ApeCoin DAO-N #7
To the Bored,
Hello and good evening. I hope you all had a fun and scary Halloween yesterday; I know I did! Thanks for reading the Bored Ape Gazette’s seventh edition of the ApeCoin DAO-N Low.
These last two weeks have been anything but boring at the ApeCoin DAO. The community is currently voting on three Ape Improvement Proposals that will each have a massive and long-lasting impact on the DAO going forward.
To begin, the first proposal that the ApeCoin DAO is currently voting on is AIP-134, titled, “Bug Bounty Program for AIP-21,” written by Special Council Member Maaria Bajwa.
In this proposal, Bajwa proposes that the ApeCoin DAO create and fund a 1 million $Ape bug bounty program for the ApeCoin DAO’s staking system.
“As we near the launch of the ApeCoin staking system outlined in AIP-21 and AIP-22 we propose taking additional measures to ensure the DAO is following smart contract security best practices,” Bajwa wrote. “This proposal uses treasury assets to fund a 1 million $APE bug bounty program with Immunefi, and partners with Llama to help design, implement, and run operations of these initiatives.”
As the Gazette previously reported in May, the ApeCoin DAO approved 175 million $Ape tokens or 17.5% of the coin’s total supply being distributed via staking over the next three years, according to AIP-22.
As part of the creation and implementation of the staking bug bounty program laid out in AIP-134, the DAO would need to delay $Ape staking rewards by three weeks.
“This proposal will delay staking rewards by roughly 3 weeks,” Bajwa wrote. “If this proposal passes, staking rewards would begin accruing on 12/7, rather than 11/14. Though the 3-week delay is unfortunate it is vastly preferable to a security breach as a result of not following security best practices. We believe it is very beneficial for the DAO to approve this program.”
AIP-134 has been one of the most voted on proposals in the ApeCoin DAO’s short history. At the time of this article’s publication, over 6.3 million votes have been cast with 62.24% of the community voting in favor of the proposal.
As more and more $Ape holders cast their votes, Bajwa told the Gazette that she’s excited to see so much community engagement with this AIP.
“Honestly, I'm most excited by how much people are engaged,” Bajwa told the Gazette. “I think a lot of folks know more about bug bounty programs now then they previously did, and that's awesome. Regardless of how people vote, I consider this a win for the DAO. I've read so many twitter threads and discord comments over the past few weeks, I hope these folks who are engaging will keep up with it after this vote is done.”
As the $Ape community votes on whether to create a bug bounty program, the ApeCoin DAO is also voting on a pair of AIPs that, if passed, would be the foundation of the DAOs Special Council elections going forward. Further, if these proposals are passed, then the nomination process for Special Council elections could start as early as this week.
AIP-137 and AIP-138 titled, “Special Council Nomination Process,” and “The Special Council Election Process,” respectively, are a pair of process proposals written by ApeCoin DAO administration team member, BTang.
In AIP-137, BTang laid out a three phase Special Council nomination process that, if passed, would kick off this Thursday on November 3rd with a nomination announcement post and would end with a nominee snapshot vote between December 15-21st, according to the proposal.
Take a look at the proposed nomination process timeline here:
“For the ApeCoin DAO to function and remain stable according to our Guiding Principles, there must be a system in place for continuous governance,” BTag wrote. “This document outlines the process to allow talented, passionate and capable members of the community to surface and ultimately be appointed via governance vote for the Special Council. The nomination pool will be sourced through the community, administration team, and token holders by self-nomination in ApeCoin discourse.”
As BTang laid out a three-phase nomination process in AIP-137; he also proposed a Special Council Election process in AIP-138.
“To advance the ApeCoin DAO’s path to decentralization, an election process that enables qualified community members to serve in the DAO’s leadership is required,” BTang wrote. “This AIP covers the most essential pieces of that process. It aims to build critical infrastructure from which the DAO can grow.”
In AIP-138, BTang proposed that the ApeCoin DAO establish a semiannual election cycle where either two or three Special Council seats are up for a vote.
“Succession planning is paramount,” BTang wrote. “A twice-yearly staggered process helps to maintain continuity for longer-term objectives and avoids a cataclysmic change wherein every Special Council seat is up for re-election at once. This should be balanced against the risk of low participation-rates from excessively frequent elections.”
In AIP-138, BTang proposes that the first election dubbed, “Cycle One,” take place in January. During this first cycle, Special Council seats 1 to 3 will be up for grabs. BTang then proposed that the second election dubbed, “Cycle Two,” take place in July. During Cycle Two, Special Council seats 4 & 5 will be voted on.
If AIP-137 and AIP-138 are passed, then the ApeCoin DAO will possibly have up to three new people on the ApeCoin Special Council by January 2023, according to the proposals.
At the time of this newsletter’s publication, the community seems to be universally in favor of passing AIP-137 and AIP-138. Take a look at the current results below:
AIP-137 current results
AIP-138 current results
The Bored Ape Gazette will continue to follow these three proposals and will let you know the results once the polls close tomorrow at 9 P.M. EST.
As the ApeCoin DAO votes on three AIP’s this week, the Bored Ape Gazette received an update on the DAO’s official ApeCoin Marketplace.
As the Bored Ape Gazette previously reported, the ApeCoin DAO voted to approve AIP-98, AKA Snag Solutions’ marketplace proposal, on September 22nd, 2022. Since then, the Snag Solutions team has been putting the finishing touches on its marketplace, conducting audits, and working to establish a bug bounty program for its marketplace.
In an interview with the Bored Ape Gazette, Snag Solutions Founder ZHeerwagen said that the Snag Solutions team is wrapping up its audit this week and plans to publish the results by the end of next week.
Further, Snag Solutions recently made a post to the ApeCoin discourse where it asked the $Ape community how it should use its marketplace’s funds. In this post, Snag Solutions laid out four possible plans based on community feedback:
Burn the funds
Route funds directly to charity
Ask Cartan Group to scope and execute the set-up of a new legal structure that can accept and choose how to deploy funds.
Point funds to Horizen Labs staking contract
You can check out Snag Solutions full AIP Idea post here: https://forum.apecoin.com/t/how-should-we-use-marketplace-funds/8860
Along with an AIP idea on what to do with the Marketplace’s fees, ZHeerwagen also told the Bored Ape Gazette that he and his company are also planning to submit another AIP within the next week to get funding for its marketplace’s bug bounty program.
Finally, ZHeerwagen told the Bored Ape Gazette that he and his team are still on track to have the marketplace open in mid-November, but they may hit “minor delays” as they work out grant agreements and implementation steps with the ApeCoin Foundation.
The bored Ape Gazette will continue to cover Snag Solutions and will keep you posted on what they do next!
Thank you for reading this week’s edition of the ApeCoin DAO-N Low and be sure to like the Bored Ape Gazette on Twitter to stay up to date with all things $Ape!
Sincerely,
Kyle
Editor-In-Chief
Bored Ape Gazette