Consensus Check - UNI should fund a political defense organization for decentralized finance

Proposal Discussion
17

The two major concerns we see so far are 1) 30M is a lot of money to begin with, and 2) Uniswap shouldn’t need to pay for this initiative on their own.

  1. We understand that $30M is not insignificant. As mentioned above, we anticipate that this will be allocated over 4-5 years. However, we think this amount is necessary up front in the event of emergencies. We want to impress upon you the urgency of this situation. Right now, if regulators decide to take action, we are left with very few options. Governance will not be able to react quickly enough to alleviate misguided action. We have seen how rash and quickly regluators can act (i.e., midnight Bitcoin rulemaking a few months ago). And once laws are set in motion, it becomes astronomically more difficult to change them later. With a fund set aside to protect us, the board will be able to react swiftly and appropriately.

To address a tangential concern here, the board is excited and extremely supportive of this proposal. For example, see Jake Chervinsky’s tweet. We anticipate you will be able to hear more of their specific thoughts soon.

  1. We actually 100% agree that Uniswap shouldn’t need to pay for DeFi defense on their own. However, given the urgency of the situation, waiting to coordinate all platforms at once would be a mistake. We will get to work on it ASAP, but in the meantime having something that can be used is better than being emptyhanded.

Furthermore, this Uniswap board can and will condition the release of these funds on matching contributions from other platforms. For example, if the board decides to fund a project, they can condition their contribution on recieving a commensurate amount from other platforms that will benefit from their action. One of our board members is the Chief Legal Officer of Uniswap (Marvin Ammori), and as someone primarily interested in the success of Uniswap, he would not allow freeriding beyond what is necessary.

Lastly, we can always adjust after the fact. We think given the urgency of the situation it is best to get funds in the hands of people who can protect us as quickly as possible, and adjust as needed going forward.

We are trying to address as many concerns as we can, and we appreciate your participation.

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