Aragon Nest Proposal: Empower The DAO
Thank you for this opportunity to apply for a grant from the Nest programme.
We look forward to your review and feedback.
Abstract
The Ethereum community is an energetic and innovative environment, with a diverse array of projects bringing "decentralization" to their communities of individual humans. Many of its participants think that DAOs are something that somebody else works on. Like Aragon, or DAOStack, or Colony, or Moloch. That they are still an esoteric concept and belong in a different part of Ethereum that they aren't involved in.
They certainly don't think about a DAO interacting with the tools and protocols they are building in their projects. To them, a DAO is just a way to use a blockchain to vote about how resources are allocated. In fact, they don't really even understand what it means for a DAO to interact with their dApp, or even how it could work.
This project will integrate Aragon with a number of well-known Ethereum-based projects and their communities. To show them what it means and how it works...
-
...so that they "get it" - demonstrated to them in terms they understand and even witness within their own platform: "Delegating Stake to a Transcoder", "Setting a Reverse Record", "Doing a Token to Token swap", "Fulfilling a Github issue", "Opening a CDP".
-
...so that they understand how it works at a technical level: an Aragon DAO calling smart contract functions on their protocol via Agent.sol, with multi-level Permissioning
-
...so that they have a starting point, a thin thread of an integration with Aragon, to be further developed within their communities.
-
and most crucially ... so that they use Aragon DAOs for their own projects
The Ethereum community is awash with early-adopters, so is a fertile breeding ground for innovation. Aragon can become the "orchestration layer" for Ethereum-based projects, "connecting the dots" to deliver real business value for end users.
Deliverables - Minimum Viable Applications
This project proposes to to build Minimum Viable Aragon Agent Applications to empower DAOs to interact with the protocols being developed by some other well-known Ethereum-based projects. Once installed, the applications will appear in the App Selector, allowing users of that DAO to interact with the applications connecting to other protocols:
Why Minimum Viable?
Nobody knows a project's inner mechanics more than the people who work in the project's community. The protocol's smart contracts have been crafted by the researchers and engineers. The UIs have been designed and developed by UX / UI designers and developers. It would be impossible to gain such a detailed understanding within the scope of this project.
Instead, this project will take the first step to connecting Aragon with Uniswap, Compound and ENS. It will demonstrate an embryonic proof-of-DAO in their ecosystem - showing them precisely what it means for a DAO to interact with their protocol.
Taking this first step will raise awareness of an Aragon DAO as an actor in these projects' ecosystems, and will provide a starting point for existing members of these projects' communities to expand and evolve the technical capabilities of these apps.
Specific Deliverables
The project proposes to build these applications, which will be available for any Aragon DAO to install:
-
Uniswap Aragon App - empower a DAO to interact with Uniswap's protocol for swapping tokens.
-
Compound Aragon App - empower a DAO to interact with the Compound protocol, for lending and borrowing crypto assets.
We will also attempt to deliver and application for the following:
- ENS Aragon App - empower a DAO to interact with the protocol for registering and managing ENS names.
The code will be open source in EmpowerTheDAO's Github Repository, and will be published to Aragon Package Manager.
Grant Size and Phased Release Schedule
The total grant request for this project is 35,000 DAI, over the course of 12 weeks.
We propose a payment schedule to align with the ends of each phase.
- 10,000 DAI for Phase 1 - Research & Design (2 weeks)
- 20,000 DAI for Phase 2 - Development & Test (7 weeks)
- 5,000 DAI for Phase 3 - Audit & Release (3 weeks)
In addition, we request a Success reward of 20,000 ANT for completion of the Uniswap and Compound apps, and a further 10,000 ANT for the case where we can also complete the delivery of the ENS app.
For more details on the phases, and the deliverables of each phase, see the section below entitled Phased Development Timeline.
Application requirements
Reference Implementation
The EmpowerTheDAO team are in the process of finalising the Livepeer Aragon App. This app empowers an Aragon DAO to perform some of the key roles in Livepeer's protocol - those of Delegator (enabling the DAO to stake to the network, and earn rewards) and Transcoder (enabling a DAO to govern the protocol interactions for a Transcoder node in Livepeer's network).
Through this project, EmpowerTheDAO has gained useful experience working with Agent.sol, as well as an understanding of how to build an app for an Aragon DAO which integrates with other Ethereum-based protocols.
Team Structure
The team consists of Chris Hobcroft and Will Griffiths, who together created the Livepeer Aragon App (see Reference Implementation section) and are also researching and developing LPT Futures.
Chris and Will work as a partnership, with Chris focused on concept definition, research, project management, user testing and community engagement, and Will focused on research and design, automated testing, smart contract engineering and UI development.
Commercial Structure
EmpowerTheDAO operates as a DAO itself, with Chris and Will as equal vote holders. The DAO is registered as empowerthedao.aragonid.eth and can be managed using Aragon's DAO software.
Phased Development Timeline
The project can be broken down into 3 phases, with varying levels of involvement from members of the team, during the project.
Phase 1 - Research & Design
Research & Design - 2 weeks
- Engage with stakeholders in the communities of the projects to raise awareness, and ask for their guidance
- Research each protocol being integrated with, and define the detailed scope of the application
- Interim Deliverable: Detailed scope of the functionality of each application, including contract calls
- Interim Deliverable: 3 published recordings of hangouts with Uniswap, Compound and ENS communities.
Phase 2 - Development & Test
Development Environment Configuration - 1 week
- Create local and testnet environments for each of the protocols
- Interim Deliverable: Development environments for each protocol
Application Development - 4 weeks
- Development of "template" application to be used across multiple applications
- Development of smart contract and user interface software for application
- Fortnightly showcases of progress made on applications (internal to project team + invitees)
- Awareness raising within other projects' communities, including 1 hangout with each project
- Interim Deliverable: Applications ready for manual testing, published to Rinkeby Testnet
- Interim Deliverable: Installation scripts for installing on local and Testnet environments
- Interim Deliverable: 3 published recording of hangouts with each community, demonstrating applications and explaining code
Test + Bugfix - 2 week
- Manual testing, issue management and bugfix.
- Interim Deliverable: Test report with issues, how to replicate, and associated transaction records
- Interim Deliverable: 2 (or 3) applications for release to Security Audit.
Phase 3 - Audit & Release
Security Audit - 1 week
- Identification of vulnerabilities and weaknesses in the contracts and interface
- Interim Deliverable: Report on vulnerabilities, and recommended changes
Response to Security Audit - 1 week (or less)
- Review output from audit, and make any necessary changes
- Interim Deliverable: Response tothe recommendations, and any necessary changes
Packaging and Release - 1 week
- Creation of installation guides, tested with at least one member of each projects' community
- Communication of application to projects' communities via their online forums, via hangouts, and publicly on Twitter
- Code walk-through sessions with members of each community, to explain code architecture and functionality
- Final deliverable: 2 (or 3) applications published to Aragon Package Manager with associated installation guides.
- Final Deliverable: 2 (or 3) recordings of hangouts with each community, showcasing final application and code walk-throughs
Aragon Nest Proposal: Empower The DAO
Thank you for this opportunity to apply for a grant from the Nest programme.
We look forward to your review and feedback.
Abstract
The Ethereum community is an energetic and innovative environment, with a diverse array of projects bringing "decentralization" to their communities of individual humans. Many of its participants think that DAOs are something that somebody else works on. Like Aragon, or DAOStack, or Colony, or Moloch. That they are still an esoteric concept and belong in a different part of Ethereum that they aren't involved in.
They certainly don't think about a DAO interacting with the tools and protocols they are building in their projects. To them, a DAO is just a way to use a blockchain to vote about how resources are allocated. In fact, they don't really even understand what it means for a DAO to interact with their dApp, or even how it could work.
This project will integrate Aragon with a number of well-known Ethereum-based projects and their communities. To show them what it means and how it works...
...so that they "get it" - demonstrated to them in terms they understand and even witness within their own platform: "Delegating Stake to a Transcoder", "Setting a Reverse Record", "Doing a Token to Token swap", "Fulfilling a Github issue", "Opening a CDP".
...so that they understand how it works at a technical level: an Aragon DAO calling smart contract functions on their protocol via Agent.sol, with multi-level Permissioning
...so that they have a starting point, a thin thread of an integration with Aragon, to be further developed within their communities.
and most crucially ... so that they use Aragon DAOs for their own projects
The Ethereum community is awash with early-adopters, so is a fertile breeding ground for innovation. Aragon can become the "orchestration layer" for Ethereum-based projects, "connecting the dots" to deliver real business value for end users.
Deliverables - Minimum Viable Applications
This project proposes to to build Minimum Viable Aragon Agent Applications to empower DAOs to interact with the protocols being developed by some other well-known Ethereum-based projects. Once installed, the applications will appear in the App Selector, allowing users of that DAO to interact with the applications connecting to other protocols:
Why Minimum Viable?
Nobody knows a project's inner mechanics more than the people who work in the project's community. The protocol's smart contracts have been crafted by the researchers and engineers. The UIs have been designed and developed by UX / UI designers and developers. It would be impossible to gain such a detailed understanding within the scope of this project.
Instead, this project will take the first step to connecting Aragon with Uniswap, Compound and ENS. It will demonstrate an embryonic proof-of-DAO in their ecosystem - showing them precisely what it means for a DAO to interact with their protocol.
Taking this first step will raise awareness of an Aragon DAO as an actor in these projects' ecosystems, and will provide a starting point for existing members of these projects' communities to expand and evolve the technical capabilities of these apps.
Specific Deliverables
The project proposes to build these applications, which will be available for any Aragon DAO to install:
Uniswap Aragon App - empower a DAO to interact with Uniswap's protocol for swapping tokens.
Compound Aragon App - empower a DAO to interact with the Compound protocol, for lending and borrowing crypto assets.
We will also attempt to deliver and application for the following:
The code will be open source in EmpowerTheDAO's Github Repository, and will be published to Aragon Package Manager.
Grant Size and Phased Release Schedule
The total grant request for this project is 35,000 DAI, over the course of 12 weeks.
We propose a payment schedule to align with the ends of each phase.
In addition, we request a Success reward of 20,000 ANT for completion of the Uniswap and Compound apps, and a further 10,000 ANT for the case where we can also complete the delivery of the ENS app.
For more details on the phases, and the deliverables of each phase, see the section below entitled Phased Development Timeline.
Application requirements
Reference Implementation
The EmpowerTheDAO team are in the process of finalising the Livepeer Aragon App. This app empowers an Aragon DAO to perform some of the key roles in Livepeer's protocol - those of Delegator (enabling the DAO to stake to the network, and earn rewards) and Transcoder (enabling a DAO to govern the protocol interactions for a Transcoder node in Livepeer's network).
Through this project, EmpowerTheDAO has gained useful experience working with Agent.sol, as well as an understanding of how to build an app for an Aragon DAO which integrates with other Ethereum-based protocols.
Team Structure
The team consists of Chris Hobcroft and Will Griffiths, who together created the Livepeer Aragon App (see Reference Implementation section) and are also researching and developing LPT Futures.
Chris and Will work as a partnership, with Chris focused on concept definition, research, project management, user testing and community engagement, and Will focused on research and design, automated testing, smart contract engineering and UI development.
Commercial Structure
EmpowerTheDAO operates as a DAO itself, with Chris and Will as equal vote holders. The DAO is registered as empowerthedao.aragonid.eth and can be managed using Aragon's DAO software.
Phased Development Timeline
The project can be broken down into 3 phases, with varying levels of involvement from members of the team, during the project.
Phase 1 - Research & Design
Research & Design - 2 weeks
Phase 2 - Development & Test
Development Environment Configuration - 1 week
Application Development - 4 weeks
Test + Bugfix - 2 week
Phase 3 - Audit & Release
Security Audit - 1 week
Response to Security Audit - 1 week (or less)
Packaging and Release - 1 week