Weekly newsletter of DAO highlights | Issue #38
Catch up on the latest happenings within DAO communities and the most relevant news from the DeFi space.
DAO Stats
The value of the assets held in DAO treasuries along with the number of active decentralized autonomous organizations have continued to decline. Over the past week, the USD value of DAO treasury assets lost over $1 billion, dropping from $19.7 billion as of August 28 to $18.5 billion on September 4. This loss is magnified on a monthly basis, with DAO communities collectively losing nearly $5 billion in the last month.
According to data available on the Web3 analytics platform, DeepDAO, aggregated governance fell from 25,618 to 19,583. Similarly, the number of organizations tracked by the platform went from 2,406 to 2,366, suggesting a general decline in the industry.
Major DAO Highlights
MakerDAO Weighs Fork of Solana as Codebase for New Chain, to Abandon Ethereum
Rune Christensen, the co-founder of MakerDAO, has proposed forking the Solana codebase to create a new native chain for MakerDAO. The move is supposed to be the 5th and final phase of Rune’s Endgame plan, which will see the complete re-implementation of the entire Maker Protocol built natively on a new, stand-alone blockchain.
Christensen argues that forking the Solana codebase would allow MakerDAO to create a more efficient and scalable platform. However, the proposal has been met with mixed reactions from the MakerDAO community, with many members asserting that it would be better to stay on Ethereum.
Speaking of Ethereum, co-founder Vitalik Buterin appears to have sold his remaining stake of 500 MakerDAO tokens following Rune’s proposal. Buterin received 353 ETH worth about $580,000 from the sale.
DeFi News
Robinhood to Repurchase Bankman-Fried's Stake for $605M
Robinhood Markets Inc. has entered into a share repurchase agreement with the United States Marshal Service (USMS) to buy back a 7.6% stake in the company that was previously owned by Sam Bankman-Fried and fellow FTX co-founder Gary Wang.
The 55 million HOOD shares were seized by the U.S. government after Bankman-Fried's FTX filed for bankruptcy protection last year amid allegations of funds misappropriation. The deal is worth $605.7 million, valued at $10.96 per share.
crypto-asset-firms-must-comply-with-travel-rule">UK Crypto Asset Firms Must Comply with Travel Rule
Crypto asset firms in the UK are now required to comply with the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) Travel Rule, which came into effect on September 1, 2023. The rule is designed to apply anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regulations to on-chain activities.
The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will now enforce the Travel Rule, requiring UK-based Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) to collect, verify, and share information on domestic and cross-jurisdictional transactions. This includes information such as the name, address, and account number of the sender and recipient of the transaction.
The FCA has stated that cryptoasset businesses domiciled in the UK are required to "comply with the rule when sending or receiving a cryptoasset transfer to a firm that is in the UK, or any jurisdiction that has implemented the Travel Rule."
NFT Market in Free Fall as Investors Lose Interest
Monthly trading volumes for Ethereum NFTs have plunged to their lowest in two years as activity on OpenSea, Blur, LooksRare, and other trading platforms dwindle. According to data from The Block, the total trading volume for Ethereum NFTs in August was just $407 million, down from $599 million a month earlier. The number of active users on leading NFT marketplace OpenSea also fell 12% to 126,000 in August — the lowest since July 2021.
The decline in NFT trading volume has been attributed to a number of factors, including the broader cryptocurrency bear market, the high cost of gas fees on Ethereum, and the lack of new and innovative NFT projects.
Some analysts believe that the NFT market is simply retracing after a period of rapid growth, while others believe that the bubble has burst.
DAO Governance Updates
Completed
- A proposal from Rari Foundation to integrate Arbitrum One with the open-source Rarible protocol has been approved by Arbitrum DAO. The aim of the integration is to attract developers to build NFT-based applications on Arbitrum using Rarible's SDK, indexer, and order book.
- Two new members have been elected to join the Grants Committee of BanklessDAO for seasons 9 and 10.
- Despite earlier contention, Decentraland DAO has passed a proposal seeking to make the wider community the final arbiter in grant revocation decisions.
- Uniswap DAO is set to fund a combined liquidity incentive program based on the Gauntlet and Gamma Strategies' proposals. Consequently, the DAO will distribute 2 million ARB over 8 months.
- Decentral Games DAO will be allocating 20% of its casino profits towards buying back and burning ICE.
Active Voting Rounds
- A rather interesting proposal is being voted on by $APE holders. AIP 293 is seeking to establish an Election Reward Program that will provide one-time awards to the three runner-up finalists in each category of the second round of elections. With three days left to vote, more than 94% of the community has kicked against the idea.
- A significant percentage of voters appear to be backing Threshold DAO’s plan to mint 470 million work tokens to be used for future staking rewards. As of press time, all six voters have thrown their weight behind the idea.
