• Title: SafeDAO Participation Agreement
• Authors: Christoph
• Created: 2022-09-28

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Update 11/10/2022: Finalised SEP1

• Link to the finalised SEP1
• Incorrect referencing within the participation agreement and misspelling of defined terms have been corrected.
• Reference to a wrapped DAO and alternatives for determining DAO participation are excluded for the time being. These are topics that require a wider community discussion and should take place at a later point in time. The outcome of this community discussion can be reflected in a modified participation agreement.

The SEP should now have reached a stage of maturity where it can be submitted for snapshot voting.

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Abstract

This is a proposal to implement a private ordering agreement (a so-called “participation agreement”) among all DAO Participants to provide an operating framework for SafeDAO and to govern the rights and obligations of each party.

Proposal details

The participation agreement [old version; see update above]:

• defines SafeDAO participants.
• provides a mutual release by DAO participants from claims arising out of or in connection with SafeDAO and a mutual waiver of claims against SafeDAO and other protected parties.
• limits the liability of SafeDAO participants and other protected parties in relation to loss or damage arising out of the interaction with SafeDAO.
• provides a complaints and dispute resolution procedure.

Purpose and Background

Many projects use the label of a DAO in different forms and organisational structures. There is no common understanding of what a DAO is, resulting in a lack of clarity as to what rights and obligations exist when dealing with a DAO. The participation agreement aims to provide an expectation management of what a stakeholder of the Safe ecosystem can expect during their participation or interaction with SafeDAO.

Effects and Impact Analysis

The participation agreement reflects the experimental nature of decentralised governance. This state of affairs is reflected in comprehensive disclaimers, so that participation in SafeDAO is at the participant’s own risk. Any person, entity or organisation interested in SafeDAO should familiarise themselves with the risks of DAO participation and, if necessary, seek additional legal advice to minimise the risks.

Alternative Solutions

• DAO without participation agreement: a DAO without any legal arrangement might come at the cost of unlimited liability risks for its participants and is difficult to grasp for external stakeholders who want to interact with the DAO.

• Incorporation of SafeDAO: The SafeDAO community could be incorporated into a “traditional legal structure”. However, given the current stage of community building, this step seems too early, as the community has not yet expressed its opinion.

• Partial incorporation of SafeDAO: The SafeDAO community could partially be incorporated into a dedicated legal entities or under the legal umbrella of Safe Ecosystem Foundation. However, given the current stage of community building, this step seems too early, as the community has not yet expressed its opinion.

–> The participation agreement seems to be a good solution to start with, as it provides a legal framework for governance participation, does not require administrative overhead and provides the possibility for future changes.

Technical Implementation

This proposal does not require any additional code. It is made available via IPFS in order to ensure immutability. Note: The final IPFS hash will change upon incorporating community feedback. It will be final upon start of the community vote.

The participation agreement will be adopted provided that this SEP passes the SafeDAO governance process. Once passed, it should be linked on the safe.eth Snapshot space for future reference and for those interested in participating to sign before voting.

It is expected that changes to the participation agreement will only be made as a result of a future SEPs.

Copyright

Copyright and related rights waived via CC0.