Version 2.5.2
The BanklessDAO Constitution is a living yet lasting record of the DAO’s purpose, values, and decision-making processes. BanklessDAO is greater than the sum of its parts, and as such the Constitution serves our community as the agreed set of standard procedures by which the DAO as a whole will operate, while also recognizing the sovereignty of DAO organizational units.
Like our community itself, the Constitution will always be a work in progress. As the community changes, so too should the manifestation of those changes in daily DAO life be captured and reflected in this document.
Every word has been added as part of the governance processes detailed below, and every word can be changed using those same processes. We hope that this leads to a resilient and inclusive method of coordination, worthy of the decentralized ethos.
BanklessDAO was founded by David Hoffman and Ryan Sean Adams on May 4, 2021, when they airdropped BANK tokens to each Bankless Premium Subscriber. While their media company, BanklessHQ, continues to operate as its own media node, the Bankless message is spread by the DAO and its members.
Details about the DAO’s formation and the Genesis Proposal, which proposed allocation of BANK tokens to BanklessHQ and Genesis members, were posted to the BanklessDAO Medium platform.
Bankless is a movement for pioneers seeking liberation from the tyranny of the traditional financial system. Going Bankless means adopting decentralized, permissionless, and censorship-resistant technology. Through these means, we will achieve financial self-sovereignty, security, and prosperity.
We seek new ways to build wealth, solve human coordination problems, create culture, and develop cutting-edge thought-leadership in the crypto space.
BanklessDAO is a community that acts as a steward of the Bankless movement, progressing the world towards a future of greater freedom.
We will help the world go Bankless by creating user-friendly onramps for people to discover decentralized financial technologies through education, media, and culture. We create pathways for people to discover, use, learn, and enjoy the benefits of web3.
Our vision is to live in a world where anyone with an internet connection has access to the financial tools needed to achieve financial independence.
We learn from each other. We seek to become a trusted guide that empowers people all over the globe to adopt decentralized finance by sharing accurate, truthful, and objective information.
We operate transparently and build trust through radically public discourse and financial auditability.
We put decision-making into the hands of the collective. We create legitimacy through an environment where the best ideas win.
We reward action and embrace risk. We empower our community to continually drive new initiatives by providing a space to self-organize and quickly move from idea to action.
Any person who holds BANK tokens in an ETH wallet may vote on BanklessDAO Snapshot proposals. It is necessary to join the BanklessDAO Discord to access further community infrastructure.
Discord membership levels are assigned using role tags. While these roles may grant owners certain access and admin privileges, they do not constitute a hierarchical system granting authority over others. They are social signals designed to aid in communication and coordination.
Guests are designated by their “Guest Pass” role tag. After completing an onboarding process, Guest Pass holders are granted 14 days to investigate, participate, and test the community waters. Individuals who desire to move beyond the guest status do so by confirming that they hold the required amount of BANK for Level 1 Membership.
Level 1 Members (L1) are those who have accumulated the requisite 35,000 BANK and are authenticated as such in the Discord server. DAO Members that mint the preset tlBANK will also be given L1 Membership with the included benefits. Only the tlBANK minting address receives the L1 access.
Level 2 Contributors (L2) are verified L1 Members who have also earned special recognition from their peers as valuable and committed members of the DAO. L2 members are expected to be actively interested and engaged in governance and the overall health of the DAO community. Promotion to L2 status occurs through the following process:
- Any Level 1 Member can nominate a Level 1 Member to become a Level 2 Contributor in the "hype-and-recognition" Discord channel. A Member may not nominate themselves.
- A Level 2 Contributor must second the nomination for it to proceed to a vote.
- A 7-day poll will take place in the Discord “polls” channel to vote on whether to make the Member a Contributor. All verified Discord roles may vote.
- The poll must include the following information:
- Nominee:
- Nominator:
- Seconded By:
- Reasons for Nomination:
Level 3 Whales (L3) are verified L1 Members who hold more than 150k BANK. This membership level grants members access to additional Discord channels.
Level 4 Liquidity Providers (L4) are verified L1 Members who have provided liquidity for the ETH/BANK pair, representing at least 150k BANK and its equivalent pairing of ETH. This membership level grants members access to additional Discord channels.
The DAO is a network of self-sovereign organizational units united by our shared mission, vision, and values. These units possess their own multi-signature wallets and have their own governance processes. The following sections provide detail on the creation and operation of key organizational units.
Departments are the essential operational units of BanklessDAO. Within a Department there may be several related work streams. New Departments may be created and seek funding via the proposal framework (Section 6.2).
Guilds are focused on onboarding, education, and community building. New Guilds may be created and seek funding via the proposal framework (Section 6.2).
Projects may share revenue, products, or services with the DAO and its members. Any DAO community member can start a project. Projects may seek funding via the proposal framework (Section 6.2). Each funded project must nominate a project champion who is responsible to report and account for that project's status and expenditures.
The BanklessDAO Vault multi-signature wallet (vault multisig) is the holder of DAO funds, and disburses BANK to DAO Organizational Units. It is managed by a team of seven BanklessDAO members, and requires four of the seven members to sign in order for any transaction to be executed.
Vault multisig signers have the following rights and responsibilities:
| Rights (can do) | Responsibilities (must do) |
|---|---|
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To be considered for selection and to retain the role, vault multisig signers must meet the following criteria:
- Recognition as a Level 2 Contributor of BanklessDAO.
- Active membership of BanklessDAO for at least one year.
- A previously held leadership position in the DAO (equivalent to Guild Coordinator, Project Champion, Grants Committee)
- Experience as a signer on a multi-signature wallet.
- Current knowledge of BanklessDAO’s governance procedures.
Elections have the following procedure:
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To kick off an election, any BanklessDAO member can post a formal proposal to check the level of support to hold a vault multisig signer election. This proposal must have a poll which passes the Minor quorum thresholds.
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When the formal proposal reaches quorum, the member may then post a Forum post to gather candidates. In this post, candidates must provide evidence that they meet the eligibility requirements. This proposal must stay up for at least one week.
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After one week, the veracity of each candidate’s eligibility evidence must be validated by the member who posted the proposal. This member will then post the final candidate list in a comment on the proposal.
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The current vault multisig signers must then post a token-weighted poll on Snapshot with the list of candidates specified above as well as a list of the current vault multisig signers as options (barring any signer who wishes to step away from the role). This poll must stay open for at least one week.
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The seven candidates with the highest proportion of support will become the new vault multisig signers. The current signers must take the steps to add/remove members as needed to ensure the group of vault multisig signers reflects the will of the DAO.
Vault multisig signers can be removed if:
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a vault multisig signer has violated any of the mandated responsibilities.
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any member in the DAO gathers consensus via Forum on the no-confidence state of a vault multisig signer or the vault multisig signers as a whole.
There is no term limit for vault multisig signers, however continuation in the role is subject to the community vote.
This Committee is responsible for vetting all funding proposals and ensuring funded organizational units provide ongoing transparency. Grants Committee distributes all project funding from a multisig which operates with all committee members as signers.
The Committee has a quorum with five members but is otherwise responsible for its own operations. The Grants Committee is required to be transparent and communicative with the DAO; their meetings should be accessible to DAO members and give organizational units an opportunity to provide feedback.
The Committee will elect two Leads from within the group who are responsible for the efficient operation of the Committee.
The Grants Committee Multisig receives funds from the BanklessDAO vault multisig and disburses these funds in accordance with approved Grant Proposals. The Grants Committee requires at least four signers to execute a transaction from the Grants Committee multisig, with all members of the Grants Committee as designated signers.
Committee members serve a 2-season term and can resign at any time. When there are vacancies on the Grants Committee, an election will be held. The Committee will initiate an election via Forum post; any Level 1 Member may self-nominate by replying to the Forum post with the following information:
- Discord handle
- Reason for applying
- Qualifications
- Sponsor(s) (i.e. someone who will second your nomination)
The nomination period will remain open for one week. Following this, BANK token holders elect Committee members through a token-weighted Snapshot vote. The candidate with the highest number of votes will fill a vacant position first, followed by the candidate with the next highest votes if another position is vacant, and so on.
Any unelected candidate can resubmit for future vacancies. Committee members can be removed with a Snapshot vote which reaches ≥51% approval. Committee members can leave the Committee at any time by submitting a written resignation to the Committee.
The Committee cannot change the application process to be a Committee member without a Snapshot vote.
BanklessDAO operates with a cadence of three seasons per year and aligns most activity to seasons.
Seasons are funding cycles (each set at 16 weeks) which are intended to align the DAO’s collective energy. Between seasons, the DAO schedules designated ‘Gap Weeks’ and an ‘Annual Break’ in order to respect the need for contributors to rest. Teams within the DAO will have the ability to plan for budgeting and operational needs for these periods and may decide for themselves which activities should continue through breaks, if any.
BanklessDAO coordinates around Universal Coordinated Time (UTC). Wherever possible, meeting and event times are expressed in this timezone.
At BanklessDAO, decisions are made through a collaborative, iterative process. Members can introduce and pass proposals with DAO support. These proposals usually go through cycles of consensus and improvement, growing the support base with each iteration.
The process of gaining initial consensus typically begins with discussions and polls between a few people in Discord channels. Members can then introduce a temp check or proposal on the DAO Forum to gather additional support, and may adjust the proposal based on feedback. Grant and Governance Proposals each have defined quorum and approval thresholds and when these are met, the proposal may be moved to Snapshot to be voted on by BANK token holders.
This Constitution concerns DAO-wide governance. DAO organizational units have their own governance policies and procedures which are beyond the scope of this Constitution.
There are three types of proposals:
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Grant Proposals request DAO treasury (vault) resources.
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Governance Proposals request changes to the BanklessDAO Constitution.
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General Proposals do not involve either a request for funding or a change to the Constitution. They include but are not limited to signaling proposals (e.g. seasonal specifications), in-kind partnerships, and co-branding agreements.
All proposals must be posted on the BanklessDAO Forum under the appropriate category. To maximize transparency, proposal authors may also respond to comments on the Forum and hold a roundtable at Community Calls to discuss the details.
Forum proposal votes are one vote per user and are not token weighted.
The appropriate Grant Proposal template must be used to request funds via the Grants Committee and posted under the Grants/Funding category on the Forum.
Grant Proposals must meet the quorum requirements set by the Grants Committee (available in Notion), which may be adjusted seasonally at their discretion.
The bDIP template is used to propose changes to the Constitution and the proposal is then posted to the Governance category.
There are three levels of Constitutional change.
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Major: there is a change in rights, responsibilities, or procedures.
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Minor: there is a change to the wording for clarification purposes only; there is no change in rights, responsibilities, or procedures.
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Patch: wording changes to correct typographical errors.
Governance Proposals must meet the quorum requirements listed below.
| Constitutional Change Level | Forum Quorum | Approval % | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Major | 30-day Average + (0.2 x 30-day Average) | 70% | 1 week |
| Minor | 30-day Average | 70% | 1 week |
| Patch | 30-day Average - (0.2 x 30-day Average) | 70% | 1 week |
- All Forum quorum calculations are rounded to the nearest whole number
- Any poll which has been live for at least 7 days will be used to calculate the quorum threshold.
- If a Forum post includes more than one poll, each poll should be considered a separate datapoint
- 30-day Average formula = Sum of votes / number of independent polls
- The Governance Department is responsible for updating the quorum thresholds at the beginning of each month via a Forum post. bDIP proposers should refer to the latest available forum update for the appropriate quorum requirement
General Proposals should still seek soft consensus through Discord discussions and polls before being posted to the BanklessDAO Forum under the General category.
Some proposals may progress to a token-weighted Snapshot vote.
Snapshot proposals run for seven days and require ≥66% approval (with the exception of those initiated to remove a Grants Committee member as per Section 4.6.4).
For approved Grant Proposals, BanklessDAO vault multisig signers will be prompted to initiate the required transaction/s.
For approved Governance Proposals (bDIPs), the Governance Department will be prompted to update the Constitution.
Funds are released from the BanklessDAO Vault through seasonal budgets or grants.
Before new seasons begin, all previously funded DAO organizational units must submit a funding proposal to the Forum for the Grants Committee to review.
Every seasonal funding proposal for previously funded units must describe progress made during the current season as well as plans for the next season.
The Grants Committee has the discretion to approve or deny seasonal funding proposals. Seasonal funding proposals that pass the Grants Committee review process are packaged together in a single seasonal budget Snapshot vote. If this budget is approved then the BanklessDAO Vault multisig signers are responsible for issuing disbursements in line with the approved budget.
Guild funding proposals must include a list of active members and a record of member activity. All active member calculations will be reviewed by the Grants Committee.
Department funding proposals must include a detailed accounting from the current season and a detailed budget for the next season.
Project funding proposals must include a detailed budget for the next season and a thorough description of actions taken to meet KPIs.
Groups seeking funding for the first time or outside the seasonal budgeting process will be directed to the Grants Committee upon successfully passing their Forum proposal as per Section 6.2. The Grants Committee is responsible for evaluating these funding proposals and has the liberty to approve or deny the requests.
BanklessDAO does not dictate how DAO organizational units distribute their funds but expects that the membership benefit or expected utility is being realized to the community.
Every member of the BanklessDAO community is expected to treat others with respect and dignity. We are a globally distributed community representing numerous cultures, languages, and time zones. It's our highest priority to provide a positive and inclusive web3 experience for all.
To this end, we encourage community members to discuss conflict between themselves as the first step. If this does not resolve the matter we encourage team champions or guild coordinators to help resolve the conflict. If this still doesn't resolve the matter, parties are encouraged to approach the Ombuds Office to help resolve the dispute. Our unity and internal cohesion are essential prerequisites to accomplishing our mission.