[DAO: QmXZ6cn] Grant beneficiaries should be validated as real persons before submitting a grant request

by 0x6cd7694d30c10bdab1e644fc1964043a95ceea5f (Byte#ea5f)

Motivation

Currently, the DAO provides grants to projects that add value to Decentraland but there is no way to verify that there is actually a person involved in the request. Sometimes there are legal implications in projects related to grants (contracts, terms, etc.), so it would be desirable to have some degree of certainty that there is a real person behind it.

To be clear, a grant for up to 240k USD can be provided and there is no proof of who got it.

Proposed solution

Before applying for a grant, the beneficiary must validate himself/herself as a person. “How” is open for discussion - my suggestion would be to use Proof of Humanity since it is a crypto-native validation, but it could be some sort of KYC or any other way to accomplish this.

Implementation

The DAO should add a validation method when submitting a grant request to verify that the beneficiary is a real person. This way, grant requests that are available for voting will be pre-validated. This should not affect active grants that have been enacted prior to this change, if implemented.

  • Yes, implement a crypto-native validation method (i.e. PoH)
  • Yes, implement a traditional validation method (Proof of ID or any other)
  • No, do not validate beneficiaries
  • Invalid question/options

Vote on this proposal on the Decentraland DAO

View this proposal on Snapshot

2 Likes

I really like this idea and it can make the role of confirming grant spending a lot easier ~
There have been a few community comments lately suggesting minimum requirement to submit a grant proposal should be holding at least one DCL name as a show of good will to represent they’re active in the community. (rather than a lot of third party or external companies requesting money that doesn’t benefit the community) Also it will help identify who it is requesting the funding. This could be a good thing as an additional if this proposal gets refined or re-submitted.

If passes as is, then there can be a seperate proposal at a later date. Really good!

2 Likes

Voting for “Yes crypto-native”.

Would be good to have a validation method that allows anonymity, I think PoH is working on that, but is not implemented yet. We only need to know that there is a human being behind, but we don’t need to know who they are.

Would be nice to integrate some standard and not create a new system from scratch just for DCL.

Eventually that system would need to be used to help users to filter content (hide unverified users for example)

3 Likes

I think everyone who asks for a grant should be identified. I’m okay if the identity is secret with the DAO and I think it could add a second layer of security when asking for big amounts of money.

In regards to presenting a real ID, I agree 100% if that doesn’t go against the values of Decentraland which I’m not sure about at this point.

I’m voting for a ‘crypto-native’ solution (such as the one from Proof of Humanity) but still open to real ID if the community agrees.

3 Likes

I believe there should be anonymous accountability to ensure that there is in fact be accountability.

Voted Crypto Native

what’s PoH example please?

1 Like

It’s a project called Proof of Humanity (https://www.proofofhumanity.id/). It’s basically a database where you get verified and that verification links to a wallet.

1 Like

Easy solution to this actually approve grants to people we know who are apart the community that have a claimed name. Who have a identity and presence. Screw the need for proof of humanity or kyc. Make grants only obtainable by community members we know and see putting in the work.

2 Likes

Ironically this would be a easy YES from me because I am like one of the only fully doxxed members in Decentraland so proving my identification to my current and if any future grants will be no problem for me. However I agree with @TheCryptoTengu . He is right why do we need to verify peoples IRL identifications when we are voting on peoples vision and most importantly track record, reputation and proof of concept. A couple other issues no one is bringing up is 1. Web2 Style applying (proof of IRL data) leads to discrimination wether we like it or not. Racism, Sexism, Ageism, and Geoism is impossible to apply to an applicant that has a meme name and Cartoon Ape or Waifu jpg as default and that to me is great since people can now focus on what matters track record, potential and results not the other. 2. What about people that live in countries that make cryptocurrency or NFTs or anything Web3 related illegal now or in the future? Now we are forcing people to give up there geolocation are we going to now start policing people? 3. In the end will making people give up their identity really help anything? Not saying it is possible but lets say someone gets a $240,000 grant and pretty much votes it in themsleves because they have 6.4m VP. Then they basically do nothing and get the money. Then what do we try to sue them? For Mana or FAIT? lol. All in all I appreciate Tengu as always for being devils advocate when no one else will since I don’t think anyone is addressing them. I am happy to be the only other NO vote with him and hope others will follow until these things are addressed and if not as I said earlier all is good for me either way. Thanks again guys loveing these debates.

3 Likes

Great discussion here! It would be amazing to have someone from a couple of protocols to bring some clarity if this gets passed to a Draft state.
I truly believe that we need to create some level of accountability for the people who get money from the DAO because that money is real so the entity behind the ask should be real as well (Maybe it is not a person but a group of people, we should explore that as well). I hear @AaronLeupp regarding discrimination and lack of access, but I don’t think the verification must be public. It could be a hidden field on the proposal that only gets displayed to the community after the voting period or we could explore any other possibilities. I’m voting YES and will reassess my vote on the Draft stage.

2 Likes

Grant beneficiaries should be validated as real persons before submitting a grant request

This proposal is now in status: FINISHED.

Voting Results:

  • Yes, implement a crypto-native validation method (i.e. poh) 98% 507,096 VP (21 votes)
  • Yes, implement a traditional validation method (proof of id or any other) 1% 67 VP (2 votes)
  • No, do not validate beneficiaries 1% 615 VP (2 votes)
  • Invalid question/options 0% 0 VP (0 votes)
1 Like

i think https://www.brightid.org/ is one of the common option people use as well

1 Like

Grant beneficiaries should be validated as real persons before submitting a grant request

This proposal has been PASSED by a DAO Committee Member (0xfe91c0c482e09600f2d1dbca10fd705bc6de60bc)