►
Description
Presented during The DAOist's Global Governance Gathering, on the 19th of April 2022, at Tobacco Theater, Amsterdam NL
A
A
So
today
I
want
to
talk
about
sovereignty
in
blockchains
and
dows,
or
the
tagline,
the
evolution
of
the
internet
native
sovereignty,
so
first
off
what
is
sovereignty
looking
at
our
old
trusty
friend
wikipedia
gives
us
this
definition:
the
defining
authority
within
an
individual
consciousness,
social
construct
or
territory.
So
the
idea
being
no
matter
what
the
entity
is,
what
the
kind
of
unit
is,
whatever
power
ultimately
rests
in.
That's
who
has
sovereignty
in
that
world?
A
Now
I
imagine,
many
of
us
maybe
have
been
hearing
a
little
bit
more
about
sovereignty
over
the
last
couple
months.
Many
people
when
we're
talking
about
russia's
invasion
of
ukraine.
People
are
saying
how
it
violates
the
sovereignty
of
ukraine
as
an
independent
nation.
So
that's
what
we
want
to
talk
about
today
before
we
get
to
the
blockchain
stuff.
I
think
it
is
important
to
talk
a
little
bit
about
how
sovereignty
came
to
be
and
what
we
think
about
this
concept.
So
it's
kind
of
like
two
different
traditions
and
thinking
about
sovereignty.
A
The
first
comes
more
from
like
a
religious
or
sacred
tradition
right,
so
the
ultimate
authority,
in
god,
kind
of,
creates
this
level
of
sovereignty,
and
so
and
that's
not
it's
a
little
bit
different
than
the
other
one
you
can
see
up
here,
which
is
more
like
a
political
sovereignty
which
I
think
we
can
take
a
lot
more.
We
can
learn
from
more
in
the
blockchain
land,
so
I
don't
know
if
anyone
up
here
knows
what
this
book
cover
is.
A
If
you
look
closely,
you
can
see
it
on
here,
but
it's
a
pretty
famous
book
cover
it's
the
leviathan
by
thomas
hobbs,
and
so
this
really
is
seen
as
like
the
first
instance
of
kind
of
talking
about
sovereignty
as
a
country
or
a
state
that
has
this
ultimate
power
and
in
hobbs
time
it
was
the
king
or
the
queen
right.
The
king
of
the
queen
had
absolute
authority
over
over
their
kingdom
or
over
their
their
domain
right
and
then
starting
with
hobbs
and
then
moving
forward.
A
You
hear
like
lock
and
other
philosophers
of
their
time,
are
kind
of
extending
this
idea
of
sovereignty,
away
from
just
kings
and
queens
and
also
to
like
representative
democracies,
but
it
all
kind
of
goes
back
to
this
core
idea
that,
like
the
state,
is
this
source
of
power
and
is
kind
of
independent
there
and
the
other
one.
I
guess
we
can
kind
of
trace
back
to.
A
If
we
look
at
the
piece
of
westphalia-
and
I
know
we're
like
going
over
high
school
history
here-
but
I
think
the
piece
of
australia
and
I'm
not
american,
so
the
europeans
right
now-
I
think
it's
like
1648
or
something
like
that,
but
that's
the
first
time
that
states
recognized
or
respected
the
boundaries
or
borders
of
other
states
right.
So
it's
like
okay,
like
within
these
boundaries,
you
are
sovereign
and
then,
within
these
boundaries
like
I
am
sovereign
and
we're
going
to
respect
that.
A
So
I
think
that's
really
like
where
especially
the
political
tradition
is
where
sovereignty
comes
from
in
blockchain
land.
I
think
there's
two
different
elements.
We
talk
about
sovereignty
here.
The
first
is
censorship
resistance
and
then
the
second
is
self-sovereignty,
so
censorship
resistance.
I
really
think
censorship
resistance
could
just
be
rebranded
to
blockchain
sovereignty
right
when
we
think
about
what
what
does
it
mean
to
be
censorship
resistant.
A
It
means
that
this
system,
this
network,
is
impervious
or
is
protected
against
outside
influence
or
coercion
right
and
that's
really
the
same
thing
as
like
sovereign
right.
You
are
have
the
power,
the
independence
from
other
ones,
so
I
think
many
would
argue
that
bitcoin
and
ethereum
have
achieved
some
level
of
sovereignty
right.
A
A
So
self-sovereignty
in
sovereign
blockchain,
almost
like
a
dream
within
a
dream.
So
once
you
have
an
independent
system
that
has
like
sovereignty
and
can
create
rules
and
people
can
operate
in
that,
whether
it's
like
political
or
economic
relationships
that
also
opens
up
the
opportunity
for
you
to
afford
some
individual
sovereignty
to
the
actors
in
that
ecosystem.
A
So
I
think
when
we
think
about
blockchains,
of
course
there
is
a
lot
of
self-sovereignty
in
blockchains,
so
of
course
like
the
most
famous
being
if
you're
on
bitcoin
or
ethereum,
and
you
wanna
send
funds
to
another
address.
As
long
as
you
have
your
private
key
and
a
fee,
no
one
can
stop
you
from
executing
that
transaction
right.
You
are
sovereign
over
your
ability
to
send
funds
to
any
address
on
bitcoin
or
ethereum,
and
that
kind
of
comes
with
the
individual.
A
I
think
there
are
some
areas
where
maybe
this
is
being
threatened.
I
think
like
the
most
prominent
one
here
is
mev
right,
minor
extractable
value.
So
you
know
the
assumption
is,
if
you're,
if
you're
operating
with
a
self-sovereignty,
that
whatever
you
do,
no
one
can
within
the
ecosystem
within
ethereum
that
you
have.
The
sovereign
ability
to
execute
something
now
for
minor
extractable
value.
A
What
that
what
is
happening
is
it
means
the
miners
are
actually
trading
against
you
they're,
looking
at
what
your
transaction
and
they
are
like,
not
just
they're,
not
just
executing
that
they're
actually
kind
of
trading
against.
So
I
think
that
really
threatens
the
idea
of
self-sovereignty,
as
it
also
does,
when
you
think
about
the
rise
of
like
central
custody
right,
because
here,
all
the
private
keys,
the
more
and
more
they
go
under
like
an
individual
custodian,
the
more
centralized
it
gets
there.
A
So
now
we
finally
get
to
talk
about
taos
and
governance
and
kind
of
why
we're
all
here
so
dows
enable
collective
sovereignty
right.
So
I
think
when
we,
when
we
think
about
this
self-sovereignty,
that
is
really
for
just
an
individual
address
someone
that
has
a
private
key.
We
can
now
afford
that
sovereignty
to
anyone
with
a
private
key,
and
I
think
dows
are
really
the
the
evolution
the
next
stage
in
that
evolution,
where
it's
not
just
the
blockchain
itself,
that
is
sovereign
right.
A
It's
not
just
the
an
individual
on
the
blockchain
that
is
sovereign.
It's
like
a
collective
or
a
group
of
users
or
individuals
that
also
have
sovereignty,
and
I
think
this
is
something
really
new.
We're
just
starting
to
see.
So
to
give
a
couple
examples
here:
the
defy
lenders.
I
think
we
need
a
name
for
them,
I'm
kind
of
constantly
referring
to
them.
A
You
know
maker,
compound
and
ave
they're,
these
kind
of
big
giants,
but
I
do
think
they
give
us
some
good
examples
of
on-chain
governance
and
and
like
kind
of
what
is
sovereign,
so
each
of
these
projects
to
determine
like
what
are
they
sovereign
over,
especially
when
we
get
to
daos.
The
question
is:
what
is
the
core
governance
power
and
how
does
that
core
governance,
power
control,
the
lending
protocol
control
the
assets
or
whatever,
but
the
connection
between
the
core
governance
power
and
the
protocol
itself?
So
for
each
of
these
projects?
A
That's
just
the
token
holders
right
so
for
maker,
it's
mkr,
then
comp
and
ave.
So
those
token
holders
are
the
core
governance
power,
and
so
the
question
is:
what
are
they
sovereign
over
so
for
maker?
Mkr
holders
are
like
directly
sovereign
over
the
ability
to
change
interest
rates
like
they
vote
on
chain.
Mkr
holder
can
do
that
and
that's
kind
of
like
all
out
in
the
open
for
compound
and
ave.
They
have
the
ability
to
vote
in
new
interest
rate
calculations
like
the
curves
that
basically
calculate
the
interest
rates
for
those
lending
protocols.
A
A
We
kind
of
understand
like
the
importance
of
understanding
sovereignty
and
why
it
like
highlights
maybe
some
of
the
weaknesses
here,
because
token
holders
mkr
ave
comp,
they
have
no
real
say
over
the
off
chain.
Oracles
like
no
one.
I
mean
people
do
know,
you
know
what
the
oracles
are,
but
there's
no
direct
governance
link
to
them
and,
of
course,
the
whole
lending
protocol
depends
on
being
able
to
have
a
reliable
price
fee.
So
maybe
there's
a
world
where
we
can.
A
A
Yep,
maybe
we
can
oh
we're
back.
We
are
back
and
we're
here
to
talk
about
constitution
dao,
so
we
can
really
explain
what
sovereignty
is
not,
and
maybe
we
should
not
be
using
the
word
dao
here,
but
I
don't
know
for
those
who
are
not
familiar
with
constitution
data.
They
raised
40
million
over
seven
days
in
december
to
buy
a
copy
of
the
constitution.
It
has
nothing
to
do
with
nick
cage,
but
it
feels
like
it
should,
and
so
they
actually
were
ultimately
not
successful
in
purchasing
the
constitution.
A
But
again
I
think
it
does
highlight
maybe
some
of
the
issues
or
shortcomings
with
their
their
sovereignty
approach.
So
if
you
donated
or
deposited
money
to
the
constitution,
dow
smart
contract,
you
received
people
tokens
in
return.
So
then
the
question
is
like
what
do
people
token
holders
actually
have
sovereignty
over
and
like
the
answer
is
not
much,
and
I
think
it's
you
know
starts
with.
I
think
the
third
point,
the
obvious
like
the
constitution,
is
not
in
the
ethereum
blockchain
people.
A
The
two
challenges
or
problems
with
sovereignty,
so
the
first
one
is
that
voting
is
expensive.
Voting
on
chain
is
expensive
right.
So
this
whole
idea
of
being
able
to
like
extend
sovereignty
from
a
single
user
with
a
with
a
private
key
to
multiple
users,
all
again
like
backed
by
that
private
key,
that
the
action
of
aggregating
verifying
those
signatures
in
a
public
decentralized
way
is
actually
really
really
hard.
Well,
I
mean
blockchains
can
do
it,
but
it's
just
really
really
expensive.
A
So
what
this
leads
to
often
is
people
using
off-chain
voting
and
then
relying
on
maybe
like
a
trusted
multi-sig
signer,
to
translate
that
right-
and
you
can
see
here
in
that
instance-
it's
not
the
token
holders
that
have
all
that
sovereignty.
It's
really
the
multi-sig
signers
themselves
that
have
that
who
may
take.
You
know,
influence
from
the
snapshot
itself,
but
there's
not
actually
like
that
kind
of
like
direct
length
of
sovereignty
there
and
then
the
second
one
is
right.
A
With
the
constitution
dao,
it's
real
world
custody
right
if
you're
trying
to
own
or
do
something
in
the
real
world
at
the
end
of
the
day.
That
means
the
doubt
is
going
to
rely
on
some
type
of
legal
entity
or
person
and
when
you're
doing
that,
you're
basically
affording
the
sovereignty
to
whatever
legal
system
that
legal
entity
is
like
kind
of
managed
in
there.
A
A
So
I
think
dxo
so,
as
I
said,
dicks
out
with
a
bunch
of
contributors
here,
I
think
we're
there's
also
a
nail
salon
in
there.
If
you
want
to
get
some,
some
dx
style
logos
on
there,
but
I
think
there's
two
kind
of
areas
where
we
maybe
distinguish
ourselves
from
some
of
the
other
dows
in
terms
of
our
sovereignty,
so
treasury
sovereignty.
So
of
course
with
lots
of
dows.
A
The
treasury
is
on
chain
and
is
only
unlocked
or
moved
through
an
unchained
vote,
but
kind
of
on
top
of
that
we've
developed
a
system
and
really
the
infrastructure
to
be
able
to
execute
trades
through
the
traditional
governance
process.
Through
the
proposal
process,
but
still
have
it
not
rely
on
any
individual
or
group
of
people.
So
to
give
the
example,
we
have
these
relayer
contracts
that
basically
facilitate
trades
and
in
those
in
the
relay
contract
you
can
set
certain
parameters
that
the
trade
should
should
abide
by.
A
So
one
of
the
things
we
do
all
the
time
is,
we
are
purchasing
dxd
with
eth
and
so
just
to
walk
through
an
example
of
that
the
you
need
to
have
one
proposal
that
sends
the
eth
from
the
deke
style
treasury
to
the
relayer
contract.
Right
now,
this
relayer
contract
is
owned
by
dxdow.
It
can
be
upgraded
by
dick
style.
A
It's
the
only
one
that
can
can
kind
of
manage
that,
but
you
send
the
eth
to
the
relayer
contract,
and
then
you
have
a
second
proposal
that
is
basically
programming
the
trade
order
that
you
want
to
put
in
there
now
for
anyone,
who's,
traded
or
maybe
not
traded.
You
know
clearly,
if
you're
broadcasting,
your
trade
like
a
week
in
advance
five
days
in
advance,
like
that's
a
little
risky
right.
So
how
can
you
kind
of
put
something
in
a
proposal
that
is
like?
I
want
to
trade
x
for
y
on
this
certain
date.
A
When
you
don't
know
what
that
will
be
right.
So
how
can
we
utilize
the
transparency
of
the
governance
process
and
the
time
that
it,
you
know,
and
the
benefit
of
going
through
that,
while
also
still
maintaining
that
dial
sovereignty,
so
the
way
that
we
did
it
is
this
relayer
contract
has
two
kind
of
checks
on
it.
The
first
is
it
use
an
on-chain
oracle,
so
it
uses
the
time
weighted
average
of
whatever
that
price
is
at
the
time
of
the
proposal
execution.
A
So
in
that
proposal,
when
it's
being
submitted
say
seven
days
in
advance,
it
can
say
buy
x
token
for
y,
at
whatever
price
the
oracle
says
at
that
time,
and
we
do
like
a
two
minute
swap
so
it's
a
little
bit.
It's
a
little
bit
harder
to
manipulate
there,
but
that's
the
first
way
and
the
second
is:
we
have
like
a
minimum
accepted
parameter
so
obviously
like
oracles
get
manipulated
all.
A
And
in
that
case,
if
someone
did
manipulate
the
oracle
price,
there
would
be
kind
of
some
ability
for
the
dow
not
to
lose
all
this
fund.
So
again,
I
think
in
that
case,
from
submitting
the
proposal
the
first
one
moving
the
funds
to
all
the
way
to
executing
the
proposal
like
the
dow
is
sovereign
over
that
entire
time.
A
There's
not
any
individual
that
actually
needs
to
execute
that
so
with
the
relayer
contract,
it
does
require
a
couple
calls
you
have
to
call
the
oracle
twice
and
then
you
also
have
to
call
to
actually
place
the
trade
and
to
do
that,
anyone
can
do
that.
All
you
have
to
do
is
kind
of
execute
the
the
transactions
and
do
that.
So
that's
the
first
way.
I
think
we're
kind
of
exploring
dao
sovereignty.
Oh
we
did
it
again.
A
The
second
way
is
over
the
front
end
and
I
think
the
line
I'm
comfortable
with
saying
here,
I'm
pretty
sure.
I
say
this
and
no
one
stops
me.
So
I'm
going
to
keep
saying
until
someone
does,
I
think
dxdow
is
the
only
dow
that
owns
its
front
ends.
I
don't
know
of
any
other
dow
right,
we
think
of
any
defy
dap
that
is
used
right.
A
Ultimately,
those
are
run
on
aws
and
someone's,
like
company,
actually
actually
owns
that,
but
with
dxdow,
the
dow
itself
owns
its
front
ends,
and
so
this
is
dx
dow.
The
website
this
is
all
of
our
products.
Swapper
omen.
All
of
these
are
actually
owned
by
the
dow
and
the
key
thing.
The
key
piece
of
infrastructure
we
use
here
is
ens,
so
just
to
kind
of
walk
through
this
process.
Here
so,
first
and
foremost,
you
have
the
dkstyle
contributors,
build
a
site
and
share
it,
share
it
with
the
community.
A
So
again,
this
could
be
a
product
release.
It
could
be
a
new
website,
but,
like
typically
it's
posted
on
github
and
said
this
is
ready
to
be
released,
and
then
someone
from
the
community
will
upload
that
to
ipfs
and
then
submit
another
proposal
that
redirects
the
ens
domain,
that
is
in
the
dx
style
treasury.
It
redirects
that
to
that
specific
ipfs
hash,
and
that
proposal
goes
through
dxo
governance
through
ethereum
on
chain
cameras.
A
It
costs
a
lot
of
money
to
pay
the
transactions
to
upload
the
website
there,
but
all
of
that
is
going
through
the
typical
governance
process
there
and
once
that
is
executed
once
it
passes,
and
the
enos
domain
name
now
resolves
to
this
new
ipfs
hash.
The
only
way
you
can
take
down
that
site
is
through
another
proposal
through
dxtau,
and
so
we
think
about
again
censorship,
resistance
and
like
sovereignty
and
seeing
how
we
can
like
have
these
different
work,
arounds
really
kind
of
to
get
in
there.
Where
could
dallas
sovereignty
go
from
here?
A
A
So
I
think
when
you
have
sovereignty,
it
ends
up
like
translating
to
a
new
form
of
consciousness,
for
whoever
is
like
within
that
group
right.
So
even
like
society
and
culture
are
like
kind
of
like
different
forms
of
of
consciousness,
and
I
think
when
you
have
like
taos,
is
like
a
new
form
of
how
you
can
like
have
sovereignty
you're,
going
to
see
like
more
interesting,
like
form
formulations
of
that
consciousness-
that
I
think
we've
too
often
seen
in
like
societies,
nation
states
and
religion
and
so
it'll
be
really
exciting.
A
A
We've
got
to
make
sure
we
protect
that
and
that
also
kind
of
like
relies
on
the
threat
of
violence,
but
like
with
dows.
If
you
can
figure
out
how
to
have
that
ownership,
not
just
be
in
a
single
like
a
dress
but
like
actually
decentralized
around
there.
You
could
figure
out,
like
this
dao
owns
this
and
there's
like
no
one
being
threatened
with
violence
like
to
be
able
to
do
that.
So
I
think
it's
a
really
like
interesting
idea
that
I
think,
like
dallas,
could
kind
of
like
pioneer
with
that.