We had a pretty productive conversation about how to get the European dev-kit units built while protecting our contributors and piloting our manufacturing protocol, AIP-009. For full context, you can listen to the first 25 minutes of the Community Call.
These are the primary takeaways:
Addressing Liability: We completely agree with Julius that building and shipping 25kg experimental aircraft carries immense personal liability. The DAO cannot shield him directly, so it is necessary for him to form a GmbH and secure product liability insurance before shipping any units to third parties.
Piloting AIP-009: Rather than the DAO just buying the drones in a traditional, centralized way, we want to use this first batch to beta test the AIP-009 Distributed Manufacturing Ecosystem. Julius will act as our first bonded ecosystem manufacturer.
Subsidizing the Setup: Because we are asking Julius to take on the administrative burden of setting up a GmbH primarily to build these initial dev-kits, the DAO is open to subsidizing the company formation and insurance costs as a one time grant to get the ball rolling.
Execution: We discussed building a bespoke, multiphase escrow smart contract to handle the funds being released. However, we agreed that writing custom code for this one setup is likely more hassle than it’s worth. We can manage this first iteration manually via standard governance grants and a simple staking contract for the bond.
Proposed Plan
Based on the napkin math discussed during the call, here is the proposed structure for the governance action. Costs are based on the Dev-Kit BOM and a full kit includes a Quiver, transport case, RC, battery, and charger.
1. The DAO Funding (The Grant)
The DAO will issue a grant to cover both the setup and the material costs for four full Quiver dev-kits.
Entity Setup: $5,000 for GmbH formation.
Insurance: $3,000 for product liability insurance.
Materials: ~$28,000 (This will need to be adjusted to take into account the PCBs the DAO already purchased).
Total DAO Expense: ~$36,000 USDC.
2. The Manufacturer Bond ($ARROW)
To align with AIP-009, Julius will post a slashable $ARROW token bond to guarantee quality and alignment with the DAO.
Bond Size: To match the DAO’s capital injection, we are proposing a bond of roughly 120,000 $ARROW (assuming a baseline value of $0.30/token).
Yield: As outlined in the protocol, Julius will earn a yield on this bonded amount for the duration it is locked during this first manufacturing batch. A discussion is required on the amount.
3. Execution Phases
Instead of a complex escrow, we will release the USDC grant in manual phases based on verifiable off-chain milestones:
Phase 1: Julius posts the $ARROW bond via a simple staking contract. The DAO releases the initial USDC for GmbH setup and material pre-orders.
Phase 2: Verification of company formation and insurance.
Phase 3: Delivery/deployment of the dev-kits as loaners to developers. Bond is unlocked with yield.
Moving Forward
This framework gives us a way to get dev-kits into Europe while piloting AIP-009. Before this continues through our governance, we should discuss the details further.
Specifically, we need to reach a consensus on the yield percentage for the $ARROW bond. Please drop your thoughts on the yield, the 120,000 $ARROW bond size, the phased rollout, or any other questions you might have below.