Application Form
Full Name: Zeptimus
Applicant / Nominee Information
Contact Information: X/TG @zeptimusq
Current Occupation: DAO Advocate at Giveth
Country of Residence / Time Zone: Spain, CET
Applicant / Nominee Qualifications and Experience
Identify one of the domains described within the Desired Qualifications section in the OpCo - Oversight and Transparency Committee (OAT) Application Process Overview forum post in which you have the most experience and describe that experience:
Corporate Finance & Risk Management. I studied economics and started my career in banking, working in operations and accountability. That’s where I learned to read a budget, understand what it commits you to, and how to keep track of it. I’m a firm believer in keeping incentives aligned with the token so everyone has skin in the game, and I don’t approve spending you can’t tie to an outcome. If a budget comes in vague, or the targets are soft, or it’s not well aligned with the bigger picture, that’s the moment a finance person is supposed to slow things down, support and coordinate the team, align the different stakeholders, and keep them accountable to the plan. That’s the role I’d like to play.
I’ve spent over 10 years in crypto. I was close to the community back in my university days, but I got really active in the last 6 years, working full time in crypto after landing at the Token Engineering Commons. There I served as Transparency Steward, helping the working groups stay accountable to the DAO. During that time I got so hooked on governance that I now enjoy it daily across multiple DAOs. My current role is DAO Advocate at Giveth, working closely with Griff Green.
I’ve also worked in product, leading Pairwise, a voting tool that turns a long list of proposals or projects into 1v1 choices. Leading it taught me the product side, but even more the business development and strategy behind it, figuring out who the tool was really for and getting it in front of the right DAOs.
Though I expect to serve mostly on the corporate finance and risk side, I don’t see myself as a single-lane committee member. I lean hard on AI agents to handle the heavy lifting, which frees me up to actually be useful to the people around me. So if another OAT member or a working group needs a hand outside my lane, I want to be the one who shows up with it, and my AI work lets me do that across different fronts. I was already doing this before AI, back at the TEC, which helps me a lot with oversight in general. I’d rather make the team win than guard my corner.
Describe your network and reputation within the blockchain/technology industry. Have you previously represented a crypto brand and/or navigated DAO governance:
I’ve been around crypto for a while now, and most of my real network grew out of DAOs and the people I’ve met at conferences along the way. It’s deepest in governance and public goods, and lately in security too. Like most people who go to conferences, you end up hanging out with all kinds of different groups. Most of my career reputation relevant to this role comes from my work at the Token Engineering Commons, General Magic and Giveth. I also work closely with Griff, who will support me in this role if needed.
I work as a DAO Advocate at Giveth and take part in multiple DAOs, so I have extensive experience navigating DAO governance.
Detail your experience in advisory, governance, and/or oversight roles:
I was working on transparency for DAOs before it was really a thing, back at the Token Engineering Commons in 2020. I was a steward there, and on top of that I was entrusted with building the systems to monitor the other stewards and keep everyone accountable to the DAO. So my actual job was making sure what people said they’d do matched what they did, and that the money and the decisions stayed out in the open where members could see them.
The OAT role is almost the same, just at a bigger scale. Keeping the AAEs accountable to each other, while also making it easier for everyone to understand one another and the broader goal.
My DAO Advocate role at Giveth has me spending time in a lot of DAOs, and the interesting part is seeing what they have in common and where they differ. The same governance problems show up everywhere, just dressed up differently, and after a while you can tell what actually works from what only looks good on a forum. It also means that when I’m thinking through a governance question, it’s easy for me to reach the right person, bounce the idea around, and get honest feedback before it turns into something. That cross-DAO view can be very valuable for an oversight seat.
Have you previously contributed to the Arbitrum DAO? Describe any relevant experiences through which you’ve gained an understanding of the DAO’s current structure, contributors, and programs:
Yes, as a very active delegate. I attend nearly every call and stay informed on the forum. All my stances on different topics can be seen here.
Given the scope of OpCo is relatively broad in its current form, describe how you view OpCo’s role within the DAO and what it should accomplish to deem the entity a success over the next 3-5 years:
OpCo succeeds if it can give the DAO direction and actually make use of the human capital around it. A DAO has far more talent floating around it than any company could ever hire, but most of it goes to waste because there’s no coordination. That’s the gap OpCo should fill.
Success to me looks like Opco facilitating so the right decentralized contributions get incentivized. The impactful work moves fast without burocracy, but Opco makes sure that impact actually sums up over time instead of drying up. Its not about doing more, its about the contributions compounding toward the mission.
The thing with DAOs is that when everyone is responsible, no one is. So OpCo should own the set of rules that make the DAO succeed in the short term: carry the intention behind the SOS, set a clear way to engage after that, bring talent in and point it at the mission. And the whole time it stays accountable to ARB holders, the people it answers to.
Additional Information (Only complete if relevant)
Please share any other relevant information that supports the applicant/nominee:
I’ll be the one holding the seat and accountable for it. But I’d bring Griff in spirit too. We spend a lot of time together, working out 4x a week or and on daily 1-1 calls where we cowork on DAO Governance and Giveth related work. The DAO gets me and Griff’s free advisory services
Griff is also willing to sign an NDA if permitted by the rules. If that is not possible, he will be unable to provide advice on matters of which he is unaware.
References (Only complete if relevant)
Griff can attest for me (@GriffGreen TG/X)
Disclosures
Please disclose all of the applicant’s/nominee’s actual and potential conflicts of interest, including but not limited to financial, personal, DAO governance, and professional:
I’m hands-on with Griff across most of his ecosystem, including Giveth and TheDAO.
Please disclose all active contributor roles and payment streams related to the Arbitrum DAO that the applicant/nominee, and entities that they have a professional or financial relationship with, have and is receiving:
Applied and actively contributing to RAD
Declarations
The applicant/nominee understands that any offer to join and hold a position in the OAT is contingent on:
Successfully completing as well as maintaining updated all relevant non-disclosure agreements, KYC requirements, and other necessary documents
Not being a direct representative or full-time employee at network competitors (e.g., Solana, Polygon, Optimism, etc)
An individual will be entitled to run as a candidate for the election. No single organisation should be overly represented in the OAT. There should be no more than 1 candidate associated with a single entity.
If a candidate is elected on behalf of an organisation, then the OAT membership is tied to them and cannot be rotated to someone else in the organisation. It will be up to the current OAT to enforce the above policy, and if a candidate is excluded from the election, then the rationale must be publicly disclosed to the ArbitrumDAO
Being aligned with the community values listed in The Amended Constitution of the Arbitrum DAO, following the Code of Conduct for delegates, being committed to prioritizing the Arbitrum DAO’s needs, and acting in absolute good faith and utmost honesty to fulfill their duties to the best of their abilities.
If nominating someone else, the nominator confirms that the nominee is aware of their nomination and the essential details related to it
The applicant/nominator confirms that they have read and understood all the content within this form and that the information submitted is accurate and complete: Yes/No
EDIT: I was hacking on recently while playing with Fable: a dashboard that maps the whole Arbitrum ecosystem. Who does what, budgets, etc. The video is a 3 min walkthrough.
this is exactly the type of work I’d love to keep doing for the DAO. Any support or feedback would be greatly appreciated.
