APECOIN DAO: ADDRESSING CHALLENGES AND SALARY ISSUES
The ApeCoin DAO has been under fire lately for its salary controversies.
But first, let’s talk about what the ApeCoin DAO is and their roles in keeping the APE ecosystem alive.
What is ApeCoin DAO?
ApeCoin DAO was founded on March 16, 2022. It was created by Yuga Labs, the company behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collection.
It is the first DAO to be created for a major NFT project, and designed to govern the ApeCoin ecosystem and to provide a platform for ApeCoin holders to participate in the project development.
The ApeCoin, an ERC-20 token, was launched on March 17, 2022.
It is used to power the ApeCoin ecosystem, which includes a variety of projects such as games, apps, and events.
ApeCoin holders can use their tokens to vote on proposals that affect the DAO, as well as to purchase goods and services within the ApeCoin ecosystem.
So, the major question here is, how does the ApeCoin DAO committee do? Well, that has been a major question among the ApeCoin holders as well…
The ApeCoin DAO committee
The ApeCoin DAO committee is made up of 19 members, including Yuga Labs co-founders Gordon Goner and Gargamel, Animoca Brands executive Yat Siu, and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.
Their duties include:
- Overseeing the ApeCoin roadmap
- Approving proposals for protocol changes
- Overseeing the treasury
- Representing the interests of the ApeCoin community
Controversial Salaries
Despite still being in its early stage, the controversy surrounding the ApeCoin DAO leadership board’s salaries.
The salary issue among ApeCoin DAO started in November 2022, when three of the council’s members – Steinbeck, Bajwa, and Wu – stepped down from their roles in the DAO.
This triggered a process to find new candidates, and on January 1, 2023, after a community vote to select new leadership, ApeCoin DAO members BoredApe G, Vera, and Gerry began their tenure on the council, each receiving a $20,833 monthly salary (in ApeCoin) per the terms of AIP-1.
The community was outraged by the high salaries, and many members felt that they were not in line with the DAO’s values.
A petition was started to demand that the salaries be reduced, and it quickly gained over 10,000 signatures.
In response to the backlash, the ApeCoin DAO Governance passed a proposal to reduce the salary to $100,000 per month.
However, this was still seen as too high by many, and the controversy continued.
Here are some of the reasons why the salary issue was so controversial:
The ApeCoin DAO is a decentralised organisation, and many members felt that the high salaries were not in line with the DAO’s values.
Concerns have arisen that the committee is disconnected from the community, prompting calls for salary reductions or committee replacements.
As a decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO), the ApeCoin committee differs from traditional corporate boards, with governance responsibilities shared b y the community.
This raises challenges in representing community interests and ensuring accountability.
The salaries were seen as a way for the founders to enrich themselves at the expense of the community.
The ApeCoin committee’s salaries have sparked controversy, with community members accusing the founders of self-enrichment at the community’s expense.
Committee members earn up to $75,000 per month, significantly higher than the average US salary.
The founders defend these salaries as necessary for attracting top talent and justifying ApeCoin’s $4 billion market capitalization.
However, some of the community members suggest re-evaluating the committee’s salaries, arguing that their roles are more akin to senior administrators than directors of a billion-dollar company, with some highlighting the lack of performance measures and questions the committee’s responsibilities, risks, and workload.
The salaries were set at a time when the price of ApeCoin was falling, which made it seem like the founders were not taking the project seriously.
ApeCoin (APE) is currently trading at $2.09, down $8.22% in the last 24 hours (June 15).
APE has a circulating supply of 368.59 million APE and a max supply of 1 billion APE.
APE has been on a downward trend since the all-time high of $39.40 on March 28, 2022.
The ApeCoin DAO has since responded to the backlash by announcing that it will be reducing the salaries of the leadership board.
The new salaries will be capped at $20,000 per month.
The DAO has also said that it will be creating a new committee to oversee the salaries of the leadership board.
This committee will be made up of community members and will be responsible for ensuring that the salaries are in line with the DAO’s values.
*View full forum here.
What could have been better from now?
It is too early to say how the controversy will impact the long-term price of APE. However, it is clear that the issue has damaged the trust between the community and the leadership board.
Transparency Tuesday @ApeCoin DAO🔎
— Vulkan 🌋 (@red_vulkan) June 13, 2023
Curious where a proposal is in the AIP Process? Check out this thread below👇 pic.twitter.com/s95lyXbG4c
The DAO will need to work hard to rebuild this trust if it wants to attract new investors and users.
Thoughts on the matter:
- The leadership board should have been more transparent about their salaries from the start.
- The salaries of the leadership board should be capped at a lower amount.
- The DAO should create a more democratic process for setting salaries.
- The DAO should do more to engage with the community and get their feedback.
If the DAO can address these issues, they can rebuild trust with the community and the price of APE will recover, (probably). However, if they do not address these issues, the price of APE could continue to fall, (obviously).
It remains to be seen whether the ApeCoin DAO can overcome these challenges and become a successful project.
