The Dash Investment Foundation, created to supplement the Dash DAO Treasury by taking equity in projects, has elected the supervisors to oversee its investment process.
The Dash Investment Foundation supervisors election results. Congratulations to the four elected candidates! https://t.co/Km1IR3gWkZ
— DASH (@Dashpay) July 4, 2019
The supervisor role “will be responsible for setting the principles that will rule the operation of the Dash Investment Foundation”, said Fernando Gutierrez, Dash Core Group’s CMO. The six supervisors will oversee the directors, investment specialists that will run the day-to-day operations of the foundation. However, since this is the first year of the DIF, two supervisors already had to be appointed and thus only four supervisors were elected this year, but all six will be elected next year. The supervisor election winners are below.
- Amanda Johnson — Amanda B. Johnson
- Michael Lewis — walter
- Jan Heinrich Meyer — essra
- Hytham Abdel-Karim — Unchained
“The DIF gives the Dash DAO the ability to take equity in projects that add value to the Dash ecosystem. Before the DIF we were giving grants on a hope to deliver basis. Its truly a huge step forward in the evolution of the DAO and i look forward to how we can make the most it, since this is uncharted territory. A memberless, ownerless, decentralised entity.”
Unchained, one of the new supervisors, summed up the reason for the DIF creation; it enables the network to take equity in projects it invests in rather than simply giving out grants through the DAO Treasury in hopes of benefits in increased development or users for the network.
Diversifying network developments
Dash has been able to solve a critical problem within cryptocurrency; decentralized funding. Previously, cryptocurrency projects had to either rely on volunteers, external foundations, or crowdfunding to pay for development of the network. The problem with these methods is that it leaves the actors vulnerable to outside influence or apathy due to not getting paid. However, the Dash DAO Treasury quickly revealed a new problem of scammers attempting to get money, but not being held liable for the work or risky projects not bearing returns for the network. Now, the DIF will enable the Dash network to take equity in projects, and thus, simultaneously create more direct returns for the network while also creating more incentive for project owners to produce honest results. It also allows for more investigative due diligence by directors and supervisors on behalf of the network. Nevertheless, as Unchained previously mentioned, it also does so in a decentralized way since the supervisors oversee the directors and are elected by the masternodes every year.
“I believe that DIF can play a key role for strengthening the infrastructure of Dash in two ways. Of course investing in already existing companies from the crypo industry will add high value to Dash as a currency, but I believe that DIF can also act as an accelerator for the fintech industry. Just imagine a startup building a DApp on Dash Platform while that startup is owned and funded by the decentralized network on which platform they are developing on. This is exactly what I want to promote to the European fintech industry and what I believe will benefit the Dash network in every matter: transactions, adoption and increase in overall value.”
Essra, another supervisor elected, also emphasized the fact that the DIF will enable the network to reach out and actively find solid projects to invest in, which will create value for the network by both creating potential returns, but by also bringing new users to the network. This is a point recently emphasized by Monero developer, fluffypony, in that cryptocurrency funding needs to branch out to outside parties to grow the network towards mass adoption.
Another supervisor elected, Walter, also discussed the importance of the DIF being a better long-term way to fund project that will benefit the network.
“The creation of the Dash Investment Foundation is another hugely important milestone for the Dash Network. The Dash DAO treasury now has another ‘string to its bow’ when it comes to deciding how best to finance initiatives in the future. No longer is the treasury just a ‘pay and pray’ grants-based system, the DAO controlled ‘Dash Investment Foundation’ can now represent the network and enter into legally binding contracts, provide start up loans, or take equity positions in any venture that the DAO decides to fund – as voted for by the circa 5000 Masternodes that govern the network. It’s truly ground-breaking and it will help kickstart a Dash funded business ‘incubator’ programme to help he Dash ecosystem grow and thrive for many years to come”
Dash making its innovative funding methods more robust
Dash is finding new ways to advance innovation through code developments such the recent release of Automatic InstantSend and ChainLocks, which can easily get funded through the DAO Treasury mechanism. However, as Ryan Taylor, CEO of Dash Core Group previously said, grant systems work better for non-risky cost and research centers like code creation, but not necessarily for startups. Thus, Dash will be finding ways to diversify its own community development by using an investment method with more properly aligned incentives. This then enables for each specialized funding method to be more catered to the type of network and community investment being conducted.
