The end of the AVCffair…

Aligned Voter Committees are going to be “disabled” for the rest of the Launch Season, according to the newest scope edits proposed by Rune Christensen. At the same time the number of compensated delegates is reduced from 8 to 6.

We had proposed a change to the AVC system before in this newsletter, and it seems the thought occurred to other members of the MakerDAO governance apparatus too.

This edition of the newsletter will be dedicated to reflect on our personal learnings from this experiment as seen from a contributor perspective.

We started joining the Composable AVC because composability is at the heart of what makes decentralized finance powerful. We also felt the other contributors were good thinkers in the overall governance space, many from outside of Maker governance.

The level of in-depth knowledge of the scopes and the Atlas required was quite substantial. Given that AVCs are meant to make specific proposals for changes to these documents, that is not surprising. But the reality on the ground was that some contributors didn’t have that knowledge, coming from the outside. And a few didn’t want to acquire it.

With the compensation for active AVC members, it could have been argued that it would be a well-paid full-time job in many, if not most, countries in the world (given today’s MKR prices). In some ways though, the compensation seemed to be elusive for many of us, which restricted the commitment to the work necessary. It seemed like even if the quarter was finished successfully, compensation was optional, and the experiment could end any day. This level of uncertainty necessitated maintaining other income streams, and not committing to the work as fully as we could have.

Nevertheless multiple AVC teams emerged and brought their very own perspective to the table.

• ReFi AVC with their focus on the “spiritual” side of things and weekly guests who provided deep insights.

• Growth AVC (for a quarter) by professional governance organizations StableLab and Flipside Crypto, with a focus on Growth.

• KISS AVC with a unique tech stack and a focus on producing tangible results in the simplest and most straightforward manner.

• Sovereign Finance AVC, powered by SEED LatAm members who made a splash with strong weekly guests and a focus on accountability.

• Composable AVC which existed for two quarters and focused on reusing knowledge in the DAO.

• Resiliency AVC with a hawkish focus on cost efficiency.

Each of the AVCs had up to 5 members, bringing the total of AVC members to almost 20. The opportunity was clearly appreciated and attracted many contributors from different ecosystems and specializations. The talent pool was a sight to behold.

Where we think the experiment fell flat is that AVCs were not given concrete path to make an impact and “dogfood” their work. If the pipeline from AVCs to Scope Advisors to Facilitators to Polls would have been more clear and outlined, the resulting proposals would have been more targeted and useful.

Facilitators could also have used AVC manpower to aid them in monitoring different aspects of the DAO, such as Arranger compliance, or to research and propose solutions to thorny governance issues. AVCs not being able to use their microphones on weekly calls, in order not to dox themselves was also a big blocker in the flow of conversations.

We think AVCs were a big success in bringing contributors from outside of MakerDAO into the fold. If it could be combined with

• a clear path to impact

• dependable incentives for actual, useful work performed

• decreased onboarding hurdles

the whole dynamic would produce much more return on investment.

We were thankful to be included in this journey and will continue to be a part of MakerDAO in any form we deem viable.

DAI supply update

Since the last newsletter (almost one month ago!) DAI supply increased by almost 800 million DAI! The whole trajectory seems to have changed. Combined with the chart shared on Discord, something seems to have fundamentally changed.

We really hope DAI can maintain the momentum, and branch out to other chains as well. We have seen Circle embrace new chains quickly and decisively and this has worked very much in their favor.

The ad sections this week is replaced with a meme. Joining an AVC now is not the best use of your time. Three more weeks to go 😭