# DAOs

There are currently around $12 billion dollars in assets across DAO treasuries. However, most of this is DAO tokens which are extremely volatile assets. And if the 2017 bear market was any indication, this is a risk many teams can't afford to take.

<figure><img src="https://4121718674-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FJ7bY0xe83NKFmbUiEyBZ%2Fuploads%2F8ozOZj3RfkWq6GGs6pHu%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=aa56be5a-c7ee-4187-9c20-220d43c03592" alt=""><figcaption><p>Source: <a href="https://deepdao.io/organizations">https://deepdao.io/organizations</a></p></figcaption></figure>

### What is the problem?

Unlike individuals, funds, or whale investors, DAOs don't have one person executing decisions. This complicates trading DAO treasury assets on centralized services:

* `Regulatory Risk`: Select one person from DAO to complete KYC/AML
* `Custodial Risk`: Trust this individual to custody and trade
* `Transparency Risk`: Trust CEX to give you the best fill behind closed doors
* `Counter Party Risk`: see FTX and a slew of other centralized services that have lost customer money

There are great teams like `Llama`, `Karpatkey`, and `Aera` among others that are building risk and treasury management software to address these issues.

{% embed url="<https://twitter.com/HelloShreyas/status/1502177286170185735>" %}

### Why DAOs need TWAMMs?

#### Treasury Diversification

Suppose a DAO wants to sell $50m of its treasury token. It currently has a few options for execution:

<figure><img src="https://4121718674-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FJ7bY0xe83NKFmbUiEyBZ%2Fuploads%2FhCVjrulbD4d3PVduPFEC%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=f9ee69c1-8197-4c67-898a-19157ba1562b" alt=""><figcaption><p>Source: <a href="https://0xshittrader.substack.com/p/some-properties-of-twamm">https://0xshittrader.substack.com/p/some-properties-of-twamm</a></p></figcaption></figure>

As you can see in the options listed in the table above, DAOs need to optimize for `low: value left on table` and `high: transparency.` TWAMMs are the only solution that gives you OTC-level execution with DEX-style transparency.&#x20;

Here's an example of what happens when DAOs leverage `Market Orders on DEX Aggregators.`On a CEX, the DAO would have saved \~$100k! TWAMMs would execute this order much better, and potentially capture the move upside of the risky asset given a long enough time horizon.

{% embed url="<https://twitter.com/0x94305/status/1623664463109816322?s=20>" %}

#### Stock Buybacks

{% embed url="<https://www.placeholder.vc/blog/2020/9/17/stop-burning-tokens-buyback-and-make-instead>" %}

Here's an example of a DAO conducting buybacks of their token. They relied on an OTC desk to conduct a simple TWAP buy instead of doing it all in a single block.

{% embed url="<https://twitter.com/0xM3rlin/status/1486950203739590656>" %}

The savings are roughly 190M (+40%!) in Spell tokens, by simply conducting TWAP buys. This particular DAO has an individual executing transactions on behalf of the DAO, a luxury and risk many DAOs don't want to take.

{% embed url="<https://twitter.com/0xM3rlin/status/1487028438724718595>" %}

#### Damping Token Sell Pressure

There are a few times DAO tokens are under very high sell pressure:

* Investor token vest unlocks
* Grants program funding in native tokens

And the biggest one of them all:

{% content-ref url="airdrops-damper" %}
[airdrops-damper](https://cron-finance.gitbook.io/twamm/use-cases/airdrops-damper)
{% endcontent-ref %}

Instead of having people dump tokens in a single block which causes network congestion and heavy sell pressure on the token price, trades can be completed over multiple blocks giving the market enough time to digest the price action.

### Examples

Below are a few examples of DAO governance proposals that could leverage TWAMMs to manage treasury positions.

#### Yearn

* Buying YFI via Cowswap: <https://twitter.com/iearnfinance/status/1486450959723155474>
* Buying 1M CVX:<https://twitter.com/DefiMoon/status/1487313436803481605>
* DCA with Mean Finance:<https://gov.yearn.finance/t/proposal-mean-dca-buyback-pilot-program/12065>
* Other buyback mechanisms:<https://gov.yearn.finance/t/proposal-ymarkt-the-best-buybacks-can-get/12166>
* With Gnosis Auctions:<https://gov.yearn.finance/t/yfi-buyback-auctions/10491>
* Buyback & build on the open market:<https://gov.yearn.finance/t/yip-56-buyback-and-build/8929>

#### ENS

* Sell $15M ETH for USDC: [\[Draft\]\[Executable\] Sell ETH into USDC](https://discuss.ens.domains/t/draft-executable-sell-eth-into-usdc/15906/14)
* Manage $50M treasury: [Endowment initiation](https://discuss.ens.domains/t/endowment-initiation/15952/6?u=0x70626a)

#### Others

* TWAP buyback $100M: <https://twitter.com/TheBlock__/status/1608588361576374274>
* Decentraland $12M Sale: <https://governance.decentraland.org/proposal/?id=ef44b230-66d4-11ed-a8f3-85d147463e4c>
* Nexus Mutual: [WNXM buyback discussion](https://forum.nexusmutual.io/t/wnxm-buyback-discussion/978/34)

#### Tribe/FEI

* v2 Tribe Buybacks: <https://tribe.fei.money/t/fip-37-fei-v2-tribe-buybacks/3571/6>
* Diversification with DCA: <https://tribe.fei.money/t/pcv-diversification-primer/3156/16>
* Using `PCVSwapper` to DCA: <https://tribe.fei.money/t/proposal-buying-defi-pulse-index-dpi/3348>
* More Investment Stuff: <https://tribe.fei.money/t/fei-dao-investment-policy-statement-ips/3284/2>

#### KeeperDAO

* Buy $4M of Rook with treasury: <https://forum.keeperdao.com/t/kip-13-empower-the-multisig-to-buy-back-up-to-4m-of-rook/241>
* Buy $13M of YFI: <https://forum.keeperdao.com/t/kip-draft-strategic-yfi-aquisition/219>
* Buy $4M of REN: <https://forum.keeperdao.com/t/kip-draft-strategic-ren-acquisition/207>
* Buyback & burn: <https://forum.keeperdao.com/t/buy-back-and-burn-initiative/67>