[RFC] Explore onchain execution tools for Snapshot proposals

Governance Discussion
1

Author: Bobby from UMA

Summary

We propose Rare DAO explore governance tools that allow for automatic onchain execution after successful Snapshot votes.

Abstract

Adding a snapshot onchain execution tool streamlines the execution of governance decisions, and brings a new layer of efficiency and reliability to Rare DAO. It enables $RARE voters to voice their opinion through gas-less voting on Snapshot whilst enjoying onchain execution for successful snapshot votes. This requires minimal effort and no disruption to existing DAO governance processes.

Motivation

Adding this type of tool decentralizes the execution and empowers RARE holders by enabling token holders to govern how the SuperRare Safe funds are allocated. Due to Rare DAO funds being in a Safe and SuperRare having an active Snapshot space, adding this should require minimal effort and no disruption to existing DAO governance systems.

Specification

  1. Current process
  2. Proposed Process
  3. Examples

Current Process

After a successful snapshot proposal, Rare DAO relies on the multisig signers to carry out the transaction outlined in the proposal. This reliance on multisig signers can lead to delays in payments or other transaction payloads.

Proposed Process

In the proposed process, snapshot proposals related to the distribution of funds from SuperRare can include transaction data with the proposal. After a successful Snapshot vote, the transaction is put onchain and verified before being executed by the Safe. This will reduce the reliance on multisig signers and lead to a more decentralized RareDAO.

Here are examples which would have streamlined the process:

Proposed Solutions

Here are some of the possible solutions that can help RareDAO to achieve the above functionality:

  • oSnap (UMA)
  • Reality.eth (Kleros)
  • Tellor

I currently contribute to UMA (creators of oSnap) and will share below why I believe that oSnap is the best solution for RareDAO when compared to these other solutions.

  • Ease of implementation

    • oSnap Safe app lets you add oSnap to your Snapshot space and Safe in a few minutes with no developer time required. A video demonstration of the oSnap Safe App can be viewed here.

  • Automated and manual verification for each proposal

    • The same monitoring bot that proposes and executes transactions also automatically disputes inaccurate proposals if the following criteria are not met:
      • The proposed onchain transactions match the transactions that were approved in the Snapshot proposal
      • The Snapshot proposal passed with the minimum parameters specified (majority in favor, meets minimum voting period and quorum)
      • The proposal follows the strategy specified in the Snapshot space.
    • Verification program of which UMA community members verify all OO assertions

  • Simple and clear dispute resolution system

    • No multi-escalation steps
    • This bonding and dispute mechanism punishes incorrect proposers and disputers and incentivizes honest disputes.
    • Dispute resolution only determines the bond allocation between proposer and disputer, not the execution.
    • Withdrawing staked UMA takes 1 week, so stakers are incentivized to look after their stake

  • Continous development and improvement

    • We are actively working on improving our tool, taking feedback from our users.

  • We currently secure over $600M via oSnap

Saying that, we encourage the community to take their time to look over each solution. We are also happy to expand further on oSnap and why we believe it is a great value proposition for RareDAO.

Benefits

The benefits of SuperRare adopting this are:

  • Enables RARE voting to govern how SuperRare funds are allocated and remove the reliance on the Safe multi-sig signers.
  • Transaction payloads included in proposals that are approved by voters are trustlessly and permissionlessly executed which increases transparency and decentralization.

Consideration

While the RareDAO Council Multi-sig does not currently use any zodiac modules, we have been told they have some plans to do so in the future. Integrating zodiac modules which allow for executable voting will increase complexity of the gnosis safe and care should be taken during future integrations to avoid any conflicts which may occur.

Drawbacks

While oSnap has been audited by Open Zeppelin, as with any system, there may be unforeseen vulnerabilities.

Outcome

A successful implementation can be tracked by the reduced effort of multisig signers required to execute payloads on relevant proposals that require transaction payloads.

Conclusion

This proposal outlines the ways that RareDAO can begin to decentralize the DAO. We would like to hear feedback from the community and if there is an appetite, we propose a complete proposal on how Rare DAO can implement such a solution.

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Thanks for sharing this! It has been excited to talk with your team over the last several weeks and I have heard very good things about oSnap.

As Lead DAO Ops Steward and Operator of RareDAO Foundation, I think that integrating an oracle for executable snapshot voting would be a huge efficiency and security gain for a lot of our proposals, while also removing duplicated work from the council so that they can focus more on strategic development and their individual contributions to the growth and development of the network.

This also is an important consideration as we begin exploring the multi-chain future of Rare Protocol, allowing for simultaneous contract upgrades or changes to gnosis safe ownership from a single snapshot vote (such as a council election) in a world where we have multi-sigs deployed on more than one chain.

Could you please share a link to oSnap documentation so that other members of our team & community can get caught up to speed?

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Automating process steps while making the DAO more decentralized is a win-win. Is there a cost to use this service?

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Hey @Brennan, thanks for the comment and support!

I included links to the docs below and just want to highlight the deployment tutorial which walks through all of the required onboarding steps for the DAO and the Snapshot tutorial demonstrates how to include transactions in a Snapshot proposal.

We have intentionally designed the onboarding process to not require any code, contract changes, etc. Since SuperRare already meets the prerequisites of a Snapshot Space and Safe, the onboarding process would only require:

  • Adding the oSnap plugin and treasury address to the Snapshot Space settings
  • Clicking the ‘Activate oSnap’ button which is shown for the Treasury address. This directs you to the oSnap Safe app which takes care of configuring and creating the transaction to add the oSnap module to the Safe
  • After the transaction has been executed, the DAO can start including transactions in proposals!

Links:

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Thanks for the comment @ThomasBahama!

UMA created and maintains oSnap as a public good with no implementation or usage fees because we believe decentralized governance tools are critical to the entire Web3 ecosystem. If any changes were to be made in the future, we are committed to having existing DAOs not face any changes (aka be “grandfathered in”).

It’s also important to highlight that UMA pays the gas costs to execute transactions that use oSnap, making the onchain execution for DAO governance decisions free.

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