If you want to take the pulse of a crypto project’s evolution, read its history of Improvement Proposals. From the development of L1 networks such as Bitcoin and Ethereum to application-focused protocols like Compound and Yearn, proposals have been vehicles of debate, decision-making, and progress. Every proposal builds upon another. Networks of proposers, participants and voters emerge as the new class of workers and leaders concretize the shape of a burgeoning economy.

There is a wide range of proposals emerging in DAOs and networks that impact protocol-level changes and beyond. People and organizations create proposals to elect new officials or make key hires; update the core parameters of a protocol, such as its liquidation mechanism; make large fiscal allocations for new initiatives, such as grants and education; and establish a community’s codes of conduct. We’re inspired by the proposals that have been made, and we’re excited to see even more.

Proposals aren’t a new concept by any means, but a profound medium that underpins the idea of democratic collaboration and participation. Under autocratic regimes, proposals – laws, articles, amendments, treaties – have no room to flourish. Yet they are crucial to the functioning of various forms of democracy. To propose means to suggest systematic improvements and new initiatives as a participant, as a citizen, and as a user. Empowering proposal-making implies giving people the trust, agency, and resources required to become valuable contributors of a network.

From day one, Station has been committed to building products that enable a new class of workers to participate in the crypto economy. Proposals are a universal expression of intent for high-commitment, high-quality projects. They are the building blocks of on-chain collaborations, the same way that legal agreements and databases delineate the relationships among corporations, shareholders, service providers, and employees.

But proposals in their current form leave much to be desired. Currently —

• Proposals lack accountability: the fragmentation between proposal and execution leads to under-delivered, and sometimes unfulfilled, promises.

• Proposals lack agency and participation: contributors may be discouraged from participating due to high barriers of entry and fragmented information across platforms.

• Proposals lack provenance: completing a piece of work doesn’t accrue to one’s reputation and contribution history.

• Proposals are single-player: proposal tools are designed for a single author when, in reality, proposal creation is usually a team effort.

Introducing Proposer

Proposer is the easiest way to create and execute proposals. By streamlining proposal creation and on-chain execution, we set out to empower the best ideas and projects to be allocated the attention, resources, and talent to come to fruition.

Proposer brings a wallet-centric, multi-player, and decentralized internet closer to reality. We built this product with individuals at the center and the magical ideas that form when they come together.

With Proposer, anyone with a wallet can propose to another individual wallet or a multi-sig wallet, and any DAO with a multi-sig wallet can propose to an individual wallet or another DAO.

Each proposal is a unit of portable and verifiable proof of work stored on IPFS. A proposal’s metadata delineates the participating parties, timestamps, milestones, and payment history to maximize verifiability, accountability, and data interoperability.

How to propose

1. Create a proposal

2. Define terms & collaborators

3. Sign and execute

The simple primitive alone gives us a glimpse of many exciting possibilities.

For individuals —

• Request funding and support from DAOs autonomously: propose ideas in a few clicks and be paid in native tokens or NFTs. Create an original proposal or submit an idea to an existing project.

• Collaborate with your favorite Web3 builders: send a proposal to a fellow creator’s ENS and define the details and outcome of a fruitful collaboration.

• Engage with fans and friends: create a channel for fans and friends to propose ways to contribute to your burgeoning community.

• Take your contribution history wherever you go: your work history belongs to you. Contribution history is stored as artifacts on IPFS and will travel with you alongside your wallet.

For communities —

• Curate and distribute grants: from managing inbounds to executing funding with customized terms—run your grants program in one place.

• Create a community-curated idea board: empower the community to participate in building the future of the org and reward the best ideas.

• Admit new members: curate and admit new members to join your community and reward them with tokens or NFTs to unlock access to gated spaces.

• Engage and compensate contributors: proactively or retroactively reward or compensate contributors for their work in USDC/native tokens.

Try Proposer now and propose ideas to stationlabs.eth. We’re always looking for writers, researchers, and technologists as collaborators for radical reimaginations of the future of work.