Discussion - Metagovernance Fei Protocol's INDEX Holding

Discussion - Fei Protocol Metagovernance
Title: Discussion - Metagovernance Fei Protocol’s INDEX Holding
Author: Matthew Graham (@Matthew_Graham)
Created: 2021-09-07

Summary

To support this metagovernance committee initiative, it would be great for a small group of volunteers (1-3 people) from Index Coop and Fei Protocol to come together and support Fei Protocol’s snapshot for Index Coop votes. These individuals will need to provide context to the broader Fei Community and also try to realise any synergies/opportunities between the two communities. Contributors with exposure to growth and business development working growths are best placed to help integrate both communities.

Fei Protocol would like to be active within the Index Coop community and participate in Index Coop snapshot proposals with the 100,000 INDEX acquired earlier this quarter from DeFi Pulse. Currently, Matthew Graham is a temporary resource facilitating the Fei Protocol snapshot voting and then implementing this vote on behalf of TRIBE holders. The Fei Protocol’s metagovernance process is not yet fully defined and currently, is likely to follow a very similar process to how Index Coop votes with tokens held within DPI. The only difference is if Fei Protocol participates in every Index Coop vote or just relevant votes. Each time Fei Protocol’s INDEX tokens vote, it will reflect the TRIBE holder’s snapshot vote. With Fei Protocol launching a Grants process, there is an opportunity for the two communities to create a metagoverance committee that oversees all the INDEX snapshot votes.

Process

To illustrate how the current process works, let’s consider the proposed FRAX listing on Aave V2.

We are currently going through this process with FRAX listing on Aave V2 and that will be the first trial using this approach. If one was to express interest in helping out, a team of 3 can probably expect to spend 10-15 hours each per month working on this initiative once it is set up and working smoothly.

Notes: The existing process has time constraints through 2 snapshot votes being a subset of another for time. So the challenges Index Coop faces may compound for the fei community. This may lead to some kind of metagoverance committee fall back option like what Index Coop has but any development like this will need to be driven from the Fei Community side.

As both communities scale and Fei Protocol acquires other strategic assets, the volume of Fei Protocol snapshot votes will increase. The Fei Protocol metagovernance committee will cover all Index Coop votes and potentially other metagovernance votes applicable to the PCV holdings.

Currently, Fei Protocol is offering grants and anyone interested in helping out on this proposal is encouraged to comment below and the be apart of the group that applies for a grant. This is an opportunity for the two communities to work more closely together.

The delegation of Fei Protocol’s INDEX votes to @Matthew_Graham is temporary and although any INDEX vote is to be reflective of TRIBE’s snapshot vote, if it is a concern these votes can be redelegated.

This forum post is intended to clearly articulate that Fei Protocol intends to vote on Index Coop snapshots, what the process currently is and also to recruit resources to help create a more sustainable and integrated process. This forum post also aims to clarify what is @Matthew_Graham’s role in all this.

If you would like to be a part of the metagovernance group that then applies for a grant from Fei Protocol please do comment below. If the nature of how these votes are delegated is an issue, please do comment on this post. If the delegate address is to be changed as a priority, please do say so in the comments as this can easily be changed.

Link to Index Coop’s forum: Discussion - Metagovernance Fei Protocol's INDEX Holding - The Index Coop

5 Likes

@Matthew_Graham thank you for kicking off this process! Since Fei Protocol got the 100k INDEX we haven’t yet used them for metagovernance, which was a main reason to get them.

Matthew currently has the INDEX delegated to him as a temporary measure, this proposal can finalize the process for using and location of those votes.

I feel that we should NOT form a committee to vote on every single proposal, nor aim to vote on every single proposal as a DAO. 100k INDEX could single-handedly meet quorum and in many cases decide the outcome of an IIP.

Instead, there should be a quorum of at least 10m TRIBE or more. Anyone in the community should be able to post a snapshot that could lead to the votes being used if quorum is met.

The vote should last at least 24h and there needs to be sufficient time for the delegate to vote. Whoever ends up with the INDEX, (could be @Matthew_Graham if he is up for it and supported by the community), should be engaged in Fei governance to be available to execute these proposals.

2 Likes

Thank you for starting the discussion, @Matthew_Graham.

I agree with Joey that we need a quorum, as we don’t want a last-minute snapshot with 1k TRIBE votes to end up moving 100k INDEX votes. I also agree with Matthew that having a standing committee would be useful. One of the committee’s jobs could be to follow all INDEX proposals and create snapshots for the ones that they believe the FEI community should vote on. Periodically (say every month), the committee could provide the list of all INDEX proposals that occurred during the period, and for each proposal for which a TRIBE snapshot was not created, provide a short reason as to why our vote was deemed unnecessary. Of course, anyone should be able to create a snapshot, whether they are involved with the committee or not; the committee would simply be responsible for keeping up with the proposals.

Another job for the committee could be to work on setting up voting rules. For most binary option single-choice proposals, I believe it makes sense to vote with the whole 100k INDEX on whichever option that gains majority, conditional on reaching the quorum. But for more complex proposals such as allocPoint allocations, the best voting rule is not always clear and can be as controversial as the proposal itself (for example, even if INDEX vote type is approval, we might want to do a single choice vote). The committee could set up some guidelines for choosing voting rules for types of proposals that occur often.

I would be happy to work on these and other aspects of metagovernance.

2 Likes

Besides creating proposals and voting in proposals about FEI, I think it would be good to discuss what is the objective for other votings. For example, one objective could be to strengthen partnerships with other protocols? Any other objective?

If the objectives are clear, it will be better for the delegate to execute it. For a test, we could see the voting that happened in the last 3 months and discuss a voting framework applied to it.

2 Likes

While I agree with the general sentiment I do believe some sort of metagovernance committee should be necessary (at the very least this will draw attention within our own community and boost community participation).

This is because as Fei, there isn’t a lot of active participants who actually vote (this should be something that needs to be actively addressed). From looking at the previous snapshots, reaching quroum almost certainly requires Fei Labs to participate, and even then, will be in the higher-impact votes to the protocol. We need to be cognizant of the reality that most people here are in for the staking rewards and not for governance - unless, like real world issues, it directly affects their wallets.

What’s more, is that this is by essence a proxy vote so voting and its results are even more proximal (ie results may not directly affect Fei Protocol) so may discourage further voting.

I think a metagovernance committee here would have a tall order educating the Fei community on the specifics and implications of any Index Coop / DPI vote, and secondly persuading people to vote. The individuals comprising the metagovernance committee, I believe at this point would be far more focused, informed and aligned with the wider objectives of governance than the wider Fei community.

1 Like

To clarify what I meant by not having a committee, I was specifically referring to a committee which would vote autonomously if quorum is not met.

It could be a good idea to have some group involved in keeping the process streamlined and making recommendations for the DAO on important votes. For example the types of votes which are broadly relevant for DeFi and getting high engagement, TRIBE holders may want to chime in.

Most votes probably would not be of particular relevance to TRIBE and might be hard to get quorum so anyone involved should be aware of that. Index Coop faces many of these problems and would only be exacerbated for us due to the second-order nature.

1 Like

I think this is a good idea. I agree with the following
(i) any FEI DAO member should be able to create a snapshot vote
(ii) a quorum for IP participation be put in place
(iii) a metagovernance committee be put in place

I am currently working with members of the Bankless DAO on a token-based incentive program that will require metagovernance if approved FEI’s governance so this is an interest of mine. I will like to throw my hat in if there are any slots left.

2 Likes