DAO Call – March 17, 2021

DAO Call – March 17, 2021

Summary Notes

Team in Attendance: Chris, Jesse, Rochelle

Members in Attendance: Alan, DJSTRIKANOVA, JW, mikel, Phankeys, Polishhodler, rs043, slottingham, verige, Vincente Calduch

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The DAO is something to be really proud of. It is hopeful that the DAO will become a supportive community of leadership, participation, and protection – it certainly looks like it is moving in this direction.

Recognition given to Mikal about his stepping up into a leadership role in the HG.

Thanks to Terry and Jesse for keeping the DAO updated and going. There is a divide and conquer method going on right now.

Chris apologizes for missing the HG meeting yesterday, offered to meet after this call.

There are new hires, the team is expanding. A new presence in social media has been detected!

Proposal 37: A guide on how to improve security by using a Ledger hardware wallet

https://dashboard.effect.ai/proposals/37

status: pending

Rankless Voting Power: This is important to increase the amount of people who can access the DAO. The timeline to implement this has not yet been set. However, Jesse thought perhaps 2-4 weeks or so, also that he might be the one who ends up programming this one. There is currently an active GitHub ticket. There are things to consider: vote weight numbers will change, will there be any implications on the smart contract storage, implications on the interface, etc. Jesse will write out the technical requirements as soon as he has time. Once that is done it won’t take too long to implement. All the documentation will need to be updated.

Jesse recognizes that implementation of passed proposals needs to happen as quickly as possible. If you think you can help Jesse with the programing please let him know.

A job board is REALLY needed!

• Need to work on attracting more developers to participate

Please request the swap code prior to the end of April. If you have multiple swaps to happen, but have your code prior to the end of April you will be able to complete your swaps.

• This announcement needs to be HIGHLY visible!!

• Start spreading this around Twitter and other social platforms

The creation of an anonymous forum where experiences of being scammed can be shared will be a good idea.

• Bree will create a questionnaire/forum to start gathering these stories. If enough stories can be gathered, she will look at trends over time as well.

• She will create a report or “something” to share her findings.

• She will also create a “Cypto Security for Dummies” type of resource.

DISCUSSIONS:

Proposal 29: “Worker of the Week” Page on DAO Dashboard

https://dashboard.effect.ai/proposals/29

status: Active, currently YES

• Chris is not favourable on this because he feels that EffectForce and EffectDAO are two completely separate entities.

• EffectDAO is an extension of The Effect Network (TEN)

• EffectForce is a Dapp that runs on TEN

• The BEST way to congratulate the worker is to Tweet, retweet, comment, like, share and let the social media world know. Give lots of love to the ForceFriday Tweets.

• If you have voted yes already, don’t feel pressured to change your vote, show your love.

• If this happens, if the vote passes, the HG will figure out how to make something happen, but this is NOT going to be within the scope of the team

• Won’t happen before 60 days

• The work involved to keep this updated could be a bounty for someone else to program

• DJ suggested that there could be a possible Twitter feed on the Dashboard

• The tipping feature is a really great feature and should be included in every aspect of TEN to give credit to those who are really bringing value to TEN.

Proposal 31: Create Effect.AI plot in “The Uplift” NFT property platform

https://dashboard.effect.ai/proposals/31

status: Active, currently YES

• There is some confusion about what this proposal is about.

• This is the creation of a virtual land, akin to Decentraland.

• This is a virtual environment, NFT

• This is a way to introduce Effect.AI to a whole other project. A way to reach more people interested in the crypto space. There are many people interested in Minecraft this is their realm

• This could be a fun project idea.

• People do seem excited about this. It is fresh and has a potential marketing value for TEN

Proposal 34: Eliminate proposal fees, instead issue a proposal token

https://dashboard.effect.ai/proposals/34

status: Active, currently NO

• People really do not want to have a third token. Period.

• However, attaching the EFX cost of making a proposal could be adjusted to a dollar value.

• (There was more discussion on this, but my recording stopped and I wasn’t home to catch it – sorry. If anyone who was on the call can add to this let me know and I’ll drop it in.)

Proposal 35: High Guard Resolution #1: Phishing Hack Interception

https://dashboard.effect.ai/proposals/35

status: Active, currently YES

This is the big one for discussion. Not many people are speaking about this one, very likely due to the fact that we are in a bull run and people’s minds are on the price of the token. If we were in a bear market this one would likely draw a great deal of attention. The potential impact of this decision upon the whole Effect network could have been significant, and not necessarily in a good way. And if not in a good way, then devastating.

No High Guard was made aware of whose account had been compromised. This must be made clear. All final vote decisions were made without knowledge of whose account it was. After the vote, discussions were open and the account owner revealed.

The HG’s discussions and decisions were based upon facts as presented only. The decision by the HG to follow through with the action of intercepting stolen staked DAO tokens was not made lightly. In fact, the decision to accept the interception of the tokens was put to a vote after deep thoughtful discussion and passed by only 1 vote. There are strong arguments for each decision that could have been made: to return the intercepted funds back to the compromised account and make a public statement as to why this action was made, or to maintain control over the intercepted tokens to then return to the original owner. Another option was also considered and is currently up for voting on EffectDAO, this is to retain control of the tokens as contribution to the DAO treasury.

The votes on this were only through Chris, no one knows how anyone else on the HG voted. The opinions were quite strong on either side, with many torn in two regarding which side the vote landed on.

With EOSIO you are able to change smart contracts, which goes against a lot of the different decentralized ecosystems within cryptocurrencies. This is a big subject with two sides, “code is law” and “flexibility is good for young systems.” There are reasons for both. For blockchain security reasons code is law is incredibly important and needs to be respected. Things should not be manipulated, if you make a mistake, you accept it, learn from it, and move on. In this, there should never be interventions what-so-ever.

However, when it comes to the The Effect Network, what we stand for, what the constitution speaks about, is an inclusive community of people that are really here to change the world for the better and are here to look out for their own. While this is the sentiment of many who are on the High Guard and on the team, this is not conducive to the security tenet of Blockchain. The decision of the HG required full consideration to each argument.

Within the timeframe of unstaking (5 days for EFX, 15 days for NFX) the team was able to intercept the unstaking tokens 24 hours prior to release and move them into theeffectdao account. The decision was made to keep the tokens in the control of the DAO until the final decision of what to do with the tokens was brought to the DAO guardians. Ultimately, the final decision of what to do with the tokens is up to the DAO.

Stake Age is gone there is no way to retrieve this, this is a minor lesson to learn, compared to the total loss of what it could have been, still could be as the vote has not yet closed.

This was an incredibly tough decision for the people on the HG. There was a risk of community backlash for either way their decisions went.

Chris stressed the complexity

Proposal 36: Cause and Effect #2 (Video Production)

https://dashboard.effect.ai/proposals/36

status: Active, currently YES

• This is an interesting proposal, this is a good example of a proposal that will have good marketing value, and has provided a sample of what could be expected – or better according to the proposal

• The sample video was randomly sent to Chris by someone he is not familiar with

• The team has some ideas that could be used in future videos

• Generally, this is highly favoured, amount of EFX requested is to be considered.

• The asking amount is a little high for some people

  • Consider the price: If he asked for 100k would you vote yes or no?

    • Some would vote no. Videos are not so difficult to create any more. 25K max.

    • Some would vote yes. Script was written well, this is challenging.

Something to consider is that the request cost is based upon the price of EFX at the time of creating the proposal. The Price before the end of voting could be significantly lower or higher. How will you vote based on price value? Would you change your vote if the price were to jump up during the active cycle?

Other Discussions:

Additional discussion on security measures taken by the DAO.

Will this proposal (#35) set precedence for all people who get phished? That they should apply to the HG promptly for help when they are phished or scammed?

• This topic did come up in HG discussions. There was a need to wait and see what the sentiment would be from the general vote. This is showing to be overwhelmingly positive in favour of returning the tokens to the original token holder.

• This situation was very specific, in that the majority of the wallet balance was staked, in this way the staked tokens were able to be intercepted. All other aspects of the wallet were not able to be helped.

• People should feel comfortable to contact the HG when they find themselves in this situation.

• The possibility to help someone who has been phished and has staked tokens is plausible.

• It does make sense to create a proposal to support this action, that any guardian who has this happen to them should reach out to the team/HG. However, consideration to the time demand on the team and on the HG needs to be given.

• It is important that the person who has been helped by the HG work to help prevent this from happening to others. Especially as this project draws in a lot of people who are completely new to technology and crypto.

If we look at the community response to proposal #35 we can see an overwhelming desire to return the tokens to the original account holder. This is a strong indicator that the community would stand together against scammers. This could be used in a positive way, with the DAO, to provide an extra layer of security between the wallet and the staked tokens.

• There is the idea of “Code is Law” within the crypto space. This is a backlash to the unpredictable flexible centralized systems. This is a fundamental tenet of Blockchain technology that things don’t change. EOS is slightly different in that their smart contracts are designed to have change happen. But if we want to attract people from other blockchains that hold tight to Code is Law we need to show them that we respect this.

• Yet, Effect.AI is different, for starts it is not a blockchain. It is a company that respects people. We are about supporting our people, but we need to respect the tenets of those we need to support us.

• It is important to keep this part within our own walls. To not share publicly that we are willing to make changes to contracts to help our people. As this would not be understood in the same way.

• We might encourage more people to contribute to the DAO if we made it known that it would be a shelter from scammers, but we might lose some capacity to onboard developers to grow our ecosystem.

• However, there is nothing set in stone to say that these contracts cannot be changed. As a new member, knowing that there will be a safeguard to staked tokens would be encouraging.

• Moving forward we should be proactive. Perhaps there is a minimum limit set before the HG would intervene with stolen unstaked tokens, and/or perhaps there is a set amount retained or a percentage retained by the DAO to cover the cost of time and skill in intercepting the tokens.

  • This would discourage people from using the DAO as a shelter from scammers.

  • This would give punitive cost to getting help for this reason, to encourage people to learn more about protective measures.

• There is an agreement that a proactive policy should be developed.

• There is an agreement to help everyone, regardless of how much their holdings are, but with a fee attached to pay for the time of the person who needs to implement the intervention.

• The problem with making the interception of staked tokens a standard response to a scammer/phish is that it is always reactive. The scammer is still getting away with hacking an account, destroying any reputation that account has built up in a community, destroying Stake Age, loss of any tokens not staked, EOS resources, and destroying the confidence the owner has in their crypto experience – which would have many turning away and returning to their known fiat world. Interception should be a last desperate response, not a prescribed defence mechanism.

  • This should not be set up as something to rely upon.

  • However, a policy should be drafted for when it would be appropriate to implement the interception of stolen unstaked tokens.

  • As well, any guardian should be made to feel that communication with the HG and team when an attack is experienced is appropriate. That this would be one of the first actions to be made once an attack has been discovered.

  • The best solution is a targeted offensive move against scammers and phishing through education. There is an incredible amount to learn – to be learned. But knowledge is always the best defense.

Create a record of scams to help prevent future scams. We need to share how scams occurred with developers so they can help safeguard against these methods, and also to help educate people.