Introducing the DIA DAO Forum

From the inception of DIA, the project was set up as a DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation), meaning that the ultimate goal of the platform is to be governed, managed and continued by a group of decentral stakeholders, the community of DIA token holders and their delegates. To do so, DIA was set up as an association in Switzerland to fit into the most suitable legally embedded DAO framework, and a utility token has been issued that enables its holders to partake in meaningful contributions surrounding the product, the governance of the Association and to voice and vote on their opinions and ideas.

To date, the DAO has already engaged in a series of meaningful proposals and votes ranging from the use of treasury funds across the launch of new savings programs to deploying an airdrop to the DIA holders affected by the 2020 KuCoin hack. In our efforts to expand the DAO involvement in DIA’s core product and to open up for and foster new discussion, we are laying the foundation to formalise DAO processes by launching the DIA DAO Forum.

The DAO Forum will encompass an initially limited set of categories:

1. Welcome: The Welcome category provides you with all the necessary information to get started, from an overview of DIA across rules and guidelines for forum conversations to instructions on how proposals are submitted and how votes work.
2. Updates: The Updates category will be a condensed version of DIA’s Telegram announcements channel, giving forum users an overview of the most notable updates concerning partnerships, integrations, product updates, governance updates and more.
3. Discussion: In the Discussions category, community members will be able to voice feedback, ideas and suggestions regarding just about anything, as long as it complies with the DAO rules and guidelines. As a topic gains traction and support, it can move on to the proposals category.
4. Proposals: The Proposals category is where the real DAO magic happens. This is where formal proposals get fleshed out and discussed in detail in order to decide whether it moves on to Snapshot for a DAO vote. The Proposal category will be the most heavily moderated to ensure that proposals are clear, concise and in line with formal requirements.

Each category will feature several subcategories which may change, expand or contract as learnings are made and the forum processes evolve and the DAO capacities grow.

In the early days of the forum, communication and interaction will be monitored and amended by Forum admins over time in line with community needs. The DIA core team will formulate a series of initial votes starting with recurring decisions like the usage of the annual release of the project treasury, savings programs and product-related recurring decisions.

There are two types of governance proposals: DIPs — DIA Improvement Proposals and GDPs — General DIA Proposals.

• DIPs are strictly product-related proposals, subjects of discussion can range from building new data feeds to the implementation of new computation methodologies.
• GDPs are general DAO proposals, subject of discussion are not product or platform-specific proposals.

Qualitative Requirements

Proposals must meet the following qualitative requirements:

1. Proposals must create net positive value for DIA’s community of stakeholders.
2. Proposals must meet the below-described requirements for content
3. Proposals must be thought through and consider any relevant externalities.
4. Proposals must be feasible to implement under a given availability of resources.
5. Proposals must be approved by the DAO committee.

Content Requirements

When creating a new topic in the Discussion channel, a template will automatically appear in the window. Fill it in so the proposal contains the following:

• Title: Summarise the proposal in few words
• Introduction: What is the bird’s eye? Up to 200 words about your proposal.
• Context: What is the problem that is being tackled?
• Solution: How does the solution look in detail?
• Benefits: How will the benefit DIA and its stakeholders?
• Costs: What resources are needed to implement the solution?
• Risks: Are there risks that the solution entails? If so, how can we de-risk them?
• Vote: What are the exact options to vote on?

Please understand that we must ensure to mitigate spam and moderate behaviour that does not contribute to positive outcomes for the DIA community. In order to do so, please read through the following posts to adopt all requirements for users to engage on the forum:

1. Introduction post
2. The Governance Process
3. Requirements to submit a proposal
4. Rules and guidelines

As the DAO Forum grows, permission levels will be introduced and additional requirements may be implemented to ensure quality in the conversations taking place. As the DIA DAO matures, these rules and guidelines may be adjusted through community action.

1. Register & set up a profile
2. Learn the Governance process
3. Head over to the Discussion channel and start the discussion

We look forward to your contributions!