AIP-249: The $APE Must Flow

Withdrawn AIPs
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Proposal Name: The $APE Must Flow

Proposal Category: Process

Abstract

Some authors of approved AIPs report not receiving their funding for months, sometimes over 3 months.

Here, we simply add deadlines and oversight to the process (where there are currently none, afaik) to ensure timely funding of approved proposals. The $APE must flow.

Motivation

Some projects (like seasonal events) can’t even happen when funds are delayed for months (on top of the time it takes to go through the proposal process), others may lose their momentum, and still others will simply be substantially delayed, which delays ecosystem growth. Once something is approved, it should be funded within a short, predictable time window.

Rationale

There’s currently no deadline for funds leaving DAO treasury. This seems like a simple (and obvious) problem to fix, hence this proposal.

Specifications

New Deadlines

I use calendar instead of business days b/c the DAO team can be global and has multiple people for every responsibility (what’s a business day in the US can be a holiday in another country). Instead I just padded each deadline with 2 calendar days to account for weekends/potential holiday.

  • Within three (5) calendar days of an AIP approval, its author must receive instructions from a discourse facilitator with all instructions / questions that DAO needs author to follow/answer to get the funds.
  • Within ten (10) calendar days (“KYC Period”) of the author answering all questions/following those instructions (such as what’s needed for KYC process, etc.), the multisig transaction to kick off the release of funds must be initiated by a DAO representative.
  • The remaining signers have seven (7) calendar days (“Normal Period”) to sign the transaction and thus allow the dispersal of funds to complete. This period can be extended by another seven (7) calendar days (“Emergency Period”) (so for a total of fourteen (14) calendar days) in the case of an emergency (medical, forgetting hardware wallet at home when traveling, etc).

So the new deadline to do KYC and release funds: 5 + 10 + 7 = 22 days.

Oversight

  • If a signer is not able to sign the transaction within Emergency Period, Backup Signer then signs the transaction within seven (7) calendar days of the end of Emergency Period (“Backup Period”).
  • At least one Backup signer must be part of the multi-sig wallet that is responsible for dispersal of funds.
  • If any signer fails to sign within Emergency Period more than three (3) times within one calendar year, the Special Council must remove the signer and add a new signer (new person, not just new wallet address) to the multisig wallet within thirty (30) calendar days of the last Emergency Period violation. The removal and new election must be announced on Discourse.
  • If the Special Council fails to appoint a new signer within the designated period above, the council member(s) who failed to initiate or participate in such a vote shall not be eligible for re-election in the next term.

Penalties

If the funds are not dispersed by the end of Backup Period, an additional 7% of AIP’s approved amount shall be dispersed to the author as a new transaction (that will follow the same process as the main amount, except this ‘penalties’ clause will not apply to that transaction).

The reasoning for this penalty is that, in many cases, delay = extra costs to the team behind the proposal. Market prices go up, potential vendors back out (e.g. if AIP is an event) due to non-payment and new vendors must be procured, and so forth. It’s a small enough penalty to not have a big impact on the treasury, but big enough to help the proposal and motivate DAO representatives to not miss the deadlines.

Example timeline

Things can (hopefully will) move faster, but below is the worst case scenario if this proposal passes:

Apr 1 - AIP XYZ is approved (Wednesday).
Apr 6 - deadline for instructions to be sent to AIP author by DAO moderation team (3 biz days = 5 calendar days due to weekend).
Apr 7 - author completes KYC/requirements and specifies destination wallet address as per received instructions.
Apr 17 - deadline for DAO Treasury to initiate the multisig transaction to fund the proposal.
Apr 24 - deadline for all co-signers to approve the transaction (Normal Period)
May 1 - emergency deadline for co-signers to approve the transaction (Emergency Period).
May 8 - final deadline for backup co-signer to approve the transaction (Backup Period).
May 9 - if AIP is still not funded, it is automatically awarded 7% penalty for funds delay, which kicks off identical timeline for the 7% penalty amount transaction.

So the majority of proposals will receive money within 3 weeks of approval, or within 1 month in case of (rare) emergencies.

Steps to Implement | The steps to implement the proposal, including associated costs, manpower, and other resources for each step where applicable.

None, except the DAO treasury wallet cosigners may need to schedule a weekly call/system to approve funding transactions.

Timeline | Relevant timing details, including but not limited to start date, milestones, and completion dates.

The rules in this proposal will go into effect within 30 calendar days of the proposal passing to give everyone time to adjust the process / schedule proper weekly funding meeting.

Overall Cost | The total cost to implement the proposal.

Zero (0).

3 Likes
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The snapshot votes conclude on Thursdays, which means 3 calendar days is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I’m not sure, but Webslinger might not work on weekends, so maybe consider just making this first one 7 calendar days, knowing that two of those days aren’t working weekdays.

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Thanks, dar, I’ll make it 3 business days. It should be an automated / templated message, i.e. easy to kick it off.

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Hey Sasha, I completely understand your perspective about some proposals not receiving their grant money yet. Given that the previous administration was gone and created so much delay, the new team has to step in and make up for the lost time. I’m in favor of expediting the grant distribution process, but the new administration has been trying to get to as many people as possible. Additionally, we need to consider the time it takes for people to complete the KYC process and other requirements.

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Thanks, Zoopie.

This process is not about this admin or another - it’s a permanent process for all admins. Previous admin perhaps highlighted the issue, but the point is to prevent future admins from doing the same. If anything, grateful previous admin pointed us to where lack of process is so we can patch it.

It does account for KYC. The deadlines timer does not start timer until after the AIP author has sent all info required for funds to be dispersed. But I’ll make it more clear!

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There’s merit in making the process much more efficient and streamlined. Let’s work on that :saluting_face:

The current timeframe for fund approval is just not what we’d hope, let’s change that

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Hi @Sasha,

Your topic will be automatically closing in less than 24 hours. Are you content with the feedback received, or do you wish to extend community discussion for a further 7 days?

If we do not hear from you within 48 hours after your topic closes, your topic will be moved straight to the AIP Draft process.

We look forward to hearing from you.

-Amplify

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I’m content! Thank you.

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This topic was automatically closed after 7 days. New replies are no longer allowed.

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Thank you @Sasha for your ideas and the ApeCoin DAO community for the thoughtful discussions. A moderator will get in touch with the author to draft the AIP in the appropriate template. Once the AIP is drafted and meets all the DAO-approved guidelines, the proposal will be posted on Snapshot for live official voting at: Snapshot

Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments. @Sasha please see your messages for the next steps.

-Amplify

2 Likes
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Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,

@Sasha has completed editing their AIP Idea to be their AIP Draft.

Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.

Kind Regards,

-Amplify

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Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,

Our team has reviewed and discussed @Sasha’s AIP Draft and have sent a list of initial questions. We await answers.

Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.

Kind Regards,

-Amplify

1 Like
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Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,

@Sasha has responded to our questions and they are in our review once again.

Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.

Kind Regards,

-Amplify

1 Like
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I will be withdrawing this AIP after clarifying the process with the current discourse admins. Here’s why:

Under the current setup, the Ape Foundation employs an Administrator to perform Cayman admin duties such as releasing funds to AIP authors. The process is as follows:

  1. AIP gets approved by voters
  2. After KYC process if finished for the AIP author, Administrator sends a contract to them
  3. After AIP author signs the contract re: receipt of funds, now Administrator can initiate “pay author” funds transfer (which is done in Coinbase Prime) (treasury money is currently hosted by Coinbase)
  4. When Administrator initiates the transaction, Coinbase calls Ape Foundation Director + Special Council + Admins to get verbal and video confirmation of validity of request.
  5. Money/$ape is sent.

Step 4 is consistent as it’s done by Coinbase. The delays are in steps 2 and 3. However, if you look at the RFP proposal for when we needed to change to new Administrator, it already has very strict time guidelines:

Ok, so, why isn’t the new Administrator (i.e. Webslinger) executing these in a timely manner?

Nobody knows.

BUT, they are still in the process of taking over the reigns from previous Administrator, which is apparently a complex ordeal. @amplify.admin will ask them this week to please go ahead and initiate any outstanding payments, just keep in mind that Amplify doesn’t technically have the authority to force them.

Oversight

Cool, so how can we enforce this? Well, the RFP I linked to above outlines the following potential penalty:

Ok, so we can “adjust fees” as “specified under the contract.” And, you guessed it, the contract text isn’t made public (at least at this time). As to who can enforce it? Ape Foundation. Which I personally don’t know who the Ape Foundation is, precisely, but it’s not Special Council.

Summary

In the end, my AIP assumes there’s a multi sig wallet controlled by the community. There is not. Funds are in Coinbase and the payouts are initiated by Administrator. Hence, my AIP, as worded, does not apply.

It further assumes we may not have had time guidelines re: how long it should take to send money. As you see above, those guidelines do exist, just not being followed at the moment (hopefully temporarily as new Admin takes over). So that part of my AIP is not applicable either.

Finally, I included oversight. But while the DAO can try to replace the Administrator again, it would only make things worse b/c it would restart the ‘transition to new Admin’ process. Plus Webslinger - the currently selected Admin - seems to be doing fine, it’s just this one issue. Other than that, DAO cannot directly have oversight over any Administrator employees, so again those parts in my proposal are mute.

This is a mess

Yes and no. It’s a system that has worked before and can work again (hopefully very soon!). But long term, we want fully community-controlled DAO. No Ape Foundation. No Administrator. Just us organized in whatever structure we vote for. That’s a great goal that is already being implemented with Working Groups as the first step, but it needs more time. Also, that’s beyond the scope of my proposal here.

So for all these reasons, my proposal clearly doesn’t apply and there doesn’t appear to be any better option than giving the new Administrator a little more time to onboard/begin initiating fund dispersals. Hence I am withdrawing the AIP.

Let’s see how things are in 1-2 months. Hopefully it even changes this week-ish after Amplify pokes them re: this particular issue.

I hope this was informative/helpful! (big thanks to Amplify, Lost, Vulkan for the info, I’m only writing it down)

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Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,

@Sasha has requested to withdraw their application. This AIP will be moved to and remain in the Withdrawn AIPs category.

Kind Regards,

-Amplify

1 Like