Green Candle steps in to fill void in Dash ecosystem, offering escrow services for proposals.
A Canada-based company, Green Candle, Inc. provides escrow services for the Dash proposal system, operating as a step between proposal owners and the treasury to ensure funds are secured, converted if need be, and distributed upon the receipt of project deliverables, including all the legal and structural factors applying to these steps. According to Director and Dash Core Network Operations Manager Jeff Smith, Green Candle seeks to fill a clear demand for escrow from the Dash community:
“One of our long term goals is to carve out a space in the treasury budget for escrow. The community demands it because there is a clear need for it. Short term we will lead by example by helping to decentralize the escrow business itself.”
At present, all that is required for a treasury proposal to be paid out is to receive a net 10% of masternode votes. After that point is reached, there is no further input from the Dash network necessary; the contractor is paid out and is simply trusted to deliver the promised results, leaving a considerable risk of failure to deliver, both unintentionally and otherwise. Director Jeremy Segal sees an opportunity for Green Candle to bridge this gap in the proposal system for the benefit of the ecosystem:
“I saw this as an opportunity to contribute to Dash by bridging the gap between the treasury, MNOs and proposal owners. The cornerstone of the relationships I value the most is trust. To have trust you need common ground and I have always enjoyed the challenge of finding it. The overwhelming support we received from the start didn’t hurt either.”
Further refinements of the proposal system may eventually be incoming at the protocol level, however Segal sees a temporary bridge as necessary for Dash to reach mass market in the meantime:
“The ultimate goal is the mass adoption of Dash. We understand that the need for escrow will eventually be handled programatically by the blockchain. We seek to facilitate the continued parallel development of infrastructure that Dash will use until that time.”
Stewardship of escrow funds while benefiting the masternode network
One aspect of Green Candle’s escrow service involves temporarily using held escrow funds to run masternodes in the interim between receiving the funds from the blockchain and delivering them to their final recipients, as was initially reported with the funds for the Great American Pilgrimage. According to Smith, this decision was arrived at following engagement with the masternodes, the Core team, and the community:
“In terms of funds being held over and above 1,000 in a single funding lane, the consensus seemed that it was in the network’s best interest if those funds were put online to help support the network in the form of a masternode. It was never our intention to do this for the profit aspect of the move.”
Smith explains that, in addition to supporting Dash’s greater network infrastructure, this also helps to insulate against the considerable risk invoked by handling large amounts of funds, for which Green Candle would be held liable:
“…every time we move funds (especially when turning them into a masternode) there is a lot of risk. Anything could go wrong. The reason we are comfortable keeping the rewards is because we are taking the risk moving the funds. If those funds had gotten lost during the move, from them being paid out in the superblock to being put online, it would be Green Candle that is required to replace them. At its own expense. This is only for funds in a single funding lane. We don’t mix funds between funding lanes for combination into masternodes as that invalidates our funding lane model.”
Finally, Smith clarifies that masternodes operated through escrowed funds would never be used to vote on treasury proposals:
“One thing I will make clear, though, is that while we did get support to put these funds online, it was made clear the network felt it would be in conflict of interest for us to vote with these nodes. For that reason we have never exercised the right to vote with any nodes we have ran.”
An increasing share of the Dash ecosystem in 2018
To date, Green Candle has managed a number of proposals, including the Great American Pilgrimage, the newest iteration of Dash Aerosports, full integration into the General Bytes product lineup, and most recently Bellator MMA World Welterweight Champion Rory MacDonald. This month’s cycle, Green Candle has another four proposals before the network.
Segal sees Green Candle growing to foster a number of relationships with the Dash network over the coming years:
“While engaging with the community and MNOs we will continue to provide a layer of protection and accountability between the network and its contractors. We intend to build strategic, prosperous and mutually beneficial relationships that will allow us to achieve the goal of mass adoption.”
According to Smith, this significant undertaking has posed a welcome challenge:
“Without a doubt this experience has been the most exhilarating and fascinating challenge I could have hoped for. There are so many great people involved from all over the world and I am eager to see how we can make Dash the number one digital cash together.”
