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Nexus Mutual DAO

People join as members of the Nexus Mutual DAO and access the benefits of membership. Nexus Mutual is a member-driven protocol and DAO. People contribute to the protocol when they buy cover, underwrite risk, build risk management businesses, assess claims, or participate in governance.

Members who want to work to further the protocol's development, growth, awareness, or adoption can contribute to the DAO through a grant or a DAO team. Grants and teams are funded through the NMDP process; successful proposals receive funding from the DAO treasury (formerly referred to as the Community Fund).

People that contribute should help further the Nexus Mutual mission. Teams and contributors should share the Mutual's values.

Mission

Our mission is to build an ecosystem in which anyone can protect anyone else by sharing risk. We often refer to this as the global risk marketplace.

Values

Nexus Mutual members value:

  • Trust–our commitment to transparency and our track record for paying claims should speak for itself, as we know we earn trust through our actions.
  • Egalitarian–we are building an open protocol and DAO, so that protection is accessible by anyone.
  • Integrity–we engage honestly with one another, keep our word, and always choose the right decision even when it's difficult.

DAO treasury

The idea for the DAO treasury originated from a member's post on the forum. After the idea was discussed, Proposal #116 was voted on and passed by members to form a DAO treasury multisig and to mint 250,000 NXM for the treasury to use for grants.

Members decide what community projects and teams are funded from the treasury.

Multisig signers

The treasury multisig signers were decided through a Snapshot vote. The community voted for the following members to act as the treasury multisig participants:

The multisig signers will sign off on, but not decide, which proposals pass and do not pass. They will enact the will of the wider Nexus Mutual community who vote with their NXM.

DAO treasury address

The treasury Safe has a four-of-seven signing threshold.

Safe multisig: 0x586b9b2F8010b284A0197f392156f1A7Eb5e86e9

Contributing to the DAO

Members can contribute to the DAO in a variety of ways. Reviewing governance forum discussions, providing comments and feedback, and voting in governance is an important way all members can contribute.

Those who want to put their talents and skills to work for the DAO can create an NMDP to request a grant for a single-purpose project or another purpose. Any grant proposal should highlight how someone's work will benefit the growth and development of the Mutual. Learn more about the NMDP grant process on the Nexus Mutual DAO Proposals (NMDP) page.

Members can also contribute to an existing team or establish a new team that can serve the DAO for the long-term and provide a necessary function that is not being fulfilled within the DAO.

Before creating an NMDP team creation request, review the existing teams.

DAO teams

Currently, there are five DAO teams. These teams work on behalf of Nexus Mutual DAO members, and their funding is approved through the NMDP process. You can review the most recent DAO team funding proposal to learn about each team's priorities, duties, and more.

Community team

The Community team provides tools to and educational content for members, staking pool managers, DAOs, and our wider community in order to expand coverage. They also design communication channels to drive community engagement and member retention.

The team provides key support to members in a variety of ways, whether it's day-to-day questions or direct assistance during claim events. Through consistent support, communication, and engagement, this team strives to improve the member experience and improve access to resources.

This team was first established in 2021 and has since changed name and split into two separate teams (i.e., Community and Marketing).

Team members

Head of Community (FT). BraveNewDeFi serves as team lead and has worked for the DAO since 2021. In that time, he has updated and maintained the V1 documentation, developed the Mutual's DAO working group model, launched the first DAO team, and standardized the claims process to reduce friction for those submitting claims. He works with the Community Manager to provide support to members, create and distribute informative/educational content, and works to update and engage with members.

Community Manager (PT). Sem provides support to members on Discord and LinkedIn, answering questions and helping members troubleshoot issues. She also writes the weekly newsletter, conducts research, distributes content across social channels, and compiles weekly reports.

Marketing team

The Marketing team works to expand Nexus Mutual's brand awareness and engagement with the DAO's target audiences and drive growth in new membership. They create and execute marketing campaigns; develop and distribute content; and manage Nexus Mutual's marketing channels.

The team creates awareness about the risk marketplace and reaches prospective members around the world. With a defined content strategy and data-driven metrics to demonstrate their impact, the Marketing team grows brand awareness and membership within the Mutual, while providing DAO members with a measure of their success.

This team was originally incorporated with the Community team but has a proposal to establish their own team, given Marketing and Community have different objectives.

Investment Committee

The Investment Committee provides in-depth proposals and works to provide members with the information they need to invest Nexus Mutual's assets in a way that maximizes the return without negatively impacting the Mutual's ability to pay claims on a timely basis.

The team reviews investment opportunities and writes detailed investment strategy proposals for the governance forum, where they provide members with the potential benefits, risks, and considerations necessary to make an informed decision ahead of onchain governance votes.

Team members

Investment Committee Members (PT). Discuss, review, and evaluate potential investment strategies with the Head of Investment. Investment strategies that the team agrees present good opportunities are written as an NMPP and presented to members for their review.

  • Nico. Chief Investment Officer of Prosight Specialty, a property and casualty insurer providing tailored insurance solutions for businesses. He provides oversight and strategic direction of their multi-billion dollar investment portfolio consisting of core, core plus, and alternative assets.
  • Rei. Rei has served as a founding member of the Nexus Mutual protocol and made a variety of contributions since 2018. Previously, he was qualified as a UK actuary, held a variety of back-office and front-office corporate roles in reinsurance and brokerage.
  • Gauthier. Former M&A analyst, who dove deep into the crypto rabbit-hole during the first lockdown in 2020. He has been investing with a strong focus on DeFi protocols ever since. He serves as a Discord moderator in the Nexus Mutual community, and as a multisig signer for the DAO treasury. Gauthier has been a very vocal advocate for Nexus Mutual on Twitter, and he has a strong vested interest in Nexus Mutual and aims to identify the best investment opportunities for the Mutual.
  • Guillaume. Business professional with more than 15 years' experience, with a good analytical and structured approach to all types of problems. His skills in project management and risk management can be complementary to the profiles of the initial team. Also a retail investor in both DeFi and TradFi (a long-time investor in insurance stocks). He plans to contribute to the Investment team around both set-up/structure, as well as the process to surface and implement direct DeFi investments in line with the strategy.

Operations team

The Operations team provides support to other DAO teams, manages projects between DAO teams to improve communication and efficiency, helps coordinate online and in-person events, and improves internal operations within the DAO.

The team strives to bring DAO community ownership to coordination of funds, projects, and events. Through increased transparency, communication and coordination among DAO members and teams, and accountability around funding and performance, this team helps further decentralize the Mutual and scale the DAO.

Team members

Head of Operations. Kayleigh serves as the team lead and has previously led operations within the Foundation for Nexus Mutual before the protocol launched on mainnet. She serves as project manager for cross-team projects and ensures teams consistently meet their goals and stay within budget. Kayleigh monitors funds, governance, grants and the multisig, and financial structure. She provides insight to members on what DAO teams and grant recipients are delivering to facilitate accountability. Work to deepen knowledge on DAO management best practices, so Nexus Mutual can set the standard.

R&D team

The R&D team helps overcome hard problems faced by the protocol and ecosystem. They strive to decentralize the problem-solving function, increase transparency, and attract skilled members who want to solve difficult problems.

The team works to solve problems the right way and retains focus on the Nexus Mutual mission and values, instead of taking shortcuts that may undermine them. This team works with members to effectively face difficult problems and aims to attract skilled, active members to discuss, challenge, and work together toward solutions.

Team members

Head of R&D. Rei serves as team lead and has served as a founding member of the Nexus Mutual protocol and made a variety of contributions since 2018. Previously, he was qualified as a UK actuary, held a variety of back-office and front-office corporate roles in reinsurance and brokerage. He is responsible for leading projects, managing contributors, working with DAO members to increase engagement and participation in research and design. Most recently, Rei has led the tokenomics working group, which would now be managed by this team.

DAO team funding

If the DAO team budget request proposals are approved by members through Snapshot governance, the DAO treasury sends funds to the team multisigs. With the Q1 & Q2 2023 DAO teams budget request proposal, members voted to streamline the payment process. All of the funding for DAO teams is held in the DAO teams multisig (formerly, the Community multisig) and payments are managed from that multisig.

The Operations team has implemented an oversight process for any non-salary payment requests from the DAO teams multisig.

DAO teams (formerly, Community) multisig

The DAO teams Safe has a three-of-five (3/5) signing threshold.

Safe multisig: 0x57d2D86d32497bC4AEd3b603A391db50c10D7fA1

DAO teams multisig signers

All signers are required to use a hardware wallet-secured address for their signing address.

  • BraveNewDeFi
  • Rei
  • Sem
  • Kayleigh
  • Hugh

Past team funding proposals

Proposing a new team

Members who want to launch a new team can write and post a team creation request NMDP. They should include the following information.

Title. NMDP: [Concise title for proposal]. For example: NMDP: Create Merch team

Summary. Short summary, no more than 250 words, of your proposal.

Specification. The what and how of your proposal. What is the team and how does it add value to the DAO, benefit members, or improve the protocol?

Purpose. What broad purpose does your team serve?

How team aligns with DAO values, mission. How does your team help further the DAO's mission and align with the Mutual's values?

Priorities. What time-specific projects does your team plan to focus on over the next six months?

Ongoing responsibilities. What duties and responsibilities will your team have over time that are not specific to the next six months?

Team members. What are the roles within your team; who are the members; what is their background/biography; and what is the salary request for part-time or full-time contributors; what is the payment request for contractors?

Budget request. If funds are being requested, which should include salaries, payments, and any other costs, then a breakdown of resources and expenses with line-item requests for the next six months is required either in the main NMDP or a supplementary proposal.

Proposal status. Depending on what stage your proposal is in, you must include:

  • Stage. One of the following should be added: 1) Open for Comment, 2) Closed, 3) Open for voting, 4) Accepted, or 5) Rejected.
    • If you choose to conduct a signaling vote using Snapshot, please update status to Signaling Vote and link to that vote. Signaling votes can be used but are not required.
  • If it is in the Open for Vote stage, add the link to the Snapshot proposal

NMDP Template | Team creation requests

  • Title
    • Summary
    • Specification
      • Purpose
      • How team aligns with DAO values, mission
      • Priorities
      • Ongoing responsibilities
      • Team members
        • Description of role
        • Biography
        • Salary, Payment
      • Budget request
    • Proposal status

Requesting funding for an existing team

Established teams that are nearing the end of their funding period can write and post a team funding request NMDP. They should include the information included above, with the exception of the values/mission alignment, and the following:

Six-month performance review. Did your team deliver all of the priority projects and deliver value for the DAO and members? How did your team perform compared to the previous proposal?

NMDP Template | Team funding requests

  • Title
    • Summary
    • Specification
      • Purpose
      • Priorities
      • Ongoing responsibilities
      • Team members
        • Description of role
        • Biography
        • Salary, Payment
      • Budget request
      • Six-month performance review
  • Proposal status