Introduction

Governance marches on! Welcome to another edition of Polkadot Referendum Roundup - your inside guide to the ever-evolving world of Polkadot OpenGov.

This week saw healthy debate on treasury usage principles, major funding approvals, and discourse on balancing voting models. We'll break it all down in digestible bites, plus share ways the community is putting governance into action.

Grab your cup of coffee and let's dive in! This issue features insights on principled treasury stewardship, an epic AAG spotlight, and how we can build bridges between differing viewpoints. Thanks for joining us on the journey to make sense of on-chain decision-making, one proposal at a time.

Treasury Update

The current treasury balance of 45.07M DOT represents an increase of approximately 0.94% from last week's balance of 44.65M DOT.​

Executed Medium Spender proposals

• Referenda #185: Polkadot Hackathon 2023 Winter in HongKong | 90,540 DOT | Executed on 28th Oct '23.

• Referenda #181: Polkawatch, Decentralization Analytics, Continued Operation and Development | 12,115 DOT | Executed on 24th Oct '23.

• Referenda #178: Dot Leap 2: Let's grow! | 37,851 DOT | Executed on 27th Oct '23.

• Referenda #172: OpenSquare infrastructure products maintenance(2023 Q2 and Q3) and a new batch of features development | 67,438 DOT | Executed on 25th Oct '23.

• Referenda #165: Polkadot Nominator Insight Hub. Spreading the Best Nominator Strategies through TOP Nomination Leaderboards | 32,480 DOT | Executed on 23rd Oct '23.

• Referenda #163: Polkadot Parachain Assets Onramp Bounty Program | Executed on 28th Oct '23.

Executed Big Spender proposals

• Referenda #179: Polkadot Blockchain Academy - retroactive funding for wave 3 of the Academy held at UC Berkeley this Summer | 255.84K DOT | Executed on 27th Oct '23.

Rejected Proposals

• Out of Medium and Big spender proposals, there are currently no rejected proposals this week.

Current Proposals

Medium Spender Queue

• Referenda #219: BlockchainBrad Educational & Journalist Content - 6 Months funding | 14,165 DOT | Submitted 3 days ago.

• Referenda #216: Milestone 3 Proposal: Polkadot x EasyA Hackathons at Harvard and in London (#60DaysOfPolkadot) | 54.75K DOT | Submitted 1 day 5 hours ago.

• Referenda #215: Smoldot development financing Q4/2023 | 18.98K DOT | Submitted 4 days ago.

• Referenda #213: KryptosChain Media (The Next Level!) - 6 Months of funding | 22,687 DOT | Submitted 14 hours 20 minutes ago.

• Referenda #209: [Retroactive Funding] Dotinsights - A Research Hub & Data Platform for Polkadot & Kusama Ecosystem | 42,650 DOT | Submitted 7 days ago.

• Referenda #207: Go-Substrate-Rpc-Client - Retroactive Maintenance Grant (Sept 2021 to Dec 2023) | 24,474 DOT | Submitted 5 days ago.

• Referenda #202: Proposal: The operating cost for the research organization Polkadot Ecology Research Institute for 2023/10-2024/3 | 28,010 DOT | Submitted 10 days ago.

• Referenda #200: Polkadot Relayers 2023 Milestone 2 | 26.28K DOT | Submitted 11 days ago.

• Referenda #188: ELLIPAL Self-custody Cold Wallet 1 Proposal: DOT/KSM Tokens, Staking,ASTR & GLMR Parachains&Tokens,DOT/KSM/ ASTR/GLMR Swap,WalletConnect v2,Polkadot Wallet Integration | 33,943 DOT | Submitted 18 days ago.

• Referenda #187: Encode latest tranche request | 12.09K DOT | Submitted 16 days ago.

• Referenda #183: Polkassembly Social Contract | Maintenance proposal Q3 & Q4’23 | 43,154 DOT | Submitted 21 days ago.

• Referenda #180: Beyond Raw Data: How Polkascan Transforms Subsquid Aggregates into a User-Friendly Polkadot Experience (Polkadot Treasury Proposal) | 16,955 DOT | Submitted 23 days ago.

Big Spender Queue

• Referenda #205: Treasury Proposal: Parachain Loan Financing (PLF) Kapex Parachain | 592.57K DOT | Submitted 9 days ago.

• Referenda #201: KAGOME – the C++ implementation of Polkadot Host milestone 2 | 168.43K DOT | Submitted 11 days ago.

• Referenda #192: Removed | 425.66K DOT | Submitted 17 days ago.

AAG Spotlight

• Phunky and Leemo Interaction Phunky offers a tip to Leemo with heart and on time. The discussion around this is quite interesting and will be explored further in the Governance in Action section.

• Treasury as Venture Capital? @cjdcosta shares thoughts on whether the treasury should act as venture capital, particularly in the context of the Parachain Loan Financing of Kapex parachain.

• Polkadot App Store Insights @0xtherealbatman provides insights on the concept of a Polkadot App Store, emphasizing its potential as a key ecosystem application.

• The Return of BlockchainBrad @Brad_Laurie, also known as BlockchainBrad, announces his return as an original investigative reporter in the Polkadot ecosystem. His commitment to unbiased edu-media representation might be a valuable asset to the community.

Governance in Action

• A recent tweet reflected mixed opinions on a proposal by Phunky to reward contributor Leemo with a treasury tip, sparking debate on OpenGov. While some cautioned that judicious treasury usage will be important as Polkadot grows, critics saw it as an abuse, arguing contributors already receive compensation. Supporters cited Leemo's dedication and felt a tip validly recognized this.
  
  The diversity of responses on Phunky's specific proposal signals deeper community tensions around treasury incentives, establishing tip principles, and factionalism concerns. It underscores the complexity of balancing interests under on-chain governance, though the discourse helps advance understanding of issues needing resolution as Polkadot's governance model matures.

  Check out the full conversation

• A recent tweet thread by us recapped a Polkadot forum debate started by @brenzi5 examining token weighted versus quadratic voting models. It summarized arguments that OpenGov concentrates power and quadratic voting could rebalance this if made sybil-resistant. @shawntabrizi countered that weighted voting incentivizes beneficial decisions but alternate systems may suit other contexts.
  
  Both agreed sybil-resistance is critical for secure new models. The tweets sparked further discourse on balancing governance approaches and the conditions needed to progress beyond the status quo. This example shows how platforms like Twitter enable productive analysis sharing when leveraged constructively. Full thread 

Closing Thoughts

This week underscored how on-chain governance involves complex tradeoffs, but an open exchange of views moves us forward.

Even when reasonable people disagree, by bridging divides and finding common ground, we can advance Polkadot collectively.

Though debates get heated at times, most are arguing in good faith for what they believe serves the ecosystem best.

As governance participation grows, it's crucial we create spaces for empathetic listening and understanding. The wisdom of crowds depends on it.

Until next week - remember governance is a marathon, not a sprint. Progress happens step-by-step. Onwards!

Would you like to go deeper into Polkadot beyond just OpenGov? Check out We3kly Web3 R3cap to stay up to date on all things Polkadot.