My reasons for wanting to be a delegate:
At KyberSwap, we believe Optimism is going to be at the heart of many unprecedented DeFi innovations that would bring a positive impact to the space and we want to help support this development as a delegate. My skill set from close to 5 years of experience building and working with projects in DeFi could potentially help the Optimism Collective fulfill its objectives and add value to the Optimism ecosystem.
As part of the team leading KyberSwap’s initiatives related to our own DAO governance and KNC tokenomics, I am interested in playing a key role in how the Optimism Collective coordinates public goods for the benefit of all ecosystem participants.
My view on the Optimistic Vision 1:
My team and I are inspired by the Optimistic Vision and would like to support it at a deeper level. I feel that KyberSwap’s vision - to create a liquidity hub for the decentralized economy so that DeFi is accessible to all - strongly complements the Optimistic Vision of a coordinated, collaborative cyberspace, where we can be united in our efforts to bring positive change and impact to as many people and projects as possible through public goods. It would not be easy to achieve this vision for sure, but in my opinion, Optimism has laid a solid foundation and is well-positioned to make it a reality.
The Optimistic Vision is also very much aligned with our own interests in decentralized governance and our belief that positive impact to the ecosystem/collective should be efficiently and fairly rewarded to the builders, users, and value creators that contribute the most.
My view on the first three articles of the Working Constitution:
Decentralized governance and DAOs are in a nascent stage and will definitely experience growing pains. As such, it is indeed prudent to undergo a few years of experimentation and treat the Working Constitution as a ‘living’ entity that evolves over time based on lessons learnt, instead of relying on a rigid, fixed model. However, it is imperative that this commitment to experimentation is concurrently anchored by the shared Optimistic Vision and the core values of the collective, to ensure a united and harmonious community focused on the same objectives.
We agree with Optimism’s use of a bicameral governance system. Checks and balances are necessary for any governance model, especially in relation to public goods. In the context of simple token-based voting, it is possible for a few large token holders to accumulate massive voting power to serve their own interests instead of benefiting the collective or wider ecosystem. A bicameral governance system with retroactive public goods funding based on past contributions and governed by the Citizens’ House could potentially mitigate such plutocracy. This would in turn provide long-term, sustainable incentives for the participants that create the most value on Optimism.
For the purpose of efficiency and practicality, we agree that the Optimism Foundation would be a good initial steward of the collective and its early governance model. This helps ensure a more structured establishment and management of the collective as it takes its baby steps. Similar to what KyberSwap is implementing, the Optimism Foundation should adopt an approach of progressive decentralization while maintaining a high level of transparency and adherence to its core values. We are confident that the Optimism Foundation will act in the best interests of the collective.
My skills and areas of expertise:
My expertise lies in community-building, marketing, and tokenomics. I have been active in the Ethereum and DeFi space since 2017, participating in communities such as Polygon, Aave, and Chainlink, and officially part of the Kyber team since 2018.
I am currently Head of Strategy for DAO & KNC, leading initiatives to efficiently allocate ecosystem incentives and to revamp our KyberDAO governance process and KNC tokenomics.
Previously, as Head of Marketing, I facilitated the launch and promotion of Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), led the growth of our community to over 300K members across social channels, and helped Kyber become the most used DeFi protocol in 2019/20, with the highest brand awareness.
My favorite Web3 projects: Apart from KyberSwap: Aave, Lido, DeFiLlama
