karpatkey governance newsletter: December 2024
Your essential guide to DAO governance proposals, initiatives and innovation
Hello, community!
The New Year is upon us! As we step into 2025, we’re taking the time to reflect on a transformative 2024 for karpatkey and the DeFi Treasury Network.
Last year was filled with achievements, milestones, and tangible progress. We’re filled with gratitude for the invaluable support of our partners, contributors, and community.
In this edition, we’re excited to share the highlights from December 2024.
Let’s dive in!
Headline: Mobilising a DAO’s Treasury – Uniswap Treasury Working Group Report
In December, the Uniswap Treasury Working Group (UTWG)—with contributions from karpatkey, Arana Ventures, Franklin DAO, and StableLab—published a comprehensive report on the mobilisation of Uniswap DAO’s $6 billion treasury.
This 150-page report is the culmination of five months of interviews with stakeholders, comprehensive research into the history of DAO treasury management, and countless hours of portfolio backtesting and impact simulations. It explores critical topics such as governance token accounting, strategies to mitigate principal-agent problems and governance attacks, and a robust framework for asset allocation.
While the recommendations are tailored to Uniswap DAO, the report’s insights extend far beyond, offering valuable guidance for DeFi veterans, DAO contributors, and traditional finance professionals alike.
Key Topics & Proposals
GIP-117: Partnering with Backed for Equity Assets on Gnosis Chain
GnosisDAO has approved a strategic partnership with Backed to roll out tokenised equity assets on Gnosis Chain. This initiative aims to evolve the DeFi landscape on Gnosis Chain while providing users with opportunities to diversify with exposure to more traditional equities. The proposal contemplates:
$1 million GNO incentives allocated over six months.
Providing liquidity for tokenised equities like bCSPX, bNVDA, and bTSLA.
👉 Learn more about the proposal
ARFC: karpatkey as GHO Growth Service Provider
karpatkey’s Aave Request for Comment (ARFC) on extending its mandate as GHO Growth Service Provider was approved. The proposal will now move to an onchain vote as a standalone Aave Improvement Proposal. It focuses on driving adoption of GHO across chains, with a particular emphasis on Gnosis Chain.
Key components of the proposal include:
Expanding GHO supply through strategic integrations.
Introducing an sGHO vault on Gnosis Chain, to stake native GHO in the Gnosis Chain bridge.
Establishing a $5 million Aave treasury for market-making activities.
👉 Read the full proposal on the Aave forum
CoW DAO: Solver Rewards Expansion
In December, CoW DAO voted on approving an expansion of its existing solver rewards program beyond Ethereum Mainnet to Gnosis Chain and Arbitrum One. This initiative incentivizes solvers to improve performance on these chains and encourages participation from chain-specific solvers who may not compete on Mainnet.
Key Highlights:
Rewards will now be distributed on Gnosis Chain and Arbitrum using the same mechanism as Mainnet.
Rewards are paid in COW tokens, with weekly accounting to solvers in the same manner as the Mainnet programme.
Retroactive rewards will be computed and paid for all batch auctions conducted on Gnosis Chain and Arbitrum since 1 October 2024.
This proposal signifies an exciting expansion of CoW’s solver network to include more chains and increase competition and efficiency. As CoW Swap continues to ramp up its crosschain expansion, it seems that the sky is the limit for their signature MEV-resistant swap technology.
Uniswap: Adoption of the SEAL Safe Harbor Agreement
Uniswap Governance has approved the adoption of the SEAL Whitehat Safe Harbor Agreement, a framework designed to enhance the security of onchain assets during active exploits.
Key Highlights:
Empowering Whitehats: The agreement incentivizes whitehats to intervene during immediate or ongoing exploits to protect protocol funds, reducing their legal exposure.
Rapid Intervention: Whitehats are authorised to act only in critical situations where traditional disclosure methods cannot prevent fund loss.
Mandatory Fund Return: Rescued assets must be returned to a recovery address controlled by the protocol within 72 hours.
Clear Guidelines: Strict rules ensure recovery efforts are conducted professionally, with whitehats protected from liability when acting in good faith.
Incentivised Efforts: A bounty system rewards whitehats with a percentage of recovered assets for successful interventions.
By adopting this agreement, Uniswap strengthens its security infrastructure, ensuring rapid response during crises and reinforcing its commitment to safeguarding user funds.
Lido: Support karpatkey with Your LDO Delegation
As a long-term contributor to LidoFinance and part of the Treasury Management Committee, karpatkey is seeking $LDO delegations. With your support, we aim to continue driving forward Lido’s mission to establish stETH as Ethereum’s reserve currency.
👉 Delegate LDO on vote.lido.fi
At a Glance: The DeFi Treasury Network
Check out the latest metrics showcasing our impact across partners.
Thanks
2024 was a year of incredible milestones for DeFi, Web 3.0 and karpatkey. We’re grateful to have been involved with so many amazing projects and people over the course of the year.
As we look back on the year, we owe our thanks and gratitude to:
the partners in every corner of this industry that worked alongside karpatkey in 2024 to grow DeFi;
the communities that welcomed karpatkey’s contributions in 2024. It’s been our honour to support them, as they moved from strength to strength;
the builders, creators, entrepreneurs, business people, advocates and participants who make DeFi what it is;
our karpatkey community for their faithful support throughout the year, including all the founders, friends, supporters, colleagues and angels who facilitate our work; and
the karpatkey contributors who have worked tirelessly to support and grow karpatkey in 2024. Truly, it’s the people that make us what we are.
As we wrap up this edition, we’re excited about the journey ahead. In 2025, we look forward to opening and embracing our community in new ways, and bringing you more insights and commentary from across our industry. We can’t wait to share what we have in store!
If you’re inspired by our work and want to be part of this mission, explore our open positions or connect with us on social media.
Let’s make 2025 another groundbreaking year for DeFi. Until next time! 👋