The goal of this Forum Topic is to introduce the proposed Indigo DAO Constitution and get a “Temperature Check” from the community. After receiving feedback from the community for, we will proceed with the second phase of the Temperature Check: a poll in this Forum.
If this Constitution is approved by the community during the Temperature Check, it is later intended that the Constitution will be formally and verifiably adopted by the Indigo DAO on the Cardano blockchain after the mainnet launch of Indigo.
Why does the Indigo DAO need a Constitution?
The Indigo DAO will own and control the Indigo Protocol. All changes to the protocol must go through governance. Governance is the decentralized voting process through which proposals for updating the protocol are introduced and either accepted or rejected by the Indigo DAO Members.
A Constitution is a body of fundamental principles adopted by and adhered to by a group of members. The Indigo DAO Constitution will serve as rules and guidelines for the Indigo community and describe how the community will govern the protocol. As future users of this protocol, we created this proposed Constitution and welcome feedback from the greater community to strive towards the goal to Tokenize Everything. This Constitution outlines rules that will exist on the Cardano blockchain, on this Forum, and elsewhere.
The Indigo DAO Token (“INDY”) will serve as Indigo’s utility token with one of its purposes being to allow voting on DAO proposals. Users who stake their INDY in Indigo’s governance (thereby becoming an “INDY staker”) can vote on proposals. A vote can be either in the form of yes, indicating favor of passing the proposal, or no, indicating favor of rejecting the proposal. Each INDY staker receives voting power weighted by their amount of INDY staked.
A proposal is considered passed when the ratio of yes votes over no votes exceeds the quorum threshold, which will be calculated using Adaptive Quorum Biasing.
Adaptive Quorum Biasing
Indigo intends to use a dynamic vote-threshold mechanism called Adaptive Quorum Biasing (“AQB”) to calculate the quorum threshold value. AQB lowers the quorum threshold as more INDY is used to vote. If voter participation is low, then a high majority of those votes must be in favor of the proposal. If voter participation is high, then a lower majority of those votes must be in favor of the proposal. Always at least 50% of votes must be in favor of a proposal for it to pass.
Illustration of quorum threshold decreasing as voter participation increases
To aid in the governance process, Moderators will be assigned to administer rules set forth in the Indigo DAO Constitution.
Indigo DAO Moderators
Moderators will be elected by the Indigo DAO to administer communications, procedures, and technical operations applicable to the Indigo DAO. Moderators will not have any control over the protocol or the DAO, but instead Moderators will be empowered to help Members to form a healthy environment for Indigo to thrive. The goal of Moderators is to be fair and neutral administrators of the governance process to help support the growth, reliability, and trustworthiness of the protocol.
More information about the Moderators is provided in the Indigo DAO Constitution.
Proposed Indigo DAO Constitution
Attached is the proposed Indigo DAO Constitution. The Constitution is also available on the Indigo GitHub.
The SHA-256 hash (can be used to verify and track changes as the document proceeds through the governance process) of the document is:
5ee5f032c90893a35ffe75c2d35e0a0d71fad9292360ae3fe1052efef896689a
The Constitution consists of nine articles. Following is a high-level description of each article.
Article I – Organization
Article I describes the DAO – what it is and is not, and its purpose – and articulates the rules and standards for participating in the DAO.
Article II – Membership
Article II articulates that all INDY token holders who have staked to the governance contract are entitled to vote and otherwise participate in the DAO. This Article also makes clear that DAO participants cannot bind the DAO or other participants in any way, and are obligated to informally resolve any disputes.
Article III – Decentralized Governance
Article III defines the mechanics of voting and the adoption of Adaptive Quorum Biasing. This section also walks through Core Contributors, Working Groups, and Moderators, and that the DAO participants are in control of whether such groups are created, who the Members are, and what their responsibilities will be.
Article IV – Meetings of Members
Article 4 provides for Moderators or Core Contributors to host meetings of DAO participants to discuss important issues.
Article V – Relationships
Article V allows for the DAO to direct that new relationships be formed between others and the Indigo Foundation, and gives the Foundation some guidelines for forming those relationships.
Article VI – Fiscal Matters
Article VI addresses the DAO control of the Treasury and that DAO participants do not have individual rights to the Treasury.
Article VII – Indigo Foundation
Article VII appoints Indigo Foundation and its mandate to administer proposals of the DAO. The DAO will appoint Foundation Board Members and agrees to indemnify those Board Members for any issues related to their efforts on behalf of the DAO.
Article VIII – Miscellaneous
Article VIII addresses several legal or process provisions, importantly including that the DAO participants can amend this Constitution at any time.
Article IX – Additional Definitions
Article IX sets out certain definitions used throughout the Constitution.
