Over the past couple of months, Genitrust - the owner of the Wall of Coins service - has proposed integrating Dash into its services and website. See the original proposal from August here: https://www.dash.org/forum/threads/dash-otc-exchange-wall-of-coins-website-and-api.10454/
However, these proposals were rejected by the network. Although it is impossible to know the rationale behind every masternode owner's vote, through a combination of reading forum posts and talking with investors, it seems there were several primary reasons leading to the rejection:
1) The proposal cost was quite high at approximately $82,000, and contained uncertainty over whether additional expenses would be requested to complete the project (e.g., cost overruns)
2) The budget was paid directly to Genitrust and therefore offered little protection against project execution risks
3) Because of the high level of funding requested, it would necessitate "knocking out" other valuable proposals, including essential core team functions' proposals
However, most people seem to agree that a Wall of Coins integration would be a valuable addition to Dash's ecosystem, enabling direct cash-to-Dash purchases at literally tens of thousands of locations (e.g., banks, money transmitters), introducing Dash to Wall of Coin's 16,000 active users across seven countries (United States, Canada, Germany, Argentina, Latvia, Poland, and the Philippines), and adding Dash to Wall of Coins' API which will enable Genitrust's business partners to more easily adopt Dash.
Therefore, the Dash core team has been engaged with Wall of Coins over the last two months to reach a mutually-agreeable set of terms that will finally enable Dash to integrate into their platform. We are pleased to announce that we've arrived at a more favorable set of terms that we hope the network will find agreeable and which substantially reduces the risks posed from project delivery. We plan to introduce a proposal to the network within the next day. While that is happening, we wanted to make the basic information public as quickly as possible to 1) allow more time for the network to debate and put forward remaining questions and concerns, and 2) let the network know this larger expense / proposal is forthcoming since we are getting rather close to the November 4th budget cycle.
The general terms of the proposal would consist of the following:
1) The project cost will be reduced to $57,918 spread evenly across three payments of $19,306 each in the November, December, and January budget cycles. The original proposal was 42% higher than the current figure, so this represents a substantial reduction.
2) The Dash core team will submit the proposal to the network on Genitrust's behalf, and all funds will be paid to the core team rather than Genitrust directly. The core team will act as stewards of the funds, which will be released to Genitrust based on a set of criteria (which are outlined below).
3) The Dash core team will "make room" in the budget to better accommodate Wall of Coins integration expenses by limiting its requests, which traditionally we restrict to 80% of the total budget. By relying on existing funds and managing the expenses on other projects, we seek to include Wall of Coins within the 80% of the total budget limit.
4) Genitrust will be responsible for project communication to the community and for any cost overruns associated with the integration, while the Dash core team will provide limited technical assistance to ensure existing software tools and technical expertise is available to help lower the execution risk for Genitrust.
5) Detailed criteria for release of funds, milestones, and project completion measures will be negotiated in good faith between Genitrust and the core team produce a granular project plan with milestones and deliverables. These will be defined in a way that will be externally verifiable to the extent possible, and will roughly align with the timeline previously outlined by Genitrust in their previous proposal at https://www.dropbox.com/s/chddplecnxh9xed/dash-adoption-tools.pdf?dl=0. Payment #1 will be released immediately at the start of the project and the project plan will be the first activity undertaken by the team. Payments #2 and #3 will be based on the completion of the project plan.
6) Genitrust will accept all currency risk associated with the project between the time the proposal is submitted and the funds are paid.
Completion of the work is expected by early February. The main risk associated with this arrangement is that all payments are distributed in advance of the work being completed. However, by ensuring progress is made between each payment, we can provide assurances that by the time the third payment is distributed, Genitrust will have completed roughly 2/3rds of the work and would have large disincentives to discontinue work under those circumstances (not to mention the reputation impact they would suffer). This arrangement provides protection for Genitrust as well against defunding if the work is being executed according to their plan. Genitrust requested this protection because they are carrying the cost of any regulatory, legal, and cost overrun expenses.
I will share the full set of terms and post the proposal within the next 24 hours as time permits. In the meantime, feel free to debate the merits of the proposal and ask any questions. I will do my best to answer them as I have time. Please include @babygiraffe for any posts in which you are seeking my reply.
However, these proposals were rejected by the network. Although it is impossible to know the rationale behind every masternode owner's vote, through a combination of reading forum posts and talking with investors, it seems there were several primary reasons leading to the rejection:
1) The proposal cost was quite high at approximately $82,000, and contained uncertainty over whether additional expenses would be requested to complete the project (e.g., cost overruns)
2) The budget was paid directly to Genitrust and therefore offered little protection against project execution risks
3) Because of the high level of funding requested, it would necessitate "knocking out" other valuable proposals, including essential core team functions' proposals
However, most people seem to agree that a Wall of Coins integration would be a valuable addition to Dash's ecosystem, enabling direct cash-to-Dash purchases at literally tens of thousands of locations (e.g., banks, money transmitters), introducing Dash to Wall of Coin's 16,000 active users across seven countries (United States, Canada, Germany, Argentina, Latvia, Poland, and the Philippines), and adding Dash to Wall of Coins' API which will enable Genitrust's business partners to more easily adopt Dash.
Therefore, the Dash core team has been engaged with Wall of Coins over the last two months to reach a mutually-agreeable set of terms that will finally enable Dash to integrate into their platform. We are pleased to announce that we've arrived at a more favorable set of terms that we hope the network will find agreeable and which substantially reduces the risks posed from project delivery. We plan to introduce a proposal to the network within the next day. While that is happening, we wanted to make the basic information public as quickly as possible to 1) allow more time for the network to debate and put forward remaining questions and concerns, and 2) let the network know this larger expense / proposal is forthcoming since we are getting rather close to the November 4th budget cycle.
The general terms of the proposal would consist of the following:
1) The project cost will be reduced to $57,918 spread evenly across three payments of $19,306 each in the November, December, and January budget cycles. The original proposal was 42% higher than the current figure, so this represents a substantial reduction.
2) The Dash core team will submit the proposal to the network on Genitrust's behalf, and all funds will be paid to the core team rather than Genitrust directly. The core team will act as stewards of the funds, which will be released to Genitrust based on a set of criteria (which are outlined below).
3) The Dash core team will "make room" in the budget to better accommodate Wall of Coins integration expenses by limiting its requests, which traditionally we restrict to 80% of the total budget. By relying on existing funds and managing the expenses on other projects, we seek to include Wall of Coins within the 80% of the total budget limit.
4) Genitrust will be responsible for project communication to the community and for any cost overruns associated with the integration, while the Dash core team will provide limited technical assistance to ensure existing software tools and technical expertise is available to help lower the execution risk for Genitrust.
5) Detailed criteria for release of funds, milestones, and project completion measures will be negotiated in good faith between Genitrust and the core team produce a granular project plan with milestones and deliverables. These will be defined in a way that will be externally verifiable to the extent possible, and will roughly align with the timeline previously outlined by Genitrust in their previous proposal at https://www.dropbox.com/s/chddplecnxh9xed/dash-adoption-tools.pdf?dl=0. Payment #1 will be released immediately at the start of the project and the project plan will be the first activity undertaken by the team. Payments #2 and #3 will be based on the completion of the project plan.
6) Genitrust will accept all currency risk associated with the project between the time the proposal is submitted and the funds are paid.
Completion of the work is expected by early February. The main risk associated with this arrangement is that all payments are distributed in advance of the work being completed. However, by ensuring progress is made between each payment, we can provide assurances that by the time the third payment is distributed, Genitrust will have completed roughly 2/3rds of the work and would have large disincentives to discontinue work under those circumstances (not to mention the reputation impact they would suffer). This arrangement provides protection for Genitrust as well against defunding if the work is being executed according to their plan. Genitrust requested this protection because they are carrying the cost of any regulatory, legal, and cost overrun expenses.
I will share the full set of terms and post the proposal within the next 24 hours as time permits. In the meantime, feel free to debate the merits of the proposal and ask any questions. I will do my best to answer them as I have time. Please include @babygiraffe for any posts in which you are seeking my reply.
