AMA on NEAR Governance Update

The Spaces focused on updates and discussions around the 'House of Stake' initiative organized by Lane Horse, who is overseeing the operations. Key points discussed include the progress of the House of Stake's entity formation, the transfer of treasury funds, and hiring of key roles. Lane shared updates about ongoing governance principles, university partnerships for academic research, and the development of AI tools for governance. Other topics included a proposal to reduce near protocol inflation by Hot Dow and the plans for upcoming events related to House of Stake, particularly around the community's participation and new initiatives.

Key Discussion Points from the Twitter Spaces Recording

General Updates

• Recurring Space Sessions: The space session is scheduled at the end of every month with Lane Horse from the House of Stake initiative. This session aims to provide updates and answer questions from the community.
• Recording and Transparency: The session is recorded, and Lane Horse is in charge of frequently updating the community through transparency updates on the Near Governance Forum.

House of Stake Developments

• Entity Formation and Treasury: Lane discussed the ongoing process of moving initial Treasury assets from the NDC Trust to the new House of Stake entity. This task has faced delays but is now progressing, with paperwork completed and vault accounts opened. The multi-sig setup involves entities like Near Foundation holding keys, and they aim to finalize these soon.
• Hiring for Key Roles: Four roles were announced: Head of Governance, Head of Product, Head of Community, and a Generalist/Chief of Staff. Lane encourages community involvement in recruitment, considering suggestions like community oversight in candidate selection.

Research and Governance

• Academic Partnership: An ongoing university research partnership aims to build the largest governance-focused dataset. This project is seen as a public good to advance blockchain governance and involves applied research and tooling development.
• Guiding Principles: Lane shares his personal beliefs and principles in a series of Substack articles, focusing on decentralized governance, transparency, and accountability.

AI and Governance Integration

• AI Development: Collaboration with Meta Pool to develop AI tooling for governance. This includes a governance copilot to assist in proposal evaluation and stakeholder decision-making. Independent work by team members to engage with various ecosystem partners for AI tool development.
• Role of Various Stakeholders: The collaboration involves Near Foundation, Near AI, and external partners, necessitating a centralized vision owner to maintain coherence across projects.

Community and Ecosystem Engagement

• Interaction with Validators: Lane discussed the ongoing vote on reducing inflation by 50%, initiated by Hot Dow. The decision process involves validator votes and a quorum requirement. Meta Pool is working on proposals to align incentives for validators and stakers.
• Community Proposals: Encouragement for community members to draft and prepare proposals for the House of Stake.

Future Events and Gatherings

• ETHCC and Beyond: A scheduled in-person meeting aligned with the ETHCC event, including workshops and trust-building exercises among stakeholders. The session emphasized transparency, promising to share notes and videos where applicable.
• Upcoming Near Events: The community is informed of future gatherings, possibly at events like DevConnect or alongside Solana events, with a major Near event expected in early next year.

This overview captures the essential points discussed in the session, providing a comprehensive summary of developments, plans, and community engagement in the ongoing governance and AI integration efforts with the House of Stake initiative.