TL;DR
- Allocate $525k for Q3 Development and Operations
- Allocate $17.1k for Q3 Marketing & Discord support
Background
As we build out the new protocol, the DAO run rate has been stable over the last three quarters - about $2M/year.
The exact run rate for Q2 was slightly higher, but that included a legal retainer that hasn’t been fully spent yet.
The core protocol architecture was finalized in Q2, and we expect that the codebase might be ready for audits in Q4.
The legal entity setup documents have been shared with the community in an rff.
If the BIP passes governance, we expect BadgerDAO to become a Marshall Islands DAO LLC by the end of Q3.
Legal defense remains the largest uncertainty.
We expect our motion to dismiss to be resolved one way or another pretty soon, and that will strongly affect legal expenses moving forward.
Budget
The proposed budget for development & operations for Q3 is $525k:
The budget has been stable at this level ever since the transition away from Association was completed a year ago, with no major changes proposed for Q3.
- As usual, some room is left in builder budget in case we need outside code reviews or to engage a recruiter.
- The legal budget also includes the DAO LLC’s admin agent yearly fee. The 100k Buffer is primarily meant to cover unexpected legal expenses.
Compared to Association’s spending on dev & ops, Q2 actuals were:
- 82% lower than Q2 '23
- 74% lower than Q2 '24
- 50% lower than Q2 '25
This was achieved while defending the DAO in court, which consumed 37% of dev & ops expenses in Q2.
Here’s the consolidated DAO budget for more visibility:
This decision also approves the Marketing & Discord quarterly expenses of $17.1k, which are separate from the dev & ops budget.
Vote
- Yes - Approve the Q3 budget as specified above
- No - There’s a better way
