Abstract
The Interim Treasury Program (Proposal, Proposal Description) was enacted on October 19th, 2022 to establish a transparent and community-engaged process for how the Moonriver and Moonbeam Treasury is spent.
As part of the proposal, a community Treasury Council was created to facilitate community discussions and vote on spending proposals. The Treasury Council Member addresses were set on chain on October 26th, 2022 with Referendum 69.
Since that time, there have been 9 proposals made in the Moonbeam Community Forum from a variety of teams to fund infrastructure, software development and other initiatives aimed at supporting the broader Moonbeam and Moonriver ecosystems. Of the 9 proposals, as of today, 7 have gone on to be approved by the Treasury Council totalling 366,391 GLMR and 8625 MOVR.
This is a draft proposal to extend the Interim Treasury Program (with a few adjustments) for an additional period of 6 months, or until it is amended or superseded by a new proposal, whichever comes first.
As stated in the original Interim Treasury Program proposal, the intention was to have an interim solution that would be revisited by the community when Polkadot OpenGov is rolled out (with operational Treasury Tracks). Given that OpenGov has begun to rollout on Moonriver, it is anticipated that the program will need to be revised to accommodate OpenGov in the coming months. Thus, the proposal is to continue with the current program with only a few minor changes, deferring more substantive changes to when OpenGov is rolled out.
The intention is to share this draft proposal with the community to seek feedback and gauge support for the proposal. After feedback is incorporated and assuming the Community sentiment is favourable, the proposal would be converted to a Referendum on both Moonbeam and Moonriver.
Given the tight timeline to the expiry of the current period (April 26th), it is proposed that the Moonbeam Technical Council should fast track the vote to 7 days with a “simple majority” voting strategy.
Proposed Changes to the Interim Treasury Program
Conventions Adopted from the Current Program
During the initial 6 months period of the Interim Treasury Program, best practices were established for the proposal processes and handling of such.
Assigned Council Member - Every proposal posted to the Moonbeam Community Forum is assigned to one of the Treasury Council Members who then becomes the “ACM” (Assigned Council Member) for the given proposal and acts as a first-responder and helps guide the proposer through the process from start to finish.
Moonbeam to Moonriver Ratio - Due to the fact that the Moonriver treasury is significantly smaller than the Moonbeam treasury in terms of dollar value, guidelines were adopted whereby all proposals that are of benefit for both networks should be split in an 80/20 ratio where 80% of the requested amount would be paid out in GLMR tokens from the Moonbeam treasury and the remaining 20% of the amount in MOVR out of the Moonriver treasury.
Signal of Support - Lastly, a practice was adopted whereby Treasury Council Members would explicitly signal their support within the forum for a given proposal in order so that proposers could be assured of council support before publishing the proposal on chain, only to have it be rejected by the council and their deposit forfeited. Proposers should only publish their proposal on chain if the majority (3 out of 5) of the Council Members signal their approval of support.
Renewal Period
It is proposed that the Renewal Period begins as soon as the current period ends (on April 26th, 2023) and continues until October 31st, 2023. This is slightly longer than 6 months but makes for easier accounting from a budget perspective, as well as for Treasury Council compensation.
OpenGov
At this point, OpenGov has been enabled on Moonriver. However, only a few tracks have been enabled, none of which deal with Treasury spend.
If and when OpenGov is extended to cover Treasury Spend on either network, the Treasury Program in its current form would need to be adapted. Enabling Treasury OpenGov would require one or more referenda and it is assumed that the passing of any such referenda would supersede this proposal.
It is proposed that the Treasury Council participate in any future Moonbeam Community discussions relating to the enabling of OpenGov Treasury Track and work with the community to propose adaptations to the program to adopt OpenGov.
Budget
In addition to the 20% of fees that are contributed to the treasury, the Moonriver and Moonbeam Orbiter Programs generate MOVR and GLMR staking rewards which are swept into the Moonriver and Moonbeam treasuries. For the period from November 1st to March 31st 2023, the following staking rewards from the Orbiter Program were contributed to treasury:
- 10,204 MOVR
- 405,907 GLMR
If we assume April contributions are in line with March, then the total for November 1st to April 30th, 2023 become:
- 12,902 MOVR
- 475,666 GLMR
It is proposed that 50% of the Orbiter Program Treasury Contributions during this period be added to the budget for the Renewal Period.
It is also proposed that any unused budget from the previous period will not carry over.
Thus, the new budgets would be come:
- Moonbeam: 625,000 + 237,833 = 862,833 GLMR
- Moonriver: 6,250 + 6,451 = 12,701 MOVR
The other 50% of Orbiter Program Treasury Contributions would then remain in Treasury for the future.
This proposal thus tries to strike a balance between current needs of the ecosystem and sustainability.
Other Aspects of Treasury Program
It is proposed that all other aspects of the Treasury Program for the Renewal Program would continue as is (see interim_treasury_proposal.md). However, the program may be amended by future Referenda passed by the Moonriver and Moonbeam communities.
Interim Treasury Program - Apr 27, 2023 to Oct 31, 2023
Abstract
This is a community-driven proposal to maintain a transparent and community-engaged process for how the Moonriver and Moonbeam Treasury is spent incorporating the changes described above. As part of this proposed Interim Treasury Program Renewal, this Proposal suggests maintaining the community Treasury Council to facilitate community discussions on spending ideas and to vote on spending proposals.
Note that the acronym “MBTP” in this Proposal stands for Moonbeam Treasury Proposal.
Motivation
This Proposal outlines the Interim Treasury Program that would maintain the community-driven and community-approved, transparent process for Treasury spending including a community-approved Treasury Council to facilitate community discussion on Treasury spending ideas and to vote on spending proposals.
Treasury spend should be conducted in accordance with the Moonbeam’s Guiding Principles:
-
Inclusivity - Being inclusive to GLMR token holders to engage in the Treasury spend process and to vote to renew the term of the nominees of the Treasury Council and reaffirm the parameters of the Treasury Council’s power. One GLMR token is the same as any other GLMR token for voting purposes.
-
Engagement - Always favoring community engagement, even if there are views contrary to the views of the Moonbeam Foundation by requiring MBTP
-
Ideas to be posted for at least 5 days in the Designated Treasury Discussion Forum and for the community to provide feedback and review Treasury Council feedback. That being said, discussion must always be kept respectful and in keeping with Moonbeam’s Code of Conduct.
-
Transparency - Striving for transparency in the Treasury spend process and seeking community engagement through the MBTP Idea process.
-
Greater Good of the Ecosystem - Keeping in mind that the goal of treasury spend is to further the adoption, utilization, and development of the Moonbeam Network as a whole, these goals should always come before any individual’s or project teams benefit.
In addition, treasury funding should not be given to projects that actively promote gambling, illicit trade or products, money laundering or criminal activities in general.
For simplicity sake, this proposal outlines the details relevant for a Moonbeam specific proposal, but the intention is for an Interim Treasury Program Renewal to be enacted on both Moonriver and Moonbeam with the same nominees for Moonbeam’s and Moonriver’s Treasury Councils. After gathering community feedback on this proposal, the plan is to incorporate the community feedback for a Moonbeam specific proposal (to be put forth for a vote through Moonbeam governance) and to create a Moonriver-specific proposal (to be put forth for a vote through Moonriver’s governance process).
Rationale
The Moonbeam Treasury is a pot of funds stored in an on-chain genesis address. At network launch, the Treasury was pre-funded with 0.5% of the total token supply and has been steadily accumulating GLMR from a portion of transaction fees (approx. 20% of transaction fees go to the Treasury). In addition, the Treasury has also been accumulating GLMR from the staking rewards generated by the Orbiter Program. The Moonbeam Treasury should be put to use and help fund key projects that help maintain and further the growth of the Moonbeam network.
Guidelines
Moonbeam is an open-source, public blockchain that aims to provide an innovative, secure and reliable network to its community. The Treasury Council will support projects that share in these goals and add value to the Moonbeam ecosystem. The Council should attempt to fund as many MBTP in the queue that meet the requirements outlined in this Proposal within this Proposal’s suggested budget. Below are a few examples of the types of Proposals for Treasury Spend:
- Public good developer and end user infrastructure (RPC services, explorers, etc)
- Network security (monitoring services, security auditing, etc).
- Integrations with other parachains and standalone blockchains.
- Marketing activities (advertising, paid features, collaborations).
- Community events and outreach (meetups, pizza parties, hackerspaces).
- Open-source software contributions (developer tools, infrastructure, Moonbeam codebase, integrations)).
- Wallet and other critical end user software.
- Educational content and effort for developers and end users.
- End user adoption initiatives.
Projects applying for treasury funds will have greater chance of success if they can demonstrate:
- Well-researched and tested project idea, ideally with examples of prior work.
- Open Source or keeping with the spirit of allowing the community to learn from the project’s work
- Team’s technical background and ability to deliver on promised milestones associated with requested funds
- High-quality MBTP with clearly defined milestones and clear use of funds
- Alignment and respect of Moonbeam Guiding Principles (outlined above), Moonbeam’s Code of Conduct.
Interim Treasury Program Overview
- Power - The Treasury Council’s responsibility is to control the Treasury spending. Unlike Polkadot’s existing Council, powers such as proposing other types of referenda or canceling malicious referenda are reserved for the original Moonbeam Council (Governance Council) and are not within the powers of the Treasury Council.
- Term - Similar to the Interim Grants Program, this is a Proposal to renew an interim solution that will last an additional 6 months (until October 31, 2023) unless amended prior to the 6 month term. The intention is that the interim solution will be revisited by the community when OpenGov Treasury Tracks roll out (and are functional in Moonbeam).
- Treasury Council Budget - At genesis, the Moonbeam Treasury had a balance of 5,000,000 GLMR. This Proposal suggests that the Treasury Budget for the 6 month term is limited to an eighth of the total Treasury genesis allocation plus 50% of the Orbiter Program Staking contributions from the prior 6 month period. This conservative budget helps ensure that there will be Treasury funds for at least the next 4 years assuming the Treasury Council accepts this Proposal suggestion to limit the Treasury spend to the sum of 625k GLMR plus 50% of the Orbiter Program Staking rewards for each six month period. Unused budget from the previous period will not carry over and will remain in the treasury.
- Amendments - With the exception of the increasing the Treasury Council Budget and the requirement of having two Foundation members on the Treasury Council, the content of this Proposal may be amended by the community at any time with an Idea posted for community feedback for 5 days and then with a Proposal via Moonbeam’s Governance process. Per Moonbeam’s governance rules, the Council may cancel Referenda that are obviously counter to the Moonbeam Principles outlined here.
- Governance Process for this Proposal - The intention for this proposed Structure is to gather community feedback for at least 5 days and then to be submitted as a Proposal and go through the Moonbeam Governance Process to be community approved.
Treasury Council Details:
- Composition - The Treasury Council will consist of 5 nominated community members. Two of the nominees are currently serving in a role at the Foundation and three nominees are community members who are not actively serving in a role at the Foundation but who understand the priorities of the ecosystem and who serve to help facilitate maintenance and growth of the ecosystem.
- Nomination & Term - Treasury Council Community Members are nominated for approval as part of this Proposal and will serve for the length of this Interim Treasury Program. If at any time there are not two individuals at the Moonbeam Foundation who can serve on the Treasury Council then the Foundation may appoint a representative(s) to act on behalf of a Foundation Treasury Council Community Member. Any other change to the Treasury Council composition must go through the Moonbeam Governance process.
- Treasury Council Default Vote Nominee: Foundation Treasury Council Community Member, Aaron Evans is nominated to hold the “Default Vote” position. This power of this position mirrors Polkadot’s “Prime Member” function in many ways where the vote of Treasury Council Community Member (with the Default Vote power)’s vote can act as the default vote for the other Treasury Council Community Members that fail to vote before the 3-day voting timeout.
- Compensation - Non-Foundation Treasury Council Community Members will be compensated $2,500 monthly for services provided to the Treasury Council.
Council Members Nominees:
- Non-Foundation Treasury Council Community Member Nominee: Simon Kraus
Crifferent Collator. Genuine, has experience with governance on other chains (HydraDX), is energized by the idea of participating in governance. During Take Flight, he volunteered to field support questions coming from participants in our Discord. At that time he was promoted to be a community moderator in our discord and continues in this role. He is one of the leading voices from the Collator community, helping other collators even when it isn’t in his economic self interest (keeping the good of the network ahead of his own interests). An original Treasury Council member, he has participated in all aspects of council responsibilities from forum posts to github PRs and his industry experience provides him with a keen eye when sizing up treasury requests. He also is a developer in his day job (Staking Facilities), so has broad technical knowledge.
- Non-Foundation Treasury Council Community Member Nominee: Jose Angarita
Has been an active participant in all the proposals received so far by seeking to understand the benefit, scope and use of the funds to be distributed in the various proposals, engaging in discussion with the members of the committee, posing questions and seeking clarifications from the teams of the proposals.
Speeding up the process, making updates of the proposals to the other members, to try to make sure that everything is done correctly and for the benefit of the community.
Long time Moonbeam telegram moderator, one of our original sr ambassadors, hard working, knowledgeable about the Moonbeam ecosystem, many of the features of the network, and protocols deployed to the ecosystem. Currently head of ambassadors for the spanish speaking community. His knowledge comes from answering thousands of questions about Moonbeam as a moderator.
- Non-Foundation Treasury Council Community Member Nominee: Marcelo Alvarenga
Long-time Moonbeam Senior Ambassador with deep ecosystem knowledge. Currently the lead ambassador of the Portuguese-speaking community. In that role, he has created educational content to help grow the Moonbeam community. Has also supported initiatives by minting NFTs (e.g Moonriver Quest NFTs and badges as proof of attendance for community events). Has been in the Treasury Council since inception, contributing in forum discussions, internal procedures, financial controlling, ideation, to cite a few. Has 4 years of professional experience in the regulated digital assets industry with additional experience in financial services.
- Foundation Treasury Council Community Member Nominee with Default Vote power: Aaron Evans
Director of the Moonbeam Foundation. Engineering Executive background. Has 20 years experience in software engineering and technical leadership roles. Has been working with Moonbeam and ecosystem projects since 2021.
- Foundation Treasury Council Community Member Nominee: Sicco Naets
Director of the Moonbeam Foundation. Software Engineering Leadership background. Has led teams implementing and designing complex software for over 20 years.
The Process
Phase 1: Submit MBTP Idea for discussion
- The MBTP Author, submits the MBTP Idea to Designated Treasury Discussion Forum for feedback from the community for at least five days
- MBTP Idea typically includes:
- Abstract - two or three sentences that summarize the MBTP.
- Motivation - a statement on why the Moonbeam Community via the Treasury Council should support the MBTP
- Project Overview and Team Experience - description of project and relevant team experience.
- Rationale - an explanation of how the MBTP would add value to the Moonbeam Ecosystem.
- Key Terms (optional) - definitions of any terms within the proposal that are unique to the MBTP.
- Overall Cost - the total cost of the MBTP and how this cost ties to the deliverables or milestones. Costs in USD should be converted to GLMR/MOVR using a 30 day TWAP (time weighted average price).
- Use of Treasury Funds - detailed explanation of use of Treasury Funds including deliverables/ milestones and timeline.
- Specifications - a detailed breakdown of the platforms and technologies that will be used.
- Steps to Implement -the steps to implement the MBTP, including associated costs, manpower, and other resources for each step where applicable.
Phase 2: Revise and finalize MBTP
- The MBTP Author will respond to comments and revise the MBTP Idea from Community feedback.
- The Council will comment on the MBTP Idea as well to give the MBTP Author feedback and indication on the changes needed for the MBTP to be more likely accepted by the Council
- After 5 days, the MBTP Author may proceed to Phase 3 and submit the MBTP but the MBTP Author is strongly encouraged to receive feedback from the Treasury Council Community Members before proceeding to Phase 3. Note there is no way for an MBTP Author to revoke a MBTP once submitted and MBTP Deposit is only returned to the MBTP Author if the Final MBTP is accepted.
Phase 3: Submit MBTP
- The MBTP Author will submit the MBTP via the Designated Treasury Voting Channel.
- To submit an MBTP, the MBTP Author will submit the MBTP Deposit, the text of the finalized MBTP and a link of the finalized MBTP Idea.
Phase 4: Treasury Council Review & Vote
- The Treasury Council will then review the MBTP submitted in the Designated Treasury Voting Channel and the comments and revisions from the MBTP Idea in the Designated Treasury Discussion Forum.
- To initiate a vote on a submitted MBTP, a motion for vote would need to be submitted by any Treasury Council Community Member who would vote to accept the MBTP. Before initiating the Treasury Motion, the Treasury Member should invite the MBTP Author to Administrative Review to ensure the funds can be disbursed to the MBTP if the MBTP is accepted. Once the Administrative Review is complete, the Treasury Council Community Member can create a Treasury Motion to accept or to reject the MBTP. - The threshold for accepting a MBTP is at least three-fifths of the Treasury Council. - The threshold for rejecting an MBTP is at least one-half of the Treasury Council
- Once the Treasury Council’s vote has concluded, at the end of three-days, the MBTP will become a Final MBTP which has either been accepted or rejected.
Phase 5: Implementation
- Accepted Final MBTPs will automatically be paid out at the end of the current Spend Period and the MBTP deposit will be returned to the MBTP Author
- Rejected Final MBTPs will not be implemented and the MBTP deposit will be contributed to the treasury.
Specifications
- Designated Treasury Discussion Forum(s) - The Moonbeam Community Forum will be used for the foreseeable future, but the Moonbeam Foundation should maintain a page that keeps an updated list of the Designated Discussion Forum(s) as the selection of options changes and evolves.
- Designated Treasury Voting Channel(s) - currently going to use Polkassembly for voting and submitting proposals, but the Moonbeam Foundation should maintain a page that keeps an updated list of the Designated Voting Channel(s) as the selection of options changes and evolves.
Steps to Implement
- Following the passage of the Referendum, the continuation of the program will not require any additional steps.
Timeline
The Interim Treasury Program Renewal should go into effect as soon as the existing Interim Treasury Program expires provided it has been voted on and accepted per the Moonbeam Governance process. As outlined in the Rationale section, this Interim Treasury Program Renewal is intended to run for slightly more than 6 months or until amended.
Overall Costs
- Non-Foundation Treasury Council Community Member compensation.
- Costs of the tech platforms that support the process (Designated Treasury Discussion Forum(s), Designated Treasury Voting Channel(s)
Key Terms
- Administrative Review - part of the process for a MBTP to be approved and conducted by the Treasury Council or designated service provider(s) selected by the Moonbeam Foundation.
- Designated Treasury Discussion Forum - forum to discuss MBTP Ideas in the first phase of the process; will use the Moonbeam Community Forum for the foreseeable future, but the Moonbeam Foundation should publish a page that keeps an updated list of the Designated Discussion Forum(s) as the selection of options changes and evolves.
- Designated Treasury Voting Channel(s) - platform for MBTP Author to submit MBTP for Treasury Council review; will currently be Polkassembly, but the Moonbeam Foundation should publish a page that keeps an updated list of the Designated Discussion Forum(s) as the selection of options changes.
- MBTP Idea - the first step in the process for creating a MBTP, which will be submitted to the community for informal feedback in the Designated Treasury Discussion Channel for a period of five days.
- Final MBTP - an MBTP that has completed the voting process. There are two subcategories here: Accepted and Rejected
- MBTP Author - any prospective Treasury spend recipient who champions the MBTP from its idea phase to submitting the MBTP for Council vote.
- MBTP Deposit - MBTP Author deposits the greater of a minimum of 100 GLMR or 5% of the requested amount to prevent frivolous or spam MBTPs. The MBTP Deposit amount is transferred to the treasury if the MBTP is rejected, or refunded if the MBTP is accepted.
- Moonbeam Treasury - on-chain GLMR address <0x6d6f646C70792f74727372790000000000000000> funded in part in genesis and through a portion of fees.
- Polkadot Treasury Wiki: https://wiki.polkadot.network/docs/learn-treasury
- Spend Period - a 6 day period between when accepted MBTPs are paid out.
- Treasury Council - 5-person community approved Council empowered to oversee Treasury spend by helping facilitate community feedback on MBTP Ideas, give their own feedback during the MBTP Idea phase and review and vote on MBTPs.
- Treasury Council Community Member - one of the five community members nominated in this Proposal to serve for the length of this Interim Treasury Program on the Treasury Council.
- Treasury Motion - A Treasury Motion to accept a MBTP made by one Treasury Council Community Member which will last for 3 days for the vote to meet the three-out-of-five threshold to accept or the one-out-of-two threshold to fail.
- So it is definitely important to keep the Treasury Program on Moonriver.