Hop Protocol

Authors: @Kene_StableLab @Bobbay_StableLab @max-andrew and @francom

Contributors: N/A Status: Snapshot-only vote Date Posted: 2023-02-16

References

https://sips.synthetix.io/sips/sip-241/

Simple Summary

This proposal aims to introduce a Hop Ambassador Program; Hop DAO Ambassadors would participate in DAO Governance across the ecosystem on behalf of the Hop Protocol; these ambassadors would also pursue partnership and integration opportunities within other DAO Communities; this proposal lays down the operational aspects of how this ambassador program would function on behalf of the Hop Protocol.

Motivation

The Hop Protocol plays a vital role in the ecosystem through its bridging Infrastructure. It has become imperative that Hop Protocol is represented in some strategic DAOs across the ecosystem. Through this ambassador program, members of the Hop Community with the highest context in the selected DAOs can represent the Hop Protocol in these DAOs, ultimately creating value for the Hop Protocol.

Specification

Eligibility

Any member of the Hop DAO Community is eligible to become a Hop DAO Ambassador. However, such an individual must show that they are an active community member in the particular DAO they wish to represent the Hop DAO in.

How many Ambassadors will the Hop DAO select?

For the initial pilot program, the Hop DAO will have three ambassadors who will represent the Hop DAO in Optimism which the Hop DAO already has delegated governance power.

We suggest starting with three ambassadors since there seems to be a fair amount of interest here. This provides an unequal number, helping to combat any deadlock decisions that may occur in optimism governance votes.

For the other communities, this presents an opportunity for Hop DAO to establish itself in other communities.

Nomination and Elections

Hop DAO Ambassadors will serve for one year, after which the role becomes vacant. After a year, eligible individuals are welcome to nominate themselves and subsequently become elected to the role.

At the expiration of the one-year term, a forum thread shall be opened by one member of the outgoing Hop DAO Ambassadors; then prospective Ambassadors would nominate themselves under the thread; the nomination post shall contain the following information:

1. Details about the DAO they wish to represent the Hop DAO in.
2. The value that Hop DAO could derive from participating in the DAO
3. What makes the prospective Ambassador the best fit for the role;

After one week, the thread shall stop accepting nominations, and the nominees shall be posted on Snapshot for the community to elect three Ambassadors to represent the DAO

Previous Ambassadors shall remain eligible to hold the position again by following the nomination and election process.

Duties of a Hop DAO Ambassador

These ambassadors would be responsible for the following:

1. Governance Participation through Voting and Proposal Writing: Ambassadors will participate in governance by voting on proposals, communicating their rationale, and writing proposals.
2. Seeking Business Development Opportunities through Integrations: An ambassador could potentially broker a discussion in another DAO that would lead to an asset being added to the Hop Protocol’s list of supported assets; an example would be rETH getting listed as a supported asset on the Hop Protocol.
3. Increasing Hop Protocol’s Governance Power in selected Protocols: An Ambassador would start out as a delegate in a protocol and, over time, increase their governance power on behalf of the Hop DAO.
4. Attending Community Calls of the Selected DAOs, and also attending the Hop DAOs’ community call: Forming a strong tie with a DAOs community is an important aspect of participation. Ambassadors must attend the DAOs community call and also attend the Hop Community call. This way, they have an opportunity to provide feedback to the community that they represent.

Compensation

Hop Ambassadors will receive Vested HOP every 6 months, to keep the Ambassadors aligned with Hop DAO. This means an ambassador will receive $3,000 every 6 months as a lump sum, rather than on a monthly basis. If an ambassador is removed before their term reaches 6 months, they will not be compensated for their work.

Program Cost

In its current state, if we have three ambassadors for Optimism, that will cost the DAO $18,000 annually.

$500 x 3 x 12 Months = $18,000

Removing an ambassador

Any member of the community who believes that an Ambassador does not well represent the Hop DAO will have the right to put up a proposal requesting that the Ambassador be removed and immediately replaced.

This forum post must contain proof of neglect of assigned duties or proof of improper actions which could misrepresent the Hop DAO; these actions or inactions must also be directly related to the duties assigned to the ambassador by this proposal.

These actions could be a failure to; vote, communicate rationale or attend community calls.

Delegate Thread

Each Ambassador shall maintain a delegate thread on the Hop forum for the DAO the ambassador participates in on behalf of Hop DAO. The thread shall contain the ambassador’s votes and the decision and rationale for every vote.

I.e.

Vote: [Yes/No/Abstain/Missed]

Rationale:

Quarterly Report

Every quarter, each ambassador shall post a Quarterly Report of its activities within the quarter. This report will include the following:

• Hop Protocol’s Governance Power (Changes)
• Number of votes done by the ambassador (including any missed vote)
• Proposals are written by the ambassador
• Progress of business development opportunities.

Selected DAOs for the Pilot

To kick off the Pilot Phase of the Hop DAO Ambassador Program’s operations, we propose starting with:

• Optimism: Because OP Governance Power has been delegated to the Hop DAO, and the fundamental role that Hop Protocol plays in the ecosystem, participating in OP Governance is an essential first step for the ambassador.

Note: The community shall select the other two DAOs depending on the Ambassadors they choose to elect.

Review

If this proposal is successful, we suggest that we do a DAO-wide review in 6 months to evaluate this pilot program before moving forward.

Conclusion

The Hop DAO occupies a very important role in the ecosystem. The Hop Protocol has many stakeholders across the ecosystem. As we build out the Hop Protocol Roadmap, our increased participation in the ecosystem will be vital in establishing key partnerships and identifying opportunities for possible integrations. These efforts to participate in governance and pursue partnership opportunities across the ecosystem will ultimately compound into value for the Hop DAO.