Governance

BadgerDAO is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) run by holders of the BADGER token. Its governance framework is based on the Aragon company template. This page provides an overview of the main decision-making mechanisms of the DAO.

Badger Improvement Proposals

At its core, Badger is run by its community members. As such, major changes to BadgerDAO go through a full-community approval process known as Badger Improvement Proposals (BIP). Some actions that have required BIPs include: adjusting fees for Vault products, committing treasury funds to support grant programs, and making major purchases such as the badger.com domain name. More details on the BIP process can be found here, but at its core requires:

Discussion. Ideas for BIPs usually begin on the Badger Discord, forum, or elsewhere in the community.
Forum Feedback. A community member opens a Request for Feedback (RFF) in the Badger Discord to start initial community discussion. Following discussion, a more extensive draft BIP is circulated on the Badger forum for a period of debate and refinement lasting at least five days. Any member of the Badger community may propose a BIP.
Forum Vote. A vote is held on the forum, requiring a quorum of at least 50 votes.
Snapshot Vote. After reaching quorum on the forum, a member of the core Badger team will post the BIP to Snapshot.org vote where BADGER token holders can vote. This vote usually lasts three days, however this period can be shortened to 24 hours in urgent cases. Proposed BIPs require a simple majority (50% +1) to pass.
Implementation. Following a successful Snapshot vote, signers of Badger’s multisig are authorized to deploy code, make payments, or otherwise begin work to implement the BIP.

Council of Badgers

In February 2021, a Council of seven members, three from the core team and four from the community, was formed by BIP 28 to handle grant requests. The initial members of the Council were chosen by a forum nomination process and a community Snapshot vote. Subsequent vacancies have been filled by nominations from an existing Council member followed by Council vote.

The Council’s deliberations and votes happen in public on the #council-deliberation channel of the Badger Discord. There are no established term limits for Council members.

Over time, the Council took on powers in areas related to product development that were considered to be too urgent or not major enough to require a full BIP process. Some recent decisions the Council has made include changing the mix of ibBTC components, adjusting the Badger-Ren fee split for the Badger Bridge, and approving emissions schedules for pre-launch Vaults.

Governance 2.0 Process

An initiative known as Governance 2.0 is underway to revamp BadgerDAO’s operations, informed by the experiences so far. In part, the effort will:

Determine the purviews of the Core Team, Council, and full community (via the BIP process)
Establish the Council’s composition, pay, and work process more formally
Establish mechanisms for the community to override Council decisions and for the Council to be reconstituted