dYdX Operations subDAO 2024 Review

Summary

The dYdX Operations subDAO wants to say thank you to the dYdX Community for the trust and support during the past year. Looking back, we had a rewarding year where we overcame various obstacles and attained many achievements. We can proudly share that we have completed most of the 2nd Mandate deliverables much ahead of schedule and have been confirmed for a 3rd Mandate by the dYdX Community. We are looking forward to a fresh start in 2025 and have big plans for the Ops subDAO to further enhance the community-owned dYdX Chain infrastructure. 

‍

Let’s review some of the highlights of 2024:

iOS and Android launches

In 2024, the Ops subDAO supported the deployment of the community-owned iOS and Android mobile applications for trading on the dYdX Chain.

• Android

The official dYdX Chain Android app was installed on over 10,000 active devices in 2024, received more than 40 reviews, and currently holds an average rating of 3.885★ out of 5 on Google Play.

‍

• iOS

In the past 365 days, the official dYdX Chain iOS app was downloaded over 25,000 times, generated 132,000 impressions, and achieved a 39.6% conversion rate. Its current rating is 4.7★ out of 5, with over 500 total ratings and over 20 written reviews.

dYdX Chain upgrades 

In over a year of operations, dYdX Chain had several state breaking chain upgrades. In other words, these upgrades required validator to update at the same block height, as specified via a dYdX Community governance proposal, or there will be a chain halt. The Ops subDAO facilitated communications channels among validators and provided technical guidance to facilitate smooth upgrades. 

Signotifier – Emergency Alerting System launches

The engineering team of the Ops subDAO developed a custom emergency alerting system for validators of the dYdX Chain. This system enables customizable alerts to be sent to all or individual validators in emergency situations without relying on costly third-party services. 

Transition to the Digital Operations Foundation

Additionally, in 2024, we initiated and concluded a restructuring of our legal entities. The dYdX Operations Trust (DOT) was terminated and itsassets and functions have been transferred to the Digital Operations Foundation (DOF). As specified in the related governance proposal, the directors of the DOF are former trustees of the DOT. The supervisor of the DOF is the enforcer of the DOT. The organizational documents of the DOF (Link to card) are published on the Ops subDAO website [insert link] and are consistent with those of the DOT, with minor adaptations to accommodate requirements as a Cayman Islands limited company. 

‍

The current structure of the legal entities is as follows: 

‍

Team Growth

In 2024, we welcomed 2 new additions to the Ops subDAO and a few changes within the trustees and directors.

Rudi Mocnik and Ben Wallace joined as contributors, exceeding all expectations and enabling the Ops subDAO to effectively deliver on the 2nd Mandate and go beyond the original scope of the 2nd Mandate to enhance the community-owned infrastructure.

In January 2025, Elvin Sababi will join the Ops subDAO as Legal Counsel, filling an important gap in the team. With a full-time Legal Counsel, we will be fully equipped to navigate the complex web3 regulatory landscape in our 3rd Mandate.

Additionally, in January 2025, Dimitar Petkov will rejoin the Ops subDAO after a 5-month sabbatical. We are excited to welcome back one of our founding team members and look forward to his contributions. 

‍

During the first quarter of 2024, DOT trustees, Flipside, Chaoslabs, and Callen, resigned from their roles. We want to thank them again for all of their work for the Ops subDAO with a special shoutout to Callen who has been instrumental during the first 6 months of the 2nd Mandate. Luckily, we were able quickly to engage with high quality candidates to fill this gap, including Shaun Musuka from Steakhouse, Bernard Schmid from Areta.io, and Valentin Prossliner who is also the Ops lead of the Ops subDAO to enable streamlined operations. Huge kudos to all of the directors for creating a great support structure to the Ops subDAO contributors.  

‍

3rd Mandate

Recently, the dYdX Community approved, via a governance proposal [insert link], the 3rd Mandate of the Ops subDAO until January 2028. We are proud to be entrusted by the dYdX Community. 

Our meta goal for 2025 is to continue to level up. Leveling up in all the areas of our mandate, whether technical, communications or internal operations. 

Look forward to a more detailed outlook on what 2025 has in store for the dYdX Operations subDAO.