Curve DAO Faces Backlash over Funding Proposal

Curve DAO is facing criticism over a new funding proposal that calls for 21 million CRV ($6.9 million) to be awarded to Swiss Stake AG, a company that's owned by the project's founder Michael Egorov.

The funding request represents a substantial chunk of the 47.5 million project's CRV tokens that's currently sitting in the DAO's community fund, and it's claimed the proceeds would be used to grow the Curve ecosystem.

But some members have declared that they will be voting against the proposal—describing it as "disappointing," "unacceptable" and even "disrespectful" to those who hold the cryptocurrency.

There are concerns the current roadmap is too vague, with a lack of clarity on how funds would be used. And given 25 employees are working on Curve, one critic worked out that $6.9 million would equate to a salary of $300,000 per person.

Curve acknowledged that the proposal is a "cultural shift," but warned that community funding is crucial given Swiss Stake AG doesn't have "other substantial revenue sources" of its own to fall back on.

It's claimed the investment would be primarily earmarked for audits and security research, the creation of software development kits, as well as educational resources to support the adoption of Curve's technology.

Assurances were also made, with the proposal stressing that Swiss Stake AG would only use the funding for specific purposes within the project description.

But given the company only plans to release biannual spending reports, opponents claim this amounts to a lack of oversight. Intrepid_llama wrote:

"I believe that the core team makes valuable contributions to Curve, and that funding of further development is a valid use of the community fund; however, there needs to be control and accountability on how these funds are spent."

Another user, MuP, said:

" I will be voting NO. We need a clear roadmap, we need to know how much it goes where and why."

There are growing calls for a detailed breakdown about how the funds would be used, along with clear performance metrics and deadlines so progress can be monitored, with boz_m warning:

"The request for funding requests roughly ~50% of the community fund. This is an extreme concern around sustainability for the ecosystem and growth initiatives overall."

Once the on-chain voting proposal is live, a quorum of 30% will need to be reached—and the motion would pass if the majority of participants vote yes.

Curve Finance was rocked by an exploit last July that saw a number of liquidity pools exploited to the tune of $70 million, but the hacker later returned a portion of the funds.

The token has also been trading near all-time lows in recent months, leaving founder Michael Egorov at risk of liquidations after he took out multimillion-dollar loans that used CRV as collateral.

CoinMarketCap data shows CRV is currently trading at $0.34—99.44% lower than record highs of $60.50 that were established in August 2020.