The Power of Jokerace: Composability in Onchain Governance
In a recent X space hosted by Aragon, David Phelps, cofounder of jokerace, a governance contest platform for communities, emphasized the importance of composability in the world of apps and protocols. According to David, “In a world of composability, where anybody can build on top of you, your app is a protocol, and your protocol is an app.” This new mental model challenges the traditional distinction between apps and protocols, highlighting the power of composability.
Jokerace, while appearing as a user interface for onchain governance, goes beyond just actions within the app. It allows communities to make, execute, and record decisions, serving as both a consumer-facing platform and a developer-facing infrastructure. This unique feature makes jokerace a proto-app, enabling anyone to utilize its onchain data for various purposes.
One key aspect of jokerace is its compatibility with DAOs, onchain organizations built on decentralized infrastructure. David explained, “You can actually have the results of a vote trigger an action onchain. And because we’re fully onchain, it’s fully composable. As long as you can read the data, you can have that trigger an action.” This seamless integration of onchain actions is essential for the operation of DAOs.
So, how can DAOs leverage jokeraces? By using jokerace as the decision-making layer and a DAO on Aragon as the execution layer, communities can enhance their governance processes. For example, DAOs can airdrop governance tokens to voters, reward submissions with tokens, or connect jokerace results with their Aragon DAO onchain.
Furthermore, jokeraces offer a unique way to align DAOs into smaller groups around shared interests or goals. By using jokeraces to determine community divisions and preferences, DAOs can effectively organize into smaller, more focused groups. This “cell division” approach allows for better coordination and collaboration within the organization.
Additionally, jokeraces promote tokenless governance, expanding the landscape of ideas and onboarding new members into the community. By removing the barrier of requiring governance tokens, jokeraces enable a wider range of participants to contribute their ideas and build reputation within the community.
Overall, jokeraces offer a new way to engage in onchain governance, combining decision-making with onchain actions to create a more dynamic and inclusive governance process. As DAOs continue to evolve, the integration of jokeraces can enhance their functionality and effectiveness in managing decentralized organizations.