[RFC] Hop DAO Ambassador Program

Authors: @Kene_StableLab @Bobbay_StableLab @max-andrew and @francom

Contributors: N/A
Status: RFC
Date Posted: 2023-02-16

References

https://sips.synthetix.io/sips/sip-241/

Simple Summary

This proposal aims to introduce a Hop Ambassador Program; Hop DAO Ambassadors would participate in DAO Governance across the ecosystem on behalf of the Hop Protocol; these ambassadors would also pursue partnership and integration opportunities within other DAO Communities; this proposal lays down the operational aspects of how this ambassador program would function on behalf of the Hop Protocol.

Motivation

The Hop Protocol plays a vital role in the ecosystem through its bridging Infrastructure. It has become imperative that Hop Protocol is represented in some strategic DAOs across the ecosystem. Through this ambassador program, members of the Hop Community with the highest context in the selected DAOs can represent the Hop Protocol in these DAOs, ultimately creating value for the Hop Protocol.

Specification

Eligibility

Any member of the Hop DAO Community is eligible to become a Hop DAO Ambassador. However, such an individual must show that they are an active community member in the particular DAO they wish to represent the Hop DAO in.

How many Ambassadors will the Hop DAO select?

For the initial pilot program, the Hop DAO will have three ambassadors who will represent the Hop DAO in Optimism which the Hop DAO already has delegated governance power.

We suggest starting with three ambassadors since there seems to be a fair amount of interest here. This provides an unequal number, helping to combat any deadlock decisions that may occur in optimism governance votes.

For the other communities, this presents an opportunity for Hop DAO to establish itself in other communities.

Nomination and Elections

Hop DAO Ambassadors will serve for one year, after which the role becomes vacant. After a year, eligible individuals are welcome to nominate themselves and subsequently become elected to the role.

At the expiration of the one-year term, a forum thread shall be opened by one member of the outgoing Hop DAO Ambassadors; then prospective Ambassadors would nominate themselves under the thread; the nomination post shall contain the following information:

  1. Details about the DAO they wish to represent the Hop DAO in.
  2. The value that Hop DAO could derive from participating in the DAO
  3. What makes the prospective Ambassador the best fit for the role;

After one week, the thread shall stop accepting nominations, and the nominees shall be posted on Snapshot for the community to elect three Ambassadors to represent the DAO

Previous Ambassadors shall remain eligible to hold the position again by following the nomination and election process.

Duties of a Hop DAO Ambassador

These ambassadors would be responsible for the following:

  1. Governance Participation through Voting and Proposal Writing: Ambassadors will participate in governance by voting on proposals, communicating their rationale, and writing proposals.
  2. Seeking Business Development Opportunities through Integrations: An ambassador could potentially broker a discussion in another DAO that would lead to an asset being added to the Hop Protocolā€™s list of supported assets; an example would be rETH getting listed as a supported asset on the Hop Protocol.
  3. Increasing Hop Protocolā€™s Governance Power in selected Protocols: An Ambassador would start out as a delegate in a protocol and, over time, increase their governance power on behalf of the Hop DAO.
  4. Attending Community Calls of the Selected DAOs, and also attending the Hop DAOsā€™ community call: Forming a strong tie with a DAOs community is an important aspect of participation. Ambassadors must attend the DAOs community call and also attend the Hop Community call. This way, they have an opportunity to provide feedback to the community that they represent.

Compensation

Hop Ambassadors will receive Vested HOP every 6 months, to keep the Ambassadors aligned with Hop DAO.
This means an ambassador will receive $3,000 every 6 months as a lump sum, rather than on a monthly basis. If an ambassador is removed before their term reaches 6 months, they will not be compensated for their work.

Program Cost

In its current state, if we have three ambassadors for Optimism, that will cost the DAO $18,000 annually.

$500 x 3 x 12 Months = $18,000

Removing an ambassador

Any member of the community who believes that an Ambassador does not well represent the Hop DAO will have the right to put up a proposal requesting that the Ambassador be removed and immediately replaced.

This forum post must contain proof of neglect of assigned duties or proof of improper actions which could misrepresent the Hop DAO; these actions or inactions must also be directly related to the duties assigned to the ambassador by this proposal.

These actions could be a failure to; vote, communicate rationale or attend community calls.

Delegate Thread

Each Ambassador shall maintain a delegate thread on the Hop forum for the DAO the ambassador participates in on behalf of Hop DAO. The thread shall contain the ambassadorā€™s votes and the decision and rationale for every vote.

I.e.

Vote: [Yes/No/Abstain/Missed]

Rationale:

Quarterly Report

Every quarter, each ambassador shall post a Quarterly Report of its activities within the quarter. This report will include the following:

  • Hop Protocolā€™s Governance Power (Changes)
  • Number of votes done by the ambassador (including any missed vote)
  • Proposals are written by the ambassador
  • Progress of business development opportunities.

Selected DAOs for the Pilot

To kick off the Pilot Phase of the Hop DAO Ambassador Programā€™s operations, we propose starting with:

  • Optimism: Because OP Governance Power has been delegated to the Hop DAO, and the fundamental role that Hop Protocol plays in the ecosystem, participating in OP Governance is an essential first step for the ambassador.

Note: The community shall select the other two DAOs depending on the Ambassadors they choose to elect.

Review

If this proposal is successful, we suggest that we do a DAO-wide review in 6 months to evaluate this pilot program before moving forward.

Conclusion

The Hop DAO occupies a very important role in the ecosystem. The Hop Protocol has many stakeholders across the ecosystem. As we build out the Hop Protocol Roadmap, our increased participation in the ecosystem will be vital in establishing key partnerships and identifying opportunities for possible integrations. These efforts to participate in governance and pursue partnership opportunities across the ecosystem will ultimately compound into value for the Hop DAO.

8 Likes

I think this is the most thought-out proposal Iā€™ve seen to date. Strongly in support (and will be nominating myself for a certain protocol!).

1 Like

We appreciate everyoneā€™s votes on the poll. Moving forward the following amendments will be made to the Ambassador Program.

Compensation

Hop Ambassadors will receive Vested HOP every 6 months, to keep the Ambassadors aligned with Hop DAO.

This means an ambassador will receive $3,000 every 6 months as a lump sum, rather than on a monthly basis. If an ambassador is removed before their term reaches 6 months, they will not be compensated for their work.

Optimism Ambassador Program

We suggest starting with three ambassadors since there seems to be a fair amount of interest here. This provides an unequal number, helping to combat any deadlock decisions that may occur in optimism governance votes.

Program Cost

In its current state, if we have three ambassadors for Optimism, that will cost the DAO $18,000 annually.

$500 x 3 x 12 Months = $18,000

Review

If this proposal is successful, we suggest that we do a DAO-wide review in 6 months to evaluate this pilot program before moving forward.

1 Like

In line with the feedback provided by the community, this proposal has now been updated.

Proposal is now up for a snapshot-only vote: Snapshot

Also Iā€™m voting yes, I think this proposal is really well done and covers a lot of important detail

3 Likes

Voted yes. This proposal is well thought out and I am excited for the growth that this program will bring to Hop. I am glad to see the community agree that Optimism is a sufficiently important protocol to justify multiple ambassadors. Moving forward, it would be helpful to specify how this election will happen in practice, particularly with multiple ambassador positions.

I think we can start simple for the initial pilot program focusing on Optimism DAO, following the template we outlined in the post, but tailored to Optimism.

  1. Self-nomination forum post that last 7 days, filling out the template below:
  • Name
  • What is your contribution to Hop DAO?
  • What is your contribution to the Optimism collective?
  • What makes you an ideal ambassador?
  • What do you plan to achieve as an optimism ambassador for Hop DAO?
  1. After 14 days, all nominees are put on a snapshot vote.

We should probably discuss whether we want to allow nominees to vote at all. I donā€™t believe a nominee should vote at all in this proposal to prevent people from voting for themselves. This raised an issue in the Optimism vote for the token holder badge and Grants Council Election.

The top 3 will be chosen as the Optimism Ambassadors for Hop DAO.

4 Likes

How do people feel about ranked choice voting with everyone getting 3 votes?

I am voting yes. This is indeed a very well thought out proposal and will definitely help adoption of HOP. Curious to see the amassador applications.

Good initiative to keep the protocol moving forward and raise awareness in other communities. I have seen Ambassadors from other protocols work together towards bringing value and creating integrations, and I think itā€™s a great idea. This proposal is well thought out. I voted yes.

How are ambassadors expected to vote on and participate in a protocolā€™s governance without owning the underlying governance token? Does part of this program include securing funding for the treasury to purchase an amount of the token, and if so, how much?

1 Like

Retrospectively noting that I voted For this proposal [HIP-21].