The Contingency

The spaces with Herb, BC, and others last night was very enlightening on where we currently stand 2 weeks from the end of the year and the end of Cartan’s current extension contract. I think that should the renewal AIP fail, as it appears it will, we need to have a deeper understanding of what it is we need to replace. Basically, we need a snapshot of what, where, and how each aspect of Cartan’s current workload is handled.

At the top of the list should be any day-to-day actionable items that need to be addressed come January 1st. That may include an accounting of monthly bills, payments, and salaries, various admin account ownerships, treasury security, multi-sigs, etc. And most importantly, the Cayman Island business structure and what would be needed for a smooth transition while making sure everything remains legally sound.

The DAO should be prepared with an actionable list of Cartan’s responsibilities and what is needed to transition each individual item. Below is the list they provided in their AIP-183 that outlines the categories and responsibilities that they currently provide.

It may be helpful to start with this list and have Cartan assist with outlining assets, data, and workflow for each item, so if we need to transition we have a basic understanding of what needs an actionable contingency for the short and long term.

  1. Manage the AIP governance process

Cartan is responsible for:

• Providing operational support and project management support for the Foundation.
• Acting as the team of moderators, administrators, and lead in Discourse.
• Acting as the team of reviewers to prepare reports and any other supporting documentation necessary.
  1. Administrative reporting and insight

Cartan is responsible for:

• Acting as primary contact for inbound queries.
• Preparing weekly/ad-hoc reports and management packages for the Special Council.
• Managing operations and resource allocations across areas.
• Understanding regulatory environment and restrictions for the Foundation.
  1. Direct communications strategy

Cartan is responsible for:

• Managing communication channels, social media, and inbound media inquiries.
• Developing communication principles.
• Codifying process and proactive messaging.
• Aligning fundamental communications between Ape Foundation, Special Council, and all stakeholders.
• Setting-up media handling protocol such as social media, Do’s and Don’ts, Q&As, and tone of voice.
  1. Ecosystem grant funding and activity

Cartan is responsible for:

• Establishing policies and procedures for disbursing funds to grant recipients.
• Preparing and executing grant agreement for accepted AIPs.
• Implementing KPIs and milestones to monitor results for follow-on funding.
• Collecting KYC and due diligence on grant recipients.
• Collecting, reviewing, and analysing RFPs for accepted AIPs.
  1. Corporate operations

Cartan is responsible for:

• Processing invoices, payments, and reimbursements.
• Bookkeeping and preparation of financial information reports
• Creating and implementing policies for business operations and approvals.
• Daily company management such as general corporate administration, operations, and project management.

If others already have contingency plans or AIPs in place that addresses this, please point it out so all info can be consolidated.

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Thanks for posting @Brooklyn.

I know there are quite a few members working on this, so I’ll just cc them here (apologies to folks I’m missing)

cc’ing:
@BoredApeG @Gerry @badteeth @maariab @boredelon @wrongplace @Lost @Vulkan

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Thanks! It would be good to consolidate efforts and info.

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An important post, this one. Thanks for putting these thoughts together in an organized way.

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I was starting to look into the specifics of their workload and duties, so this is a very helpful summary. Would presumably give us a better insight as to the various working groups necessary to replace (and in some cases, augment) these facets. This will require a broad range of contributors and skill sets.

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Yup exactly aligned with creating an actionable list. An audience with Special Council is already arranged; they are coordinating the timing.

Google doc to will be shared this afternoon for comments. We’ll keep you posted!

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So many changes to come in the same time… Special Council Members, Administrators, …

Perhaps it will be necessary to provide for the future organization a “liaison period of at least 2 months” for the awarding of missions in the event of a non-renewed contract ?

If some working groups are created for a transitional structure, you can count on me.

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Thank you so much for your post.

Bottom line: what can possibly and realistically be done in less than 10 days if the vote stays against and DAO is left without an administrator come January?

One of the most urgent things to consider is how to keep treasury funds safe while drawing up ideas on which path to take to stay legally and financially covered.

As a last resort we can make the DAO dormant in its various operations while putting the funds in Special Council custody (or a multisig of top 10 willing nominees). This will be a complicated process but keeping other transactions dormant for a period could give us time to make a call for other (off-shore) companies to offer their administrative services.

This would ensure that all funds currently controlled by the DAO are safe and secure, while also allowing more time for the DAO to assess its options when it comes to finding a new general administrator. Additionally, advertising for tender could lead to multiple competitive offshore companies offering their services, allowing the DAO to negotiate terms that suit its needs and interests. Although I personally think that we are getting a reasonable deal with Cartan which may in practice not be outperformed by others given how niche our sector is.

I can imagine most of this two-step approach (becoming dormant with funds under custody of elected members and searching for a stop-gap solution) will be handled by the Special Council in conversation with the community. It is up to the Council to decide how they would be paid in such a situation.

Again I hope it won’t come to this but if it does, I can’t think of a safer or faster last resort that’s achievable in 10 days.

However, this approach would also mean that other operations of the DAO may be temporarily halted while these procedures are being carried out. Members should be aware of this consequence and understand that the goal is to secure the funds and provide a way for the DAO to find a new specialized and reliable administrator that can guarantee the safety and sustainability of the DAO. Or gradually develop new decentralized infrastructures within the DAO that can help us navigate different risk and opportunity environments.

Many other questions will need to be answered but I think we must keep things super simple at the moment given such short notice we got.

Here to help with anything and everything :saluting_face:

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We had a productive discussion this evening with a group of concerned members. I believe @Gerry & @badteeth will be updating the community via Twitter and as more information comes and we have actionable items, those that want to be involved will be welcome in the process.

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Great, thoughtful post as always Novo.

One thing I will quickly mention is whether or not we as a community wish to keep Discourse up and running. If so, there will be a payment due by the first for the Enterprise Package, so we may want to think about that.

If, on the other hand the community doesn’t want to renew the subscription, I think there’s a possibility that the DAO’s historical data might get lost. Not 100% sure on that, but again something to consider.

Just a small reminder for everyone.

Peace
SSP✌🏽

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As far as I know Brandon mentioned on Spaces that they would not cut off community access and continue to cooperate with the Special Council to make outstanding payments and renew subscriptions during any necessary transition period.

Perhaps @btang can correct me if I misunderstood something. :slight_smile:

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Hoping to see something productive come out of this soon!

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Hi @Novocrypto our value proposition is to act as a trusted administrator for DAOs and in our role for this DAO and other DAOs, we serve in a professional and institutional manner. If the vote proceeds as is, our intention would be to communicate with the new Council and ensure a smooth transition. This DAO is creating new paths and we are also going through this new uncharted waters with the community.

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Thank you!

I assume that no matter what, as part of a transition process we will need to set up new multisig Safes onboarding new Council members and potentially other nominees from the community who are willing to take on such responsibilities.

For the benefit of those and others, I’d like to share a legal framework model that goes through tax and legal liabilities facing multisig owners in a DAO context. It’s been helpful to me when I was doing research on this topic a while back.

It spells out some considerations that we will have to take into account in mid to long term. I find it useful to look at other DAOs and learn from their experiments.

A bit more context here especially touching on the slow path to decentralization

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Thanks Brian! I appreciate all you, Brandon and your team have done for the DAO and understand where you’re coming from with your AIP. I’d personally be very sad to see Cartan voted out of Apecoin DAO as I’ve had nothing but a fantastic experience working with you so far in the course my own AIP process and the elections and other AIP processes.

In any case, appreciate your willingness to see the DAO through a transition period, should that become necessary.

I still hope it won’t! But here to help the DAO get through this if that ends up being the case.

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Good point. Think it would be beneficial to explore other platforms since there has been so much negative feedback around Discourse. Do you have any alternatives in mind?

At the same time, even if we do go with another solution, it would be good to at least extend Discourse subscription a little to be able to export/import the data we have so far.

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Would now be a good time to elect a Transition Committee? It sounds like @Brooklyn, @Gerry, and @badteeth are working on closely with Cartan and/or the existing Special Councill? If so, I’d be in favor of electing a small group who would be responsible for overseeing the transition.

IMO it’s important to get an AIP rolling to obtain the authority that obligates the existing/new SC + Cartan to work with the community.

Here’s what I’m afraid could happen in the next 2-4 weeks:

  1. Cartan’s AIP fails and they do not put another AIP forward
  2. Cartan negotiates an extension with the Special Council under Special Council Grant
  3. We fail to truly understand what needs to be transitioned and what can be eliminated
  4. Sometime in 2023 we find ourselves in the exact same position
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The idea of a Transition Committee was brought up earlier today, and it is definitely something to consider. We should bring it up with Special Council.

The draft Transition Plan has been submitted as a General post - it is pending approval from moderators. Thanks everyone for the feedback and quick work on a weekend! I’ll update the contributor tags for those missed since it was submitted :slight_smile:

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Looking forward to seeing the community add their feedback and input to a Transition Plan. I’ll just emphasize again that ASAP we should submit an AIP that gives someone or some committee the authority to take action.

I’m not saying that the special council wouldn’t side with the community, but they’re not obligated to act in the best interest of forum voices. They will, however, be obligated to act on snapshot votes.

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We need more breakdowns like this - easy to access, straight to the point info etc - TY

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