Dear Bankless Nation 🏴,

It’s a great week here at BanklessDAO as members round off Season 6 and head into the official gap week. It’s been a rollercoaster season so far with us all coming together to build and support ideas while also producing some tension around decisions. This week's editorial features HiroKennelly giving us the details of DAOpunks’ next grant round. The DAOpunks community, now 15 months old, is an example of a cohesive yet diverse set of NFT holders whose values align around governance of the original funds. And now Vitalik has a voice too!

Regarding bDAO governance, bDIP-3 and bDIP-4 proposals are up for voting. The bDIP-3 suggests modifying the Forum quorum into a formula-based approach, while bDIP-4 suggests reflecting departments in BanklessDAO’s Constitution.

A big congratulations to P8ul.eth, Raybankless and Bananachain, who will join the rest of the Grants Committee cohort following a successful election. A shout-out goes out to Jawna.ETH for her L2 nomination owing to her relentless work in Ombuds.

Note that gap week is February 6-12, 2023. That makes Season 6 a 14-week season but Season 7, beginning on February 13, will be a 13-week season. BanklessDAO will hold a Season 7 launch event in Twitter Spaces on Friday, February 10 at 16:00 UTC. Set your reminder now!

During gap week, there are no mandatory meetings at the guild or departmental level and none at the DAO-wide level. Take some time off to relax and have fun.

Hearty cheers to a great season ahead!

Contributors: KingIBK, theconfusedcoin, anointingthompson1.eth, Warrior, Allyn Bryce, WinVerse, d0wnlore, siddhearta, Trewkat, HiroKennelly

This is an official newsletter of BanklessDAO. To unsubscribe, edit your settings.

Vitalik Buterin Is a DAOpunk

Author: HiroKennelly

DAOpunks spun out of BanklessDAO at the height of the 2021 bull market with a simple mission — to help people transition from CorpRat to DAOpunk — and an inspired manifesto:

In the fifteen months since the DAOpunks’ mint sold out at presale, DAOpunks has shipped hundreds of 1/1 shirts, dropped other merch, spun up a monthly newsletter, created and curated a job board on Pallet, clarified and adopted an IP Policy, built a grants program, and said a collective ‘gm’ nearly every morning. There was even a DAOpunk on the cover of Vice magazine.

Sean MacMannis | seanmac.eth @smacmannis

I stand by what I said 😉 vice.com/en/article/k7w…

vice.comThe Tragic True Story Behind ‘WAGMI,’ Crypto’s Most Positive CatchphraseWAGMI—“We’re All Gonna Make It”—is crypto’s rallying cry, but its origins lie in the too-short and very online life of a shitposting bo...

6:14 PM ∙ May 4, 2022

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This week, DAOpunks has opened up applications for Cohort 2, which is actually their third grants round. For each round, DAOpunks gives three grantees 1 ETH each, to use at their discretion, as long as the stated purpose loosely fits within the Manifesto’s directive of helping humans to liberate themselves from the soul-sucking drudgery of meaningless work.

DAOpunks @DAOpunksNFT

The application portal for Cohort_02 has officially opened! Our goal? To turn CorpRATS into DAOpunks and bring new talent and vision to the entire web3 ecosystem. Apply for a web3 grant daopunks.io/grants

4:17 PM ∙ Feb 1, 2023

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The grants framework built by DAOpunks enables an entire cohort to be run by one person. Cohort 2 will be run by Crypto Bushi, who conceived of the first DAOpunk shortly after BanklessDAO was formed. As a good crypto native, he was recently recalling The Green Pill podcast’s first episode, in which Kevin Owocki, the founder of Gitcoin, interviews Vitalik Buterin about public goods funding.

In this discussion, Owocki asks Buterin what other funding mechanisms he is excited about besides retroactive public goods funding, Coordinape, Gitcoin Grants, CLR fund, and quadratic funding. His answer? Using NFTs to fund public goods. Vitalik then provides an example of an artist and charity teaming up, with each splitting the proceeds.

But what if you didn’t need to team up with an artist, and instead the NFT project was also built to support public goods? What if every NFT project was like DAOpunks?

Decentralizing Public Goods Funding

Vitalik’s comment isn’t really just about the obvious marriage of zeitgeisty art and funding things that matter to a like-minded community. In one way or another, philanthropy and art have always been a bonded pair. And that’s just the problem. What concerns Vitalik is the centralization of funding sources for public goods, because those who have the funds often set the rules around grant giving. If you’ve ever participated in a Gitcoin Grants round, you know that they are sponsored by different projects and protocols and that the grants benefit the sponsors too — that’s because they are centrally funded.

We shouldn’t be surprised that Vitalik, as a decentralization maxi and the author of what is essentially the quadratic funding whitepaper, is concerned about centralization attack vectors. NFTs make great funding sources for public goods, not just because they can catch a memetic moment to drum up excitement, it’s also because an NFT drop is usually a de facto decentralized funding mechanism. It’s not uncommon for a 10K PFP project to have 5K owners. In many cases, funding decisions are also decentralized, as the NFTs serve as the governance tokens used to determine funding allocations.

DAOpunks Will Lead the Way

Public goods funding is enshrined in the DAOpunks roadmap. Twenty-five percent of the mint proceeds were set aside as the initial funding, and 50% of secondary sales — plus a few 1/1 DAOpunks — have brought in additional funding. Without any further revenue, DAOpunks can fund seven more rounds of Cohort grants, or about two years worth of funding public goods.

DAOpunks may, or may not, do another NFT drop. They may, or may not, receive greater ecosystem funding to continue giving grants to people and projects once the two years are up. One thing we do know: Vitalik Buterin is a DAOpunk.

Applications for Cohort 2 are open, and the deadline to submit a written or video application is February 15, 2023 at 11:59pm PST. This isn’t just the opportunity to receive 1 ETH; it’s the chance to empower yourself to cross that bridge to the fertile promised lands, where we all seek freedom, opportunity, meaningful work, community, and untold abundance. The path is wild and untraveled; yet by working together, we go further.

We blaze trails. We build bridges. A better world awaits. DAOpunks will lead the way.

Mint the NFT for free to celebrate the launch of Cohort 2.

Crypto Bushi ᵍᵐ @thecryptobushi

"FREEDOM TO WORK" A memecard to commemorate the @DAOpunksNFT grant program. free claim, 1 per wallet 🤝 The application portal for COHORT_02 opens tonight. Applications are open to the public 😤 ▶️app.manifold.xyz/c/DAOpunk

11:10 PM ∙ Jan 31, 2023

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🗓 Weekly Recap

📺 Weekly Rollup Recap With Allyn Bryce

All aboard for the Recap of last week’s Rollup — presented by our good friend Allyn ‘Arnie’ Bryce.

You can find all the previous episodes on the BanklessDAO YouTube Channel.

🎁 Bankless Collectables

Whether its Monday Mints or Gauntlet Fridays, HQ is continuing to experiment with music NFTs. And if the guest so chooses (or doesn’t specify a recipient), 10% of the mint proceeds go to BanklessDAO. At least two guests have chosen to help fund our efforts to date.

Monday Mints occur weekly at 20:00 UTC, while Gauntlet Fridays happen at 20:00 UTC on the first Friday of every month. Graphics for the NFTs are by Crypto Bushi. Looks rare.

👩‍🎨 d’Art Drops

This NFT drop is the third in a series by debrabdesign, in collaboration with our frens at Decentralized Arts.

“We see a woman fully embodied in a world that is at once both natural and digital, proudly displaying her engagement in the Ethereum community. The solarpunks’ dreams have come to fruition, though perhaps not via the pathways they envisioned: instead, we have blockchain technology, and a bankless movement, to bring these dreams to life.”

🎨 Title: Ethereal Fusion

🧑‍🎨 Artist: debrabdesign

🏦 Auction Type: 100/100

💰 Price: 0.02 ETH

Fresh Content

🎙 BanklessDAO Podcasts

🧠 Crypto Sapiens

cryptosapiens.eth/lens @CryptoSapiens_

🚨 NEW DROP 🎙️@humptycalderon🧠 Empowering #NFT 🖼️creators with #nocode tools w/ @insider0x co- founder @rarible "@rarible created a minting tool for everyone & removed gatekeepers" Listen on all your favorite podcast players 👇🎧 #NFTs podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rar…

6:41 PM ∙ Feb 1, 2023

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🌍 Bankless Africa Podcasts

Bankless Africa @Bankless_Africa

#Podcast drop🎙️🔥 @Canza_Finance aims to build Defi infrastructure for emerging markets🐺 How?🤔 Put on your earpiece, let's dive into this episode to explore #Crypto infrastructure, adoption & building for #Africa w/@0xVonBismarck & @Fourtuitous1906 tinyurl.com/2b9jjkj4

tinyurl.com‎Bankless Africa Podcast: Canza Finance | Defi Infrastructure for Emerging Markets w/ Victor Teixeira (lead Economist) & Oyedeji Oluwoye(CT…‎Show Bankless Africa Podcast, Ep Canza Finance | Defi Infrastructure for Emerging Markets w/ Victor Teixeira (lead Economist) & Oyedej...

5:22 PM ∙ Feb 1, 2023

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🏹 Quorum

Quorum @quorummedia_xyz

Want a sneak peak? 🤫 Check out this highlight, where @0xKaty talks about "finding your tribe" when you branch out on your own as a creator...

2:00 PM ∙ Dec 29, 2022

✍️ Bankless Publishing

BanklessDAO 🏴 @banklessDAO

Dive into the search engines of DeFi with @the_oxdog who takes us on a tour of DEX aggregators via @BanklessPub

banklesspublishing.comDEX Aggregator Basics - Bankless PublishingDecentralized exchange aggregators are one of most powerful tools in web3; it’s like a search engine for DeFi...

3:40 PM ∙ Feb 3, 2023

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BanklessDAO 🏴 @banklessDAO

Making crypto predictions is not for the faint of heart, but with the experience and skill of @kafcrypto behind the keys, these 12 Crypto Predictions For 2023 are worth your ten minutes via @BanklessPub

banklesspublishing.com12 Crypto Predictions For 2023 - Bankless PublishingYou never know what’s going to happen in crypto, but that doesn’t stop us from trying to understand what’s coming! KAF peeks into his c...

3:02 PM ∙ Feb 1, 2023

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🗞 The Rug Newsletter

The Rug | Crypto News @TheRugNews

The Rug's Newsletter Early Feb Edition: 💊 NFTs Are a Gateway Token 🍬 Arbrtr-yum Bubble Gum Expands L2s 🏃🏼‍♂️ Dozens Flock to Decentralized Social Media 👻 Metaverse Traps Soul in Better Body "Dear eye doctors," #TheRug paragraph.xyz/@therugnews/nf…

paragraph.xyzNFTs Are a Gateway TokenGary Gensler calls NFTs a gateway token, new Arbitrum bubble gum, and Larry David gets two years plus community service....

9:03 PM ∙ Feb 3, 2023

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Get Involved

🚀 Season 7 Kick Off!

The official bDAO Season 7 Kick Off is scheduled on Twitter Spaces for Friday, February 10 at 16:00 UTC. There’ll be time for guilds, departments, and projects to present their achievements and update the community about plans for Season 7. To ensure your contributions are not missed, please DM sandeepdas#2062 to confirm who will be speaking on behalf of your team. The agenda for the kick-off will be finalised and closed at 18:00 UTC sharp on February 9.

🧾 Standardising the Accounting Process

The Treasury Department has been actively working to standardise the accounting processes of all Guilds and Projects. Uniformity will help us make better decisions on utilisation and allocation of funds. This is a mammoth task and support will be needed. The Treasury Department is requesting each Guild/Project to nominate a person that has an understanding of the accounting process and knows the pain points and issues currently being faced. This will help in coming up with an effective solution. Please reach out to nikhilbaranwal#7314 for further information.

💳 Team and Role Payments Through Sobol

In an effort to make the payment process easier, we are attempting to link members’ wallet addresses with Sobol. This will help us pull wallet addresses directly from Sobol rather than DMing each member individually for the details. To link your wallet with your Discord handle, connect your wallet and share it with bDAO in our Sobol instance. Please go through this video if you have any doubts about the linking process.

Learning Opportunities

🎁 Origin Protocol Demo — NFTs and DeFi for Everyone

Origin Protocol’s mission is to bring NFTs and DeFi to the masses through their flagship products — NFT Launchpad and the Origin Dollar (OUSD). Origin Story helps creators unlock new forms of fan engagement and monetization while giving them direct control over content and branding.

Join for a live demo on Wednesday, February 8 at 19:30 UTC in the watercooler voice channel to learn about Origin protocol. To set a reminder, RSVP to the event.

🐷 Piggi.ai Demo — Simple Distribution For Web3

Piggi.ai is a decentralized marketing structure which aims to provide maximum value for all transacting parties: publishers, advertisers, and providers. Join in for a live demo, presented in collaboration with Fight Club, on Thursday, February 9 at 17:00 UTC in the watercooler voice channel to learn about Piggi.ai. To set a reminder, RSVP to the event.

🎣 Phishing School

Authors: d0wnlore and the InfoSec Team

Assessing Destination Safety while Traveling

The bear won't stop the slew of conferences that are available to us in 2023, occurring in not only well-known cities but far-flung ones as well.

Traveling anywhere can pose a safety risk. This week we will go through the concept of social cohesion and how to assess countries’ safety using nation state travel advisory websites. This will help us assess the degree of caution we should exercise while traveling.

Social Cohesion

A group's social cohesion is composed of the social bonds that link people to each other within that group. In BanklessDAO all of us have formed social bonds with each other through our alignment with the Bankless mission, finding like-minded people amongst our guilds or vibing with each other during Community Calls and conferences.

The stronger a group's social cohesion is, the less likely members of that group will commit acts that could damage the harmony that social cohesion brings. If a group's social cohesion is strong enough then people outside of that group may start to take notice as well. A strong social cohesion plays a big part in countries like Japan having the reputation of being safe and orderly societies. You can find strong social cohesion in specific communities in an otherwise unsafe environment as well, offering a refuge for those that want to travel to a destination while avoiding danger.

That is not to say that you can't find a few bad apples in a group with high social cohesion. We witnessed this within BanklessDAO with the fraud committed during the past Coordinape round. Petty crime and scams can be found in societies like Japan as well. Travelers that have a loose concept of social cohesion might destabilize what is otherwise a harmonious level of social cohesion within a community. But for our goal of traveling safely we are looking for destinations where the number of bad apples is far, far lower than those that wish to keep the music playing.

Some things to look out for in your research to find strong social cohesion:

• Do the citizens have a reputation of being friendly and helpful? How often have you heard anecdotal stories from people you know?

• Does law enforcement in the country have a reputation of being corrupt?

• Do the citizens feel that the city or country is heading in a good direction in general?

• If crimes are committed against foreigners or tourists, are they motivated by financial opportunity or due to hatred towards these groups?

Travel Advisories

Assessing the social cohesion of a community or country can be time consuming when starting out.

To help assess risk you may want to visit your country's travel advisory website. These websites score other countries based on the perceived travel risk posed to its citizens. They’re useful to understand a country's specific safety concerns, such as if crime more severe than petty theft is a common occurrence.

However the overall risk scores given to countries may be overblown compared to the actual risk. For example, most countries in South East Asia are considered medium-risk on many western travel advisory websites. This may be due to severe crime being committed in specific locations within a country, thus increasing the overall risk score. But as these crimes are very specific and situational, they may actually pose little-to-no risk to travelers who stay in safer areas in the country.

This is why travel advisory scores should be used as important data points, but not as the key decision maker that dictates whether you should travel to a country or not — unless a country has been deemed unsafe for travel due to war or another destabilizing event.

Some things to look out for in travel advisories and risk scores:

• Does the country have a reputation of having criminal activity more severe than petty theft?

• What kind of crimes are committed against tourists if this is highlighted as a specific risk?

• If there is more severe crime, are they occurring near where you plan to travel within the country?

• Is the country going through a social upheaval or destabilizing event that can affect everyone there?

Wherever your feet take you this year, doing the research before you leave home will mean you can enjoy the journey and the destination.

✅ Action Items

🚀 Add a reminder for the Season 7 Launch on Twitter Spaces.

💼 Add your wallet to your profile in the DAO’s Sobol Community.

🏆 Apply for Cohort 2 of the DAOpunks Grants Round by February 15.

🏃‍♀️ Catch up: Review this week's Community Call notes or listen to the recording.

🤣 Meme of the Week

Thanks thinkDecade!

thinkDecade(💙,🧡) @thinkDecade

web3 projects be like, we get utility. the utility👇🏾

8:18 PM ∙ Feb 3, 2023