What is the DAO Deal Tracker™?
A public resource to help communities find information on past deals, or “comps,” for token sales and market-making (MM) deals made by protocols.
The data covers ~40 token deals made by DAOs, worth >$200mm USD in aggregate deal value. Each deal in our dataset was discussed on governance forums and reviewed by off-chain Snapshot voting or an on-chain vote.
For access to the full dataset and dashboards, hit the button below 👇 (sorry, but you have to make an Airtable account and log in!) :
Read on below for key findings and metrics from the tracker…
DAO Deal Tracker™ preview (screenshots)
Key Findings
I. Token sales by DAOs
1) Q1 2023 update
In March, Synthetix sold $15mm of SNX to DWF Labs at a discount of -7% with no vesting. In return, DWF Labs has agreed to integrate Synthetix perps into their trading business and become a significant volume driver for the protocol (source).
Inverse Finance approved a deal with DWF Labs and set up an on-chain OTC contract, but no tokens were actually bought by DWF through the contract (source).
Stargate received an offer to sell $2mm STG tokens to a family office OTC. Stargate governance did not approve this offer (source).
Balancer governance has approved the exchange of 250k BAL for ~1.5M of USDC. This sale has not yet commenced (source).
2) Trends over time
The Synthetix deal in Q1’23 was the first $5mm+ deal made since Q3’22 when Gitcoin sold $10mm of GTC and Gearbox sold $8mm GEAR across 2 rounds (1,2).
Overall, deals peaked in 2021 when Lido, BadgerDAO, Synthetix, and PoolTogether sold >$100mm of their native tokens collectively. We have not seen a similar pace of deals since early ‘21.
3) Which protocols have sold tokens?
The two protocols that have raised the most through token sales are Lido (~$70mm) and Synthetix ($27mm).
Other protocols that have made significant token sales: BadgerDAO ($21mm), Friends With Benefits ($10mm), Gitcoin ($10mm), Gearbox ($7.8mm), PoolTogether ($6mm), and Treasure DAO ($4.5mm).
4) Common structures for token sales by DAOs
Structure varies on token deals, but most deals involve a 1-year vesting cliff and a significant discount (avg. = -23%) for the buyer.
There are some notable exceptions to this typical structure:
The recent Synthetix sale to DWF Labs involved no vesting at a -7% discount. Lido’s Nov 2022 sale to Dragonfly had no vesting, but a 5% premium.
The 2022 sales by Gitcoin and Gearbox both featured a 1-year vesting cliff, with full vesting occurring over 2 years. Gitcoin’s $10mm GTC sale was made at a -17.5% discount. Gearbox’s sale of ~$8mm GEAR was made to strategic buyers before the GEAR token was transferrable.
II. Maker Maker loans by DAOs
1) Q1 2023 update
Stargate inked a market-making deal with GSR in February, lending 8mm STG tokens for 24 months. This deal gives GSR a European option to purchase the full amount of STG tokens at an average price greater than $1.15 after 24 months — this represents at least a 50% premium over STG’s $0.75 price on Feb 6 when the deal was proposed (source).
Quickswap and Threshold DAO received MM proposals in recent weeks. Both deals are still being reviewed by their respective communities.
2) Trends over time
In 2022, several smaller deals were made between DAOs and Market Makers. Treasure DAO, Goldfinch, Aurora DAO, Nation3, and Function X made loans of their native tokens, with the largest deal worth ~$2mm at the time it was executed.
This runs in contrast to 2021, when token prices were much higher and we saw token loans worth large USD amounts from Olympus (~$20mm), Alchemix (~$40mm), and Index Coop ($5mm).
3) Which MM firms are most active in DAO governance?
The most active MM firms in DAO governance have consistently been Wintermute and GSR, each having executed at least 5 deals over the past two years.
Other MM firms active in recent months are Jump, Flowdesk, and Storm King (aka Velar).
4) Common structures for MM loans from DAOs
The most common structure on MM loans from DAOs has been a 12-month or longer loan, with an option for the MM to purchase tokens at ~50% premium to the price at the proposal date.
It’s not uncommon for deals like the Index Coop<>Wintermute and Quickswap<>Jump loans to have alternative structures, where the MM firm can buy tokens at no premium if the MM accomplishes specific objectives (helping land premiere listings, etc.).
A third structure enables the DAO to retain PnL on its loan in return for paying the MM firm a monthly retainer. Flowdesk’s deals with TreasureDAO follow this structure, where TreasureDAO pays Flowdesk a $12,500 monthly fee for managing its liquidity on exchanges and Flowdesk passes through PnL to the DAO.
Want to chat? Did we miss anything?
If you’d like to collaborate, simply add a comment on this post or send us a DM on Twitter. We’d love to hear from you.
Additionally, if you’d like to submit new deals or corrections to us, please use one of the forms below to add details to the database:
A press release was published on Medium but later deleted. The Reddit discussion provides an overview of terms from the original post.