EPNS and dYdX Foundation team up to create a communication channel for governance updates.
The term blockchain technology is almost synonymous with decentralization these days. This technology made it possible for a network of participants from different parts of the world who do not know each other to collaborate and run the blockchain network. All without the need for centralized authorities.
The participants can make decisions on how the blockchain should evolve, how the tokens should be distributed, and how the blockchain network should handle itself in the face of unforeseen events through a robust process called blockchain governance. Now, for blockchain governance to be truly effective, it requires the broad participation of stakeholders, i.e. the users of the network or protocol. But the lack of a reliable communication channel between the network and its participants leads to a situation where generally only a small portion of stakeholders participate.
To avoid this situation and ensure greater decentralization, EPNS has worked with participants in various DeFi protocols to enable push notifications for governance updates. The latest to benefit from EPNS push notifications service are participants in the dYdX protocol.
dYdX is a leading non-custodial derivatives exchange that runs on audited smart contracts on Ethereum. The exchange combines the security and transparency of a decentralized exchange, with the speed and usability of a centralized exchange. To significantly scale trading, dYdX Trading Inc. and StarkWare built a Layer 2 protocol for cross-margined crypto assets perpetual contracts, based on StarkWare’s StarkEx scalability engine and dYdX Trading’s perpetual smart contracts. Traders can now trade with zero gas costs, lower trading fees, and reduced minimum trade sizes.
With this context, participants in the dYdX protocol constantly strive to improve the protocol to meet the demands of the ever-growing crypto industry. To do so, it requires further participation of its users who can readily vote on decisions pertaining to platform governance when proposals are made to change it.
The governance process on dYdX is powered by community governance forums and implemented through dYdX Improvement Proposals (DIPs). Anyone can use the governance forum and create a proposal, which is initially off-chain and is called the dYdX Request for Comments (DRC). Once the DRC is posted on the forum, community members can participate in discussions pertaining to it and any member who holds more than 10K DYDX tokens can create an off-chain poll for the DRC. Consensus regarding the DRC should be achieved within 5 days through a process of voting.
Once a consensus is reached off-chain, a DIP is created on-chain again by a user with enough proposing power. After a short period of voting delay, voting for the DIP is activated and users can vote on it. If the DIP passes, it is queued, and later implemented.
A close look at this governance process reveals that there needs to be proper communication at every step between those seeking to implement changes to the protocol and its participants who must approve those changes to ensure a smooth governance and voting process with maximum participation. This is where EPNS push notifications come into the picture.
What Does the EPNS Implementation Entail
Through our work with the dYdX Foundation, we aim to build a robust communication channel through which participants in dYdX protocol governance can remain updated at every step of the governance process. Currently, dYdX stakeholders can subscribe to receive notifications when
- a DRC is created,
- the voting process for DRC begins,
- a DIP is created,
- the voting for the DIP is activated,
- the DIP is queued, and
- the DIP is implemented.
In the future, the EPNS team is working to provide notifications for dYdX stakeholders when
- an epoch begins,
- an epoch ends,
- rewards become claimable,
- a Snapshot poll is created, and
- the voting for a Snapshot poll begins.
As the dYdX protocol continues to be revolutionary for perpetual contracts trading in DeFi, we are pleased to work with them to ensure the smooth running of their governance process in an effort to improve the dYdX protocol and participation in its governance. We are hopeful that EPNS push notifications will become an integral part of the dYdX ecosystem.
About dYdX Foundation
The dYdX Foundation is an independent not-for-profit foundation headquartered in Zug, Switzerland. By fostering decentralized governance and assisting to empower traders with powerful, transparent, and open crypto financial products, the dYdX Foundation will help push the dYdX Layer 2 protocol forwards towards community-led growth, development, and self-sustainability. Learn more at: https://dydx.foundation/.
About Ethereum Push Notification Service
EPNS is building the world’s first open communication layer for the Web3 ecosystem, first for Ethereum and then for L2s and other blockchains. The protocol enables any smart contracts, dApps or traditional servers to send notifications tied to wallet addresses of a user in a platform agnostic fashion (ie: notifs can be integrated and shown on any crypto wallet, mobile apps, extension or dApps).
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