MSS for Arbitrum - Communication Thread (Arbitrum Multisig Support Service)

DAO Programs & Initiatives Multi-Sig Support Service (MSS) Updates
22

Additional MSS Transactions

MSS Members and r3gen payroll:

Delegate Incentives Program

23

Hi all,

I am stepping down as an MSS chair as part of becoming a member of OAT. I will not be taking any compensation going forward from the MSS program.

I propose that we replace me as a chair with a current non-chair member of the MSS. I suggest that we replace the member who becomes a chair with a trusted member of the Arbitrum community. One objective way to decide who should become a chair and who should join the MSS would be to use the results of the election and choose the next highest vote getters.

In the immediate term, I will continue to contribute to the MSS unpaid to help the program transition to the new chair and member.

Cheers,

Frisson

10 Likes
24

MSS Transactions 12/04

Stylus Sprint

DAO Events Budget

Domain Allocator Offerings Opex

ARDC

25

Updates on MSS

Following discussions with Entropy Advisors and the Arbitrum Foundation, we’re outlining the next steps for the MSS

Chair transition

With @Frisson stepping down as Chair due to his new role as a member of OAT, the MSS chairs and signers agreed to appoint the fourth most voted candidate during the elections as the new Chair - going onwards, @Sinkas will be the third Chair of the MSS. We decided not to appoint a 12th signer, and Frisson will remain an emergency signer with no expectation of being an official member of the MSS.

Proposed MSS Restructure

Then, regarding the funding situation, after discussing this with Entropy and the Foundation, we agreed that the best way forward would be to sunset the MSS and turn over payroll operations to the foundation, where the AF would run this DAO function at their discretion. This isn’t confirmed yet since the AF has to evaluate if they have the operational bandwidth to carry this out, but if this goes through, then the MSS wouldn’t seek any further funding, and its mandate would be considered complete when it runs out of funds. In collaboration with Entropy and the Foundation, we will seek community input on whether or not it makes sense to r3gens shortfall for the remainder of the ~5 months and create a plan of action over the coming weeks, which will be included in the proposal that hits the forum.

Plan B

We’re also prepared for a Plan B in case the Foundation doesn’t give us the green light, where we would introduce significant changes to the current structure and operations of the current MSS, including but not limited to reducing the number of signers, potentially including seats for members of the AF, rescoping Chair role + responsibilities, etc.

5 Likes
26

MSS Update

Since the last update on 12th of April, the MSS has executed the following transactions:

Stylus Sprint

175,000 ARB to Sylow for the completion of their first milestone (tx link)
13,000 ARB to CoBuilders for the completion of their first milestone (tx link)
1 ARB as a test transaction to Walnut (tx link)
56,999 ARB to Walnut for the completion of their first milestone (tx link)

ADPC II

33,000 USDC from the remaining opex budget returned to the DAO treasury since the ADPC’s term ended. (tx link)

Delegate Incentive Program

273,500 ARB to 27 delegates for their March rewards (tx link)
67,982.47 ARB for SEEDGov’s and Karma’s compensation (tx link)
8000 ARB to chamadao for their March rewards (tx link)

The payment to chamadao was executed separately due to the MSS waiting for them to finish compliance.

ARDC V2

14,290.82 ARB clawed back from Tamara’s stream after she stepped down from the ARDC’s Supervisory Council. (tx link)

Hackathon Continuation

11,999.70 USDC paid to the builders who completed month 1 of phase 1 of the program. (tx link)

3 Likes
27

MSS Update

Since the last update on 1st of May, the MSS has executed the following transactions:

MSS Payroll

9,674.56 ARB to Regen for Token Flow Reporting (tx link)
58,997.04 ARB for MSS Signers + Chairs (Sinkas didn’t have his Chair agreement yet so he was paid as a signer) (tx link)
2,427.77 ARB for Sinkas (This was once he signed his Chair agreement with compliance) (tx link)

Stylus Sprint

15,000 ARB to Remix IDE for the completion of their first milestone (tx link)
48,168 ARB to Stylus Saturdays for the completion of their first milestone (tx link)

ARDC

Tx cancelling JuanRah’s ongoing stream to begin an updated one (tx link)
Tx with JuanRah’s new stream to reflect 8750/mo from 1/5-12/7 (tx link)
31,150 USDC to DefiLlama and Castle Labs for their invoice (tx link)
3,930 USDC to Nethermind for their latest invoice (tx link)

Apart from this, @AlexLumley had to step down from his role as a chair due to personal reasons, and is now acting as an emergency signer. So, currently the MSS has 2 chairs and 8 signers.

3 Likes
28

State of the MSS

The MSS started operating in early September for a year-long term, and the first payment to the signers and chairs was made on October 2nd. The roster initially consisted of 3 chairs and nine signers.

Right now, the MSS is operating with two chairs after Alex Lumley stepped down and eight signers after Frisson was elected in the OAT. Both members are still on the roster in an emergency signer role but are not receiving compensation. The expected end of the term is at the end of August 2025.

Regarding budget, the payroll safe of the MSS right now has 131,209.21 ARB, which translates to roughly $51,000, with ARB’s price at $0.3890. That amount theoretically needs to cover the compensation of the MSS roster, and Regen’s expenses for the financial report they put together every month.

The expenses are as follows:

  • 2 Chairs at $2,500/mo = $5,000
  • 8 Signers at $1,500/mo = $12,000
  • Regen’s Invoice at $6,650/mo for two more months = $6,650

for a total of $23,650/mo

With four months of the term yet to be paid and two months of Regen’s report, the budget to cover payroll is effectively short by ~$34,000 (assuming an ARB price of $0.3890), so the MSS can only continue operations until the end of June.

Possible Ways Forward

The MSS, together with Entropy and the Arbitrum Foundation, have been exploring different paths forward for the MSS, given the shortfall mentioned above. Below you can find a summary of the discussed options:

  1. Budget top-up

A seemingly straightforward solution would be to request a balance top-up from the DAO and continue the operations normally. However, with the remainder of the MSS term being short relative to the time required to go through the governance process to request funds, it would only postpone the need for a more holistic path forward.

  1. Early renewal of the MSS

Another option would be to cut the current cohort’s term short and renew the MSS with fresh elections and a new budget. This would also allow for any necessary adjustments or amendments to the original proposal.

  1. Wind down the MSS and pass the function over to the Arbitrum Foundation

The last option discussed was passing over the function of the MSS (controlling of DAO funds and executing payments when needed) to the Arbitrum Foundation once the current budget runs out. A hybrid approach where AF acts as a chair but the MSS, as we know it, continues to exist was also discussed, but the Foundation deems it too risky from an opsec perspective.

  1. OpCo to replace MSS

Although not fully discussed as OpCo isn’t fully operational yet, the idea of OpCo taking over the MSS was also raised.

DAO-wide Discussion

Whatever has been discussed internally and anything that is to be proposed would have to be voted on by the DAO anyway. As such, it makes sense to start having a more public discussion regarding the future of the MSS.

10 Likes
29

As one of the DAO-elected signers on the MSS, we want to share our perspective on where things stand and how we believe the DAO should approach next steps.

Importantly, this is not a binary decision. Two principles should guide us:

  1. The DAO has multiple viable options.
  2. The DAO owns the MSS initiative—it is funded by DAO treasury resources and operated by DAO-elected signers.

As Sinkas noted, any future direction for the MSS must ultimately be approved by the DAO through a formal vote. While we appreciate Entropy’s role in helping stand up the MSS, it’s important to clarify that the initiative has operated independently since inception—run by elected signers and chairs, with the Foundation assisting with KYC and ARB to stablecoin conversion.

One path under consideration is winding down the MSS and transferring its responsibilities to the Foundation. However, an equally viable—and arguably more consistent—option is to top up the MSS to allow it to complete the remaining four months of its current term. This would provide the necessary runway for the MSS team to propose a longer-term solution that includes new elections, an updated budget, and clearly defined performance expectations for signers.

Past concerns about payment delays are valid. From our perspective, much of the early friction was driven by a small number of underperforming signers who delayed transaction approvals—an issue compounded by discrepancies between the chair mandates outlined in the original proposal and how roles were executed in practice. These challenges have already prompted internal adjustments and serve as a valuable foundation for improving the MSS structure moving forward.

As execution responsibilities increasingly shift toward Arbitrum-Aligned Entities (AAEs), some may view transferring the MSS to the Foundation as a logical next step. But doing so would shift a core function of decentralized treasury management into more centralized hands. That raises important questions about the DAO’s long-term governance trajectory.

The MSS represents one of the few active initiatives through which the DAO exercises direct control over treasury operations. While not perfect, it reflects the DAO’s capacity to self-govern and execute. That autonomy is worth preserving and improving rather than handing off prematurely.

Winding down the MSS early in the name of operational efficiency may seem pragmatic. But decentralization often demands tradeoffs. Not every initiative should be judged strictly by cost or convenience. Some functions, like decentralized execution, are worth investing in even when they’re harder to manage.

3 Likes
30

MSS Update

With the proposal to wind down the MSS successfully passing Snapshot, the MSS is coordinating with the Arbitrum Foundation to transfer control of the funds for each initiative smoothly. Once the Foundation is ready to receive funds, they’ll share the list of addresses in the forum for confirmation, and then the MSS will begin transferring the balances. The target date for that transition is June 15th.

In the meantime, here’s a quick update with all the transactions the MSS has executed since the last update on May 20th.

MSS Payroll

49,751.24 ARB to MSS members for May | $2,500 each for Sinkas and Cattin, and $1,500 each for Atomist, Cole, Disruption Joe, Griff Green, Jojo, JuanBug, Matthew Stein, and Ultra. (tx link)

19,059.90 ARB to Regen Financial for May (tx link)

24,788.56 ARB to MSS members for half of June | $1,250 each for Sinkas and Cattin, and $750 each for Atomist, Cole, Disruption Joe, Griff Green, Jojo, JuanBug, Matthew Stein, and Ultra. (tx link)

19,394.40 ARB to Regen Financial for June (tx link)

:red_exclamation_mark:The MSS decided to pay its responsibilities until the middle of June ahead of time to avoid facing a shortfall of funds due to a potential decrease in ARB’s price.

Stylus Sprint

26,000 ARB for CoBuilder’s second milestone (tx link)

25,500 ARB for Stylus Fuzz’s first milestone (tx link)

51,000 ARB for Stylus Fuzz’s second milestone (tx link)

1 ARB for a test transaction to Syndicate (tx link)

44,000 ARB for Walnut’s second milestone (tx link)

70,000 ARB for Moving Stylus’s second milestone (tx link)

20,000 ARB for the Stylus Committee members | 5,000 each for SEED, Michael Lewellen, Gustavo Gonzalez and Jojo (tx link)

12,000 ARB for Stylus SDK’s second milestone (tx link)

360,000 ARB for Thirdweb’s second milestone (tx link)

Delegate Incentive Program

40,910.25 & 18,537.46 for May’s service payment to SEED and Karma, respectively (tx link)

23,565.84 ARB for Camelot’s retroactive DIP from February and March (tx link - same as above, as it was a batched tx)

288,134 ARB for DIP Payments in April (tx link)

Hackathon Continuation Program

4,000 USDC for each of Welivedit.ai & Contribo for their second month (tx link)

4,000 USDC to Fair.ai for their second month (tx link)

Event Horizon

6,900,000 ARB returned to the DAO’s treasury (tx link)

As the MSS is winding down, we’ll also work on a post-mortem report to share all the learnings we’ve gathered over the past few months.

1 Like