Context
TL;DR
Use Cohort 5 of Decentralized Voices to kickstart a new generation of emergent, resilient, on-chain political parties, enabled by the addition of Kreivo’s OpenGov-based infrastructure to the Kusama Asset Hub runtime through a new upgrade.
Problem
Polkadot (including Kusama) is evolving from selling products to selling resilience as the technology’s main value proposition.
- It offers Web3’s most progressive, experimental, and rapidly evolving on-chain governance stack.
- An emerging ecosystem of DAOs/collectives/on-chain organisations is beginning to take form.
Rather than copying or competing with EVM-based projects, Polkadot has the opportunity to lean into its unique capabilities, doubling down on DAOs as the network’s equivalent of dApps.
Key Building Blocks:
- OpenGov – Polkadot’s modular on-chain governance system
- Kreivo – Generalised OpenGov for programmable, extensible DAOs
- Decentralized Voices (DV) – An initiative for kickstarting collectives
Challenges
1. Lack of Resilience in Current DVs
Most depend on:
- Multisigs
- Proxies
- Bots connected to centralized servers (e.g., Discord)
➡️ This contrasts sharply with Polkadot’s value proposition of resilience.
2. Misalignment of Strengths
Polkadot’s biggest advantage is building full-stack DAO infrastructure—but current DVs are not using it to its potential.
The Opportunity
Across four cohorts, DVs have matured and now require:
- Identifiable decision makers
- Configurable governance structures
- Budget and team management tools
W3F can now:
- Use the DV program to educate and create resilient, accessible, performant DAOs leveraging Kreivo pallets to offer a generalised version OpenGov.
Addressing Technical Limitations
Currently:
- Kusama and Polkadot Asset Hubs have limited DAO functionality
- Without action, existing governance/DAO experience and narrative advantages will be ceded to the broader market.
✅ Good news: Virto's Kreivo parachain has already built a modular DAO stack based on OpenGov:
- Token-less, wallet-less onboarding
- Escrow and pass-key integrations
- KSM as fee token
Addressing Communication Challenges
- W3F & Parity are consolidating functionality into Kusama/Polkadot Asset Hubs
- But are resource-constrained + not active users of these tools
- Kreivo and Kusama Asset Hub are separate networks, confusing users, despite Kreivo using KSM as its fee token.
➡️ We must unify talent, technology, and narrative to strengthen the ecosystem.
Vision: Real Network Political Parties
We propose a cultural and technical upgrade:
- Evolve DVs into resilient, on-chain political parties
- Represent the multidimensional spectrum of token holders (e.g., interest-based, region-based etc)
Requirements for DVs:
- Must be real DAOs
- Must have a manifesto tied to a part of the token holder spectrum
- Must avoid relying on centralised tools (e.g., Discord bots, multisigs)
- Must use new Kusama AH DAO infrastructure: governance tracks, budgets, teams, etc.
Technical Requirements
Propose runtime upgrade to Kusama Asset Hub, incorporating the following Kreivo-based Polkadot SDK & frame-contrib pallets:
- 📜
pallet-referenda (additional instance) for DAO proposals
- 🧑🤝🧑
pallet-nfts (pending feature) for DAO memberships
- 🏛️
pallet-communities for DAO governance and membership
- 🎛️
pallet-referenda-tracks for dynamic governance configurations
✅ Solves Kusama’s DAO tooling gap
✅ Fixes bounty system limitations (mandated accounts can’t hold DOT or pay stablecoins)
Soon: XCMv5 (~1 month) will allow Kusama DAOs to interact with Polkadot governance, unlocking full cross-chain coordination.
How It Could Work
W3F outlines the vision: future DVs should evolve into on-chain political parties.
Spectrum mapping: identify the types of representation desired by token holders (e.g., interest-based, geography-based).
Set clear requirements:
- Every DV = a DAO, regardless of size
- Every DAO = clear manifesto
- Every DAO = on-chain, resilient infrastructure
Launch with upgraded Kusama AH runtime:
- Support self-governance, strategy-setting, budget/team management
- Position DVs as resilient political forces within the network
Phased Approach
Runtime Upgrade:
- Add Kreivo pallets to Kusama Asset Hub
Research Phase:
- W3F + ecosystem map token holder spectrum
Initial DV Setup:
- W3F defines a few example DAOs along ideological lines
- Hand control to elected/appointed stewards
Bootstrapping Leadership:
- Determine leaders for new political parties
- W3F retains membership (initially) for oversight
- Training wheels removed over time