Hi all,
With the transfer of the Gitcoin DAO and related charitable assets from Gitcoin Holdings to the Gitcoin Foundation [1] about to close, there will be a few changes I want to make explicit to everyone.
Once these assets are transferred to the Gitcoin Foundation, Gitcoin Holdings will be formally disaffiliating from āleadershipā in the DAO.
What does this mean in practice?
- I have resigned from my position as a workstream lead at moonshot collective. I am recommending that Kyle Weiss + Chase Dragan replace me.
- I will be remaining with Gitcoin Holdings and am not going to be capital-L Leading within the DAO, nor will I be assuming any role (leadership or otherwise) with the Foundation.
- The Foundation and Gitcoin Holdings have negotiated a services agreement under which Gitcoin Holdings can backfill certain services that the Foundation needs, but all of this will be driven by and defined by the Foundationās leadership (which per its bylaws is deferential to the DAO leadership). This means that Holdings/the DAO will have an arms length relationship
- This is the fulfillment of the direction I laid out in A DAO has no CEO. I have authored over 119 gov.gitcoin.co posts to decentralize all of the context in my head in order to prepare the DAO for this moment.
- Holdings will stop participating in CSDO.
- The Gitcoin Foundation will be formally receiving charitable assets (Gitcoin Grants, Gitcoin DAOās treasury, and IP, etc) and Gitcoin Holdings will renew its focus on revenue-generating business lines - virtual events, merch, and media opportunities (like books + podcasts).
- We will likely be renaming Gitcoin Holdings to further disambiguate the two entities. There will be a transition period of 18 months in which Holdings will be permitted to tastefully use the Gitcoin brand.
Zooming out, this moment represents a true passing of the torch moment. Gitcoin has been my baby for almost 5 years now, many ups & downs, and it is very bittersweet to see it growing up and āleaving the houseā. I am happy for this opportunity for the DAO to become its own, independent legal entity (via the Foundation) & to be driven fully by the leaders within the DAO - there are dozens of amazing, mission-driven, thoughtful, talented people who have joined the Gitcoin DAO who will continue to drive it forward to success.
I will be rooting for this success in the future. As I turn my attention away from the DAO, I am encouraged by what Iāve seen in the last season.
- The DAO is growing up into a coordination machine, which means more positive impact on the world.
- I see the DAO defining what success looks like to itself, pursuing abundance, sensing & responding, having lots of hard conversations to get there, refocusing on whatās truly important, and treating each other with empathy along the way.
- Peer to peer feedback is the heart of any DAOās growth, and you all have embraced that. I hope to see this trend continue.
Over the years, itās been great to see alumni of Gitcoin go off and do great new amazing things. Iām so proud whenever people come up to me at events and say that [Hackathons|KERNEL|Grants|the DAO] meaningfully improved their lives. Iām proud of the impact that KERNEL has had and wonder if weāll see other spinouts. Iām so proud to count industry luminaries like Anish Agnihotri + Austin Griffith as Gitcoin alumni, and projects like Uniswap, Yearn, 1inch, ethers.js, WalletConnect, Prsymatic Labs, as part of our story. I hope to see many many more.
With the benefit of this context, I begin to view Holdingsā disaffiliation from āleadershipā in the DAO as less of an end and more of a new beginning. I look forward to the next chapter of our relationships with each other. While I expect that you all have to rely on each other p2p now (not on me) to solve the DAOās problems, I would like to continue to be involved from arms-length at the edge of the network. I will celebrate as the DAO solves its own problems + realizes its Essential Intents - eg when the protocols Grants 2.0/Passport launches + begin to get adoption (and hopefully build on top of them). Please donāt hesitate to reach out to me if I can assist in any way in helping the DAO reach its essential intent.
Lastly - I hope that this disaffiliation sends a signal about our culture. As a DAO that started as a company, the DAO may have to have an explicit focus on decentralizing power. To do so, itāll have to remain focused on creating a culture where its members always seek to decentralize power, and avoid entrenching leadership, where people always seek to hire someone smarter than themselves & empower them to be the next generation of leadership. I hope that my contributions & eventual willful disaffiliation from leadership is the first in what becomes a beautiful decentralized fractal of growth & impact.
The stewardship of the journey & ultimate destination for Gitcoin are now up to you.
Hereās the torch. Take good care of it!
Owocki + the Supermodular (formerly Gitcoin Holdings) team