From Vision to Reality: SSV DAO’s Historic Step Toward Making DVT a Community-Owned Public Good

Like many other industry-leading public goods in the blockchain space, governance is decentralized through the community and elected representatives. The ssv.network has long strived to embody this ethos, step by step, democratizing access to secure, efficient, and reusable DVT infrastructure.

At a high level, this blog post will look at the steps the SSV DAO has taken toward this goal, how [DIP-2] Multi-Sig Committee is a major milestone in this mission, why it’s important, and where the SSV DAO goes from here. Don’t forget to join Mainnet Call #3 for everything you need to know about the second last stage in the mainnet rollout, the Launch phase.

TL;DR

• Becoming a fully decentralized & community owned protocol
• Why [DIP-2] Multi-Sig Committee is important
• The next moves for the SSV DAO

Understanding the Significance of the Multi-Sig Committee in Decentralization

Since day 1, the ssv.network was developed with a vision and purpose in mind. It all boils down to becoming the layer that helps secure and decentralize Ethereum’s PoS consensus & distribute that power into the hands of the community. Now that the mainnet launch is well in motion, it is truly exciting to see this vision become a reality.

The approval of the DIP-11 Mainnet Proposal marks another historic day — full control over the network’s smart contracts has been transferred to the SSV DAO Multi-Sig address.

The Journey to a Fully Decentralized Protocol

The ssv.network DAO was established two years ago. Since its inception, the DAO has managed to self-organize and lead strategic projects on behalf of the community, such as the DAO partner program, contributor on-boarding, and various vital committees.

This was essential in becoming a community-owned public good in the ETH staking space. After years of public testnets and ecosystem building, the protocol has arrived at the mainnet rollout — a significant milestone to a fully permissionless DVT protocol.

During this vital phase, the SSV DAO reformed the grants program and grants committee, allowing them to choose the Mainnet Verified Operators and Mainnet Launch Partners (which will be whitelisted by the multi-sig on the 14th of September) for the ssv.network Mainnet Launch by a simple majority vote.

Another vital committee that was established was the Multi-sig Committee. It acts as the safe keeper of the DAO’s treasury and provides a layer of security when executing votes made by the community. The SSV DAO recently passed a vote to put more governance power into the hands of the SSV DAO multi-sig and give it control over the ssv.network smart contracts instead of having a single point of failure. This transition is tangible proof of the ssv.network evolving into a community-driven enterprise. For a closer look, you can see the transactions here and here.

By looking at the proposals in Snapshot from last year, one can see the protocol is slowly being handed over to the SSV DAO. One of the final steps in this mission is achieving the Permissionless launch, which follows the Launch phase (pending DAO approval). A few more optimizations and the mission is essentially accomplished — the ssv.network as a public good, DAO-driven, community-owned, DVT pioneer.

Why is [DIP-2] Multi-Sig Committee important?

Now that the [DIP-2] proposal has passed, the Multi-sig Committee responsibilities, compensation, members, and work procedures have been solidified and will replace the previously approved Multi-Sig Committee Formation. This decision has various positive implications for the decentralization and security of ssv.network smart contracts, treasury, and all-around decision-making.

Unlocking the Advantages of Multi-Sig Committee Governance

• Improved governance security — As the ssv.network protocol removes single points of failure, so should the SSV DAO strive to do that in the governing body’s treasury and decision-making.
• Promotes industry expertise — Committee members are required to be highly engaged with the crypto industry and the project. This expertise fosters trust within the community, as members are familiar with the project’s goals and objectives. The individual members of the committee have diverse backgrounds and jurisdictions, each helping with compliance and decentralization.
• Commitment to efficient operations — Members are expected to invest time and effort to execute DAO decisions efficiently and compliantly. This commitment ensures the smooth operation of the committee and, by extension, the ssv.network.
• Efficient claim settlement — The committee is empowered to promptly settle claims against the DAO treasury, reducing the risk of late payments or disputes that could harm the network’s reputation.
• Alignment with DAO guidelines — The committee’s obligation to ensure that DAO decisions align with established guidelines, thresholds, and quorums maintains the integrity of the decision-making process.
• Emergency response — The proposal defines emergency procedures, granting the committee the authority to act swiftly in critical situations, such as addressing vulnerabilities or unauthorized access and safeguarding the ssv.network’s interests.
• Transparency and community involvement — All declarations of emergency situations or detrimental situations are shared with the community, fostering transparency in governance. Community input is also considered in certain decisions, promoting decentralization.

Looking Toward the Future

• The remaining 30+ grantees are going live after the mainnet launch.
• Continuation of the grants program.
• More permissionless validators and operators will enter the network.
• The network effect of staking applications will continue spreading across the ETH staking ecosystem.
• Expansion of the network toward the vision of running the majority of staked ETH through DVT.

Become Part of the Staking Revolution

Ssv.network as a whole embodies the ethos it was built with. Full decentralization, mitigating single points of failure, and is fully permissionless, community-owned, and open-sourced.

The SSV DAO believes these values will allow the ssv.network protocol to become the leader in DVT. By being permissionless and simple to use, builders can create diverse on-ramps to DVT-based staking applications for every staking use case. Jato-v2 testnet is now live and open to the public. Start testing and get a taste before the mainnet goes permissionless later in Q4!

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