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Bankless South Asia is a Decentralised Autonomous Organisation formed on the bankless mission of boarding one billion people to the bankless monitory system using technology, media, culture, and education in the South Asia region. This governance framework intends to establish base operating guidelines for the DAO to properly distribute funds and make organisational decisions and sustainability. The following outlines Bankless South Asia governance roles, policies, projects and decision-making procedures.
I. Why Does Bankless SouthAsia Exist?
Vision: To spearhead the South Asian Bankless movement towards a future of greater freedom by providing a platform where people can co-create, learn and express themselves without language barriers.
Mission: To introduce the Bankless principle to the next billion from the most populous region on earth through education, user-centric content, technology, consulting, and advisory. We aim to channel collective intelligence toward the greater good.
II. Core Values
Integrity: We uphold our diversity, practice honesty, and adhere to ethical principles. Transparency in accounting and decision-making is considered of utmost importance.
Accountability: We are accountable for our actions in the DAO, both good and bad. Expect adherence to high standards of responsibility.
Collaboration: We highly value collaboration over individualism, together we march towards shared DAO goals with mutual support.
Build for durability: We want to maximise our efforts towards long-term sustainable value creation that can stand the test of time. We want to do this by carefully analysing the needs and future requirements of the region's people and matching them with planned execution.
Decentralisation: We strive to create an environment where the decision-making is not concentrated with few influential members. A collective decision-making process will be enforced in which each eligible member has a say.
III. Governance Structure
Governance Roles
‘Anyone who believes in the values and benefits of decentralised and distributed technology can become a member of Bankless South Asia. ‘
Bankless South Asia has a three-level governance structure:
- Chotu: Anyone who believes in the values and benefits of decentralised and distributed technology and wants to contribute to the DAO in any capacity. This includes but is not limited to attending meetings, working on projects and providing administrative support.
- Bhai: Bankless south Asia Chotu roll holders who have met the following criteria,
- An active contributor to Bankless SouthAsia or to any media nodes formed under the bankless south Asia umbrella.
- @bada_bhai should nominate a Chotu role holder as an informal proposal regarding the role in the #informal-proposal channel, which follows the informal voting procedures.
- Bada Bhai
- Any @Bhai tag holder can be nominated by a @bada_bhai for this role
- The nominee should make a formal proposal to the #proposals channel under governance. The proposal will undergo the procedures described under section VI.
- Duration of a role: The tag holder is entitled to the role for an entire season. at the end of each season, they are supposed to make an informal proposal for the role renewal.
- At the end of Season 0, all the Multisig signatories will be eligible for a @bada_bhai role.
IV. Governance Board Elections
The governance Board of the bankless SouthAsia will be Responsible for the smooth functioning of day-to-day activities and envision a long-term future for the DAO. The responsibilities of the governance board will include but are not limited to operations, funding and accounting, and talent coordination. The number of seats in the Governance Board will expand or shrink according to the size of the DAO.
- Season
- The seasons of the bSouthAsiaDAO will align themselves to the seasons proposed by BanklessDAO.
- The DAO coordinator will make a formal proposal 1-week before the end of each season regarding the number of seats on the governance board.
- Nominations
- Nominations for the upcoming season will be collected by the existing governance council for 48 hrs from @Bhai and @Bada_bahi role holders as soon as the seating Poll ends.
- Voting.
- All bSouthAsiaDAO tag holders have the right to participate in the voting process.
- The Nominations with the most votes get elected to the governance board.
V. Informal Proposals
Any proposals that don’t impact bankless SouthAsia Governance, finance, treasury management or code of conduct are considered informal proposals. The informal proposals streamline the operations and bring transparency to the working of the DAO.
- Examples of informal proposals can be.
- Proposal to start a Media Node under bSouthAsiaDAO
- Proposal to start new projects.
- Project team establishment
- Submission of client works
- Process of informal proposal
- Any bSouthAsia DAO Role holder can table a proposal
- All informal proposals should be submitted in the #informal-proposals channel under governance.
- All informal proposals will have a 72hr challenge period where
- Any @bhai or @bhada_bhai role holder can challenge and ask for clarification on the proposal. Options for consideration include:
- Alignment of the proposal to the value and mission of bSouthAsiaDAO
- Following the standards and best practices of the DAO
- Disaster prevention and risk management.
- The default challenge period of 72 hrs can be shortened in case of emergency with the consensus of the governance board.
- In the case of an objection during the call, the informal proposal shall go through a poll where a simple majority between the @bhai and @bhada_bhai roll holders is needed.
- In the case of no objection, the proposal is considered approved and executed automatically.
- For proposals that need extra assistance from the DAO, a governance board member or an operations lead will implement the proposal.
VI. Formal Proposals
All Bankless South Asia level decisions impact governance structure, Treasury or individual violations related to the Bankless South Asia DAO Code of Conduct.
- Types of Formal proposals
- Amendments to Governance.- Any proposals related to the governance structure and guidelines.
- All Amendments should be proposed as bSouthAsiaDAO governance Amendment proposal (SDAP) followed by a number.
- All the amendment proposals should be submitted on the proposals channel with a minimum discussion time frame of 72 hrs days and shall be discussed in a Governance Board meeting.
- Seasonal Budget: The governance board is expected to approve the Budget of the DAO for each upcoming season.
- Proposals impacting the Bankless South Asia DAO treasury: Any proposals requiring funding of more than 500 Bank tokens or equivalents.
- Proposal Process
- An Amendment proposal can be proposed by any bankless Role holder. The proposal can be submitted for discussion if
- a @bhai or Bhada_bhai role holder is sponsoring the proposal
- Follows the standard proposal template
- Once submitted, there is a three-day timeframe for a thread discussion about the proposal. After the time frame, the author shall submit the proposal with the suggested changes in a governance board call and ask for a formal voting procedure.
- Once passed the will be a 1-week window for the implementation of the proposal unless otherwise stated in the proposal.
- Voting process.
- Only BanklessSA Dao @bhai and @bhada_Bhai role holders are eligible for voting on the formal proposals.
- The eligible role holders should have an approval rate of at least 60%.
VII. Meetings
Weekly Governance Board Meetings
- The Governance Board shall meet once a week to discuss governance and proposals.
- The DAO coordinator, elected at the beginning of each season, should lead Governance Board meetings, gather all proposals, and assign someone to document official notes.
Node Meetings
- Each Language node is expected to meet at least twice a month to coordinate.
- No further requirements are enforced at the DAO level unless the respective governance guidelines of the Nodes say otherwise.
VIII. Treasury
Accounts
The bSouthAsiaDAO will maintain multi-sig wallets in different chains as part of the DAO treasury. All Multisig wallets are maintained by the Governance board with a threshold of ⅔.
The DAO shall maintain a different Multisig wallet on behalf of the Media Nodes for
- Receiving payments from the International Media Node of banklessDAO
- Reimbursing Node Members per node Budgets.
- Funding of projects approved by Media Nodes.
Functions of Bankless South Asia Treasury
The functions of the Bankless South Asia Treasury includes
- Spending - Spending assets from the DAO treasury should have a definite objective.
- Operations - Funding of essential operations of the DAO, which does not fall under the mandates of the paid role holders.
- Funding Projects -Treasury shall find projects that fall into the following categories.
- Common good: Approved projects that provide value to the bankless community.
- Revenue generation vehicle to bSouthAsia DAO.
- Payroll - Detailed guidelines for payments and compensation are discussed under XI Compensation.
- Asset allocation
- The goal of asset allocation for Bankless South Asia is to ensure that the treasury can continue to fund critical development regardless of the market environment.
- Assets Undermanagent
- The Treasury is supposed to hold Bank tokens to cover the requirements of bankless DAO, if any.
- Diversion strategies: The treasury is supposed to hold at least 20% of assets under management (excluding NFTs and SemiFTs) into stable coins to maintain sufficient balance sheet strength. Approved stablecoins include
- USDC
- Decentralised and Algorithmic stablecoins, like DAI and LUSD.
- Non-Fungible Assets: Treasury shall diversify and hold tokens that are non-fungible.
- Monthly Treasury Report
- Every month, a summary of treasury activities showing the beginning and ending asset balances must be prepared. Preferably this must be prepared after the allocations to DAO contributors.
IX. Language Node Guidelines
- Any bankless South Asia Role holder can start and run an International Media Node with Bankless South Asia according to the International Media Node framework.
- The media nodes should pay at least 20% of their total revenue to bSouthAsiaDAO using the extended talent pool offered by the DAO.
- Each node is supposed to come up with Recommendation Guidelines at the genesis season to determine
- Internal compensation of node participants.
- Decision-making procedures.
Role under Nodes
- DAO coordinator:
- Requirements
- A bankless South Asia member with at least a @Bhai tag or above
- An expert in the International Language Node framework who can provide assistance for the smooth functioning of a node.
- Function.
- Organise meetings: Shall organise meetings with different node champions to be an information oracle regarding South Asia Media Nodes.
- Coordination of Payments on behalf of nodes from IMN
- Further functions of the DAO coordinator are detailed under X Compensations § Roles.
- Node champion: Should at least be a bankless South Asia @chotu role holder
- Functions
- Adhere to the decisions of the DAO coordinator
- Fulfil the KPIs proposed for funding.
X. Compensation
bSouthAsia members are expected to develop different projects under the bSA and get paid through those works. Example of work: writer of newsletters at a node, grants proposal writer, project manager for different projects. Or delivering client projects.
Roles
All roles follow the governance board election procedures.
DAO coordinator:
- The function of a DAO coordinator
- To be a point of contact for Language nodes to coordinate with the Bankless SouthAsia DAO.
- Overlook the overall functioning of the DAO
- Presiding over the Governance board elections
- Requirements: Detailed under Language Node Guidelines.
- The role holder is not supposed to participate in the DAO-wide Compensation round, which is meant to reward the contribution of Unpaid role holders.
Finance and Accounting lead:
- Make a budget and allocation of funds for different projects.
- Actively coordinate bounties for different tasks in the DAO.
- Keep a record of the financial transaction in the DAO and facilitate the functioning of the Treasury.
- Book Keeping on behalf of the Nodes.
- The role holder is not supposed to participate in the DAO-wide Compensation round, which is meant to reward the contribution of Unpaid role holders.
Governance and legal coordinator.
- The role holder is not supposed to participate in the DAO-wide Compensation round, which is meant to reward the contribution of Unpaid role holders.
XI. Risk management.
People:
- To minimise the incidents of rage quitting, there should be a dedicated space/forum to collect member feedback and a formal way for members to express their dissatisfaction or opinions.
- A structured onboarding process can be defined to educate members about DAO best practices during onboarding.
- The incentive model should follow a standardised rate structure to avoid dissatisfaction.
Process:
- A formal approval mechanism must be followed while sharing social media passwords.
- After sufficient due diligence, multi-sig members' approval of financial transactions must be done only.
- The collection and storage of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) related to DAO members should be avoided.
- In case of non-adherence to the DAO best practices, members can vote to take action against such members, such as removal from positions of responsibility.
Technology:
- Members must always use secure password management tools to access social media and other content management platforms. Sharing of credentials in its raw form must be avoided.
- Storage of essential documents should only be made on approved platforms such as Notion, and the usage of personal cloud storage must be discouraged.
External:
- This subDAO should follow all the regulatory and legal best currently being followed at Bankless DAO.
- To avoid reputational damages, the official communication of this sub-DAO must be properly vetted before it gets released to the external world.
- In case of external backlash against any DAO activities/communications, an immediate discussion should be held to develop a risk mitigation plan.