GEARBOX FOUNDATION
Third Floor, Landmark Square,
64 Earth Close, PO Box 707
Camana Bay, Grand Cayman,
Cayman Islands, KY1-9006
To: GEAR DAO
Via forum post
REPORT
Number: 1/23
Date: 2023-06-09
Topic: Special Interim Report
Dear GEAR DAO,
Daobox is pleased to present the first interim report with respect to the Gearbox Foundation (the “Foundation”). This report was compiled according to the constitutional documents of the Foundation and the establishment resolution of the GEAR DAO.
Background information
Gearbox Foundation was established in the Cayman Islands, with Daobox Inc. presently serving as the sole director and supervisor. See this notice for additional details.
To ensure the effective operation of the Foundation, on March 11, 2023, GEAR DAO determined the key short-term and long-term objectives for the Foundation by its DAO resolution. Among others, these tasks include the following ongoing long-term assignments:
(a) Accept, hold and manage intellectual property rights pertaining to the Gearbox protocol, related products, services, assets and works;
(b) Accept, hold and manage domain names relating to the Gearbox protocol;
(c) Facilitate the public access to the source code of the Gearbox protocol v2 by distributing, or facilitation its distribution under the BSL 1.1 license, subject to certain exceptions as may be determined by the Foundation from time to time;
(d) In the event of release of any subsequent versions of the Gearbox protocol source code – facilitate the public access thereto by way of distributing the source code under an applicable open source or other license at the discretion of the Foundation, subject to certain exceptions and limitations as may be determined by the Foundation from time to time;
(f) Facilitate the operation of the web-hosted interface to the Gearbox protocol on an as-needed basis; and
(g) Accept access to or create new online accounts with web solutions, online platforms and service providers (“Applications”), including those required for the facilitation of the technical and operational infrastructure of the Gearbox protocol.
Executive Summary
The Foundation has successfully fulfilled all one-time tasks assigned by the GEAR DAO Resolution of March 11, 2023, relating to setting-up and configuring the foundation, and ensured seamless transition of various assets integral to the Gearbox project to the Foundation. We have not encountered any significant obstacles or difficulties that could require the DAO interference at this moment.
We further continue to perform all long-term assignments. Our current focus rests on administering the operational facets of the Foundation, which includes taking care of its day-to-day operations, paperwork, and payments.
Report
Gearbox protocol web interface
The website and web application interface hosted at gearbox.fi have been transferred to the Foundation. The user documentation on the website, including the terms of service and privacy notice, has been updated accordingly.
Past Intellectual Property
Multiple assets relating to the Gearbox project have been assigned by the contributors to the Gearbox Foundation. These include:
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Gearbox protocol source code and related IP rights;
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Gearbox protocol documentation, other materials pertaining to the Gearbox project and related IP rights;
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the rights to the “Gearbox” designation, trade name and logos;
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gearbox.fi and gearbox.finance domain names.
The Foundation, to its knowledge, has executed the necessary legal agreements to give legal effect to the aforementioned transfers. Software licenses to the source code of the Gearbox protocol have been correspondingly amended, designating the Foundation as the owner of the related intellectual property.
Future Intellectual Property
We recognize that the ultimate desire of the GEAR DAO is for the Foundation to take charge of all the IP rights connected to the work done on the Gearbox protocol and related assets.
To make this happen, we have developed a relatively-simple framework designed to facilitate the assignment of these IP rights to the Foundation. Now anyone who’s contributing to the Gearbox GitHub and helping it grow, will also pass on the rights to their work to the Foundation.
By doing this, the Foundation legally owns all this work. This lets the Foundation use the work, license it, and make sure no one else misuses it. Basically, it helps protect GEAR DAO from any issues with other parties, if that ever comes up. It’s a straightforward way to keep things moving and protect everyone’s work on the Gearbox protocol.
Infrastructure
Gearbox Foundation accepted numerous accounts with third-party service providers and infrastructure solutions used in connection with the Gearbox project, in some cases as the owner, in others as manager or payee. These include Github, Gitbook, Cloudflare, and many more.
The Foundation employs reasonable and adequate organizational and security measures to maintain the technical infrastructure. These include the adoption of an access management policy, advanced password protocols, two-factor authentication (2FA), and end-to-end encryption during data transmission of data, among other strategies.
Payment Accounts
To enable the Foundation to have access to fiat payments, DAObox opened an account with a payment service provider for the Foundation. This includes the issuance of the credit card for recurring subscription payments.
Budget and Expenses
The Foundation has established a Gnosis multisig vault (link).
According to the DAO Resolution dated March 11, 2023, GEAR DAO has allocated to the Foundation 20,000 USDC for covering operational expenses and disbursements (tx link). The report on expenses will be included in the upcoming quarterly report in July, 2023.
Future Outlook
Barring any new directives or instructions from the GEAR DAO, the Foundation will persist in its current role, managing and administering the day-to-day operations. We remain open to any new areas where the DAO deems the Gearbox Foundation’s involvement could be beneficial and encourage you to reach out to us with such suggestions.
We remain committed to serve in the best interest of GEAR DAO maintaining transparency and continually keeping the GEAR DAO abreast with our operations and status.
Should the DAO community seek any additional information about the Gearbox Foundation’s activities, we invite you to communicate your requests to us.
Daobox Inc. | daobox.io | Twitter: @DAObox_io | Discord: DAObox#6687