The Earthlings Treasury

Key characteristics:

• governance exclusively through voting in the DAO Assembly;
• operations on the people's wallets are visible in the distributed ledger, and fiat operations are published in the treasury's reporting;
• automatic execution of decisions as and when smart contracts are deployed;
• administrative rights kept to a minimum and, after the keys are handed over, distributed among elected signatories and exercised through a timelock (see the box below);
• public reporting in real time.

• Funding projects - support for initiatives in furtherance of the people's aims
• Developing the platform - technical infrastructure and its improvement
• Educational programmes - opportunities for participants to learn and develop
• Humanitarian aid - emergency support and social initiatives
• Reserving funds - a financial buffer for crises

Transparency. Any person can verify the movement of funds on the people's wallets in real time, without our involvement; fiat operations go through the banking channels of the instrument legal entity and are published in the treasury's reporting.

Democracy. All decisions on the allocation of funds are taken by a vote of the DAO Assembly on the principle of "one person, one vote". The weight of a vote does not, under any circumstances, depend on the amount of funds paid in.

Autonomy. As and when they are deployed, smart contracts execute decisions automatically, which leaves less room for manipulation and discretionary control.

Accountability. Every funded project publishes reports on how its funds were spent at the end of each stage.

A person's contribution may be made by another person or by the Treasury rather than by that person. There is no exemption from the contribution: it is always paid in full; all that changes is who pays.

An open queue. A person who cannot make the contribution themselves joins an open queue by a single action. Neither an application, nor proof, nor an explanation of reasons is required of them, and none may be required. Only the sequence number and the date of joining the queue are published; no information about the person is published in it.

Order of payment. Payment is made for whoever is at the head of the queue. A particular person cannot be chosen: being able to choose creates relationships of patronage incompatible with the equality of participants. The payer is not told whom they paid for; the person paid for is not told who paid for them.

Equality of passports. The registry does not record who made a contribution. A passport paid for by another person is in no way different from any other, and payment for another person entails no consequences for status, vote, or participation.

Who may pay. Any person, whether or not they belong to the Earthlings people. The payer's name is published if they so choose; anonymous payment is permitted.

The Treasury as payer. The Assembly is entitled to set a share of incoming contributions to be directed to paying for those in the queue. The share is published, applied automatically, and changed by decision of the Assembly. Until a share is set, places in the queue are paid for only by people.

Reporting. The length of the queue, the number of contributions paid in a period, and the amount the Treasury has directed to this purpose are published. Information that could identify those in the queue is never published.

Any earthling may make a voluntary contribution at any time - in the unit of account, in cryptocurrency, or in fiat through approved partner channels.

The Treasury may accept grants and donations from external organizations subject to the following conditions:

• Transparency of source - information about the donor is published unless they have chosen to remain anonymous; where a donation is anonymous, the fact of receipt and the amount are published without identifying the source;
• No conditions - grants must contain no conditions contrary to the principles of the people;
• No influence - donors receive neither a vote nor influence over the decisions of the DAO. The size of a donation gives nothing beyond thanks.

Part of the funds will come from the controlled issuance of the unit of account under the model the DAO Assembly approves; today the unit has not been issued: the economy of participation is kept in the platform's internal accounting (the document "Earthlings Coin", section 8). The details are in a separate document.

• issuance will be governed by transparent rules written into a smart contract;
• changing the rules requires a qualified majority;
• funds from issuance go directly to the Treasury;
• issuance is subject to public audit.

5 per cent of a Cell's profit will go to the Treasury; the procedure for accounting for a Cell's profit and the procedure for the transfer are set by a decision of the DAO Assembly, and today there is neither (the document "Where We Are Now").

• transfers are made through smart contracts as and when they are deployed;
• the calculation is transparent and verifiable;
• funds arrive directly, without intermediaries;
• the transfer may be made in the unit of account, in fiat, or in stablecoins.

Use: common infrastructure, educational initiatives, help for new Cells, the strategic aims of the people.

The DAO Assembly may approve additional sources subject to transparency and independence: income from paid platform services, technology licensing, returns from successful funded projects, and other sources by decision of a qualified majority.

The annual budget is allocated across five categories. The proportions are changed only by a qualified majority of the DAO Assembly.

When several projects have passed the approval threshold but the category does not have enough funds for all of them, the order of funding is determined as follows (Charter, Article 11):

1. Every earthling marks all the projects they consider worth funding - whether just one or all of them. The number of marks is not limited and costs nothing.
2. The number of marks for each project is counted.
3. Projects are funded in descending order of the number of marks until the category's annual limit is exhausted.
4. Projects that receive no funding in the current cycle retain their approval and take part in the next allocation without a further vote.

Allocation by support is used for distributing funds quarterly among competing projects, for grant programmes with many applications, and for prioritizing areas of development.

The reserve fund is formed from the share of the annual budget allocated to it. Its funds are used only in emergencies with the approval of a qualified majority of the DAO Assembly:

• covering technical failures and critical errors;
• protection against volatility;
• emergency support in cases of force majeure;
• legal defence of the people.

The target size is the equivalent of the annual budget. Once the threshold is reached, additional receipts are allocated across the main categories.

The DAO Assembly is the sole body governing the Treasury. All decisions on the allocation of funds, on changing the rules, and on strategic development are taken exclusively by its vote.

One person, one vote. The weight of a vote does not depend on the amount of funds paid in, on reputation, or on length of participation.

Reputation is a record, for reference only, of an earthling's participation in the work of the people. It confers no rights at all: the weight of a vote does not depend on it (Article 12), it does not give access to funding and does not change the order of priority.

Factors: successful delivery of funded projects, work contributed to the development of the community, the quality of proposals, assessments by other participants. Taking part in votes is not a factor: whether a particular person took part in a vote is not published (Charter, Article 6).

Use: reference information when choosing a delegate; a chronological feed of proposals, in which the author's reputation does not affect a proposal's place, with filtering by reputation available as a viewing mode that each person switches on for themselves.

Earthlings may voluntarily transfer their vote in a particular area to another participant. The rules are set out in Article 7 of the Charter and are reproduced here:

• by area only - a subject category or a particular Cell; delegating across all questions at once is impossible;
• no self-delegation and no chains - checked technically;
• a ceiling - 5 per cent of participants, but no fewer than 10 delegators;
• one active delegation per area;
• revocation at any time - in one step, without giving reasons and without the consent of the person the vote was given to;
• any earthling may be a delegate - reputation neither qualifies nor disqualifies anyone for this;
• transferred votes cast by a delegate are public; who transferred a vote to a delegate is not published.

Delegation does not apply in votes on amending the Charter and the basic Treasury rules, on funding above 100,000 EC, on forming the Emergency Multisig, on restricting powers, on suspending the right to vote, on annulling the issuance of a passport, and on changing the unamendable principles. Delegation is gratuitous: payment for it, for keeping it, or for revoking it is deemed to be buying or selling a vote (Charter, Article 7).

Delegation creates no additional influence: one delegated vote equals one vote, and delegation creates no office.

The threshold amounts in EC are set by decision of the DAO Assembly and are changed without amending the Charter; the values given are those in force when this document was adopted.

Mandatory recusal. An earthling does not take part in a vote on the allocation of funds if they are the applicant or a co-author of the application, are part of the project team, are closely related to the applicant, or have contractual obligations towards them that provide for remuneration. The list is exhaustive; the procedure for declaring recusal is set out in the Charter, Article 16.

There are no other grounds for excluding a vote: an earthling's vote is not excluded from the count by decision of a majority.

Disclosure of connections. When submitting an application, the initiator is obliged to name all participants connected with the project. This information is published together with the application.

Openness. In votes on the allocation of funds, the applications, the discussion, the outcome, and the movement of funds are open; a personal vote is secret, as in all votes (Charter, Article 6). Where common money is at stake, mutual oversight rests on the openness of applications, outcomes, and spending, not on the visibility of other people's votes.

Stage 1. Submission. Any earthling submits a funding proposal. Neither prior approval nor a threshold of support is required. The application contains a description, aims, budget, plan, the participants involved, and success metrics. The proposal is published for open discussion.

Stage 2. Discussion. On the timings of Article 15: 14 days; 21 days for projects above 100,000 EC; 3 days for projects up to and including 1,000 EC. Questions to the authors, feedback, and an opportunity to revise the proposal.

Stage 3. Voting. Under the periods and thresholds of Article 15. Every earthling has one vote. Results are recorded publicly.

Stage 4. Delivery. On approval, funds are released automatically as and when smart contracts are deployed. Funding may be staged. Public reporting is mandatory at each stage.

Projects with a budget above 25,000 EC are funded in stages: 30 per cent on approval, 40 per cent on reaching intermediate goals, and 30 per cent on successful completion.

Moving to the next stage requires a public report on the completion of the previous one, confirmation that the goals were reached, and approval by a simple majority of the DAO Assembly.

If a stage is not completed, funding stops and unused funds are returned to the Treasury.

The Assembly comprises all verified Earthlings and is the sole body that takes decisions on the Treasury.

Powers: approving projects and grants; changing budget proportions; approving the annual budget; forming the Core Nodes and the Emergency Multisig; changing the rules for governing the Treasury; strategic decisions.

Operations are built on smart contracts. Deployment is staged; as of today none of them is deployed:

• Treasury Contract - holding and allocating funds;
• Voting Contract - organizing and counting votes;
• Project Funding Contract - automatic release of funds on approval;
• Reserve Fund Contract - managing reserves.

Rules for all contracts: an independent security audit before operations are expanded; open-source publication as and when contracts are deployed; changes only by a qualified majority; publication on the blockchain for verification.

A group of up to 6 technical specialists elected by the DAO Assembly to keep the platform and infrastructure running. They perform strictly technical functions and have no decision-making powers.

Functions: maintenance of the platform and infrastructure; cybersecurity; technical support for votes; audit and monitoring of smart contracts; fixing technical failures; technical administration of communication tools.

Prohibited: taking decisions on behalf of the people; blocking participants for the content of what they say; managing finances or influencing the allocation of funds; holding special weight in votes; interfering with the content of discussions - a technical restriction is possible only during attacks such as spam bots or DDoS. For the signatories of the treasury multisignature, a signature on a transaction approved by the Assembly is technical execution, not managing finances: a signatory is not entitled to refuse it on the merits of the decision.

Formation and control:

• election by a DAO vote with a simple majority (51%, quorum 20%);
• rotation every 6 months;
• recall by a simple majority (51%, quorum 20%) at any time, without giving reasons;
• mandatory monthly public reporting.

A multisignature wallet of six participants for urgent technical operations in critical situations. A composition of fewer than six is not permitted: with a smaller composition the five-sixths share rounds up to the whole composition, and a single unavailable key would block any contract upgrade (Charter, Article 3).

Powers are strictly limited: suspending smart contracts in the event of critical vulnerabilities; emergency measures during cyberattacks; urgent technical fixes; emergency funding of up to 5,000 EC in cases of force majeure, with mandatory subsequent confirmation by the DAO.

Control:

• a 24-hour timelock on all transactions except responses to an active attack and the suspension of vulnerable smart contracts in the event of a critical vulnerability;
• all actions are publicly visible in real time;
• a mandatory public report within 48 hours;
• the DAO may reverse any action by a simple majority;
• every action is confirmed by the Assembly within 7 days or is reversed.

Formation: election by a simple majority of the DAO; rotation every 12 months, with at least two of its members replaced; recall by a simple majority at any time.

No reputational requirements are set for nomination: the choice is made by the Assembly.

By decision of the DAO Assembly, a legal entity may be established to act as the implementer of technical development and to conclude agreements with outside contractors.

Current status: not established; it will be created as needed under this Article.

Such an entity is an instrument of execution and is separate from the elected technical coordinators, the Core Nodes: it confers no corporate or financial powers on the coordinators.

Functions: concluding contracts with contractors; coordinating the work of outside specialists; ensuring the legal validity of contractual relations; administering payments in accordance with approved budgets; quality control of the work.

Funding - exclusively from the "Platform" category.

Reporting: publication of all contracts concluded; a public register of contractors and work performed; transparency of all transactions.

The implementer takes no decisions on behalf of the people; its functions are limited to technical implementation.

The Treasury's reserves are formed from external assets:

• 60-80% - stablecoins;
• 20-40% - the largest cryptocurrencies, used as a long-term store of value.

Changing the proportions requires a qualified majority of the DAO Assembly.

• volatility - reduced by the composition of reserves and by the reserve fund;
• counterparty risk - reduced by working with proven protocols and venues;
• liquidity - part of the reserves is held in highly liquid forms.

Smart-contract exploits; loss of funds through technical errors; risks of the external protocols in which funds are placed.

Transparency - all agreements are published. Independence - partners gain no influence over the decisions of the DAO. Alignment with values - partners share the principles of the Declaration. Mutual benefit. No exclusivity - the Treasury enters into no exclusive agreements.

1. Publication of the offer - the grantor, the amount, the conditions.
2. Verification. The background of the grantor and the conditions of the grant are examined by an open working group whose composition is not limited; where the Independent Council has been formed, it is entitled to publish its own opinion. Neither the group nor the Council takes decisions, and neither can block acceptance of a grant.
3. Discussion - 14 days to assess possible conflicts of interest.
4. Voting - 7 days, simple majority.
5. Public acceptance - funds are credited with full transparency as to source.

It is prohibited to accept grants from organizations connected with arms production or with military operations; from companies with proven human rights violations; from entities financing political parties and campaigns; from sources whose funds are of opaque origin.

Funding is divided in proportion to what each party puts in; governance is exercised on an equal footing; results remain openly accessible; each party retains independence in taking decisions; the agreement may be terminated by either party on 30 days' notice.

It is prohibited to fund projects connected with:

• the production or distribution of weapons;
• financing military conflicts or terrorist organizations;
• violation of human rights or discrimination;
• exploitation of child labour or any harm to children;
• activity that is unlawful under the law of the place where it is carried on;
• environmental damage;
• participation in political struggle and influence on elections;
• fraud or pyramid schemes;
• the spread of disinformation or hate propaganda.

A breach is a ground for withdrawing funding from the project under Article 22 of the Charter.

• one project - no more than 10 per cent of the category's annual budget;
• one Cell - no more than 3 active projects at the same time;
• one earthling - no more than 2 active projects in which they are the applicant or the person responsible for reporting.

Exceptions are possible only in special circumstances and with the approval of a qualified majority of the DAO.

Measurements of the common will (Article 8 bis of the Charter) are maintained by the treasury of the people. No charge is ever made for taking part in a measurement: the contribution on joining covers identity verification and the issuance of a passport, not participation in votes.

A measurement is not conducted for a client's fee - not for a state, not for a company, not for a foundation, not for any other association. Commissioned questions, priority in the queue in return for money, and paid-for wording are excluded.

Earmarked funding for a particular question is not accepted, including a gift without conditions received for a particular question. Such receipts are either credited to the common treasury without any tie to the question, or returned.

The costs of measurements are published as a separate line in the accounts of the treasury.

Rationale: an assessment paid for by the party being assessed loses its credibility regardless of the honesty of those who carry it out - what destroys it is the direction of the flow of money, not ill intent. Separating the money from the question removes external pressure; it does not protect against internal pressure, and that is what the rules for forming a question in Article 8 bis of the Charter are for.

If the value of reserves falls by more than half or liquidity is lost, the DAO may take emergency measures: temporary suspension of new projects; a temporary change of budget proportions; drawing on the reserve fund; reduction of the budgets of active projects with the consent of the teams; temporary paid services to replenish funds.

All emergency measures require a qualified majority and last no more than 90 days; they may be extended by the same procedure.

In the event of an exploit, a security breach, or loss of access to funds: immediate suspension through the Emergency Multisig; a damage assessment report within 6 hours; a recovery plan within 24 hours; an emergency DAO vote within 48 hours; use of the reserve fund if necessary; a public analysis of the causes and of preventive measures.

In the event of asset freezes, lawsuits, or prohibitions: distribution of funds across several jurisdictions; use of part of the reserve fund for legal defence; creation of backup instrument legal entities; informing the public about the situation; coordination with other organizations.

Actions in the legal sphere taken at short notice are performed under a protective legal mandate, granted and revoked by the Assembly by a simple majority (Charter, Article 33).

The principle of resilience: the Treasury is designed to keep working when some of its assets are frozen or prohibitions apply in particular jurisdictions.

The Treasury publishes a quarterly financial report and an annual summary report, available to all.

Financial metrics: the total size of the Treasury; the actual allocation across categories; the size of the reserve fund; the composition of reserves.

Project metrics: the number of projects approved and successfully delivered; the share of stages completed on time.

Participation metrics: the share of those who took part in votes; the share of votes in which the quorum was reached; the number of new proposals; delegation activity.

Sustainability metrics: change in the size of the fund over the period; volatility of reserves; the environmental footprint of funded projects.

The financial part of the annual report is generated automatically from public records and requires no interpretation by anyone: any participant can reproduce it themselves.

The analytical part - an assessment of whether aims were achieved and of the effectiveness of governance, together with recommendations - is prepared by the Independent Council as part of its annual report on the state of the people (Charter, Article 4). Until the Council is formed, the analytical part may be prepared by an open working group; its conclusions are advisory.

The Core Nodes are not involved in preparing Treasury reporting: their functions are limited to technical ones, and assessing the spending of funds is not a technical function.

The values given are benchmarks for assessment, not obligations of the people to anyone.

The document is amended only by a vote of the DAO Assembly: a proposal may be submitted by any earthling; an amendment enters into force 7 days after approval. The periods of discussion, the threshold and the quorum depend on the type of amendment and are set out in Article 39. That is how the document is amended after the Declaration is adopted; during the founding period amendments are made under the procedure set out in the document "The Founding Period" (Part 2, section 2).

An amendment contradicting the Charter is not to be put to a vote, and if adopted has no force.

The following are not changed even by a qualified majority:

• governance of the Treasury exclusively through the DAO Assembly;
• one person, one vote in taking any financial decision, including the allocation of funds among projects; no mechanism may allow one participant to cast more weight in a single decision than another;
• transparency of all financial transactions of the Treasury;
• the prohibition on funding what the unamendable core of the Declaration forbids: violence and armed structures, participation in political struggle and electoral campaigns (Article 5), and the destruction of the conditions for the existence of life (Article 3); the remaining prohibitions of Article 30 are basic rules of the Treasury and are changed under the procedure of Article 39;
• the technical and service character of the Core Nodes and the Emergency Multisig;
• the independence of the vote from the amount of funds paid in.

What is listed here is the operational expression of the unamendable core of the Declaration and of Article 37 of the Charter; it cannot narrow that core and is construed only in its favour.