Introduction

Mantle Network is an Ethereum rollup, aka Ethereum layer-2 or scaling solution. Although its mainnet launch was only in July 2023, Mantle is already the third-biggest DAO based on treasury value, totaling about $3.5bn on April 24^th, 2024. The treasury – as well as other parts of Mantle - is fully governed in decentralized fashion by its members.

If you are interested, keep on reading to learn about the governance processes at Mantle in a digestible way (as always with these case studies).

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Governance Building Blocks

• Discourse Forum: Conducting temperature tests to test the community's willingness to make the proposed changes and facilitating a discussion around the proposal before it is voted on.

• SnapShot: Voting on proposals. Proposals can be created by DAO members who have a voting power of at least 200,000.

• Governance Token: $MNT (previously $BIT) is the governance token that allows the delegation of voting rights.

• Core Contributors: Individuals who not only create and vote on SnapShot proposals, but also do administrative work on behalf of Mantle, such as implementing successful off-chain proposals and managing the treasury.

• Committees: Specialist groups formed by governance decision that advise the core team on technical, economic, legal and administrative matters.

All powers delegated to the Committees and Core ContributorTeams are derived from governance decisions.

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Governance Categories

Mantle defined two categories for governance proposals: strategic and non-strategic. The distinction helps to keep governance relevant. Anything that does not necessarily require a governance decision or is better decided by specific groups does not fall under Mantle’s “public” governance.

Strategic: These are initiatives which are subject to a Mantle Governance Vote. They include:

• Launching new product lines and initiatives.

• Modifications to tokenomics.

• Significant spending items or budget allocations.

• Course-corrective actions.

• Organizational structuring.

• Committee membership and ruleset.

• Select technical architecture choices.

• Modification of Mantle Governance parameters.

Non-strategic: Items which are best delegated to authorized core contributor teams. They include:

• Monthly operating expenses.

• Small grants, and technical architecture choices during early phases of development.

• Cosmetic modifications.

• Critical fixes.

Committees handle technical decisions concerning architecture, economics, security, and risk. Committee members are expected to make decisions in the best interest of Token Holders, regardless of their roles within Core Contributor Teams.

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Governance Process

Temperature Check and Discussion on Discourse:

In the beginning, the proposal author presents his proposal to the Mantle community on the official Discourse forum. Mantle recommends that the discussion period should be open for a minimum of 7 days.

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Voting on SnapShot

The proposal author must have at least 200,000 $MNT voting power or find a delegate that holds this amount to pass the proposal threshold.The voting duration is a minimum of 7 days. The voting threshold (aka “quorum”),meaning the voting power that participated in the voting of this proposal must be at least 200 million $MNT.

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Implementation

Successful proposals will be implemented by relevant core contributors.

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Treasury Governance

Mantle stores its assets in several treasuries in order to spread risk and better track cash flows. In addition, like many other projects, Mantle has set up various "funds" for different purposes:

• Budget: Covering operations.

• Protocol: Collecting fees and paying for gas

• Ecosystem fund: Similar to grant programs

Each "funds" flow can be tracked in the Treasury Monitor. 

All Treasury funds are subject to the decision-making authority of the DAO. Major contributors can request funds through budget proposals and generally propose the use of funds, which must then be successfully voted on by the DAO.  

Conclusion

Mantle's governance is based on only the necessary building blocks: Discourse Forum for community discussions, SnapShot for voting on proposals and the governance token $MNT for delegating voting rights. Core contributors propose and execute governance decisions, specialized committees advise the DAO. This governance structure enables efficient decision-making in strategic and non-strategic categories and ensures alignment with the interests of the community.

In addition, Mantle's governance process emphasizes transparency and inclusivity, with proposals going through thorough discussion and voting phases before being implemented by the relevant core contributors. Financial management is particularly robust, with funds allocated for operations, protocol maintenance and ecosystem development all subject to the decision-making authority of the DAO.

Overall, Mantle Network is an example of the power of decentralized governance in fostering innovation and growth within the Ethereum ecosystem and sets a precedent for effective community-led initiatives in the blockchain space. For those interested in the intricacies of governance processes, Mantle provides a compelling case study worth exploring in more detail.