1. Introduction
Permanence DAO (Twitter, Website, Documents, Bluesky) is a global multi-disciplinary collective of incorporated and individual contributors active in Polkadot. Committed to the growth of the network, we focus on value-based decision-making, innovative governance solutions, and driving adoption across various sectors.
Leveraging its unique voting system, detailed below, Permanence DAO strives to provide the highest level of transparency among governance actors in Polkadot.
Current members of Permanence DAO are:
1. Helikon Labs – Istanbul, Turkey (Twitter | Website)
2. Polkadot Music Events Initiative (PMEI) – New York, USA (Twitter)
3. The Ionian (Beckett) – Newcastle, UK
4. Transistor – New York & Los Angeles, USA (Twitter | Website)
5. Polkadotters - Brno, Czech Republic (Twitter)
6. PolkaBiz - Milan, Italy & Brussels, Belgium (Twitter)
7. EzioRed – Caracas, Venezuela (Twitter)
8. José Rabasso – Vancouver, Canada (Twitter)
9. William (W1ZSPR3) – Taipei, Taiwan (Twitter)
10. Yongfeng Li (OpenSquare) – Hangzhou, China (Twitter)
11. Flez – Pennsylvania, USA (Twitter)
More detailed background on each member can be found in the foundation document, and please visit our documentation site to access the Code of Conduct, Membership Mandate, and other documents.
2. Delegation
Permanence DAO currently has ~195K DOT delegated by its core members to its voting accounts. The delegation addresses are:
Polkadot Delegation Address:
15ubZj6T7NUYyQw6j4XBkEMJ2vew5w9kqKEcN1QG7Z1weKDV
Kusama Delegation Address:
EicAs5s99x17qZcQzJMiBCfada9rGyEC6njfiBX3j2EPr9W
3. Voting Philosophy
Permanence DAO evaluates treasury proposals on a per-case basis. By leveraging the diverse expertise, backgrounds, and perspectives of its professional members from fields such as business development, infrastructure, software development, marketing, and the creative industries, the DAO aims to arrive at solid and fair evaluations of proposals.
Each core member holds equal voting power, and has full autonomy in governance decisions while adhering to the DAO’s core values for guidance:
1. Integrity: We preserve our integrity through a strong commitment to our values, cultivating stability and reliability.
2. Transparency: We promote accountability and trust by focusing on transparency in our direction, decision-making, and resource management.
3. Neutrality: We are unbiased in our decision-making, evaluating opportunities primarily concerning the network’s well-being and long-term interests.
4. Merit: We seek merit and a proven track record in the teams and individuals we support or work with, incentivizing competence.
5. Sustainability: We acknowledge the unique value offered by the networks we operate in, and we work to sustain and enhance this value for the long term.
6. Creativity: We promote an environment where a multidisciplinary creative energy of arts, crafts, and technology flows freely and comes to fruition.
7. Openness: We remain flexible and open-minded, aiming for exploration through experimentation. We embrace criticism and challenge our assumptions.
3.1 Conflict of Interest
Any member with a direct or indirect connection to a proposal must abstain from voting on the related referendum. Examples of this mandate in action include:
- PolkaBiz abstained from voting on Polkadot Referenda #1309 and #1343.
- William abstained from voting on Polkadot Referendum #1352.
- PMEI abstained from voting on Polkadot Referendum #1392.
- Polkadotters abstained from voting on Polkadot Referendum #1395.
- Transistor abstained from voting on Polkadot Referendum #1421.
4. Voting System
Our voting system is powered by our OpenGov Bot, developed as part of our services code base.
All internal referenda are recorded in our OpenSquare Space, ensuring full transparency of members’ votes and feedback on each referendum, openly accessible through the OpenSquare API for historical analysis.
4.1 Operation Details
Figure 1. Permanence DAO Voting System
A more detailed explanation of our voting process and timeline is as follows:
- A new relay chain referendum is created.
- The bot fetches the referendum details and creates a matching internal referendum in our OpenSquare space.
- The bot creates a discussion topic in our Telegram group.
- Members discuss the referendum details. For some referenda, we also reach out to proposers for a call.
- Members submit their signed votes on the internal referendum alongside their feedback.
- A voting admin triggers the bot to submit the on-chain vote.
- The bot evaluates the outcome of the referendum against the voting policy for the specific track.
- The bot submits the on-chain vote accordingly.
- The bot collects all member feedback and generates a summary using the OpenAI API.
- The bot submits the final outcome and collective feedback through the Subsquare API.
4.2 Per-Track Voting Policy
Permanence DAO utilizes a per-track voting policy, allowing us to enforce stricter requirements for critical tracks such as Root, Whitelisted Caller, Referendum Canceller, and Big Spender.
Our voting system is defined by three key parameters, encouraging high participation and in-depth internal discussion before any vote is cast. These parameters are:
- Participation: The vote defaults to abstain until the participation requirement is met. If no participation requirement is defined, the vote defaults to nay.
- Quorum: The percentage of aye votes relative to the total number of DAO members. For example, a 60% quorum requirement means that the vote remains nay unless at least 60% of all members vote aye.
- Majority: The percentage of aye votes relative to the total number of votes cast.
Based on these parameters, our voting policy is defined for various OpenGov tracks as follows:
| Track | Participation (≥) | Quorum (≥) | Majority (>) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Tipper | 30% | - | 50% |
| Big Tipper | 35% | - | 50% |
| Small Spender | 50% | - | 50% |
| Medium Spender | - | 50% | 50% |
| Big Spender | - | 60% | - |
| Treasurer | - | 60% | - |
| Wish for Change | - | 60% | - |
All other tracks (Root, Whitelisted Caller, Staking Admin, General Admin, etc.) follow the same ≥60% quorum policy as the Big Spender, Treasurer, and Wish for Change tracks.
Our voting policy remains a work in progress, to be iterated and improved through continuous observation.
5. Voting Statistics (Nov '24 – Feb '25)
In February 2025, Permanence DAO reached record internal participation and feedback rates of 90% and 79%, respectively. A more in-depth exploration of our voting and participation history since inception can be found below.
5.1 February 2025
36 referenda voted on
15 referenda auto-voted (Tip Bot, whitelisted, malicious, default nay)
21 referenda voted on by members
190 off-chain member votes
166 feedback submissions
Avg. member participation: 90% (+7% vs. January)
Avg. member feedback rate: 79% (+10% vs. January)
5.2 January 2025
37 referenda voted on
11 referenda auto-voted (Tip Bot, whitelisted, malicious, default nay)
26 referenda voted on by members
217 off-chain member votes
181 feedback submissions
Avg. member participation: 83% (+19% vs. pre-January)
Avg. member feedback rate: 69% (+23% vs. pre-January)
5.3 Nov-Dec '24
65 referenda voted on
414 off-chain member votes
299 feedback submissions
Avg. member participation: 64%
Avg. member feedback rate: 46%
6. Fields of Activity
Permanence DAO operates across multiple domains including governance, research, content production and infrastructure provision.
6.1 Research Articles
Our members have produced two research articles so far. All articles are published on our Medium page.
6.1.1 JAM and the JAM Grid: The Subsequent Phases of the Polkadot Cloud (link)
Researched and published by Christian Casini, the article is an ambitious quantitative research exploring:
- The promises of JAM and The JAM Grid.
- Comparisons to the existing architectures.
- Possible use cases and crypto-economical implications.
The article was featured on the official Polkadot Twitter account and was referenced in a post by Oliver Brett on the official Parity blog.
6.1.2 Builder Experience: Why Teams Join or Leave Polkadot (link)
Researched and published by William, the article contains insights from six interviews with builders who were either considering to join Polkadot or had left Polkadot in the past 18 months prior to publication.
The article was widely posted by multiple prominent community figures, including Gavin Wood and Saxemberg.
6.2 Videos
Permanence DAO holds weekly calls and publishes edited recordings of key internal discussions, interviews with community members, and the teams behind high-impact proposals to provide insight and context to the latest hot topics in the ecosystem.
Here are some of our published videos:
- With Mark Cachia from Scytale - Discussion on Ref #1389 by Conor Daly (link)
- With Polkassembly - Discussion on Ref #1434 (link)
- With Vincent Di Giambattista from Parity - Discussion on Ref #1424 by Parallel (link)
- Internal Discussion - Ref #1389 by Conor Daly (link)
- Internal Discussion - Ref #1390 by Talisman (link)
- Internal Discussion - Ref #1357 by Conor Daly (link)
6.3 Validators
Figure 2. Permanence DAO - High-Performance Validators
Permanence DAO operates one Polkadot (Turing) and one Kusama (Lovelace) validator as part of the first cohort of Web3 Foundation’s Decentralized Nodes program. The DAO has also applied for the second cohort of the program.
6.4 RPC Infrastructure
Permanence DAO has recently announced the provision of RPC services for Polkadot and Westend Asset Hub, with servers currently located in the EU and plans for future expansion.
Figure 3. RPC Services
7. Income and Spending
The DAO’s sole source of income is its Polkadot and Kusama validators, which are enrolled in the W3F Decentralized Nodes Program.
To date, the DAO has earned 2,368 DOT and 48 KSM, of which approximately 1,368 DOT and 33 KSM have been spent, as detailed below (denominated in USD).
| Activity | Total Spend (USD) |
|---|---|
| Member Compensation | 3210 |
| Infrastructure & Development | 2000 |
| Media Production | 1600 |
| Research | 900 |
| Social Media Management | 500 |
| Design | 475 |
| Self-Stake Compensation | 360 |
8. Conclusion
Since its founding in late September 2024, Permanence DAO has become a major contributor across multiple fields in the Polkadot ecosystem.
With its multi-disciplinary, highly engaged, and capable member base, as well as its strong due diligence practices and unique governance model, the DAO is fully prepared to serve as a delegate for the Decentralized Voices program.