(Source: DeFiEye)
Having grown from a loosely organized group chat, DeFiEye is developing a new and expanding path that is different from traditional companies. Although DeFiEye has not set up a complete governance structure and incentive token economy, and thereby cannot be strictly defined as a DAO, its story is still a meaningful and successful case study for exploring where and how a community can be united and constantly produce value.
Even though the Web3 scene has recently been cooling down and entering a bear market period, DeFiEye is still “BUIDLing” and preaching. Last week, Pandaily conducted an exclusive interview with Co-Founder of DeFiEye, Teddy. During our one-hour conversation, he shared the history and the mission of DeFiEye, his understanding of decentralized versus elite management, and his vision for Web3 amid ongoing turbulence.
Pandaily: Can you please introduce the mission of DeFiEye? I noticed you have launched multiple Web3-related tools and educational documents – what value are you trying to deliver through those features?
Teddy: We are trying to build an investment platform of Web3. Firstly, we have tools available, including both alpha tools and open-source tools. Secondly, we also output many high-quality contents in different formats and channels. For example, we have daily newsletters to curate industry information, in-depth research reports. We also host essay competitions to scout outstanding content producers. Thirdly, we are also building a community for Web3 participants, including contributors of DeFiEye and BUIDLers from other projects as well. We want to manage the community in the form of DAO, and make use of the on-chain token economy of governance and incentives in the future. In other words, we want to deliver values and reach consensus through an organization with a new relation of products in the Web3 era.
Pandaily: So tools and content are two main foundations of DeFiEye as a programmatic alpha community?
Teddy: Yes basically. We have a lot of writers who express their understanding about specific topics. Tools are corresponding to programmatic. There are two parts. One is developed by our full-time engineering team. Mainly are core alpha tools. One is mainly contributed by the community, which is composed of multiple open-source and free tools.
Pandaily: Is DeFiEye a DAO?
Teddy: That depends on your definition of DAO. DeFiEye is not a well-defined DAO since we have not set up our own token economy, on-chain voting system, treasury, etc. However, that is our goal and we are working towards becoming a DAO. We currently have seven function groups, including operations, content, etc., and we are using an accumulated point reward system to incentivize members.
Pandaily: You mentioned DeFiEye is implementing an “accumulated point reward system.” Who is responsible for distributing points? In the traditional company system, your manager decides whether you can get a salary raise or promotion, but that is what DAO hopes to change.
Teddy: We have a guideline, in which we formulate a series of behaviors and their corresponding points. Thus, people will have a general idea about how many points they can earn. The guideline will be updated if needed in the future. As I mentioned, we are not fully decentralized at this moment. If we were to be decentralized, we might initiate a proposal and invite DAO members to vote for any guideline changes.
Pandaily: You have stated multiple times that DeFiEye is not a well-defined DAO at present. Can I recognize it as a blend between a company and a community? Based on your understanding, what is the key difference between a DAO and a C Corporation, apart from tokens?
Teddy: You are right. DeFiEye is not a company, either. It is in the middle of being a community and a company, but eventually, as I underscored, our goal is to be a DAO. I think a DAO needs to have a treasury, a multisig mechanism, at least. DAOs also need to have a mission and vision. The whole community structure, token economy, and other designs have to be constructed aligning with the mission.
Pandaily: Another question that always pops up along with the incentive design is talent scouting, since both of them are related to human management. DeFiEye was born as a loosely connected community, so how did you attract high-quality and active members and manage your community?
Teddy: High-quality content is the foundation. You also need to do some user stratification according to their knowledge about crypto.
Pandaily: Having people to join the community is only the first step. You also need to figure […]
Protected by Patchstack