The Red Whale that Killed the Ocean DAO
The Red Whale that Killed the Ocean DAO
.i Between the end of 2020 and the beginning of last year, as part of a DAO-subsidized project, I worked on "Rug Pull Index" (short: RPI), a rating agency for publicly traded data sets. OceanDAO, the organization funding our work, had been set up around the same time and provided us with a fixed pool of funding every month. We, the RPI, were building core Ocean Protocol infrastructure and the OceanDAO funded our work upon request.
In detail, for each month, the Ocean Protocol fixed a pool in dollars and then requested projects to submit proposals to their DAO's online forum. On a monthly basis, projects submitted proposals publicly and the community of OCEAN token holders voted on who gets funds from the pool.
OceanDAO saw itself as a "grants funding" mechanism. This, and the fact that we, OCEAN token holders, only knew each other through online interactions, meant that project proposals consisted of us founder's track records.
As the pool size grew quickly, and since a few low-quality projects managed to sneak through the process initially, this simple path for getting funds quickly took the DAO's application process ad absurdum.
While initially, projects built rapport within the community, once an established template for supposed success became apparent, new and anonymous project founders suddenly flocked to the forum and submitting outrageous project ideas. While we, the projects who had co-founded the DAO, were modest in our promises, those who were in for the funds made outrageous claims to galvanize voters. It was during this time when RPI's month-long rapport building and community presence paid off. All of Rug Pull Index DAO proposals to the OceanDAO
Through continuously-published cash-basis accounting spreadsheets, and, hence, un-matched financial transparency, when other proposers promised questionable token deals in each round, like a great boxer, Rug Pull Index won all rounds that it "fought" in.
Looking back now, it's truly an achievement I'm proud of and that I'm grateful for having experienced it.
.ii
It was also during this time that I struggled with the challenges work threw at me.
A bit of housekeeping:
- In case you are surprised by this email's sender: I've switched my email gateway from Substack to buttondown.email.
- The old blog: timdaub.github.io is now deprecated and I'm only going to update proofinprogress.com
- Wishing you an amazing weekend!
Best, Tim