Today, on the Maker Forum, the Maker Foundation introduced the first 13 Maker Improvement Proposals (MIPs) to the Maker community. The MIPs include MIP0 and two MIP Sets (one focused on Core Governance and the other focused on Collateral Onboarding).

As noted in last Friday’s blog post, What Will Maker Governance Look Like After Complete Decentralization?, MIPs will provide a mechanism for any community member to define key issues and suggest changes and additions to the system:

MIPs will be critical to the evolution of the current Maker governance process and must, therefore, be rigidly structured and formalized to avoid any ambiguity. While the Foundation will initiate conversations and draft the initial MIPs, the community may propose competing MIPs. Ultimately, the final decisions will be made by MKR voters. The aim, after all, is to provide a clear, transparent framework that allows Maker governance to adapt and evolve the Protocol as needs and circumstances dictate far into the future.

Providing the community and all stakeholders with a standard approach to proposing improvements, specifications, and process and state changes enables organic growth that will bring MakerDAO closer to self-sustainability.

The 13 Genesis MIPs

MIP0 is the foundational proposal that describes the MIPs general framework: the core components and statuses, the various types, and the overall lifecycle. It also provides necessary tools, such as MIP templates, MIP replacement processes, and dependencies. Lastly, MIP0 details the key roles of the framework—the MIP Editor and Governance Facilitator—and the process for adding and removing them.

The first MIP Set is the Core Governance Framework, the backbone of the long-term governance process, which defines the key governance structures, such as how to organize Executive Votes. Included in this first set is the proposal of a monthly Governance Cycle, a new, longer process that will exist in addition to the current weekly cycle. The monthly cycle is optimized for more efficient decision-making as well as providing the community with a more accessible overview of what decisions are being made.

The second MIP Set is the Collateral Onboarding Framework. This Framework, based on the community-created collateral onboarding document, will provide an end-to-end framework for scalable collateral onboarding that interoperates with the Governance Cycle and the existing Domain Teams. Domain teams consist of people given special authority through governance to oversee critical processes and mitigate risk.

The MIPs in Sets are voted on together, not individually.

The Maker Foundation and members of the community will continue to present MIPs over time, and each will be reviewed by governance to ensure maximum flexibility in order to meet the future needs and circumstances of the Maker Protocol.

Who is Involved in the MIPs Process?

The following roles are key to the MIPs process:

MIP Editor(s): Enforces the administrative and editorial aspects of the overall MIPs process and framework. The expectation is that the community will elect an Interim Editor from the Maker Foundation, and that others will be elected later.

Enforces the administrative and editorial aspects of the overall MIPs process and framework. The expectation is that the community will elect an Interim Editor from the Maker Foundation, and that others will be elected later. MIP Author(s): Writer/proposer of the MIP.

Writer/proposer of the MIP. Governance Facilitator (s): Governance Facilitators are tasked with ensuring the smooth operation of the Maker Governance process. Responsibilities can include anything from general administrative tasks to signal-gathering and governance scheduling.

(s): Governance Facilitators are tasked with ensuring the smooth operation of the Maker Governance process. Responsibilities can include anything from general administrative tasks to signal-gathering and governance scheduling. Community: MakerDAO community members/ MKR holders. Any community member can submit a MIP, and any MKR holder can vote on MIPs.

While we expect these types of roles to remain relatively fixed, they can be taken on by various individual stakeholders or groups. Additionally, Maker Governance can vote to change these roles at any time.



What’s Next?

Please review the first 13 MIPs in the Maker Forum, and provide feedback. All community members are urged to participate in the review process. On April 27, just 21 days from today, a special governance poll, called a timing poll, will occur. The timing poll will offer two options to the Maker governance community:

Proceed with the ratification vote of the 13 proposed MIPs immediately, or; Delay the ratification for one month, and then institute a period of time to allow competing proposals to be submitted by the community.

The details of the timing poll are described in this forum post; additional information will be provided between now and April 27.

If you’re an MKR holder, or plan to become one, learn more about participating in Maker governance by reading the Voter Onboarding Guide and the Governance and Risk Overview on Awesome MakerDAO.