ApeCoinDAO Rejects AIP 337 Proposal on Special Council Pay Cut
In a close vote, the controversial ApeCoinDAO Ape Improvement Proposal 337 was rejected yesterday, Oct. 26, with 14 million against 10 million. It elicited the highest participation of any AIP since the DAO’s inception.
In a nutshell, AIP 337 proposed to halve the monthly compensation of ApeCoinDAO special council members from a bit over 20,000 ApeCoin to just over 10,000 $APE per month.
Despite MachiBigBrother’s hefty five million votes in favor of the proposal, other leading $APE holders like JRNY and Mocaverse led the pack of votes against it.
The AIP’s justification had been that it would dramatically reduce the financial outlay of the DAO every month. Proposer Moonlyght had also asserted that the very act of voting for the proposal would enhance the overall governance of the DAO by encouraging $APE holders to increase their participation overall. If it had passed, the proposal would have become active for all new Special Council terms, meaning that it would not have affected the current employment contracts of existing Special Council members.
AIP-337 Proposal
The proposal—reworked from a previous proposal that was rejected due to its potential impact on these extant employment contracts—arose amid a welter of criticism of the DAO Special Council. This criticism was due to a sharp drop in ApeCoin’s price and a controversial July AIP MachiBigBrother had passed to authorize funding of 11 million $APE to create a Digital Art Movement Collection for the DAO, with at least 70% of its purchases consisting of Yuga assets.
AllCityBAYC, ApeCoinDAO governance steward and BeyondTheSwamp editor, thinks that this proposal has come from a gap in understanding of what value Special Council members are offering the DAO. “There’s a lot more going on than people know, including a few major initiatives on the way that require immense amounts of planning and consideration. I would also caution the community to look at multiple options anytime changes to an administrative role, process, or expectation is posed,” he told nft now.
Yesterday, Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands and Special Council member, also spoke against the proposal: “I am against just a wholesale cut that I believe will do the opposite, for this and future SC members. I recommend voting against AIP-337 as we work to create a properly aligned plan that may for instance include KPIs and/or vesting structures that reward common goals that benefit the $ape community. Choose the carrot, not the stick is my recommendation. Let’s craft a more thoughtful AIP that may include reductions but could provide rewards that aligns incentives and growth targets,” he wrote on Twitter/X.
Community Tension
Axu.eth, who served on the Proof/Moonbirds community council, agrees. “I totally understand why upset community holders feel the ApeCoinDAO council’s compensation should be cut. However, I am not sure AIP-337’s blanket approach to cutting salaries unilaterally is the correct approach,” he said in a written interview.
Like AllCity, Axu hopes that any new proposals on this issue have clear, measurable targets and incentives. “Normal jobs offer performance bonuses to incentive employees to go above and beyond. I feel that approach would work here as well. There could be incentive structures (not necessarily tied to token price) that reward council members for over performing,” he added.
AllCity hopes that the level of engagement and debate around this proposal continues as ApeCoinDAO moves towards election season, when special council and governance roles will be open to any DAO member who wants to put their hat in the ring. “As someone who works full-time within the ApeCoinDAO ecosystem, it’s tough seeing a lot of the criticism the Special Council gets,” he told nft now.
“As someone who works full-time within the ApeCoinDAO ecosystem, it’s tough seeing a lot of the criticism the Special Council gets.”
AllCity
Despite a recent series of sometimes challenging debates, AllCity is excited about the future of ApeCoinDAO. “There’s a lot more going on than people know, including a few major initiatives on the way that require immense amounts of planning and consideration,” he explained.
Others think that ApeCoinDAO needs an overhaul. “One of the highest participation votes since conception is a 50% salary cut for SC, totaling ~$600k/yr. Meanwhile, hundreds of millions have hemorrhaged from top to bottom…we need a complete restructuring of the DAO. The simple reality (that most people don’t want to hear / are too scared to say) is that not everyone should be a decision maker,” holder Degentraland expressed on X yesterday.
Amidst heightened community engagement and tension, the future of ApeCoinDAO hinges on addressing compensation concerns and broader structural challenges.