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# AugurDAO ###### tags: `Manifesto` `Governance` ## Introduction AugurDAO is a smart contract aimed and coordinating efforts to build tools and market Augur, and its token REP. It is expected this DAO will propose funding of marketing, research, and engineering related to the Augur project. This DAO will follow the traditions of MolochDAO, focusing on positive externality projects to improve value for REP holders and users of Augur. DAO members will be expected to pay tribute in DAI, and vote on proposals to fund projects. Also following the tradition of MolochDAO, members must get approval from other members to join, may withdraw at any time, and may be removed from the DAO by vote from other members. ## Purpose ### Augur is more than a smart contract Augur's smart contract has shown a use case for an open, decentralized prediction market accessible to the entire world. Since July 2018, Augur has seen over Ξ70,000 in volume from only slightly over 2000 users at the time of this writing in February, 2020, showing a strong user base willing to help predict on future events risking their own monetary value. While this growth has been positive, it is clear other components are necessary to capture more users and drive volume, increasing the value of the REP token. ### Why another DAO? Why not let the Forecast Foundation do this? During this rise, it has become clear development is seeing a tragedy of commons. The Forecast Foundation is primarily focused on developing the Augur smart contracts and core UI to connect to Augur. While this development is active and strong, other quality of life tools that also connect to Augur or could improve the quality of Augur have not appeared. This is primarily due to the Forecast Foundation's size and limited engineering and marketing resources. Other's have begun to build tools and market Augur, but those attempts are highly centralized and at any point could be removed, significantly reducing the quality of life of Augur's users and REP holders. Not only this, these quality of life improvements could be worked on in parallel of the development of Augur itself. ### Enter AugurDAO AugurDAO could immediately change this. AugurDAO could help scale engineering by hiring external consultants to improve the product, or fund development of open-source tools that connect to and use Augur. Not only this, but an external aid to the Forecast Foundation to aid in non-engineering tasks could allow for a separation of concerns which allows the Foundation to focus solely on the main UI and smart contract development. Members of AugurDAO can have direct say in what projects are funded to improve Augur, and are not beholden to the Forecast Foundation's product roadmap, which may push out projects that are high value, but not a main focus of the Foundation. ### Examples The community of Augur has seen development of UI tools to explore Augur's markets and traders. Along with this, Augur's source code is open, so anyone could develop directly on the platform. What is clear is there could be more development to reach Augur's goal of being the largest trading market in the world. Below are some examples of projects that could improve Augur in it's current phase: * A better "scanner" tool. [ExploreAugur](https://exploreaugur.com/) and [Predictions.Global](https://predictions.global/) are main tools used in viewing Augur markets, but the maintainers of the code have no incentive to improve site quality. Directly paying them and funding development may be useful for users of Augur. * Language improvements to Augur would directly improve the scope of Augur. At the moment, English is the primary language. Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Hindi, Arabic, or Swahili could be targets for future language improvements. * Directly paying high profile influencers to promote Augur could also be good. Youtube videos are costly to produce, and there could be strong incentives to pay influencers to give audiences tutorials and tours of the Augur platform. This is also a good opportunity to introduce users in non-English speaking countries to Augur. ## Governance MolochDAO's tradition is that members pay tribute to the DAO, in order to receive voting shares. At any time, members can burn their shares and receive an equivalent percentage of the tribute pool. Members must also vote new members in by giving them shares. At its core, this gives a simple mechanic for funding projects. 1. Members recognize a project will improve their overall aggregated value. Members put a price on how much this could improve their value. 2. Members vote a new external consultant to become a member of the DAO and implement the project. New shares are created and given to the new member, whose total value is equivalent to the project cost. Since the project cost is usually less than the overall value gained by the members, it is profitable for them to do so. 3. Upon completion of the project, Members distribute shares to the consultant. The consultant then burns their shares, withdrawing payment. For REP holders case, a more concrete example may be that REP holders believe a new language may improve the value. AugurDAO members vote a consultant to work on a new language in the Augur UI, and pay them shares equivalent to ◈10000 upon completion. If the aggregated pool of shares is now dilluted, but overall, members of the DAO who may be REP holders or Market Makers capture this value in REP price or market volume, the project is profitable. There are more details about governance, but members should see MolochDAO's whitepaper, and prepare for a fork to be summoned in the near future. At the start, members should be expected to tribute at least ◈500 to join. ## Projects See the [Projects](https://hackmd.io/@oracle-dao/Sy23agXQU) page for information about what we would like to work on. If you have an idea, reach out to a member to prepare and scope the project. ## Participate ### Membership To fund the AugurDAO, members must join with at least ◈100 tribute (Dai). Shares will naturally follow a bonding curve style, so talk to your sponsor to discuss tributes and shares to be allocated to you. It is expected that members are able to execute the goals of the DAO and support Augur by working on projects, marketing, doing busines development, or giving Dai to increase share prices to fund future work. If you would like to help, but aren't able to dedicate much, see the support section below. After discussing your tribute and requested shares with members in the chat, [click here to start your proposal](https://mainnet.aragon.org/#/augurdao/0xbc8d57293f2112bd50f53003dbd246b75cf5975f/). General member actions for AugurDAO can be accessed via [Aragon here](https://mainnet.aragon.org/#/augurdao) ### Support If you would like to work for the project and are interested in helping execute some goals, speak to a member and you may receive shares with an equivalent price for your work. You may also wish to work for the DAO and receive non-voting shares in the form of loot. ## Communication AugurDAO should focus on decentralized communication. Members should seek tools which can be redistributed and created if destroyed. Please fork the Github repo below to contribute, and feel free to chat with members in the discord below. [Discord](https://discord.gg/ay6kM9X) [HackMD](https://hackmd.io/team/augur-dao) [Github](https://github.com/jfarid27/oracle-dao) ## Related Links [MolochDAO: Collapsing the Firm](https://medium.com/@simondlr/the-moloch-dao-collapsing-the-firm-2a800b3aa2e7) [MolochDAO whitepaper](https://github.com/MolochVentures/Whitepaper/blob/master/Whitepaper.pdf) [Augur whitepaper](https://www.augur.net/whitepaper.pdf)