DAO governance

Cross.social DAO Governance

The Cross.social community governs itself through the Cross.social DAO, a decentralized governance framework that supports the Ecosystem Fund. The DAO follows a proposal process to vote on the distribution of the Ecosystem Fund, aiming to achieve a self-sustaining ecosystem.

This governance guide is an overview of the proposal process. It is a living document that will evolve and improve with the input of the DAO community.

Membership

To participate in idea submission, commentary, proposal submission, and voting, one must be a Cross.social DAO member. Holding and staking at least one DAO token of Cross.social is the only requirement for DAO membership.

Communication Channels

The Cross.social website serves as the DAO hub, providing an interface for DAO members to learn about the governance process and access various channels to streamline DAO operations and enhance its utility.

Discourse is the first step for all proposals, where an Improvement Proposal (IP) Idea is submitted as a post. The idea must receive moderator confirmation, ensuring compliance with DAO-approved guidelines before appearing to the community. DAO token holders must authenticate their wallets to post ideas or provide feedback through comments.

Quorum requirements

Quorum refers to the minimum number of staked tokens voting on a proposal required for the IP to be considered valid. Voter participation must be a minimum of 30% of the total staked DAO tokens pool.

Proposal threshold

The proposal threshold is the minimum number of tokens required to submit an IP for DAO community consideration. This threshold helps avoid spam IP submissions and safeguards the DAO community.

A minimum of 1,000,000 staked DAO tokens is required to submit an IP.

Validators

Validators are DAO community members who have staked a significant number of DAO tokens and are heavily invested in the prosperous future of the Cross.social project and its community. Anyone can become a validator, with the only requirement being staking a substantial amount of DAO tokens.

The DAO community relies on 90 validators, who stake the most DAO tokens. The lowest stake value dictates the threshold for becoming a validator.

Validators must stay updated on all Cross.social news, remain active in DAO community decision-making, and seek opportunities to advance Cross.social.

Validators should thoroughly consider each proposal and "Veto" submissions that do not benefit the project and its community.

Governance starts with an idea

Governance begins with an idea. An idea for a proposal is submitted as a post in the "Ideas" category of the Cross.social DAO HUB website and must receive moderator confirmation, ensuring compliance with DAO-approved guidelines before appearing to the community.

More information on Proposal phase you can find here.

Proposal Process

Proposal Categories

IPs (Initiative Proposals) can be classified into three main categories: Core, Process, and Informational. Core proposals have two subcategories: Brand Decision and Ecosystem Fund Allocation. Resubmitted proposals must be classified accordingly.

Core IP:

  1. Core: Ecosystem Fund Allocation

    • Proposals for how DAO funds should be utilized.

  2. Core: Ecosystem Fund Allocation (Resubmission)

    • Resubmitted proposals for how DAO funds should be utilized.

  3. Core: Brand Decision

    • Proposals for anything the DAO attaches its name to, including projects and collaborations.

  4. Core: Brand Decision (Resubmission)

    • Resubmitted proposals for anything the DAO attaches its name to, including projects and collaborations.

Process IP:

  1. Process

    • Proposals for making a change to a process or implementation. Examples include procedures, guidelines, changes to the decision-making process, and changes to the tools or environment of the DAO or Foundation.

  2. Process (Resubmission)

    • Resubmitted proposals for making a change to a process or implementation. Examples include procedures, guidelines, changes to the decision-making process, and changes to the tools or environment of the DAO or Foundation.

Informational IP:

  1. Informational

    • Proposals for general guidelines or information for the community.

  2. Informational (Resubmission)

    • Resubmitted proposals for general guidelines or information for the community.

Proposal Template

When creating a proposal, it should typically include the following sections:

  1. Abstract

    • Two or three sentences that summarize the proposal.

  2. Motivation

    • A statement on why the Cross.Social Community should implement the proposal.

  3. Rationale

    • An explanation of how the proposal aligns with the Cross.social Community’s mission and guiding values.

  4. Key Terms (optional)

    • Definitions of any terms within the proposal that are unique to the proposal, new to the Cross.social Community, and/or industry-specific.

  5. Specifications

    • A detailed breakdown of the platforms and technologies that will be used.

  6. Steps to Implement

    • The steps to implement the proposal, including associated costs, manpower, and other resources for each step where applicable.

  7. Timeline

    • Relevant timing details, including but not limited to start date, milestones, and completion dates.

  8. Overall Cost

    • The total cost to implement the proposal.

For resubmitted proposals that did not make it through the respective approval process, also include:

  1. Link to original proposal

  2. Reason it was not approved

  3. Changes that have been made and why it should now be approved

The author can add additional fields to any template if necessary to fully communicate the intentions, specifics, and implications of the IP Draft or resubmitted IP Draft.

Proposal Phases

Phase 1: IP Idea

  • Submit an IP Idea in the "Ideas" category of Cross.social DAO HUB.

  • Idea must be confirmed by a moderator to comply with DAO-approved guidelines.

Phase 2: IP Draft

  • After a seven-day feedback window, the author fills out the proposal template with feedback from the "Ideas" phase.

  • The IP Draft must address any issues raised by the moderator within 30 days or face rejection.

Phase 3: IP Analysis Report

  • Project management team reviews the IP Draft and provides an IP Analysis Report.

Phase 4: IP Moderation

  • Moderators review the IP Draft + Analysis Report Package and either approve or reject it based on DAO-approved guidelines.

Phase 5: Post-Moderation Tagging

  • Approved Pending IPs are tagged as "Straight to Vote" or "Needs Administrative Review."

  • The “Straight to Vote” tag is given to a pending IP whose costs, content, and implications are considered straightforward and of no risk to the well-being of the DAO. Any Pending IP that is tagged as “Straight to Vote” will skip to Phase 7.

  • The “Needs Administrative Review” tag is given to a pending IP whose costs, content, or implications are considered complicated or a potential risk to the well-being of the DAO. Any Pending IP that is tagged as “Needs Administrative Review” must go through Phase 6.

Phase 6: Administrative Review

  • "Needs Administrative Review" tagged IPs go through a review by the Board, which may require further clarification or action.

  • “Return for Clarification” or “Return for Reconstruction.”

Reasons to tag as “Return for Clarification” may include but are not limited to:

  • Cost to implement unclear/not able to be calculated,

  • Would use more than 5% of the DAO treasury,

  • Conflicts with another proposal.

Phase 7: Live IP

  • Approved IPs become Live and are published for voting by the DAO token holders on the Cross.social platform.

Phase 8: Final IP

  • Based on voting results, Live IPs are moved to Rejected or Accepted Final IP categories.

Phase 9: Implementation

  • Accepted Final IPs begin implementation based on the steps outlined in the IP template. The project management team oversees the implementation process.

Proposal Conflicts

If a proposed idea conflicts with an ongoing vote, the second proposal should wait until the decision is made on the first proposal.

A proposal that directly conflicts with an approved proposal must wait for three months after the original proposal's implementation before it can be voted on. This prevents wasting community assets.

Voting

The Cross.social token DAO's voting mechanism is designed to be fair, transparent, and low-cost, enabling all Cross.social token holders to participate in the decision-making process.

Voting Mechanism

Cross.social provides an internal voting system for users who have staked DAO tokens. This voting system adheres to three main principles:

  1. Does not require gas payment

  2. Ensures transparency

  3. Expands governance participation to all holders of Cross.social tokens

Voting Process

  • Moderators post IPs after ensuring they have gone through the correct approvals process.

  • New IPs are posted every Monday at 11 AM (GMT+3), and a six-day voting window begins.

  • DAO members vote on the Cross.social internal DAO platform.

Quadratic voting

Cross.social uses a quadratic voting (QV) system for DAO governance. This system empowers the community by allowing members to express their preferences for certain choices over others while balancing voting power against whales and making voting more democratic.

In the quadratic voting system integrated into Cross.social DAO:

  • A "budget" of votes is allocated to every user who has staked DAO tokens.

  • Users decide how to "spend" their votes.

  • When counting the votes, a formula of cost to the voter = (number of votes)2 is used to calculate how many votes every option received.

More information about the concept of a quadratic voting system can be found here.

Voting options

There are four options when voting for a Live IP:

  1. "In favor” - Voting “In favor” means the voter is in favor of implementing the IP exactly as-is.

  2. “Against” - Voting “Against” means the vote is against implementing the IP exactly as-is. DAO members might want to vote “Against” to encourage the author to resubmit the proposal.

  3. "No with veto" - indicates stronger opposition to the proposal than simply voting 'No'. If the number of "No with veto" votes is greater than a third of total votes excluding 'Abstain' votes, the proposal is rejected.

  4. "Abstain" - indicates that the voter is impartial to the outcome of the proposal.

If a submission receives at least 33,4% vote of "No with veto", it is considered to be invalid.

Voting results

An Initiative Proposal (IP) passes if it meets three conditions:

  1. Quorum is met: at least 30% of all staked DAO tokens vote.

  2. "No with veto" votes are less than 33.4% of the total vote.

  3. More votes are "In favor" of the proposal than "Against".

The proposal is accepted and will be implemented if these conditions are met. The proposal is automatically implemented by the proposal handler or in some cases by the Cross.social team.

Voting Delegation

DAO members have the ability to delegate their vote.

  1. DAO members can delegate their vote to another DAO member whom they consider a trusted subject matter expert.

  2. Voting delegation is the mechanism by which DAO members with tokens under initial lock-up will be able to vote.

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