Stake DAO

Stake DAO keeps growing on all fronts: TVL, number of verticals, contributor headcount

Operational costs … and like any successful project, the DAO has regular expenses to maintain itself.

To ensure transparency, at the end of each quarter the DAO publishes the planned expenditure for the following quarter. This proposal outlines in detail the estimated DAO costs for Q4 2022.

Summary:

Send funds from the Treasury Multisig to pay for the DAO expenses for October/November/December: Infrastructure, Admin & Tooling, Travel Expenses, Event, Dev/Tech compensation, and Contributor rewards.

Rationale:

This proposal seeks approval for the DAO expenses for Q4 2022. Below are added the expected expenditure for the fourth quarter, and an overview of the amount spent in the third quarter.

Stake DAO	10/2022	11/2022	12/2022	Q4 costs	Reserve	Budget Q4
Admin	7,899	7,899	7,899	23,696	2,370	26,066
Dev/Tech compensation (+10% reserve)	19,912	18,222	11,722	49,856	4,986	54,842
Hosting (+10% reserve)	73,840	73,840	73,840	221,520	22,152	243,672
Tooling (+10% reserve)	7,686	7,686	7,686	23,057	2,306	25,362
Travel expenses (+10% reserve)	1,820	1,820	1,820	5,460	546	6,006
Events (+10% reserve)	39,988	0	0	39,988	3,999	43,987
Audits (+10% reserve)	0	0	0	0	150,000	150,000
Sub total mainnet expenses	151,145	109,467	102,967	363,578	186,358	549,935
Contributors rewards (+25% reserve)	127,625	127,625	127,625	382,875	95,719	478,594
Sub total Polygon expenses	127,625	127,625	127,625	382,875	95,719	478,594
Total Stake DAO Q4 expenses*	278,770	237,092	230,592	746,453	282,077	1,028,529

*Figures in USDC for Mainnet and sdam3CRV ** for Polygon

** 1 sdam3CRV is worth 1.13 USDC at the time of writing

	Q3	Q4
Stake DAO	AVR Monthly Expenses	AVR Monthly Expenses	%
Admin	8,627	7,899	-8.44%
Dev/Tech compensation	22,403	16,619	-25.82%
Hosting	73,840	73,840	0.00%
Tooling	8,548	7,686	-10.09%
Travel expenses	3,900	1,820	-53.33%
Events	0	13,329	#DIV/0!
Sub total mainnet expenses	117,318	121,193	3.30%
Contributors rewards	104,033	127,625	22.68%
Sub total Polygon expenses	104,033	127,625	22.68%
Total Stake DAO expenses*	221,351	248,818	12.41%
Total Stake DAO quarter expenses	664,053	746,453	12.41%

*Reserves not included

Mainnet expenses:

IT & Tech Infrastructure:

All IT & Tech infrastructure will be provided as a service by an external partner focused on Administration and maintenance. However, the budget required for the fourth quarter in admins and tooling decreased by -8.44% and -10.09% in comparison to Q3, whereas the one allocated to servers infrastructure remains in the same range as Q3. For all the previous expenses mentioned the budget required is 268,273.20 USDC/quarter. This amount includes: admin costs, tooling costs and servers infrastructure (E.g: AWS, Vercel, Github, and other tools and services needed by the DAO.), 10% reserve will be added to cover unforeseen expenses.

• Servers infrastructure estimated cost: 73,840 USDC/month

• Reserve (10%): 22,152.00 USDC/Quarter

• Admin costs: 7,899.00 USDC/month

• Reserve (10%): 2,370.00 USDC/Quarter

• Tooling costs: 7,686.00 USDC/month

• Reserve (10%): 2,306.00 USDC/Quarter

Total IT & Infrastructure Q4 budget: 295,101.00 USDC.

Dev/Tech compensation

Introduced in the third quarter, the dev/tech compensation will be effective in Q4 too. In fact, the Dao will continue to reward various developers and techs working currently on monitoring and improving Stake DAO’s products. An average of 16,619.00 USDC/month is planned for these contributors with 10% reserve.

• Dev/Tech compensation: 16,619.00 USDC/month

• Reserve (10%): 4,986.00 USDC/Quarter

Total Dev/Tech compensation Q4 budget: 54,842 USDC/Quarter.

Audits:

An audit is not planned for the fourth quarter, however, it’s better to plan a reserve will be made in case of cost can change depending on the complexity:

• Audits estimated cost: 58,500 USDC to pay in April
• Reserve (10%): 5,850 USDC

Total audits Q2 budget : 64;350 USDC

Event:

In order to widen its notoriety, visibility, and promote Stake DAO products, the DAO will organize events during this fourth quarter. A one-time cost of 39,988.00 USDC has been defined for this purpose:

• Event: 39,988.00 USDC/Quarter

• Reserve (10%): 3,999.00 USDC/Quarter

Total Event Q4 budget: 43,987 USDC/Quarter.

Travel expenses:

In order to promote the DAO and establish and maintain partnerships, business trips are planned in Q4, the expenses allocated to these travels are 5,460.00 USDC/Quarter .

• Travel expenses estimated: 1,820.00/month

• Reserve in case of additional fees (10%): 546.00 USDC/month

Total travel expenses Q4 budget: 5,460.00 USDC/Quarter.

Polygon expenses:

Contributors rewards:

The rewards are estimated to 382,875 sdam3CRV/quarter for the DAO contributions:

• Contributors rewards estimated: 127,625 sdam3CRV/month

• Reserve in case of new hires (up to + 25%): 95,719 sdam3CRV/month

Total contributors Q4 budget: 478,594.00 sdam3CRV.

DAO estimated cost for Q4 2022: 363,578.00 USDC + 382,875 sdam3crv

Reserve for Q4 2022: 36,358 USDC + 95,719 sdam3crv

Total DAO estimated cost for Q4 2022 : 399,935 USDC + 478,594 sdam3crv

The reserve should be kept in USDC on Aave in case there’s a need for it.