IIP 174: DPI Metagovernance Organization and Delegation

IIP 174
Title: DPI Metagovernance Organization and Delegation
Status: Proposed
Author: @funkmasterflex
Reviewed by: @allan.g @MrMadila @edwardk @anthonyb.eth

Summary

Since the launch of the DeFi Pulse Index, Index Cooperative has been one of the largest voters within the DeFi ecosystem. The genesis of DPI voting rights can be found in IIP-33. Since then the voting power has been managed by INDEX voters, allowing holders to vote on other protocols’ proposals like Uniswap, Compound, Aave, and others.

Index Cooperative and INDEX voters are currently blocked from executing metagovernance votes on some protocols. To execute these votes in accordance with INDEX Snapshots we are requesting the delegation of all DPI metagovernance voting rights to an internal address. This delegation does not impact internal IIPs, and this delegation action does not impact or give rights to the value, rebalancing mechanism, or smart contract functionality of the DPI token.

Past Delegation Votes: IIP-154: Delegate Aave to Governance House EOA for DPI Aave ARC listing
IIP-129: Metagov Delegation Request - Delegate Aave to EOA for DPI Borrow Enable and DPI on ARC AIPs

Motivation

INDEX voting power is a unique capability that adds to the value of Index Cooperative as a DAO. On top of the duty we have to DPI holders and the DeFi ecosystem, our metagovernance voting power has shown to be a helpful tool in the past. If further activated, it can add great value to Index Coop efforts in growing the ecosystem and building new partnerships.

Below shows the DPI voting block, individual status, and voting mechanism;

UNI (locked, delegate)
AAVE (unlocked, delegate)
SNX (locked, staked SNX)
MKR (locked, delegate contract)
LRC (unavailable)
COMP (locked, delegate)
SUSHI (locked, xSUSHI)
BAL (locked, veBAL)
YFI (locked, veYFI)

Governance power for these tokens is held in the DPI smart contract, which reverts to the INDEX token voting power. For each of these tokens within DPI it is necessary to delegate each token’s voting power to another address for voting purposes. This does not impact the underlying value of the tokens or the self-custody nature of DPI. Currently, only AAVE voting power is unlocked. It has been delegated to 3SE Holdings, who execute on Aave Snapshot and Aave Voting Portal.

Of the remaining tokens in DPI, only UNI and COMP can be accessed in the near term through delegation. MakerDAO uses a slightly different on-chain voting delegation mechanism within a smart contract and front end. Because the DPI contract can’t use this front end, we must come up with a custom solution. We intend to investigate the feasibility of connecting DPI’s supporting contracts to the MKR delegate contract, but current vote activation is not possible. With these changes, we plan on activating UNI and COMP voting and determining the feasibility for MKR at a later date.

Index Coop currently spends $0 on metagovernance-related items. We do not plan on changing that. Metagovernance is a valuable addition to our overall business, but is not a core driver. My role within DeFi Partnerships has significant overlap with ecosystem votes and because of that we won’t need to dedicate any further resources to this area. All metagovernance votes that reach quorum will be decided through decentralized INDEX voting. Following the Index Snapshot vote, the multi-sig signers will execute the vote. We are looking to further automate this process in the future.

Specification

We propose that Index Coop brings this capability in-house and delegate the DPI held in the smart contract to a contributor-owned address. Current AAVE delegation power will be transferred from ELEV8 Crypto to the contributor-owned address. This address will then set up and execute INDEX Metagovernance Snapshot votes on UNI and COMP.

New Gnosis Multsig: 0xec51be70626d309522eF0b156cC02afCB407e7a8
Signers:
@funkmasterflex
@MrMadila
@allan.g

Voting

FOR: Delegate the voting power to the internal address
AGAINST: Don’t delegate the voting power to the internal address ,

13 Likes

Yes.
Yes.
YES.

Metagoverance is a valuable feature of some products and one that we should be using for the benefit of our product holders, INDEX holders and the underlying protocols.

4 Likes