Framing DAO Governance

are Farcaster Frames the future of DAO participation

Apr 17, 2024

welcome back to the Tally newsletter, your weekly source for DAO governance insights in the Tally ecosystem. we’re tommy and ellie and this week we’re talking farcaster frames.

✦ DEEP DIVE

if you’re reading this turbo-niche DAO ecosystem newsletter then you’ve probably already heard about Farcaster, Warpcast and frames. If not and you want a deeper dive into what we’re talking about today, check out their docs here.

Frames

at a high level: Farcaster is the social layer built on Ethereum, Warpcast is the social app built on Farcaster (likened to Twitter/X), and Frames are user generated mini apps with support for onchain actions built on Warpcast.

more on Frames ↓

a frame lets you turn any cast (post) into an interactive app which can be just about anything: games, shopping experiences, governance participation, all onchain. we’re still in the early days and button functionality is limited but frames as a new primitive are already promising. Frames are so special because users can experience them without ever leaving the Warpcast feed, and since Farcaster is a sufficiently decentralized network creating a frame is permissionless.

gone are the days of sharing a link that requires followers to leave the app in order to experience what is posted. as attention spans and digital lives become increasingly fragmented, having a central place for online experiences becomes more and more attractive.

what frames can do for DAOs

currently, DAOs perform their official operations onchain but there’s a lot of soft operations that happen on twitter, discord, telegram, etc. frames allow users to bring fragmented and varied DAO operations together for a potentially more seamless experience. which is why Tally is pioneering a new proposal for complete DAO Governance on Warpcast utilizing Frames called DelegateKit.

From the DelegateKit proposal:

DelegateKit enhances Optimism governance through integration with the Farcaster Social Graph, aiming to position Farcaster as the hub of DAO participation. It offers gas-less delegation, voting through frames, and NFT badges for on-chain reputation. Utilizing Optimism Governance smart contracts, DelegateKit allows for seamless interaction within the DAO, enabling delegates to campaign and voters to participate without gas fees.
Features include gasless voting from Farcaster, interactive social frames for delegates, analytics on engagement, and realtime updates on proposals. Stretch goals include proposal-specific channels for organized discussion.
DelegateKit is a combination of account abstraction enabled smart contracts and the Farcaster Social Graph. DelegateKit aims to simplify governance participation across the Superchain ecosystem and leverage Farcaster's social toolset for a transparent and accessible governance experience. We believe this project is an ideal match for this mission proposal as it addresses all the core asks in the proposal request:
DelegateKit integrates Farcaster social data to enrich the delegate discovery experience.

the Farcaster stack provides an exciting opportunity to elevate the onchain experience: less platform fragmentation, decreased platform lock in, and more intuitive workflows. Frames are the first step in allowing users & organizations to build primitives decoupled from the monetary incentives of the infrastructure provider. Warpcast puts the power back in the hands of the users.

Tally is excited to build the foundation for governance participation on Warpcast & Frame support is just the beginning. which is why in addition to the DelegateKit proposal, Tally created a $500 USDC bounty for five builders to create frames using the Tally API.

Tally’s first frames support feature is live, check it out here.