Rari Foundation

Abstract

This document proposes a Rari DAO delegate launchpad program, which is designed to attract new delegates and boost DAO participation with the ultimate goal of advancing the mission of building a decentralized NFT infrastructure that powers future NFT use cases.

The delegate launchpad program consists of the Rari Foundation delegating a fixed amount of veRARI for a fixed amount of time as long as applicable delegates met the required criteria and maintained an active DAO status for the duration of the delegation.

The suggested mechanism is based on ideas proposed by the community during strategic workshops held on May 18 and 25 and related feedback.

Motivation

The Rari DAO is the governing body of the Rari Foundation, which was established to help grow the NFT ecosystem with the Rarible protocol, uncovering new NFT use cases and broadening the horizon of the NFT technology application. As such, we believe the Rari DAO community can benefit from inviting new members with relevant skills and experiences who can engage in the discourse of decentralizing the NFT infrastructure and help us get there. By empowering these new members with temporary delegations, we fast-track their active DAO participation and cultivate a vibrant community.

This program will be a pilot from which we will learn and improve on future initiatives designed to grow DAO participation. We’re targeting to onboard 15 new delegates through this program during summer 2023.

Rationale

The current DAO participation is low - both in terms of voting and discourse and in terms of proposal submissions. We’re seeking ways to jumpstart the DAO activity to get more traction on proposals and community discourse. The Rari Foundation has just rolled out delegation incentives (as part of Delegation Week), which produced moderate results. We need to look beyond delegation gas reduction. The delegate launchpad program will enable us to screen qualified applicants for the kind of skills, experience, and motivation the DAO can benefit from in the long run and, at the same time, elevate the new delegates within their communities.

Key Terms

$RARI - the official token ticker of the ERC-20 token that governs Rarible Protocol ecosystem veRARI - the locked $RARI that can be used for governance: voting and proposals submission Lock Period - the time during which locked $RARI remains unavailable for transacting or trading Delegation - The act of loaning veRARIi tokens, obtained by locking $RARI, to someone who will represent your interests in governance and voting on chain. Delegate - A party that has the ability to vote on Rari governance proposals. Could be a veRARI token holder or someone to whom other $RARI token holders have delegated their veRARI and voting power. Rari DAO - A decentralized autonomous organization committed to building the future of NFT infrastructure & NFT use cases. The DAO oversees the treasury and is on the path to govern the Rari protocol. Rari Foundation - The legal entity of the Rari DAO, and an organization that facilitates the DAO and ensures compliant disposal of the DAO Treasury.

Specifications

1. Program recipients’ eligibility criteria

We’re seeking to attract applicants from the following professional areas and with the following areas of contribution:

a. DAO Governance experts

• reasons to join
  1. Thought leadership creds
  2. Resume building
• areas of contribution
  1. DAO processes, tools, and participation incentives
  2. Grants framework

b. NFT & De-fi thought leaders

• reasons to join
  1. Developing capabilities in the NFT-Fi space and building industry recognition/prestige
  2. Token rewards
• areas of contribution
  1. DAO participation incentives
  2. Protocol adoption incentives

c. NFT & De-fi thought leaders

• reasons to join
  1. Shaping the protocol
  2. Access to grants and DAO decision-makers
• areas of contribution
  1. Onboarding new communities to the Protocol
  2. Protocol expansion and adoption via ambassadorship and partnerships

During the application period, applicants must submit their application outlining their qualifications, motivation, area of DAO contribution, Tally profile, socials, and wallet address or ENS. They must also acknowledge the conditions and terms of the delegation. The Rari Foundation team shall review all the applications and, together with the community, select the final 15 recipients and 5 top choices for a waitlist.

2. Conditions of delegation

The Rari Foundation will delegate 2,000 veRARI to up to 15 delegates that meet the above criteria and have applied within the application period.

This program lasts for 6 months in total. During the first three months, the delegated amount will remain to be the total 2,000 veRARI, unless the recipient breaches the terms outlined below. During the second three months, the amount of delegated veRARI will linearly decrease to 0. If the program recipients wish to maintain their delegate status, they can use this period to gather support and delegations from the DAO community. The Rari Foundation will elevate these delegates via owned channels in order to support them in their efforts to gain community support and delegations.

3. Terms of delegation

The program recipients need to demonstrate a track of DAO participation: vote on at least 60% of proposals (in any given 30-day period), provide a rationale in the DAO’s discussion forum on voting decisions, and be, within reason, responsive to the community. If these criteria are not met or if the delegate demonstrates behavior at odds with the DAOs code of conduct*, the foundation can revoke the delegation at any given moment.

• The Rari DAO’s core values are Respect, Integrity, Accountability, Innovation.

There is no exploitative behavior allowed at any time. Exploitative behavior can mean attempting to exploit an individual community member, seeking to exploit the DAO itself, or seeking to exploit the treasury. There is also no form of harassment tolerated anywhere throughout the Rari DAO. Any expression of racism, sexism, xenophobia, or other derogatory prejudice & intolerance is not welcome here.

In case the delegation is revoked, the Rari Foundation shall delegate to a candidate in the first position on the waitlist.

Program budget

The total program budget is 30,000 veRARI, which translates to 90,000 $RARI locked for a period of 6 months (6 months lock with 3 months slope to support the delegation mechanism as outlined above). We propose this budget is allocated from the Rari Foundation’s Treasury and remains in Rari Foundation’s management until revoked in order for the Foundation to have the ability to deploy the program again, upon alignment with the community.

Timeline

As soon as the proposal is approved and executed, the Rari Foundation can promote the program and launch the enrollment period. Tentative schedule:

w/o June 19 proposal voting & execution w/o June 19 + 26 promotion and program amplification w/o June 26 - w/o July 10 enrollment period w/o July 17 candidate selection w/o July 24 selected delegate onboarding w/o July 31 delegation & program kick off

Steps to implement

1. Funds distribution: From Treasury to the Contract. Contract to Rari Foundation’s wallet.
2. Locking $RARI: 6 months lock where cliff = slope = 3 months.
3. Note: Having this kind of lock configuration of $RARI to veRARI, the ratio will be 33%. Therefore, to achieve 2000 veRARI, 6k $RARI should be locked (per delegate).
4. Delegating funds to the addresses of the selected candidates.
5. Report to the community on the status of delegations.
6. Weekly monitoring of delegate activities to ensure adherence to terms.
7. End of program report and learnings for future editions.