MoonDAO Contributors! The time has come to vote on the first iteration of the MoonDAO Constitution.
This document has been a long time in the making, and it's a huge milestone for MoonDAO as we decentralize further and put the fate of the DAO into the hands of the token holders. We involved as many voices as we could into the process, and our community has deeply debated each of the articles of the Constitution.
We are very proud to present what the community has put together.
Before presenting the link to the full document, here is a quick overview of the key features of the MoonDAO Constitution and some of our reasoning behind the design decisions.
Mission Statement
The Constitution begins with our mission statement. When we started, MoonDAO's mission statement was simply "to decentralize access to space research and exploration," we've expanded on that mission to include a concrete goal:
"MoonDAO’s mission is to create a self-sustaining, self-governing settlement on the Moon by 2030 to act as a launch point for humanity to explore the cosmos."
We've also included statements on our vision and values as we move towards that goal. These include commitments of transparency with the use of MoonDAO funds, transparency of communication, and the bottom-up nature of our organization.
Governance Staking
For the average token holder the biggest change (if this constitution is approved) is that we are moving to a staked governance system. What this means is that to vote on proposals you'll need to take your MOONEY governance tokens and lock them for a period of time. Your voting power will depend on how many tokens you lock, and for how long.
The reason we are doing this is because we want MoonDAO to have a long-term time horizon. Moving towards a staked governance system is beneficial to both the long-term holders (people concerned with governance are focused on longer time horizons), and for the short-term traders (the total supply of MOONEY goes down because it is locked).
You can stake your MOONEY for as little as 1 week to as much as 4 years, in return you'll receive a non-transferable vMOONEY (voting MOONEY). As an example, here is how voting power is determined for each member:
100 MOONEY staked 4 years = 100 vMOONEY 100 MOONEY staked 2 years = 50 vMOONEY 100 MOONEY staked 1 year = 25 vMOONEY
Then, on any given MoonDAO proposal we will take the square root of the amount of vMOONEY to calculate your final voting power. This change in governance solidifies our commitment that MoonDAO is not a speculative token for a one-time mission, but a long-term organization.
It's important to note that the amount of vMOONEY you have will dynamically decrease as you get closer to your unlock date. For example, if you stake 4 years, after 2 years have passed you'll have half the vMOONEY.
Submitting Proposals
The Constitution also allows for anyone in MoonDAO with more than 250,000 vMOONEY to submit proposals directly to the MoonDAO Senate. To be clear, anyone inside of the DAO can discuss and suggest proposals, however to formally submit them you'll need the co-signature of someone with greater than 250,000 vMOONEY.
MoonDAO Senate
Submitted proposals will first go to the MoonDAO Senate. This house is simply one-person-one-vote. You cannot buy your way into becoming a MoonDAO senator. The only way to earn entry is by taking on the responsibility of leading a key objective inside of the DAO. In other words, the only way in is by proof-of-work (leading a MoonDAO project).
The primary reason behind having a MoonDAO Senate is that it creates a separate, and difficult to corrupt, body of people that have high-context about MoonDAO and its operations. This is a higher entropy governance body that will review proposals before they go up to voting by the broader DAO, and ensures that proposals that are going up to the DAO are feasible to implement, make sense given the context of the DAO, fit within the DAO's core values and mission, and generally do a more in-depth audit of proposals and the risks involved.
Treasury Signers
Another added layer of security are the treasury signers, these are the seven signers that protect MoonDAO's treasury. After a proposal is approved by the Senate and Member Houses, on-chain execution of the proposal will be done by the signers. The signers also have an added power of giving a veto, if they believe that the execution of the proposal would cause long term harm to the DAO.
Astronaut Roles
Lastly, there is a role that is voted on by the DAO that has the power to replace members of the multisig wallet (appointments are ratified by the DAO). This role is called the "Astronaut" role. It is reserved for the most trusted members inside of the DAO, to protect the DAO's operations.
The reason to have a separate role that chooses the appointments of the multisig is to ensure that the wallet is always in trusted hands. Appointments must always be ratified by the DAO before they are confirmed as signers.
Furthermore, the Astronaut has the ability to appoint and remove moderators that enforce the code of conduct.
As we all know, moderators can sometimes abuse their powers, so having some checks and balances with a trusted person inside of the DAO that can remove or add new moderators should help prevent abuse of power. There may be cases where members of the Senate break the code of conduct, and the Astronaut must review this enforcement. However, this removal can be appealed through the appeal process, which is available to any member that is removed from channels of communication.
The MoonDAO Constitution
So, without further ado, here is the MoonDAO Constitution. Please read it carefully before voting, and feel free to ask questions anywhere on the document (the document is open to comments), and we'll try to have people from the Constitution team available to answer. This is a huge step for MoonDAO and we're very excited to be giving more power into the hands of the community!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fjcQZflrRsM6-qynMRuFG2AYGiNFLIC7vStNZLazxFY/edit?pli=1#
Voting
The Constitution will be adopted if a majority of 70% of the DAO members vote "Yes" to adopt it.