MIP-25 - Constitution of the Merit Circle DAO

Authors

  • @DAOCoreContributors
  • @Cryptolawyer
  • Various others reading through and providing input, including those participating in the governance forum discussions (you know who you are, thank you)

Summary

This proposal seeks tokenholder approval for the adoption of a written constitution for MC DAO. The authors believe a written constitution in the proposed form will contribute to an increasingly decentralized, structured and efficient governance model. The tokenholders will, by adopting a constitution, also be seeking to strengthen MC DAO’s position as an autonomous organization.

On 5 February 2023 the authors opened up a discussion thread where a draft constitution was attached. The constitution draft has been subject to discussions since then. Based on the input provided by the community, the authors have now updated the constitution and present here what aims to be a final version of the constitution to be voted on by MC DAO. The updated version of the constitution can be found here.

Specification

The discussion thread relating to the constitution includes a thorough explanation of the intentions behind the proposal. Please refer to that discussion thread to learn more about the proposal and to read the input from the community.

As part of the updated version of the constitution, the authors have sought to loyally take into account the input from each and every person providing input to the constitution. We thank all of the community members that contributed with valuable input.

In addition to adjusting for the input provided by community members, we have in this new version of the constitution also made the following changes:

  • Cleaned up and simplified certain wording (minor details here and there throughout).
  • Adjusted the constitution to take into consideration the introduction of the Beam blockchains and networks to our ecosystem.

We have also prepared a redline/compare version of the constitution that easily reflects the changes that have been made since the 5 February draft. Please find it here.

The constitution proposes that proposals for future changes of it will require that the proposal is discussed for 1 month. As the constitution has been subject to discussions for more than 2 months already, we believe it will suffice to have this proposal be subject for at least a 7-day period. As this is a proposal, community members may still provide input to the constitution, in addition to other comments they may have to the proposal.

The constitution (if adopted through a proposal) is proposed to be stored and recorded on the blockchain.

Motivation

Although our governance model in all material respects has been functioning well to date, as it has provided our DAO a framework to continue its growth, we have admittedly also encountered a few challenges and realized that there are potential risks and room for improvement within our (and most other) DAO governance models.

We believe it is beneficial for our DAO to have a governance framework - which has been voted on by the DAO - in writing, rather than having a fragmented and informalized model of governance. This will allow us to enjoy increased prediction in terms of how governance functions and also provide us with simpler onboarding possibilities of new DAO members going forward.

Rationale

The governance model (set out in the constitution) will seek to continue to keep MC DAO decentralized, whilst simultaneously empowering contributors to act in an efficient and coherent manner in accordance with the DAO’s wishes.

The rationale for the constitution is included in the “Rationale” section of the discussion thread.

Even though mentioned explicitly in the discussion thread as well, we wish to reiterate that adopting a constitution is not intended to diminish the importance of smart contract systems (where code is law) within our DAO ecosystem, but rather supplement and create the framework for governance processes relating to such systems. Our strong view is that MC DAO, as a blockchain native organization, should continue to, as much as possible, strive to utilize smart contracts and other crypto technologies in its various endeavors, including governance and for checks and balances purposes. The constitution in fact endorses increased use of smart contracts that enable enforcement by code and provides flexibility with respect to implementation of various on-chain solutions, e.g. on-chain governance (which we can implement in various ways as part of the DAO’s governance). Therefore the next steps in our evolution to becoming increasingly decentralized and autonomous should be to (to a larger extent) embrace the technologies that crypto has to offer.

Budget

There is no budget needed for implementing the constitution.

Poll

As the constitution requires that each proposal must include a Yes/No poll to gauge community sentiment regarding whether a proposal should proceed to a vote or not (if 25% or more of the poll votes are in favor at the time of expiry of the discussion period, the proposal shall proceed to an official MIP vote), we wish to test how that functions prior to the constitution proceeding to an official vote.

Therefore, please respond to the following poll:

  • Yes - MC DAO should adopt the proposed constitution
  • No - MC DAO should not adopt the proposed constitution

0 voters

Copyright

Copyright and related rights waived via Creative Commons CCO.

The proposal is now up for voting here.

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