Updating IIP-32 - Community Sale of Index Tokens

Summary

The intent of this post is to outline two important decision points involving IIP-32 Index Coop OTC Sale and propose concrete steps to effectively make both decisions in a community-led manner.

Abstract

IIP-32 was passed in April to diversify the Index Coop treasury and provide long-term stability for the funding of the protocol. The IIP is split into two sections, one covering an OTC sale of Index governance tokens to the early contributor community and the other covering an OTC sale of Index governance tokens to strategic partners. Each section is an important decision point for the Coop.

Decision A) The community sale portion of that IIP has yet to be executed. Alongside this, many strong Gold, Silver, and Bronze owls have joined our community since the original vote. We need to do two things here:

  • Decide when and how we are going to execute the community sale

  • Decide on how to update IIP-32 to include community members who joined after March

Decision B) Three major investment funds have committed to invest $2.25 million dollars in Index Coop on the same terms as the previous investors.

  • Decide if they should join our community as investors. I strongly believe this is a decision our entire community should participate in.

Outline

  1. Update IIP-32 to include Gold, Silver, and Bronze owls with at least three months of consecutive contributor rewards ending in the month of August. Following this update, complete the community sale.

  2. Publish a separate IIP laying out the terms proposed by the three committed investment funds. This ensures that the community has an opportunity to discuss the proposal in an open manner and to engage with each fund.

Specifications

Community Sale updates to IIP-32

Since our community first began discussing Treasury Diversification in February - the single most important goal has been to ensure that investors and community members are equal and participate on the same terms. IIP-32 clearly states that we will execute a sale to the Index Coop community on the same terms received by the investors.

This goal is laid out in IIP-32, where the proposal states that:

  1. The most favorable terms from the strategic partner sale (as determined by @matthew_graham and the Treasury Committee) will be offered to all Index Coop Golden, Silver, and Bronze Owl Contributors from the months of January, February, and March.

The IIP cannot be any clearer. We need to ensure that this part of the sale is executed. The vote was passed on-chain by our community and it must be ratified.

A lot has changed since April when the original IIP was passed. We have a bigger community and a lot more contributors :muscle:. It’s clear that we need to include the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Owls who joined after March and who were not included in the original IIP.

Updating IIP -32 ensures that all current Gold, Silver, and Bronze Owls with three months of contribution are included in the community sale. Every community member who has helped build this protocol has the right to participate at the same time and on the same terms as the current list of investors.

The community always comes first.

I am proposing the following updates to the community sale portion of IIP-32.

  1. Every Gold, Silver, and Bronze Owl who has maintained that status for three consecutive months (as marked by treasury rewards from the month of January to August) is able to purchase up to $100k Index tokens at a price of $24.26. This equals 4,122 Index per community member.

  2. All community members will be able to vote with tokens locked in the vesting contracts.

  3. These tokens will be locked in an 18-month vesting contract. The contract will begin to vest linearly after a 12-month cliff. The vesting contract start date will begin when the contracts are funded. (

  4. We set a target date of October 15 to complete the full execution of the community sale.

Strategic Partner Sale updates to IIP-32

We have three strong investment funds that want to invest and help grow this protocol.

I firmly believe that Sequoia SEA ( @auilag ), White Star Capital (@neilh @tklocanas ) and Blockchain.com Ventures ( @samuelharrison ) are committed to helping our community build and grow. All three funds have affirmed our Principles and Code of Conduct. Having them on board will help us expand our reach globally, open doors across traditional finance, and bring a valuable strategic perspective to our conversations.

The decision to move forward with these funds needs to be made by our community. I am proposing that we split this into a separate IIP that can be voted on by the community. Each fund has a strong case for adding value to our community, and we need to have an open conversation around the value they bring and whether to move forward with them as investors.

A new IIP will be proposed detailing the background of these funds and the value they plan to bring to our protocol. That IIP will be voted on following further community discussion and refinement. We need to decide together if we should move forward.

Conclusion

Ensuring fair ownership and token distribution to community members is my single biggest priority. Conducting a community sale that ensures all Gold, Silver, and Bronze contributors have access to the same deal terms as previous investors will go a massive way towards aligning long-term incentives across our entire organization. We need to take concrete and immediate steps to ensure that contributors have a vested stake in the long-term success of our Protocol.

Please provide input on how we should best execute the community portion of the sale. This is an important and complex process - we only get one shot at it. We all need to work together to make this happen. We have an incredible opportunity to set the standard across DeFi when it comes to the fair distribution of protocol ownership to active contributors.

8 Likes

Would encourage research into not just a one-time sale to existing contributors but a longer-term strategy of token options being given to contributors after a certain tenure, in line with how many startups reward employees.

I would tie these options to owl metal rankings, which should have some formalized criteria (x = bronze, y = silver, z = gold).

Lastly, I would propose including members of Set and DFP who have been engaged in the community sale, particularly: @puniaviision, @anon10525910, @dylan, @Jo_K and @snasps (apologies if missing anyone, not an exhaustive list), while employees of organizations with large holdings, they personally have contributed to the Coop and have helped turn it into the powerhouse it is today.

6 Likes

Tagging the following owls into this thread, as i’m aware of something similar in the works or something along the likes of rewarding contributors, as its part of Index 2.0

@Pepperoni_Joe @iluscavia @ElliottWatts

2 Likes

@BigSky7, I am fully in support of this initiative as detailed above.

@oneski22, POC WG has been working on a token options framework aligned to a new metal owl ranking.

We will be looking to socialize this and get community feedback as part of Index 2.0.

We see it as a way of bolstering community ownership and incentivizing contributors. It is something we would like to line up after the first “Genesis Token Distribution” workshop.

The metal owl compensation framework (hopefully) can used as an elegant way to allocate a “pot of Index” to the community which would increase community ownership and bridge the gap between “Full Time” compensation packages and the package received by the rest of the community.

cc: Genesis Token distribution domain experts
@Metfanmike @Matthew_Graham @jdcook @jackiepoo @BigSky7

7 Likes

@BigSky7 I would just like to echo Joe’s thoughts and am in support of this to go ahead.

The Metal owl framework currently being worked upon should help to incentivize everyone for the long run and retain the top talent within the Index Coop at all levels.

6 Likes

Thanks for highlighting this. I strongly agree. - any community sale / token ownership plan needs to include these individuals who have been instrumental in the growth of the coop since day #1

5 Likes