Community Call DAO Status Update - February 3, 2023

In this DAO Status update, the team walked through the recently released Q4 Report.

Leadership

• New product updates are in the final stages of testing and audits, including significant refactors to the Coordinator and Ninja, and major releases coming to the trade app and relay.
• The team is navigating the uncertain economic and regulatory conditions, while working to improve the product and optimize DAO operations.

Metrics

• Q4 volume has been consistent with the previous quarter, with over $364 million in volume being processed in total.
• A set of Dune dashboards provides deeper insight into protocol metrics.

Protocol [3:50]

• This quarter focused on shipping the protocol upgrade for audit, iteration based on auditors’ feedback, and gas optimizations.
• Optimizations have been made to the Coordinator for improved scalability. [6:00]
• A key protocol change is being developed with KIP-35 to streamline tokenomics by switching the bid token from ROOK to WETH.
• The Rook relay (project Starlight) has been going through internal testing and optimization, with documentation being written to aid searchers with setup.
• Ninja was refactored to work with protocol changes, and continues to be improved. [9:30]
• The team continues to work on improving reporting systems.

Product [11:20]

• An MVP user interface for Starlight is ready for testing, and the product team is developing an intuitive public-facing UI for end users.
• Price data is an area of focus, and the team hopes that the new Price API will provide some of the most accurate onchain data.
• Iterations to the trade app are underway to work hand-in-hand with the protocol upgrades.

Treasury [15:00]

• The DAO is in a strong financial position, with a $43M treasury (over half of which is in stablecoins).
• A set of dashboards has been created to outline the various financial positions of the DAO, including stablecoins and liquid staking derivatives (LSDs). (See the data dashboards section in the Q4 Report).
• The treasury has consolidated a large portion of holdings into a set of ETH LSDs that are earning steady yield.
• The stablecoin testing wallet has been very successful at generating returns through the Coordinator.
• The Rook Labs budget operated at a surplus, with funds being rolled over into the next quarter.

Growth [25:50]

• Discussions continue with partners regarding value capture and product optimization.
• The Pilot Program has wrapped up, with 16,000 ROOK being streamed to market makers and Keepers. These partners provided valuable feedback.

Organization [27:55]

• Focus areas in Q4 included compensation research and developing workplace improvement programs.
• The offsite gathering in October provided an opportunity for the team to break down some of the barriers of remote work.
• Contributor surveys through Leapsome provided a vital source of feedback for improving operations.
• The operations teams consolidated into one, which has dramatically improved effectiveness and cohesion.

Community [32:00]

• The Community team has finished rolling out Discord enhancements, including a support ticket system.
• Marketing efforts for the upcoming ETHDenver conference are underway, including a booth and cool swag.

Studio [34:00]

• The Studio team is working on creating engaging biz dev documentation for upcoming products.
• Various marketing campaigns, podcast appearances, sponsorships, and partnerships are planned for this year.

Standup [36:20]

• Development continues for the trade app and relay, including new MEV claiming functionality, new charting tools, and a price data product.
• Optimization work continues to improve scalability and performance of the Coordinator.
• Recent work by the Treasury team includes a new stablecoin product, the introduction of the Weekly Treasury Report every Monday, and a DeFi Roundup project that will give community members an opportunity to learn about interesting DeFi topics.

Governance [39:10]

• Labs Budget Request - This request would allocate USDC for Rook Labs through March 2023 in accordance with the official budget.
• Extend KIP-26 - This proposal extends KIP-12 and KIP-21, which granted leadership powers of the DAO to hazard and JZ.
• mStable Withdrawal - Due to the precarious future of the mStable project, this proposal would terminate Rook’s position in the protocol and swap imUSD funds to USDC. The team proposes to fast-track this proposal due to the urgency, and as a test case for a fast-track process for future proposals. A vote is expected on Monday, Feb. 6. [42:45]

Open Floor [46:20]

• Sha_har and hazard discussed community reactions to the Q4 Report, including factors affecting product release dates and possibilities for improving comms.