Thanks @eek637 for bringing up this topic. We have conducted an analysis of how the program of UNI delegations to under-represented delegates worked and would like to present it here.
Summary
We believe that the delegation of UNI to developers, the delegation expiration, and the cap on delegation allocation proposed by Erin are important considerations that should be discussed and implemented. However, we also believe that an expansion of the program itself is crucial.
Due to the low voter participation rate for the large delegates in 2023, a proposal was passed to Delegate 10M UNI from the Foundation to active but under-represented delegates. This period is set for one year and will expire this December. After reviewing this program, we found that it is working well, but think that the current governance is not stable yet, thus we think it’s worth considering and evaluating an expansion of the program.
Detailed analysis
Regarding the activities of the selected delegates
Check the voting percentages of the selected delegates before and after this program.
- Regarding the 10 Onchain votes before being selected
- Canceled votes were not counted.
Before selection
Tally: https://www.tally.xyz/gov/uniswap/delegate/404dao-governance.eth
Onchain: 7/10
Tally: https://www.tally.xyz/gov/uniswap/delegate/wintermutegovernance.eth
Onchain:10/10
Tally: https://www.tally.xyz/gov/uniswap/delegate/0x3fb19771947072629c8eee7995a2ef23b72d4c8a
Onchain:10/10
Tally:https://www.tally.xyz/gov/uniswap/delegate/0xecc2a9240268bc7a26386ecb49e1befca2706ac9
No profile until the onchain under-represented proposal voting
Tally: https://www.tally.xyz/gov/uniswap/delegate/0xkeyrock.eth
Onchain: 9/10
Tally: https://www.tally.xyz/gov/uniswap/delegate/0x8787fc2de4de95c53e5e3a4e5459247d9773ea52
Onchain: 7/10
Tally: https://www.tally.xyz/gov/uniswap/delegate/0xaac35d953ef23ae2e61a866ab93dea6ec0050bcd
Onchain: 10/10
After selection
All delegates participate in on-chain voting.
There were a few selected delegates that had been active in the onchain proposals before the delegations but some had not participate in all the proposals. Since the delegation, all delegates participated in all votes, which made the DAO healthier.
Program Effectiveness
- Calculation of VP (Voting Power) contributed based on post-election activities
Since all delegates cast all onchain votes, we can say that the program contributes 10M UNI for every vote.
- Votes since this measure went into effect
- Voting before this measure was initiated
In 2023, before this measure was implemented, there were three votes that were QUORUM NOT REACHED, but since its implementation, all proposals have been EXECUTED (except for the latest one)
However, regarding this year’s proposals, there were many proposals in the 40M-50M range and some were near the quorum. The average number of onchain votes since the program went into effect was about 47.46M UNI.
Current risk of missing proposals
Out of the 11 proposals since the program went into effect, 6 proposals that would not have reached the quorum IF one delegate had not missed voting. In addition, we saw the latest proposal just missed the quorum as well. While we saw an improvement of the voting activities, the DAO is still at risk of missing important proposals to be passed (or rejected).
Detailed analysis of which proposal would be missed if a delegate had not voted
Delegates who meet the criteria to be considered “under-represented”
- Based on the activities of the last selected delegate before it was selected
The following is a list of delegates who have created a Delegate Profile and are now Underrepresented.
The list of delegates with their delegate profile and VP as of writing
23 delegates had created a Delegate Profile.
The following 7 delegates are considered under-represented with a VP of 250k or less, similar to the previous application requirements:
Curia, Tané, SEEDGov, Bobbay, Arana, DAOplomats, and Argonaut.
Conclusion
This program is working well, but the governance is not stable yet since some of the past proposals are close to missing its quorum, therefore we believe this program should be expanded further. As @GFXlabs suggested, we would also consider an additional 10M UNI suffices to achieve a stable and healthy governance state.
Options for expansion
- The options that were voted on last time are as follows
- Split equally among Qualified Delegates
- Top 4 Delegates get delegation till 2.5M is achieved. The rest of UNI are split among the rest proportional to their votes won.
- Top 4 Delegates get delegation till 2.5M is achieved (So likely first 4 delegates achieve 2.5 Mil. 5th gets some)
If the process is similar to the previous one, we believe that we should do the following steps: delegate’s candidacy, determination of the distribution method, Snapshot for the delegates (or additional parties like developers) to get delegations, and Snapshot for its approval.