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IDEAS: Industry/Sector Groups?
IDEAS: Exploring Pledge / Tithe
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<aside> 💡 Rethinking Commitments: Exploring the Pledge and Tithe Models for Arbitrum
Commitment and alignment are crucial for the long-term success of any decentralized ecosystem. As the Arbitrum community continues to evolve, new models are emerging that rethink how projects and participants commit to the protocol. Two such ideas are the "Pledge" and "Tithe" models. This article will explore how these models could strengthen Arbitrum by increasing commitment.
A thriving ecosystem requires participants to be invested in its success. In traditional organizations, commitment is often mandated through contracts, bureaucracy, and rigid hierarchies. But in decentralized networks like Arbitrum, ensuring commitment requires new approaches [1].
Participants need incentives to contribute to the shared goals and resources of the ecosystem [2]. Without structures facilitating commitment, decentralized networks risk becoming fragmented and misaligned [3].
The Pledge and Tithe models offer innovative ways to increase alignment in Arbitrum through voluntary yet meaningful commitments.
The Pledge model involves projects committing to contribute a portion of their token supply or protocol revenue to the Arbitrum DAO [4]. For example, projects could pledge 3% of their token supply or 3% of protocol income.
In return, Pledge participants would gain a leadership role in shaping the DAO's grants process and strategic direction [5] aka a seat at the Roundtable . The Pledge thus incentivizes commitment by tying meaningful governance influence to financial contribution.
Unlike the Pledge which targets specific projects, the Tithe model involves a voluntary tax from any community member. Participants can tithe a portion of staking rewards, yields, or trading/investment proceeds to fund public goods [6].
This opt-in approach allows anyone to signal alignment through financial commitment. Progressive tithe rates could also incentivize larger contributions from those with greater means [7]. This could be done via an Opt-In CSR (Contract Secured Revenue) where a small percentage of yield is fed to the Arbitrum DAO.
Another method of a Tithe Model could be used with onchain voting. For example using a method like SnapshotX whereas each vote could cost 0.20c, this revenue would be fed to the Sequencer, and thus the Arbitrum DAO. Another example is an protocol like Zora being built on Nova/One or an Orbit Deployment, where as all mints are free, however the gas paid goes to the sequencer and thus the Arbitrum DAO.
Implementing either model would require a transition period to socialize the ideas and evolve community norms. Potential steps include:
By better aligning incentives and resources, the Pledge and Tithe models could strengthen collaboration, commitment, and mutually beneficial growth in Arbitrum [11]. Community working groups, temporary incentives, and gradual implementation would ease the transition as these models evolve from ideas into norms. By Projects implementing the pledge model, or individuals opting in to the Tithe model could be used to gatekeep some level of Arbitrum Staking, Revenue Sharing, or Elevated Governance Role.
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