Dear Bankless Nation 🏴,

This week’s community call was especially enlightening as we navigate the uncharted waters the DAO currently finds itself in — the waters of transition. The main discussion centered on the concept of education as a purpose and/or value — what it truly means, what it encompasses, what spectrum it truly lies in, and the best approaches to implement it.

While we all agree that education and learning are vital components of our growth, there are ongoing discussions about whether education should remain a core focus of the DAO or if it should be integrated into the broader context of building and growing within the organization. We must prioritize our initiatives effectively.

Come join our community calls at 16:00 UTC every Friday and our governance calls at 19:00 UTC every Monday. These sessions provide a valuable platform for members to discuss current topics of interest and contribute to the decision-making process. Additionally, please check out the Forum and the tlBANK Snapshot space for ongoing discussions.

We encourage you to lend your voice to our rebuilding efforts. Your insights and feedback are invaluable as we shape the future of our community. Wishing you a splendid week ahead!

Contributors: Ifeoluwakiitan, Lucent, Tonytad, Kornekt, WinVerse

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🏃‍♀️ Catch up: Listen to this week's Community Call recording.

Snapshot Votes

• Redefining Our Purpose

• Preserve Our Precious bDAO Data

A Purpose-driven Rebrand

Author: Lucent

The appointment of the Transition Council and the work they have begun to do, from fostering the clean up of redundant channels to reorganizing the community's look, are evident, and this goes without saying. All thanks to them for taking up the responsibility of implementing these hard changes as we continue to evolve into something better.

In a Forum post by one of their members, OxZFi, earlier this week, he brought up an important issue that should be treated differently from the rebrand, but honestly doesn’t exist in isolation. He asked how we can redefine our purpose as a DAO going forward. From the community's reaction, it is clear that rebranding and reorganization might need to go hand in hand with redefining purpose — a valid reaction because identity crises often start when the purpose is unclear.

From the discussion to that post, the words "education," "self-sovereignty,” and “decentralised governance” popped up quite often, and it looks like these should be the foundational principles on which our newly-defined purpose is built. However, we have heard these words being used a lot in the previous version of the DAO, so there must be a better application going forward.

Education

This is an important part of the DAO, and so, as we rebrand, we need to redefine how we approach it. We are a community that educates through trust, which is one of our strengths. However, education is a huge topic, and how we handle it in this newly organized community is a big question. Can we afford to be too broad? Should we educate through mentorship? Or should education come as a byproduct of working in the community rather than a direct effort? One thing is sure: we cannot afford another overblown sense of education where we are all over the place. Yes, it’s been a core aspect of the DAO, but we can still educate the world by distilling knowledge — not just for the sake of learning, but with a focus on accuracy, truth, and commitment to growth.

Decentralized Governance

As of the time of writing, the leading value in the Forum post is decentralized governance. This is an indication that most of the community feels this value aligns with the idea of reorganization and purpose.

Decentralized Governance - We put decision making into the hands of the collective. We create legitimacy through an environment where the best ideas win.

Indeed, we value inclusivity, ensuring everyone is involved and no one is excluded from community matters. Therefore, our new brand shouldn’t alienate any segments of our diverse community or potential partners. However, does decentralized governance mean every decision has to go through the collective? The appointment of the Transition Council might give us a clue. We involve the collective, but because community welfare must be prioritized, some major decisions should be made by governance based on inputs from the collective, of course.

Self-sovereignty

Self-sovereignty should stem from decentralized governance, where members of the collective become active participants in the management of our identity. It will mean that we go above the traditional way of doing things and begin to project education and decentralized governance through the creation of an organizational structure that gives room for networking with people of shared interests. That way, we pioneer our collective and become the masters of our fates.

Branding in line with Purpose

Branding in line with purpose should involve aligning our identity, values, and actions with a clear, meaningful mission that connects with the needs of the ecosystem as a whole. This will be almost impossible to do without first redefining our purpose. Once that’s done, other identity metrics like name, mission, vision, and values will follow, showing that we can grow and effect change when necessary. It is up to the Transition Council to help guide us in figuring out our purpose, then make decisions and implement these changes accordingly.

The truth is, it’s going to be a long journey to bring this community to a place where all values align with purpose. Although we’ve made a good start with the Discord server cleanup, we need to redefine our purpose. Make your voice heard, keep engaging with Forum posts and governance channels, and share your ideas and thoughts. Together, we can pioneer a purpose-driven collective.

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