SSV Network DAO

SSV DAO

Introduction

ssv.network’s core mission is to offer a decentralized and secure ETH staking infrastructure. The SSV DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) decentralizes ownership and governance of the SSV protocol and treasury. SSV token is the native token, allowing users to vote on decisions affecting the network.

SSV is an open-source, community-driven protocol that allows for the distributed operation of an Ethereum validator. It started as a research project intended to solve the limitations and issues in the current Ethereum staking ecosystem. It now exists as a fully-functional protocol running on our testnet.

ETH Staking Issues

ETH staking is currently concentrated in the hands of a limited number of service providers and validator clients, resulting in network centralization. In addition, a validator’s key must remain online to receive rewards and avoid penalties. However, strict Ethereum protocol rules prohibit running the same validator key on different validator clients, presenting security and redundancy challenges. SSV makes ETH staking easier and more accessible by offering a turnkey solution using a variety of validator operators , clients, and configurations. ssv.network is a decentralized staking infrastructure that provides stakers with high levels of validator performance, security, and fault tolerance.

Why a DAO?

Decentralized governance is the natural extension of a decentralized protocol. SSV introduces a more decentralized and secure ETH staking infrastructure. The protocol permits any person or entity to become an operator and receive rewards for running validators on behalf of stakers. To ensure that decisions are made in the network’s best interest, only SSV Network users can vote. A DAO:

  • Provides the best way to coordinate between different parties in the ecosystem.
  • Allows the community to openly discuss and vote on protocol and network decisions.
  • Sets fair network fees.
  • Decides fairly on treasury allocation and use.

The only viable path forward for ETH staking is decentralization with zero usability compromises. SSV technology, in combination with strong community governance, offers exactly that.

Roles and Responsibilities of a DAO Member

DAO members define the initial parameters of the SSV DAO and propose and vote on new initiatives, protocol changes, fees, and treasury-related items. Other responsibilities include:

  1. Setting and adjusting protocol fees – the percentage (%) of fees the DAO is entitled to receive.
  2. Operator supervision – voting negligent operators out of the network.
  3. Treasury decisions – DAO’s use of accumulated fees for grants and other growth opportunities.
  4. Roadmap and protocol improvement-related decisions.

DAO – Native Token Symbiotics

SSV token, the native token of ssv.network, will comprise most of the DAO’s treasury assets. As more people stake ETH using ssv.network, more income from network fees will be generated for the DAO in the form of $SSV. Therefore, to maximize income for the DAO, members will need to contribute to:

  • Protocol development and decisions.
  • Determining protocol fees.
  • Supervising operator activity.
  • Assisting with growing the ecosystem (amount of ETH at stake, # of operators, DAO members).

The treasury is used to fund projects that will grow the SSV protocol and ecosystem:

  • Grants for protocol development and building on top of ssv.network.
  • Sharing revenue with SSV users.
  • Decentralized (D-Marketing) marketing and community incentives.
  • Token swaps for treasury diversification.

Multi-Sig Committee

The DAO Multi-Sig Committee members are the gatekeepers of ssv.network. The committee’s main responsibilities are to:

  • Ensure transactions approved by the DAO are executed.
  • Exercise veto power over proposals they determine are poorly drafted or not in the network’s best interest.
  • Reject ‘high-risk’ operators for the protection of SSV protocol users.
  • Force malicious or negligent operators to exit the network (i.e., operators that do not perform their duties or have low performance rates over time).

Multi-Sig Committee Members

At the current time, the Multi-Sig Committee members are:

  • Lakshman Sankar (Ecosystem Development and Research, Ethereum Foundation)
  • Preston Van Loon (Co-founder at Prysmatic labs)
  • Thorsten Behrens aka “Yorick” (CEO CryptoManufaktur)
  • Sam Clarkson (Sneaky.vc)
  • Tim Beiko (Protocol Support, Ethereum Foundation)
  • Bitfly (/beaconcha.in)
  • Blox (/bloxstaking)

Proposals, Grants, and Voting

  1. A proposal or grant request should start its life as a discussion on the ssv.network forum to introduce the idea to the community and see if it gains traction. However, anyone with 100 SSV tokens can submit a request using the template on the forum. The community must start voting on a proposal within one month of its submission.
  2. Voting happens on snapshot, an off-chain voting dApp developed by Balancer 5. A vote on a proposal lasts seven days, requiring a majority of positive votes. SSV token is used to vote on all network decisions, with the amount of $SSV in a user’s wallet determining their voting power.
  3. A minimum quorum requires 5% of the circulating SSV supply, based on the amount of CDT converted to SSV and newly minted SSV tokens. The date and time a vote has ended is called the “vote expiry.”
  4. Execution of any passed vote is done in coordination with the Multi-Sig Committee according to the proposal’s specifications. Implementation will occur within 60 days of the vote expiry.

Grant Applications

If you are interested in growing ssv.network by building applications on top of it, we encourage you to apply for grant funding.

Grant Types:

  • Dashboard development – building on top of the SSV protocol
  • Integrations – connection to other protocols and blockchains
  • Community building – social engagement & promotion
  • Localization – integrating communities and languages
  • dapp development
  • Liquidity tokens

Grants approved by the DAO:

Decentralized Marketing (D-Marketing)

In addition to decentralizing staking, ssv.network wants to decentralize the ownership of marketing efforts. However, this is easier said than done. The big question is – can a group of ‘unknown’ individuals in a decentralized marketing machine outperform a group of people trained for the job? We believe that while they might not be able to initially, the final result will better represent the community behind it. And in the long run, we believe an incentivized community will be the outcome.

But, how do you find the right people to hand such an important job to? When you build a community (Discord, Telegram or otherwise), a few dominant, well-respected users stand out from the crowd after some time passes. These selected few (ambassadors) understand the project’s vision and represent the community as their unofficial representatives.

However, there must be an autonomous, properly funded incentivization mechanism to make them official representatives. Currently, resources are being allocated periodically to the ambassadors to manage relative to our D-Marketing efforts. Think of it as a multi-sig committee or a grants program for marketing.

How is it working out? In short, it’s been great! The ambassadors are leading the program, and D-Marketing is starting to take shape.

Some notable D-Marketing activity:

To keep things transparent, we created a Shared Activity Board where the most critical tasks and initiatives are listed and updated. Anyone can submit a request here, and the ambassadors will add it to the task list. Ambassadors can execute tasks in 3 ways:

  • DIY — An ambassador or community member completes the task.
  • Delegated Bounty programs — Ambassadors decide on the prioritization and monitor the allocation of the bounty.
  • Delegated Contracting / Tender — Long-term provider (i.e., influencer, newsletter, sponsorship), decided, prioritized, and governed by the ambassadors.

Join the D-Marketing Cause

ssv.network is your community, so you call the shots. We invite you to help shape the program’s functionality, scope, and incentivization program. Join and make a difference!

Read more about D-Marketing here: Phase I, Phase II