GM! 👋
What is Athens Governance?
Crypto governance is experimental and constantly evolving with no predetermined path or one framework to rule them all. With the end goal being an optimal distribution of power to govern the processes and resources that output a useful StormX ecosystem, the StormX community will be learning with the greater crypto community on how we can absorb emerging best practices, philosophies, and technology to move from our current centralized ecosystem to a more decentralized one. This is a long journey, but one StormX believes is critical in following our mission to help the world earn crypto doing normal everyday activities.
When Should Governance Be Used?
The need for governance increases as coordination costs and risk or collective asset ownership increases. Coordination cost means the number of stakeholders and the complexity of the tasks they need to collaborate on. Collective risks and assets might include treasury balance, volatility, fraud, NFT curation, etc. Governance is best suited for decisions in which the result cannot be derived from on-chain data and is difficult to ascertain. For example, our first governance proposal on whether to close the STORM to STMX swap satisfies this:
- The current swap is not on-chain thus no on-chain data to output a clear answer
- Complex potential fraud risk with keeping swap ongoing forever
- Collective assets (unswapped STMX) could be utilized differently
To discuss the upcoming April 12th vote to close the swap please review the proposal here and join in #governance channels discussions or community calls on Discord here. The proposal will be voted via a decentralized voting platform called Snapshot here.
Resources
Governance Participation: Perils and Promise by Orca Protocol
What values steer us?
The community over time should define a set of core values, for example:
- Integrity
- Ownership
- Fun
- Sustainability
- Mastery
- Inclusion
- Initiation
What is the Athens Governance Roadmap?
Large fungible phases denote how far our governance system has evolved based on characteristics found throughout the greater governance communities. By no means is this permanent. The roadmap should change as we learn.
Pre-Launch Dust Phase: Core Team
Establish the basic technology that will allow a centralized ecosystem and community to start moving towards decentralizing aspects of itself. The core team created a governance token, distributed it to community members, and launched a transparent voting system.
Post-Launch Dawn Phase: Core Team and Community
Agree on a shared vision and value system that guides governance long-term. Jumpstart our learning by discussing, and voting on several proposals submitted by the core team. Begin community governance calls and a framework for how we best communicate remotely across many time zones.
Sprout Phase: Governance Upgrade
Improve governance system and processes in preparation for First Ownership. Decide on governance weightings and the first iteration of the governance framework. Specialize and empower members of the community with grant funding and special governance weighting for members with expert skills. Agree on a method for distributing ownership in a transparent and decentralized manner preparing the way for a more formal DAO.
Builder Phase: First Ownership
Agree on a process or sub-product that can be primarily owned by the community based on their skillset. Transfer ownership to the community DAO.
Star Phase: Repeat phases to mature community governance and transfer pieces of the centralized ecosystem to the community. Develop current community members and grow new member onboarding to ensure the required skills are available.
Athens Phase: The community and core team have found an equilibrium along the spectrum of decentralization. Governance actualization is achieved temporarily. As external forces change new equilibriums must be found.