO space. I have personally worked with RTM and Kara for over a year (unpaid), and have found the organization to be well-organized and run.
How would the funds be used?
Journal Fees: $1500 per year. For three years, that would be $4500. Operating Costs: $1000 per year. For three years, that would be $3000. Honorariums: (given to Editor-in-Chief, Assistant Editors, Copy Editors) $2990
Given that this is funding for a three-year project, this project may seek funding from other sources in addition to CityDAO.
If this passes, the funds will be transferred into a 3/5 multisig wallet controlled by two members of CityDAO and three members of RTM. All expenditures will be documented.
Schedule
From the time of this CIP passing, it will take approximately 6 months to get the research hub and journal platform set up, establish an ISBN number for the journal, handle administration, recruit and train peer reviewers. Then a call for articles will be put out, which will go through the peer review process. It would be approximately one year before the first edition is published, which will be properly ranked as an official academic journal. These steps are critical for the long-term success of this project.
Approve
Reject
CIP 182 - t0wn STAGE ONE funding allocation
TLDR: This proposal enables the t0wn team to reallocate the resources from Stage 1 of the t0wn project toward building two apps that will more immediately and concretely benefit the t0wn project and CityDAO as a whole. The overall plan for t0wn has not changed.
This proposal asks for only $1 of additional funding to secure a quorum of 250 votes. Other than that, we are merely asking for the ability to reallocate funds that have already been sent to our treasury. We have removed our request for additional funding based on the responses in the forum, which we take very seriously. To us, t0wn is a community made of its valued members, and compromise is the language of cooperation.
OVERVIEW
The t0wn team has been meeting weekly for months. We’ve had several meetings with the Próspera team about possibly acquiring real estate in it’s first tower as a first physical hub for t0wn. Those discussions remain ongoing. We’ve had all sorts of contact, discussion and meetings with potential member DAOs. Our aim is to reallocate the remaining funds toward building apps that will help push this project forward.
As of today, a little over $54,000 remains in the t0wn treasury. Our initial CIP called for $32K in t0wn team compensation and $20K in discretionary funds. $1K compensation has been paid out per team member ($4k total) and no other money has been spent. Based on our internal weekly discussions, meetings with other DAOs and projects, Twitter spaces and independent research, we are clearer on how we think the discretionary funds should be spent.
FUNDING
We would like the ability to reallocate the remaining funds toward:
- A dominant assurance smart contract
- A identity verification app that KYCs individuals to global banking standards and ties the verified individual to one and only one ETH address with a soulbound token. This app will consist of two components:
- KYC functionality - for example, a custom front end that utilizes the API of a third party KYC service like Plaid.
- A NFT smart contract, likely employing the ERC-5484 standard for soulbound tokens.
- Legal costs relating to analyzing the appropriate DAO structure
PROJECT DETAILS
Assurance contract: Our initial t0wn STAGE 1 plan was to have DAOs sign LOIs stating their intent to contribute to a t0wn treasury to buy land for a “DAO hub.” We decided it would not only benefit t0wn, but also CityDAO and the web3 community at large if we figured out how to program the essence of an LOI into a smart contract. Utilizing Alex Tabarrok’s Dominant Assurance Contract idea, we will create a smart contract where entities can pledge money toward a public good (like t0wn). If the funding threshold is hit by a certain deadline (which is programmed into the smart contract when it is deployed), the project gets funded. If the threshold is not hit by the deadline, everyone gets their money back and those that contributed the earliest get a small monetary “prize” for having been the first movers / believers. Details around the prize mechanics will be sorted out during development, one key component being the prize is big enough to incentivize early contribution but small enough to disincentivize entities wanting the project to fail.
Building a dominant assurance smart contract will not only be a boon to t0wn and CityDAO, but also to anyone who wants to fund a public good on the blockchain without using methods such as Juicebox that take a significant percentage of funds.
Identity Verification: Part of having a community is ensuring that people are not sybils, that identities can be verified. Rather than using a method such as NFT + Gitcoin Passport or Proof of Humanity, we would like to offer individuals the ability to KYC to global banking standards, verify ownership of a wallet address, and then marry the two with a soulbound token. We plan to use the ERC-5484 standard for soulbound tokens which allows both the issuer and the holder to burn the token - the former being necessary in case of identity fraud and the latter being necessary in case the holder wants to disconnect or move their identity to a different address.
RELATIONSHIP TO THE ORIGINAL t0wn CIP (IPFS #QmWXdW6)
This proposal augments STAGE ONE of the original proposal by allowing additional uses of the funding allocated by that proposal. It also adds an additional potential STAGE TWO trigger—a deployed assurance contract that successfully raises at least $750k will automatically trigger STAGE TWO. The t0wn team will determine which avenue to pursue (ie signed LOIs or raising via assurance contract) following development of the latter.
BENEFITS TO CITYDAO CITIZENS
- All the benefits outlined in the original t0wn proposal remain.
- CityDAO Citizens will be able to use the app at cost for a period of one year after the app is launched, subject to reasonable volume of usage and our team’s ability to handle such volume. We will make best efforts to allow CityDAO Citizens to use the app at cost for longer than one year, again subject to reasonable volume of usage and our team’s ability to handle such volume.
- Open use of the dominant assurance smart contract and the ERC-5484 soulbound token contract.
OWNERSHIP OF WORK PRODUCT
- The dominant assurance smart contract and the ERC-5484 soulbound token contract will be open source.
- The rest of the KYC app will be owned by the Friends of Town Foundation corporation.
For
Against
Abstain