Dash Budget Watch seeks to streamline and improve accountability for Dash’s treasury system as governance-related projects rise.
As Dash remains solidly past the $1 billion market cap ranking and now claims a monthly budget worth nearly $1.2 million, scrutiny over its treasury process increases. To assist in maximizing the potential of Dash’s decentralized governance ecosystem, Dash community member Jim Bursch has started Dash Budget Watch, a project to solve some of the pain points of the proposal process:
“The first problem is that the cost of submitting a proposal (5 Dash) has risen exponentially. This means that someone with a potentially good idea for a proposal to benefit Dash has to take on considerable risk — risk of losing 5 Dash if the proposal doesn’t pass. The second problem is accountability. Once a project is funded, there is no mechanism in place to ensure that the project is completed as promised, leaving the Dash budget system open to abuse.”
A way of both funding proposals and keeping them accountable
Dash Budget Watch seeks to solve the now-steep proposal fee issue by having sponsors cover the cost and be rewarded if the proposal succeeds, according to Bursch:
“DBW solves the first problem by introducing a form of incentivized crowdfunding. It starts when a project leader submits a proposal to DBW for sponsorship consideration. When a project is accepted by DBW, it is submitted to “backers” who have to option to invest 0-5 Dash to cover the project proposal fee. If the 5 Dash fee is reached, the proposal is then submitted to the Dash budget system for the MNO vote, with 10 Dash included in the proposal to pay back the backers. If the proposal passes, the backers double their investment; if it doesn’t, the backers lose their investment.”
To ensure a project does not simply make a great pitch, get funding, and then fail to satisfactorily deliver on the promised results, the Dash Budget Watch also seeks to act as an escrow service paid out gradually to sponsored proposals to make sure they hold up their end of the deal:
“When a proposal passes and a project is funded, DBW solves the second problem of accountability by acting as a sort of managed escrow service. Instead of the budget funding going directly to the project leader, DBW releases the funding to the project leader on a schedule based on project milestones. In this manner the MNO network can be assured that the projects they support do indeed get completed.”
Bursh further explains the process in the below video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLIJhe0rfGs
Governance scaling and accountability a hot topic in Dash
With Dash’s increasing visibility, user base, and monthly budget, the subject of how to ensure that only the best budget proposals go through has increasingly come to the forefront. With it have come a several new approaches to budget accountability, from review committees to proposal rating sites. Dash Force News recently added Joe Moraca as proposal reviewer to write twice-weekly reports on past proposals.
I must agree that ongoing improvements to governance is amazing. I wonder if at some point the governance system will be open to be used by other entities So people can make separate DAOs or voting systems, and use blockchain to manage and store secured votes for whatever is being tracked. (I admit some ignorance of how it works, and there may be a chance it already works in some way similar to this, and I am just not aware.)
Like have a major political party use the voting system to separately, but transparently and securely track votes on issues, candidates for their party, etc.
Dash may not just be a incredible system for everyday cash, but also for everyday governance as well. Secure, transparent, easy.
Now you’re talking like Evan. 🙂
Even better. Get rid of the stupid multi-party system in the 1st place and replace local & national governments with DAO’s!
This is great! Sorely needed to say the least. We’ve had it on the PEC list to investigate next,and frankly I’ve been dreading it, since I’ve had no idea how to solve it without involving code changes. Really hopes this works well. It will remove a contentious problem we’ve had for a long time.
Yes, hopefully the fees can be reduced slightly, but if this service works, it’ll be a really great way to ensure accountability. If it can grow, even better. We need a good escrow service.
wow, I have been thinking about how people can get their proposals submitted for less than 5 Dash, and this is the best idea I have seen so far. The website URL is a little hard to remember and doesn’t include dash. Fundchan? I will have to remember that! But, it is a great idea and well organized.