Gearbox DAO

Author: amplice Summary: Create a dedicated Gearbox Grants subDAO and utilize the existing VIBES multisig wallets as the new subDAO wallets on all relevant chains and L2s (Mainnet, Arbitrum, Optimism). This will help streamline the management and allocation of current and future grant funds. VIBES multisig will be created as needed on chains where it does not currently exist.

Motivation: The Gearbox Foundation has successfully secured grants from various ecosystem funds, such as the recent grants from the Optimism Collective (20,000 OP tokens) and the Arbitrum Foundation (650,000 ARB tokens). As Gearbox continues to grow and contribute to multiple ecosystems, it is also possible that we will receive additional grants in the future.

Currently, these grant funds are being received by the Gearbox Foundation multisig. Many grants come with KYC requirements, and the Gearbox Treasury multisig has members who are not active Gearbox contributors and it would be unreasonable to expect these multisig volunteers to go through KYC. For this reason we have directed grant funds towards Gearbox Foundation.

However, the Foundation is required to seek DAO approval first before it takes any action - this includes distribution/allocation of grant funds. This creates some friction in Gearbox’s ability to adhere to grant timelines in terms of the distribution/allocation of funds.

To streamline the management and allocation of current and future grant funds, we propose the creation of a dedicated Gearbox Grants SubDAO and associated multisig wallets. This will help prevent the need to saturate the DAO voting process with numerous grants-related transactions, especially since the grant funds that are received are often already earmarked/allocated for certain uses in the grants application process (see our Arbitrum grant proposal here, and the Optimism grant proposal here.

The Grants subDAO will be responsible for allocating grant funds as agreed in relevant grant applications, or as agreed upon with the entities/persons who awarded the grant to Gearbox.

Technical Specification:

• Establish a Gearbox Grants subDAO. The Grants subDAO will reuse the VIBES multisig that currently enacts transactions for the VIBES subDAO for efficiency’s sake. You can see details of the existing multisig here
• The Gearbox Foundation will transfer all previously received grant funds (e.g., OP and ARB tokens) to the respective subDAO multisig wallets.
• Future grant funds received by the Foundation multisig will also be sent to the subDAO multisig wallets.
• The Grants subDAO will be responsible for allocating the grant funds as outlined in the original grant proposals submitted by Gearbox, and/or in line with guidance from the entities or persons who awarded the grant.
• The subDAO will maintain transparency by providing regular updates to the main Gearbox DAO regarding grant fund allocation and usage.

Benefits:

• Greatly simplifies the process of managing and allocating grant funds.
• Avoids DAO/governance saturation
• Allows for more flexibility and faster decision-making when allocating grant funds.
• Maintains transparency and accountability to the main Gearbox DAO.
• Allows Gearbox to adhere to various grant guidelines more rapidly and effectively (e.g distribute by X date)

We believe this proposal will create a more efficient and effective system for managing the grant funds that Gearbox receives, ensuring that they are allocated in alignment with the intended purposes outlined in our grant applications.