Proposal from Mask Network: Conduct token swap with MaskDAO

[sujiyan]

Summary

MaskDAO proposes a token swap between $MASK and $GTC to further diversify both treasuries and strengthen the interaction between our communities.

Mask Network Introduction

Mask Network is the core product of Dimension, which is positioned to become the bridge that connects internet users from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0. The foundational technology of Mask Network is a peer-to-peer encrypted messaging application, with new functions continuously being created around this foundation. We have since integrated decentralized social messaging, borderless payment network, and decentralized file storage and sharing to provide a safe and convenient portal for users to jump right into the continent of decentralized finance and then the new world of Web 3.0.

Mask & Gitcoin

We value Gitcoin as our Developer Community Partner, a community of builders, creators, and protocols at the center of open web ecosystems. Mask Network has been an active supporter of Gitcoin since GR6 and has posted 44 bounties and spent 33ETH since then. In the upcoming GR11 and OpenDeFi, Mask Network will continue to provide financial support to encourage more developers to participate in the future of blockchain and open source development ecosystem.

Recently, Mask Network has started the SocialFi Alliance with Gitcoin and other partners from DeFi Apps, ecosystem partners, and community & media partners. In the future, we will launch more social DeFi projects for social network users, promote the connection between Web2.0 and Web3.0, guide more top Internet social platform users to access DeFi, and, for the long term, we are dedicated to promoting the large-scale application of Web3.0.

It’s worth noting that the integration of the dHEDGE, PoolTogether, GoodGhosting, and Augur plugins on Mask extension were all completed by developers in the Mask Network community during the Gitcoin Grants Round 10 Hackathon. This is a very promising sneak peek of the decentralized Mask community we would love to see, where community developers integrate decentralized applications to the Mask extension, and gradually form a Mask decentralized app ecosystem with thousands of DApps, built mostly with community developer contribution.

In addition to funding recent rounds, Mask’s plugin also supported the Gitcoin project’s Twitter presence last June. Once the Mask plugin is installed, the Gitcoin project in the post is automatically recognized and a donation portal is created. Users can then donate directly to support the project without leaving the Twitter page. This will greatly simplify the process of raising money for projects on Gitcoin (add project to cart, checkout with zkSync…), and increase the exposure of these great Web 3.0 projects.

Mask Token

$MASK is the native token of MaskDAO. The DAO is the owner of the Mask Ecosystem. $MASK holders are members of MaskDAO and possess ownership of the Mask Ecosystem through the DAO. As the native token, $MASK serves as incentives to facilitate governance. Each $MASK represents one vote. Overtime, Mask Network team and ecosystem members will develop more products and services that would accrue value to $MASK.

Motivation

We believe that the token swap enables us to:

• Deepen bonds between our communities

• Diversify our treasuries

• Provide governance power in each other’s community

Specification

Execution at current 30-day moving average prices with no discount.

$MASK 30-Day MA = $

$GTC 30-Day MA = $

$ ____ notional value, paid in $GTC and $MASK.

$GTC <> $MASK

[sujiyan]

Disclaimer: I (Suji Yan) am one of the steward of gtc community and also founder of mask network.

Gtc multi sig address already hold 15.5k $mask $9.60 | Mask Network (MASK) Token Tracker | Etherscan through multiple donations etc.

This token swap is been discussed with Gitcoin team members before.

[tzhan28]

Taylor from Mask team here.

We are initiating multiple effort on token swaps, including Gitcoin, Sushi, and dHEDGE. dHEDGE proposal has passed Snapshot voting. Sushi proposal is in forum discussion phase.

(looks like I’m not allowed to post links)

Would love to see some feedback from the Gitcoin community

[louve3]

This seems like a valid progression since both companies are building Web 3

[socal434]

I think this could be a good token to help diversify the DAO treasury a bit. I attended the MASK AMA with SushiSwap awhile back and found the project very interesting.

[makoto]

Hi.

I haven’t formed the opinion of whether this is good or bad proposal so allow me to ask a few questions.

@sujiyan

• Deepen bonds between our communities

This is without a doubt true, but it may open up lots of other projects proposing the same. Assuming $GTC hasn’t done any of these things before, probably good to discuss what’s the criteria for selecting aliance and partners for token swaps rather than accepting on ad hoc basis.

@sujiyan

• Diversify our treasuries

The gitcoin treasury vision also states treasury diversification but I assume that’s meant for holding less correlated assets like stable coins. Maybe quick analysis of how uncorelated $GTC and $MASK would be helpful to strengthen the proposal.

@sujiyan

• Provide governance power in each other’s community

how does this work in practice. If $MASK tokens are in Gitcoin treasury, does the current tools like snapshot support voting via DAO?

[sujiyan]

Hi Makoto,

For the last part -

Mask DAO have several voting before use snapshot. Gtc multi sign wallet haven’t participated for many reasons. (The donation are given in several tranches)

[tzhan28]

Good to see some sushi vibes here as well!

[tzhan28]

Hi Makoto,

I recall you showing up in our townhall last month! I think those are good questions. For deepening bonds, Mask has been one of the earlier and largest bounty issuer and donor for Gitcoin. Gitcoin bounty hackers literally finished more than half of the dapp integrations in the Mask ecosystem, and we expect the % to go even higher as we grow to hundreds if not thousands of integrated dapps. I think that’s a very unique position to be in. The benefit is mutual and worth a special tie like token swap.

As for treasury diversification, I think although we are both in web 3 space, we are still very different business. Mask product is in general consumer facing while Gitcoin is more developer focused. Our distinctive value props put us in good position to cooperate yet remain fundamentally different to provide enough diversification value and upside potential.

[socal434]

I did a rough analysis of the correlation of the closing price between the two tokens since the listing of GTC on CoinGecko (where I got the data from). You can see there is a correlation correlation coefficient of 0.6 (1 being perfectly correlated and 0 being not at all). They are a bit more than midway but I would suspect that most tokens would fall into this same range.

[makoto]

Thank you for the analysis.
What is the cc for the last 3 months rather than from the beginning of the GTC release? I do think GTC price had its own trend immediately after the release then become more correlated as the price starbilised.

I do think the stable coin (or something like RAI/OHM) is better from treasury diversification point of view so probably better to leave “treasury diversification” from the reason of doing so.

Maybe @HelloShreyas can comment more on these points?

I personally feel that this is similar to $OneGTC proposal.
It is an innovative idea but maybe a bit too early to talk about.

[socal434]

You were right and I didn’t really think about the initial volatility when GTC was first offered. If you cut that out then they show a much higher correlation. I agree this would not really diversify the treasury from a monetary prospective. The prices will just rise and fall together rather than offset each other.

[sujiyan]

FYI folks here our forum announcement etc-

Approve MaskDAO to pursue strategic swaps with holdings

[sujiyan]

I think it would be a better idea to compare to BTC, ETH and perhaps DPI? The correlation is likely to be fairly high too.

The term treasury diversification also needs some clarification. Lots of companies or projects raised a few stable rounds before, so it has decent amount of stables or even cash that may not even belong to the dao yet.

So the point of treasury diversification here is usually not getting more stables but getting some partner projects’ token that has good upside too. At least that’s the case from a Mask team member stand point. Using the correlation factor here might be a bit misleading.

Side note 1, Gitcoin treasury does have some animal coins?
Side note 2, rai is a decent choice since it grows with ETH price and much more stable
Side note 3, ohm is totally different, not stable not pegged, but amazing asset to have. I’m an OHMie and we are in talk with them as well.1

[socal434]

Most coins will show a high correlation and that’s what I meant by the monetary perspective with regard to diversification. It could be beneficial in other ways though. I think that Mask is awesome and have it set up on my Twitter account right now.

[php]

Hi,

correlation is not the core issue, below is how I would evaluate, take an analogy of two start-ups, deciding whether to swap some of their shares.

In general, try not to distribute equity to less-relevant stakeholders; manage non-core portfolio can be distracting. So the justification can be: there will be additional supporting coming from the other side (premium price, industry connections or advancement that is difficult to buy with money directly).

Diversity treasury does not sound attractive to me;
Would love to see more benefit about point 1 and 3 discussed.

• Deepen bonds between our communities
• Diversify our treasuries
• Provide governance power in each other’s community

[sujiyan]

Very good point;

Gitcoin

This video from GR9 shows alot haha

[bobjiang]

@makoto

probably good to discuss what’s the criteria for selecting aliance and partners for token swaps rather than accepting on ad hoc basis.

This is a great question.
The token swap could be impacted in many sides:
not only token (price), but financial, community, and etc.

How is the swap between Mask and Sushi?
Would you share more details?
@sujiyan

[zhangtgithub]

Good to see some sushi vibes here as well!