Unifying Arbitrum’s Mission, Vision, Purpose (MVP)

Proposals
1

Unifying Arbitrum’s Mission, Vision, Purpose (MVP)

Non-Constitutional

Abstract

Following extensive conversations with stakeholders and active delegates, and feedback on our initial mission/vision/goals proposal, Entropy Advisors has decided to modify our approach for aligning the Arbitrum DAO on its end state goals and the more granular strategy through which these will be reached. This approach can be distilled into three separate phases:

  1. Achieving wide-reaching agreement on why the Arbitrum DAO exists and what it is trying to accomplish. In other words, what is the DAO’s mission, vision, and purpose for Arbitrum. The MVP is purposefully simple and unambiguous such that it is absolutely clear what the DAO is ultimately working towards, with additional complexity only introduced when strategic goals to reach the end state are created. Without an agreed upon north star, it is impossible to evaluate how one-off strategies and initiatives assist the DAO to reach its goals, simply because there is currently a wide set of different opinions on what the DAO is striving to achieve. Additionally, most—if not all—initiatives and strategies are evaluated in isolation without considering how they play into wider frameworks. While the MVP might feel too abstract, its purpose is to enable more complexity to be stacked on top of it through iterative efforts.

  2. Once the DAO’s end state goals have been solidified, anyone will have the opportunity to propose a strategy matrix made up of 12- and 24-month focus areas for the DAO through an open process named Strategic Objective Setting (SOS). These areas should have well-established guidelines for tangible implementation and what they aim to accomplish, as well as only have one purpose—optimally moving the DAO towards its end state. This is the step that will allow the DAO to refocus its attention on the most critical deliverables and judge how one-off initiatives fit into its short- to medium-term priorities. Entropy Advisors is working on the SOS proposal in tandem with the MVP, and it will be posted as a subsequent separate proposal with the DAO choosing one matrix of strategies as the winner.

  3. Combined with financial forecasting, the SOS will enable the DAO to budget itself for the next 12/24 months by earmarking capital to each strategic focus area ratified in step 2. Arguably, the most important aspect of this step is for the DAO to align on how profitable/loss-making it wants to be during the coming year(s). Lastly, with clearly defined strategic focus areas, it should also become simpler for the DAO to begin marketing its efforts since, e.g., a clear identity, as well as narratives, can be built around each of the DAO’s focus areas.

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When it comes to this proposal, we’ve strived to distill numerous key stakeholders’ and delegates’ thoughts and ideas into a cohesive mission, vision, and purpose for the Arbitrum DAO, presented below. It’ll naturally be impossible to align all DAO participants on the DAO’s end state goals because of the ecosystem’s diversity. However, for this exercise to be successful, the passed Mission, Vision, and Purpose must have buy-in from a clear majority of the DAO and cannot be unilaterally pushed forward.

After looking into other ecosystems, we concluded that Lido currently has the best-suited mechanism to strategically define objectives in a decentralized and efficient manner, which is why we are striving to implement a program for Arbitrum that takes influence from Lido. We thank Lido DAO contributors who set a great example of how decentralized governance should go about this exercise.

Call to Action

The Arbitrum DAO’s Guiding Principles are as Follows:

Purpose (Meaning): Scale Ethereum without compromise.

Mission (Action): Empower people with the freedom to build their best onchain world.

Vision (Aspiration): Arbitrum is home to the universal shift onchain.

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Motivation + Rationale

The current lack of defined mission, vision, purpose, and strategic objectives today has created a notable, twofold inefficiency in the DAO:

  1. Each organization operating in the DAO must extrapolate for itself what it should work towards that contributes the most value to Arbitrum. Questions arise such as:
  • Should my organization work toward enabling operational sustainability and painting a picture of ARB as a productive asset?
  • Growth of the technology stack:
    i. Orbit?
    ii. Stylus?
    iii. Arbitrum One?
  • What role should public goods have within Arbitrum?

With a lack of clear strategic focus areas, being an effective DAO operator becomes difficult. Redundant and conflicting work turn into a reality due to a lack of alignment and organizational structure.

  1. The absence of concrete goals has made it challenging for the DAO to judge the effectiveness of initiatives. A system has been created where all the DAO can effectively do is judge “Did this organization work hard” but lacks the ability to judge “Did this organization do a good job moving Arbitrum forward towards its end state goals.”

Additionally, a clear vision is required for the DAO to pursue its own brand and marketing strategies. It is time to align on this vision. If Arbitrum DAO executes its mission successfully, what does Arbitrum’s place in the world look like? What are the ecosystem and its numerous contributors (the DAO and its programs, the Foundation, and development teams) working towards? What sets Arbitrum apart from competitors?

The goal of the MVP proposal is to align the DAO on the highest level of purpose, enabling the subsequent SOS to build on top of it and function as a framework through which delegates and key stakeholders can propose and choose a set of concrete short- and mid-term goals for Arbitrum DAO. This approach helps ease Entropy’s concerns with our initial approach, where the proposal promised everything under the sun as it continually expanded with more (and sometimes conflicting) opinions into the mix. Additionally, we believe our original desire to set out on a 5-year plan left too much room for ambiguity without tangible steps to be taken.

Thus, the scope has been reduced. Even within the objectively high-level MVP proposal herein, there are still likely to be areas of contention, such as whether Arbitrum should align with Ethereum so closely, whether the DAO should put a greater emphasis on its flagship Arbitrum One product, and whether the delegates will actually feel empowered to use the MVP as a driving force for their actions.

The MVP will be the foundation for most actions taken by the Arbitrum DAO going forward, especially when it comes to short- to medium-term strategy setting and budgeting. It is a document that will help drive the DAO, protocol, token, and ecosystem into the foreseeable future and directly inform decisions surrounding new proposals and initiatives.

Diving In

Purpose (Meaning): Scale Ethereum without compromise.

Driving Question: Why does Arbitrum DAO exist?

  • Why is Arbitrum DAO building all of the products with the design decisions it is?

Answer: Arbitrum DAO’s purpose is to Scale Ethereum without compromise.

According to the blockchain trilemma, to scale and accommodate more throughput and users, Ethereum requires trade-offs in terms of either security or decentralization. Making concessions to decentralization or security is not an option for Ethereum mainnet, leading to a chain that even with today’s limited number of onchain participants becomes prohibitively expensive for most users. Arbitrum’s purpose, true to Vitalik’s rollup-centric roadmap, is to scale Ethereum. Arbitrum is the core technology that allows Ethereum to scale to more users and throughput. Though the purpose is tightly aligned with Ethereum, that does not mean the DAO should exclude the Arbitrum scaling tech from moving into other ecosystems that face similar challenges.

“Without compromise” is arguably the most crucial component of the DAO’s purpose. Arbitrum is not just scaling Ethereum, it’s doing so without concessions to censorship resistance, accessibility, decentralization, or security. Unlike competitors, Arbitrum does not ship technology that concedes on these points. Arbitrum scales Ethereum, but does not compromise on the benefits that come with Ethereum such as no single point of control, the elimination of intermediaries, and most importantly, users’ maintaining control of their assets without trusting an entity.

Mission (Action): Empower people with the freedom to build their best onchain world.

Driving Question: What is Arbitrum DAO doing to achieve its purpose?

  • What activities is it executing in practice that lead to its reason for existence being achieved?

Answer: Arbitrum DAO’s mission is to Empower people with the freedom to build their best onchain world.

Arbitrum DAO’s mission is to empower people with the sovereignty to build what they want, code in their preferred language, execute without barriers, and create without needing permission—embracing true onchain freedom. However, building one’s best onchain world does not just apply to developers, but equally to users, creators, and DAO contributors.

Arbitrum gives builders the freedom to develop on their own terms. “Your chain, Your rules.” This includes, among other things, allowing for self-governed rollups (not forcing ARB into the design) and supporting multiple languages. Arbitrum stands out in being the best and most robust scaling tech, but also in forward-thinking design decisions that enable it to be the primary home for builders by giving freedom and flexibility to its development community.

The most important aspect of enabling the best onchain world is achieved through Arbitrum continuing to build a full-featured tech stack that includes battle-tested permissionless proving, forced inclusion, custom gas tokens, multi-language support, interoperability, MEV solutions, and much more. True to its purpose, the best onchain world with Arbitrum has security at its core.

Empowering rollup and application developers to leverage the best-in-class technology stack without restrictions will establish network effects and, importantly, a unified narrative that ties together the rest of the ecosystem, creating an environment that attracts new builders across a wide set of verticals to Arbitrum. This in turn enables Arbitrum to be the primary destination for compelling blockspace, defined as a blockchain’s ability to attract users through the utility it provides. For a rollup to be compelling, it must have sought-after blockspace, which can only be achieved in one way: Attracting great apps. We don’t just aim to create blockspace that maintains Ethereum’s core values, we aim to create blockspace that people want to use. Attracting builders is one of the most crucial pieces to Arbitrum’s mission. While crypto has many amazing apps, compelling blockspace is the key that will enable crypto to break into magnitudes more users in the future. Today, Arbitrum One is the most compelling rollup in crypto and the DAO’s flagship product, and that is an achievement we must continue to support at all costs. That said we must not lose sight that on a long time horizon, the ecosystem will also expand through complimentary Orbit chains.

When it comes to end-users, creators, and DAO contributors, Arbitrum DAO’s mission to empower people with freedom can be quantified in two notable ways:

  1. Being part of a wider, resonating collective movement generates a certain degree of loyalty, excitement, and alignment that is difficult to quantify, yet crucial in driving long-term, sustained engagement and new contributions.
  2. Freedom is attributed to the ability to pick and choose from a wide selection of applications and infrastructure-level solutions, creating a package of services tailored to specific requirements. Arbitrum offers flexibility to meet diverse priorities and utility functions—whether users value security, privacy, low costs, etc, the ecosystem adapts to support them all. Arbitrum is building to be the one-stop shop where end users, creators, and DAO contributors are equipped to effortlessly perform anything that’s achievable on a blockchain without constraints.

In order to reach the aforementioned goals, it is of the utmost importance that Arbitrum DAO is a sustainable organization with revenue. Without sustainability, it will be impossible for the DAO to continue supporting the building out of the best scaling tech, pushing forward an ecosystem attracting the best builders, and providing end users, creators, and DAO contributors with an empowering, collaborative, and personalized environment. A pivotal piece of Arbitrum DAO’s mission is ensuring that all highly adopted Arbitrum-based rollups and apps create revenue for the Arbitrum DAO, maintaining alignment between the ecosystem and token.

Vision (Aspiration): Arbitrum is home to the universal shift onchain.

Driving Question: What is the end state goal for Arbitrum that the DAO is striving to achieve?

  • Where is Arbitrum’s place in the world after the DAO achieves all it has set out to do?

Answer: Arbitrum is home to the universal shift onchain.

With the most full-featured tech stack and compelling (sought-after) blockspace in crypto on Arbitrum stack rollups, users and builders from all walks of life and verticals will have flocked into the Arbitrum ecosystem. New users’ first onboarding experience in crypto will be through an Arbitrum rollup, while the default choice for developers will be to deploy on an Arbitrum technology stack-enabled chain. In a world where financial transactions happen onchain, the majority will take place on Arbitrum blockspace.

Arbitrum DAO will function as a resilient flywheel. The best tech stack together with robust ecosystem support will increasingly attract builders and notable enterprises who create and enable applications that onboard more users into the ecosystem. Profits accruing to the DAO from users leveraging Arbitrum’s blockspace will bolster network security and also be reinvested in a sustainable and diversified manner. Sequencing and licensing fees will be reinforced by acquiring ownership interests that help expand the ecosystem (intangible) and enable value accrual (tangible). The DAO will function with some similarities to a conglomerate, leveraging investments to create an even more robust application and infrastructure layer, directly strengthening its core product, which again will produce increasing returns that can be used to strengthen network security through the ARB and to support new growth.

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Concluding Thoughts

It took multiple months of conversations with stakeholders to really get a sense of Arbitrum DAO’s future but Entropy Advisors is very happy with the potential for this new process. While much of this proposal is not directly actionable, we believe that it is the necessary first step in moving forward with Arbitrum DAO’s future strategic plans. We look forward to making final modifications to the MVP based on the DAO’s feedback. It is worth noting that it is not possible for the MVP to serve everyone’s desires because it would end up with contradictions, but it’s important that it is a document that the DAO can get behind and feel empowered to use.

The subsequent SOS (Strategic Objective Setting) proposal will be the next step in this exercise, in which anyone will be able to create 12- and 24-month actionable strategic goals for the DAO. The SOS will be posted shortly after the MVP. If approved, it will include a 14-day notice period and 30-day submission window, in which any contributor can submit a strategy matrix of concrete strategic objectives aligned with the MVP. These workstreams could then be budgeted, creating a new paradigm for operational structure in the DAO.

Expected Timeline

  1. ~7 days: MVP forum period requesting comments and time to edit the proposal with delegate/broader community suggestions. Will be extended if necessary.
  2. 7 days: Snapshot to signal approval/disapproval/abstention of MVP (simple majority with at least 3% of all votable tokens voting either “For” or “Abstain”).
  3. SOS posted
  4. Entropy Advisors plans to take the MVP to a constitutional vote, adding it as language to the constitution, after a 6-month trial period. During the initial 6 months, changes can be made to the MVP via a proposal+Snapshot vote, but after being included in the constitution, would require a constitutional onchain amendment. It is our belief that the current MVP is broad enough to handle substantial changes in the crypto market.

A huge thank you to @castlecapital and @maxlomu and other contributors for dedicating considerable time and effort to provide us with valuable feedback on this exercise.

13 Likes
2

Thank you for this proposal. Aligning Arbitrum’s mission, vision, and purpose (MVP) is indeed crucial, and this is a highly forward-thinking and comprehensive approach.

The term ‘uncompromising’ is used several times, but achieving complete ‘uncompromising’ may be an unrealistic ideal. The blockchain trilemma (security, decentralization, scalability) is an unavoidable reality—everyone aims to balance all three, but in practice, trade-offs are often necessary due to technical and practical limitations. Therefore, I am concerned that using ‘uncompromising’ as a guiding principle might set an expectation that can’t be met.

3 Likes
3

I am incredibly happy that DAO will have a goal. I have also asked myself many times what the goal of each specific proposal is and what it will give to the Arbitrum community.

You say at the beginning that these are general formulations for now, but I have questions about all three MVP:

  1. Purpose. If we approach it formally, this is the goal of any rollup. I have no complaints about the goal itself - it is important, but within the framework of a bunch of other rollups, I would like to see a clearer goal for Arbitrum. Otherwise, it looks like let’s help other Rollups (not related to Arbitrum), because this is in line with the goal.

  2. Mission. An excellent explanation, with which I fully agree. But there is a lack of mention of the Embracing Chain Abstraction Package: Proposal walk-through, Q&A proposal. This proposal most closely matches this mission.

  3. Vision. Also a necessary and correct vision, but not tied to Arbitrum in any way. Any promotion of other rollups or even non-Ethereum chains would be in line with the vision. Let’s add Arbitrum to that vision.

Other than that, this is a great proposal and I’m glad it came out, better late than never.

4

First off, I appreciate the effort put into this proposal by Entropy Advisors and the time spent gathering input from various stakeholders. Aligning on a clear Mission, Vision, and Purpose (MVP) is crucial for the DAO’s long-term strategy and success, so it’s good to see this kind of initiative.

Overall, I’m in favor of simplifying our north star and ensuring that the entire DAO understands where we’re headed, I only have one question regarding the mid/long term dynamics of the MVP. While I agree with starting simple and building on top, I’d like to see more clarity on how future strategies and adjustments will remain agile. Once we approve this MVP, how flexible will the DAO be in revisiting it if significant shifts in the market or ecosystem require a course correction? Too much rigidity might box us in.

Thanks again, I’m looking forward to seeing the final version after community input.

5

Regarding the agility and flexibility. I would suggest the use of a “forever question”. The question could be "What significant shifts in the market or ecosystem are occurring that may require an MVP course correction? The question could be asked yearly or every 2 years. The ops group could maintain a schedule of “forever questions” maybe 3 or 4 of them a year. This revisiting leads to an iterative feedback loop…so the org ratchets forward…never going back.

1 Like
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gm - Thanks a lot Entropy for putting together this document. I agree that having three clear elements—Purpose, Mission, and Vision—will help the DAO define goals and actions for the next months and years.

After my private feedback, I’d like to publicly share some ideas as I feel strongly about them. I am confident they will be taken as constructive feedback rather than criticism.

I believe the MVP should be:

  • Unique to Arbitrum: In the proposed form, the MVP could be applied to any rollup stack—echoing @cp0x here. This was acceptable when the rollup technology was nascent and Arbitrum were pioneering it. It is now being commoditized, or at least looked at together with other components— our message must be different to survive and thrive.

  • Highlighting the key value proposition of Arbitrum: How can our unique values, approach to tech, and the way we see the on-chain world be transferred into the MVP?

  • Compelling and exciting for builders and users: The MVP should be able to answer the question: Why should I build on Arbitrum versus any other stack?

To be noted, I fully agree with all concepts expressed; I’m suggesting we tweak the way we express them, seeing technology as a means to a purpose (we are much more than a tech stack), and yet aligning with what I believe the Arbitrum core teams have expressed as values and technological roadmap.

Mission

“Bring…rollups to the masses.”

I believe this is too technology-focused.

If you look at other companies’ mission statements:

  • Tesla: To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
  • Microsoft: To empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
  • Google: To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

There is no mention of the tech stack or algorithms. Technology should be a tool, not the goal. Our mission statement should focus on the impact and purpose, being timeless and resonating with a wider audience. What do we actually build for?

I believe the answer is Freedom, which has been already smartly used by other Arbitrum teams:

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Suggested mission statement:

We empower people with the freedom to build their best onchain world.

  • From “compelling” to “freedom”
  • From “masses” to “people”
  • From a product (rollup) to an experience: building your best world (notice how this can apply to both builders and creators and users who create their own economy).
  • nicely fits Stylus, the Your Chain Your Rule approach of Orbit, and every other part of the tech.

Vision

Accelerate the universal shift onchain

I like the principle; I don’t this reflects a proper vision statement though, which should instead paint a picture of where we aspire to be in 5/10/20 years.

Suggested revision;

(We envision) Ethereum as the center of the onchain Universe, accessible to everyone through the best scaling technology and the most innovation-centric ecosystem

The message i’d like to convey:

  • If you want to build a app, and you align with Ethereum values, this is the best place to do it: it’s the best tech stack and it’s where innovation happens. It’s exciting! (See Arbitrum is the Home of Bulders, Arbitrum is the home of innovation).
  • If you are a user, you get access to the onchain world, Ethereum and the most innovative apps
  • We acknowledge that Ethereum will be a constellation of ecosystems (recalling the original “universal” term) - so it won’t be a one-chain-winner-takes-all). We want to enable a vision where Orbit chains fit and thrive.

Welcoming any feedback - I hope these elements can be incorporated - at least in part- in the final MVP.

4 Likes
7

Thanks to Entropy for elaborate and Castlecap for review this exercise on Unifying Arbitrum DAO’s Vision, Mission, and Goals - #5 by CastleCapital.

I’m in favor of the proposal. I believe the phased approach sets a clear path for Arbitrum DAO (ADA) to develop shared, flexible strategic goals that can keep up with market trends and tech demands.

Also, the focus on financial sustainability is key for ADA to remain competitive and aligned with the ecosystem’s long-term needs. You also mention the potential to build a strong and coherent identity for ADA, which is crucial for attracting new developers and strengthening the community. This level of clarity and purpose offers a competitive edge over other rollup projects, solidifying Arbitrum as a leader in scalability and decentralization within the blockchain space.

I only have one question: What will be the process for adjusting or reevaluating ADA’s long-term goals if there are major shifts in the market or technology?

1 Like
8

Thanks for this proposal.

Similar to how the Code of Conduct proposal has an outlined path to eventually become a constitutional proposal on Tally, should there be a similar path for the MVP proposal to become constitutional? In my understanding it is good practice for DAO’s to have their Mission, Vision, and Values (already there), in their constitutions.

9

We appreciate the work you are doing, and we also like the proposal, we agree that this unification will help align the DAO with its objectives.

We share the same question regarding the MVP’s flexibility, but additionally, we would like to know what scope this will encompass.

Will the MVP be used as a benchmark to evaluate future projects, or will it be more focused on the SOS mentioned in the proposal?

10

I think this three-step strategy (clarifying goals → setting strategic objectives → setting a budget) is solid. After all, the lack of clear direction and specific goals has left many DAO members and organizations scratching their heads, easily leading to wasted resources and duplication of effort. This proposal will now unify everyone’s pace and help DAOs better focus on what’s most important and push the ecology to really get off the ground.

My proposal is:
1. launch the SOS proposal as soon as possible, and clarify the strategic priorities within 12/24 months, so that everyone knows what to do and how to do it.
2. Strengthen communication and transparency: It is recommended that regular progress reports be released to ensure that the community follows each stage and to reduce information asymmetry.

12

Overall, this is a good direction and I support moving forward with this MVP proposal.
This proposal clarifies Arbitrum’s Mission, Vision, and Purpose (MVP) and helps unify the direction of the DAO, whose goal is to “scale Ether without compromise”, i.e., increase efficiency while ensuring decentralization and security. This approach will give the DAO a clearer North Star for subsequent strategy and budgeting.
Meanwhile, in order to make the proposal go smoothly
It is recommended to concentrate advantageous resources to focus on the main chain Arbitrum One: while promoting expansion, ensure the reasonable distribution of resources, and first concentrate advantages to consolidate the main chain.
Suggestion 2: Set up KPIs: It is recommended to set up Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for each strategic goal, so as to facilitate the evaluation of progress and to ensure that the goals are not only clear but also quantifiable.
Recommendation 3: Introduce third-party audits: Regular audits of the use of funds and the achievement of strategic objectives should be conducted to enhance transparency and community trust.
Recommendation 4: Community Training: Consider setting up some community education on Arbitrum technology, mission, and strategy to enhance community members’ understanding of the program so that they can better participate in governance decisions.

Questions:
1. Implementation details of MVP and SOS: What are the specific implementation steps and timelines after MVP is finalized? How to ensure that each step can be implemented?
2. budget transparency: in terms of budget setting, will there be a public breakdown of what the funds will be used for to ensure community understanding of where the funds are going?

13

Here is simscore analysis of MVP replies to date

Priority List and Relationship Graph.
SimScore

SimScore grouping sheet… Unified Arbitrum's Mission MVP - SimScore report.xlsx - Google Sheets

These reports aggregate the communities thoughts in a manner that is repeatable and transparent. I recommend that the MVP question be asked annually by survey. Each Annual survey would be processed thru simscore tool being the basis of future MVP updates. Iterative and dynamic.

Part of the 8th highest priority response states: “Once we approve this MVP, how flexible will the DAO be in revisiting it if significant shifts in the market or ecosystem require a course correction?” [ 0xDonPepe]

This approach of an annual MVP [forever question >>>SimScore >>> Update MVP] will solve this concern.

Note: SimScore is a unit of RnDAO. The development of this project is an indirect result of the Arbitrum fellowship / EIR program. I thank Daniel, Drea and Artem for their help. And of course Arbitrum for funding the original fellowship program.

1 Like
14

Thanks for the info.

1 Like
15

Excited to see this detailed proposal on unifying Arbitrum’s MVP and it’s evident that considerable thought and effort have gone into aligning the DAO’s strategic direction.

Some thoughts that came to mind when reading:

  • In general, the statements might apply broadly to any rollup technology. Might be tricky trying to make it more Arb focused but could be a good plan.
  • The current mission emphasizes the technological side of things such as bringing “secure, compelling, and full-featured rollups to the masses.” Would it be worth tailoring it more towards others such as builders or users of the chain?
  • An overall super rigid MVP might be trick as in a fast-paced blockchain industry, the ability to adapt is crucial. Establishing a process for periodic review and potential revision of the MVP could be a good idea.
  • How will the MVP be integrated into the DAO’s decision-making processes? Like will there be any specific or tangible criteria or frameworks to ensure that new proposals and initiatives align with the MVP?
16

Thanks for pushing this important topic!

I want to echo some previous comments that signalized the need of the Mission, Vision and Purpose to be more related to Arbitrum itself. I would like to suggest a couple of calls to discuss the topic and also to bring more visibility to the topic.

Overall, amazing work !

1 Like
17

Thank you for drafting the Mission, Vision, and Purpose. I agree with most of the concepts expressed, but I believe we should adopt more of a marketing approach. By this, I mean we should create wording that is simple, easy to understand, and appealing to anyone who takes a quick glance at ARB. We shouldn’t limit ourselves to having an overly “philosophical” Mission, Vision, and Purpose.

18

The following reflects the views of the Lampros Labs DAO governance team, composed of Chain_L (@Blueweb), @Euphoria, and Hirangi Pandya (@Nyx), based on our combined research, analysis, and ideation.

Thank you for this proposal. While various efforts have aimed to define the DAO’s end goals, this proposal is a concrete step forward and offers an excellent foundation for formalizing these objectives.

We support this approach, as a unified marketing plan requires an aligned understanding of the DAO’s identity and narrative.

As far as the Vision statement is considered, we agree that the vision should be ambitious and aspirational, something the DAO can strive towards. However, we find that the current vision statement feels somewhat vague and could benefit from further refinement to create a stronger, more impactful direction.

2 Likes
19

Appreciate the @Entropy team putting this together, and I’d like to share some personal thoughts, which are highly aligned with @maxlomu 's comment, and level of diligence and standards the DAO should approach the next Strategic Objective Settings (SOS) phase.

Overall thoughts on MVP

In shaping Arbitrum’s mission, vision and purpose, a relatable and compelling narrative is equally key to attracting future builders and users to applications built on Arbitrum. Rather than focusing on amplifying technical advantages, the MVP should present the narrative that Arbitrum is an empowering, collaborative, and inclusive ecosystem that speaks directly to new and existing builders, users, DAO contributors, delegates and core teams within the Arbitrum ecosystem.

More specifically, I agree with @maxlomu that it needs to be unique to Arbitrum and not something that any other rollup could adopt, so framing the MVP around concepts like freedom is something that I resonate with deeply as Arbitrum truly embodies the ‘your chain, your rules’ experience.

  • On the builder front, as much as using the best in class tech stack is important, enjoying network effects and having a tie-in to the wider narrative and ecosystem are, one could argue, equally important aspects that goes into the decision making process of which chain to launch on. Centering on ‘freedom’ is simple, yet resonating across both the technical and narrative fronts. Building with freedom, for freedom from traditional environments and control systems (might sound too cheesy) for example, is a strong, powerful draw for builders to come to Arbitrum .

  • On the user, delegate, and DAO contributor front, being a part of a wider, resonating collective movement generates a certain degree of loyalty, excitement and alignment that is difficult to quantify, yet is crux in driving long term, sustained engagement and contributions. Aligning with ‘freedom’ , using products which enable freedom and sovereignty, and progressing the collective governance of a technology which proliferate freedom can be powerful anchors for users, delegates, and DAO contributors alike.

This approach aligns with the concept of a “resilient flywheel for sustainable revenue” that @Entropy presented, where every participant in the ecosystem — builders, contributors, and end-users — reinforces growth and long-term sustainability.

Strategic Objective Settings (SOS)

On the SOS front, the DAO needs to be extremely deliberate about the process design for receiving submissions, requirement settings for submissions, and rubric for selection of candidates. For this to-be-defined MVP to translate into actionable results, these strategic objectives should be set or led by high-context, qualified individuals or teams who can provide detailed implementation plans.

These submissions should include specific milestones, timelines and reasonable budgets, creating measurable checkpoints that keep Arbitrum’s growth on track and responsive to evolving ecosystem needs.

The DAO should set an extremely high benchmark in evaluating submissions, and delegates should approach these with utmost diligence because these are overarching objectives that will heavily influence, if not outrightly direct the framing of DAO initiatives moving forward. Even though these aren’t set in stone and are meant to be iterative, it is of utmost importance that the bar is set high.

Concluding thoughts

All in all, I’m very happy that the DAO is having this discussion now - the past 19 months have ‘sort-of’ created a decentralized ecosystem identity through various experiments. It is now an apt time in my opinion for the DAO to organize itself and collectively align on an identity, narrative and overarching goals. By pairing a strong narrative via the MVP with clearly defined objectives and milestones progressed by the most competent teams and individuals, Arbitrum can cultivate a vibrant, unified ecosystem that attracts and retains builders, users and contributors alike. Very excited to see where this discussion takes us.

6 Likes
20

This proposal is a solid foundation for Arbitrum’s strategic direction and establishes a clear path for the ecosystem. As several have pointed out, aligning around a central narrative is very important, particularly one that reflects Arbitrum’s unique values and resonates with developers, users, and contributors.

I completely agree with this framing as it could make Arbitrum especially attractive emphasizing a vision of autonomy and innovation within a truly decentralized structure.

From a monitoring and evaluation standpoint, it is essential to establish tangible, clear KPIs and conduct regular assessments to ensure that our progress aligns with these objectives. We should have quantifiable indicators around network growth, developer adoption, and community engagement . These indicators could feed directly into ongoing evaluations to help us measure impact and enable adaptability in an always changing environment.

I have experience creating indicators and milestones for strategic, long-term projects, so I’m up to help in any way I can.

Holding regular review sessions to refine or even update the MVP would allow us to stay relevant as the DAO and ecosystem mature, not to mention, this is an essential part of any planning process.

I also agree on what has been commented about establishing transparent, detailed budgets with regular audits. This holds true for every proposal imo. Budget clarity, alongside indicators of financial sustainability, would help the ecosystem gain trust between its members and ensure resources are allocated toward meaningful progress and value-creation.

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Changes Made on Oct 30:
This proposal will move to Snapshot tomorrow.

New Mission:

-Empower people with the freedom to build their best onchain world.

-Much of the text surrounding the Mission has also been altered to fit the new mission.

New Vision:

-Arbitrum is home to the universal shift onchain.

New Timeline:

-Added “Entropy Advisors plans to take the MVP to a constitutional vote, adding it as language to the constitution, after a 6-month trial period. During the initial 6 months, changes can be made to the MVP via a proposal+Snapshot vote, but after being included in the constitution, would require a constitutional onchain amendment. It is our belief that the current MVP is broad enough to handle substantial changes in the crypto market.”

The most common feedback received surrounds the MVP not being specific enough to Arbitrum. We hear you and have adjusted accordingly. The new Mission is, as provided by @MaxLomu… To empower people with the freedom to build their best onchain world.

We believe the new mission statement encompasses Arbitrum’s largest differentiating factor: Freedom. It is worth noting that it is ok for multiple comparable projects to identify similarly, particularly when it comes to purpose. It’s also worth noting that this MVP is specific to the DAO. We hope the changes to the mission and the subsequent explaining paragraphs help showcase the factors that truly make Arbitrum special in a more clear light.

The second piece of feedback received multiple times was asking if the MVP is adaptable and if it has a process to be included in the constitution. We have added language in the timeline section to make clear that for the first 6 months, the MVP will be easily adaptable, but that once it is hopefully included in the constitution, will have a pretty significant barrier to change. It’s important that the MVP be written in a way that can guide us through a changing market environment, and we believe that this can be achieved.

Another comment received multiple times surrounded the vision of not being ambitious enough / properly visualizing Arbitrum’s place in an ideal future. We thank you for this feedback and believe that our simple adding of the word “home” should solve these concerns and has made the vision statement far stronger.

Thank you for this comment. We believe that Arbitrum’s aim to scale without compromise is the main driver for all design decisions and choices by the DAO and its development teams. It’s the reason that efforts are focused on decentralized, battle-tested fraud proofs and sequencing instead of shifting the focus to monolithic scaling of One. There are many UX benefits that could come with compromise. For example, beefing up the sequencer to max throughput with no vision of ever decentralizing it or shifting the priority from BOLD to supporting synchronous composability between more languages. From our perspective, not compromising on the core trust assumptions of Ethereum is part of our culture and identity. It’s our main purpose although it will take a lot of work to get there, it is what the Arbitrum DAO aims to do at its core.

The MVP is objectively high level because the DAO’s north star and its supporting pillars must be simple. As such, the MVP may not substantially impact the DAO’s decision-making processes, at least when it comes to “day-to-day operations”. Instead, complexity will be built on top of the MVP through the SOS (interim objectives to reach the DAO’s end goals), with the resulting strategies guiding the DAO with respect to focus areas and performance. That said, we believe even the MVP can be used as a resource for evaluating proposals, but we are confident that the SOS will enable this to a magnitude higher degree.

We appreciate all these recommendations and will take them into account as an influence for future work done by Entropy Advisors. We will be posting the SOS in the coming weeks, which will tie together the MVP with the DAO’s interim objectives. Once the DAO has come to a consensus regarding its interim objectives, each individual objective can be budgeted, which would again be done in an open setting. When it comes to finalizing the MVP, once it has passed Snapshot, a 6-month trial period will be initiated. Changes can be made to the MVP via a proposal+Snapshot vote during the trial period. Once the trial period is coming to an end, the MVP (with modifications, if any) will be put to a constitutional vote, and if passed, language will be added to the constitution.

We believe that the M, V, and P are all solid foundations for marketing, but also that marketing campaigns will be built on top of the text herein. For example, from a market perspective, the MVP can be used as a foundation for creating simple taglines while also fitting with the current ones, such as “Arbitrum is Home” or “Arbitrum is Freedom.”

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