Uniswap Delegation Program - Review and Update

Summary

In mid December 2023, the proposal “Delegation of UNI to Active but Underrepresented Delegates” (Delegation Program) passed, delegating 10 million UNI to 7 different delegates.

The proposal noted “there will be 1 year term when UNI from this initiative is delegated. So the community can revisit for improvements and lessons learned.” As the 1 year term is approaching, this post examines some of the impacts of the initiative as well as some of upcoming changes to the initiative. However, the changes will require both technical preparation as well as more discussions in the community, and therefore, the proposal and implementation of the next phase of “Delegation Program” will likely be ready around the end of March.

Delegation Program and Quorum

After the Delegation Program was implemented, there have been 19 onchain proposals. However, if the Delegation Program was not implemented, 16 out of 19 onchain proposals would have failed to meet the quorum.

Therefore, this is a strong case to continue the Delegation Program. There might be an alternative which is to lower the quorum. However, as we have witnessed in other DAOs, lowering quorum can lead to increase in vulnerability as it becomes easier for malicious actors to exploit the system.

Voting Participation and Proposals by Delegates under Delegation Program

Examining 7 delegates who have received delegation from the Delegation Program, all of them maintain very high participation rate.

In addition, out of 19 onchain proposals that were posted after the Delegation Program. More than half were proposed by delegates under Delegation Program, showcasing the impact delegates can make if given the opportunity.

StableLab

-[Updated] Forse Analytics for Uniswap Revitalization and Growth Program

-Forse Analytics for Uniswap Revitalization and Growth Program

-Uniswap Delegate Reward Initiative - Cycle 2

-Uniswap Delegate Reward- 3 Months Cycle 1

-Mobilizing the Uniswap Treasury

PGov

-Uniswap Growth Program Trial

-Uniswap Accountability S3 Renewal and Rebalance

-Onboarding Package for Gnosis Chain

-Uniswap Arbitrum LTIPP Matching

-Lower Onchain Proposal Threshold

Next Steps

While the community generally agrees on continuing the Delegation Program, discussions regarding details of the next program are ongoing:

Treasury Delegation Round 2 Ideas - Increased Allocation

Treasury Delegation Round 2 Ideas - Expiring Delegation

Treasury Delegation Round 2 Ideas - Developer Allocation

The general consensus from the posts agrees on increasing the size of the overall delegate pool, even broadening it to folks like developers and grantees. Expiration of delegation for periodic renewal will also be one of the components of the next phase, which will require several months to research and implement such. This is needed so delegates remain accountable to the DAO and the process of renewing the delegations ensures delegates keep active and those who have stepped away can have their power rebalanced to other active delegates. It’s important to note that the current Franchiser contracts do not allow for the DAO to set time-based restrictions on treasury delegations. We believe this is worth addressing prior to delegating more votes from the treasury. As a result, the UF is navigating a way to develop the infrastructure needed to address expiration.

Moreover, details regarding how much and what criteria should the next delegation be based on is still under discussion. Therefore, we are aiming to launch the next phase of delegation by the end of Q1 2025, which will be at the end of March 2025.

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