Hello SSV Community! The following is an updated voting policy for the Core team. This policy aims to place more decision-making power into the hands of the protocol’s stewards, its community, and DAO.
Core Team Voting Policy
The Core Team has always strived to do what is best for the community, the DAO, and the ssv.network. With this in mind, during the CDT to SSV token upgrade, the Core Team outlined its voting policy in its blog post with the aim of promoting transparency, decentralization, and trust in the ssv.network.
Today, the Core Team wants to be one of the first, if not the first, in the industry to limit its influence on any decision-making process in the ssv.network DAO and protocol. With this, the Core Team will improve on the initial voting policy so that the community can have an even greater role and impact on the development of the ssv.network and the governance of the SSV DAO. Additionally, for alignment and clarity, this Voting Policy adopts the “Total Supply” terminology used in the recent proposal for the new quorum calculation.
Voting Mechanism
In order for the Core Team to vote with its SSV tokens, the Core Team will first look at the current total supply of SSV tokens. Once the Core Team has determined the total supply of SSV tokens, the Core Team will determine the amount of tokens that have voted for a specific proposal. The Core Team will vote with up to 25,000 SSV for each 0.5% of the total token supply (excluding any Core Team tokens) that has voted for a specific proposal. The 0.5% of total voted supply also does not include any tokens that have been used by Empowered Community Members to vote.
For example, if 2% of the total SSV token supply has voted, the Core Team can vote with up to 100,000 SSV tokens.
The percent of the total supply of SSV that has voted during the voting procedure will be determined by the Core Team at the time when the Core Team casts its votes, after which any votes cast by token holders will not be counted towards the determination of the total supply of SSV that has voted.
Community Empowerment
In the Core Team’s strive for decentralization, it is looking for dedicated DAO members who have proven to be valuable members of the ssv.network community so that they can be empowered to independently make decisions that they see as necessary for a better SSV.network and DAO (hereinafter: “Empowered Community Member”).
The Core Team seeks to limit its weight in the decision-making of the ssv.network community and the DAO through Community Empowerment and Empowered Community Members. This program will further diminish the Core Team’s influence on any ssv.network-related process or proposal. More to the point, the Voting Policy, in conjunction with the Community Empowerment program, attests to this commitment by the Core Team. One of the ways that community members can be empowered is through voting. The community members empowered by the Core Team will be free to vote however they see fit, with no ability of control or rescinding by the Core Team, subject to the terms herein.
The Core Team will use a neutral and objective way and tools of measuring different metrics and statistics relating to engagement with the ssv.network project and community. One of the current tools, the ssv.network DAO has adopted that is neutral and objective, which the Core Team will be using is Karma. The data and results will be implemented so that the Core Team will be neutral in determining which community members will be empowered, subject to the Exclusion List found below. All of this is done so that these members can have a meaningful, substantial, and independent role in all aspects of the DAO and ssv.network.
Starting on October 1, 2023, 10:00 AM GMT, and every three months afterwards, the Core Team will check the Community Empowerment dashboard for the 10 highest-ranking community members. Each will receive 30,000 delegated ssv tokens, thus granting them the ability to submit proposals to the DAO and vote on any pending proposal.
Once the transaction for the empowerment of a community member has been executed, the selected community member will be empowered until the start of the next three-month term (hereinafter: “Empowerment Term”).
Nonetheless, members of a ssv.network DAO committee or body, or anyone engaged by the DAO as a contributor (hereinafter: “Prominent Community Member”) will receive only 5,000 delegated SSV tokens. This limitation is set in the spirit of decentralization since those members already possess substantial influence over the ssv.network DAO and protocol. This means the remaining 25,000 tokens will be delegated to the next highest-ranking members on the dashboard.
Once a community member has been empowered, replaced, resigned, or received a consecutive term, the Core Team will announce such transitions on a platform publicly available to the community.
The following conditions shall bar an individual or an entity from becoming an Empowered Community Member or maintaining this status (hereinafter: “Exclusion List”):
- Losing access to or control over the delegated tokens for any reason whatsoever;
- A person or entity designated by a competent authority, in any relevant jurisdiction or under applicable law, to be limited or forbidden to interact with;
- Upon a request to be relieved of their delegation duties;
- Run afoul of the DAO constitution or a DAO decision;
- Consecutive Terms: A Prominent Community Member who has completed their Empowerment Term as an Empowered Community Member. The Prominent Community Member can be empowered after the expiration of three months from their previous empowerment.
- A member of the Core Team or a person engaged by the Core Team;
- By causing damage to the Core Team or the DAO or their interests;
- Refusal to be identified in accordance with the policy applicable at the time of empowerment.
The Core Team has the sole discretion to determine whether an individual or entity meets or does not meet the conditions listed in the Exclusion List.
While the crypto industry might be abundant with anonymity and the value of the same, for its community empowerment, the Core Team is looking to people who are prepared to own their decisions and be accountable for their actions to the community. These members may be expected to provide a certain level of identification to the Core Team and take the commitment to community empowerment seriously.
Any of the 10 highest-ranking members who cannot or are barred from becoming an Empowered Community Member at the beginning of an Empowerment Term for any reason whatsoever will be skipped, and the next highest-ranking member will be empowered instead.
If an Empowered Community Member, for any reason whatsoever, cannot become or can no longer be an Empowered Community Member, the Core Team will take away the delegated tokens from such a community member. No substitute will be empowered for the remainder of the Empowerment Term.
The Core Team would like to note that the Community Empowerment program and any community member that may be empowered, does not gain or assert any right, claim, or privilege to the underlying assets, keys, access, or otherwise. By virtue of a community member becoming an Empowered Community Member, the community member agrees and consents to the terms and conditions outlined in this Community Empowerment program. If, for whatever reason, the Core Team decides to remove a member from the Community Empowerment program and disempower them, the Empowered Community member will have no claim to the voting rights they have been empowered with.
