Hi All,
I would like to highlight @Llamaxyz kicked off a conversation some time ago which touches on the broader topic of being a delegate and/or service provider. The intent was to decide, if there would be any funding allocated towards delegating platforms. It seems this proposal approaches the same topic from a different perspective.
Although it makes sense to fragment gas, time, delegation and service provider related costs, it also makes sense to look at this more holistically. It is important to note, to date, delegates have volunteered time, effort and ETH which is a notable contribution and may, or may not, have been undertaken with the expectation of monetary gain, direct or indirect, at a later date.
For me, the first question is, do we as a community want to allocate funding to delegation platforms ? If yes, then how… It seems gas costs are lowest and most palatable cost to seek reimbursement for. However it does anchor expectations around eligibility which can be expanded upon at a later date.
For example, some delegates submit AIPs which incur gas cost and have a larger impact upon the protocol itself. Some delegates may receive external funding and others may be representing there own or at times acting in the interest beyond that of an independent delegation platform. Each delegate would need be reviewed to understand there situation. This might need to go as far as mutual investors spanning other parts of the Aave ecosystem. DeFi is still small enough where a network of people can shape a lot of different communities. However, that said, I don’t think that would be the best use of our resources at this current point in time for Aave.
My opinion: Let AGD decide and allocate ETH for retrospective payments. AGD currently assigns a lot larger values of funding and currently has sufficient budget to do so.
I would encourage the conversation here to pivot towards a more structural / framework discussion which is to have more impact on the broader DAO operations. To float an idea, what if AGD facilitates some competition around coming up with a framework that introduces a structured approach to delegation platform funding. It could be kick started with a Temp Check to see if the community feels it is mature enough to accommodate this type of expense going forward.
I personally like how Maker has a structured approach and I do see value from a financial perspective having some quadrails around this could eventually grow into. I could be wrong, but I do assume gas reimbursement now, means time reimbursement request comes later…