DeXe’s 2023 in Review: a Breakthrough Year
2023 was a historical year for DeXe since it was the year the DeXe Protocol was launched to the public, the first product launched on top of it, and the DeXe Protocol DAO released an updated whitepaper with a clear long-term vision not just for the Protocol but the entire DAO field.
Regardless of the state of the crypto market in general, 2023 marked a significant rise in interest in DAOs. The number of DAOs, number of active members, sizes of treasuries, and other indicators are all seeing systemic growth. This is a sign that this is only a beginning and that the DeXe Protocol and its contributors are moving in the right direction.
DeXe Protocol goes live
The public release of the DeXe Protocol was the biggest event for the entire DeXe community, an accomplishment years in the making and preceded by alpha and beta releases to wrinkle out the details and present to the public a well-functioning and secure product.
The official release took place on November 13th, 2023. The release was preceded by the launching of the redesigned logo and website, both reflecting the evolution of DeXe and underlining the grand vision of the Protocol’s path. The DeXe Protocol DAO also released an updated whitepaper, which combined the wisdom of DeXe contributors to chart a detailed mission and vision for both the Protocol and the DAO. Outlining Platonic Utopia on the blockchain, this whitepaper aims to become the foundational document for the next stage in the evolution of DAOs. Already, its principles are embedded in the DeXe Protocol and the DeXe Protocol DAO.
One of the principles of good DAO governance is to reward positive participation. With that in mind, DeXe Protocol DAO initiated an updated rewards program for loyal members of the community alongside the Protocol’s launch.
Building on the Protocol
Already, various teams are building on top of the DeXe Protocol. One of them, DeXe DAO Studio was released soon after the Protocol was deployed. As an app for convenient use of the Protocol for building and governing DAOs, the Studio opens up the full potential of the protocol to the entire pantheon of DAO communities. A number of DAOs are already using the Studio, taking advantage of the app’s friendly UX. This is a living testimonial to the Protocol being the right toolkit for forward-thinking DAOs.
DeXe Protocol DAO governance
The DeXe Protocol DAO is registered as a Swiss Association for off-chain execution of the decisions of the DAO (where necessary).
The Association is governed by 3 members of the DeXe Association Council appointed by the DAO.
The governance of the DAO itself is through the Protocol’s own smart contracts. It’s administered via the DeXe DAO Studio interface.
The Memorandum was passed outlining the steps to total decentralization of the DeXe Protocol DAO.
Security as the top priority
Security is particularly important in DeFi because of systematic, ever-evolving hacker attacks on DeFi protocols. As such, security is a top priority for the DeXe Protocol. We are actively working on ensuring the best security possible for the Protocol and any user assets interacting with it.
When Multichain suffered an attack, threatening the bridging of many tokens including DEXE, our contributors demonstrated decisiveness and skill in quickly preventing consequences. And then set up a Wormhole bridge connection for DEXE, which is a trusted bridging solution used by top DeFi protocols.
The entire code base of the DeXe Protocol underwent extensive security testing and auditing by DeXe DAO contributors. Additionally, the Protocol also went through 5 external security audits from Certik, Cyfrin, Hacken, and twice by Ambisafe. These audits looked at the Protocol’s smart contracts from all angles to find even the smallest vulnerability vectors. Having several expert security firms audit the Protocol allowed different teams of security experts to review the code at different stages through their unique skills and toolkits.
To ensure long-term systematic security testing from the best white hackers in the world, the DAO launched an open-ended bug bounty campaign on 3 different bounty platforms: HackenProof, Immunefi, and HatsFinance. The campaign is funded via a dedicated DAO with a 500,000 DEXE treasury. It will allow the Protocol to quickly react to new threats that may develop in the DeFi market in the near and far future.
The Protocol is also under the 24/7 additional step of protection of SphereX on-chain security that can revert transactions that don’t follow approved behavior patterns, thus pre-empting threats before they can affect any DAO built on DeXe.
Education as a Public Service
The mission of the DeXe Protocol DAO is not only to maintain and improve the Protocol itself but also to advocate for the adoption of better DAO governance. In that pursuit, we hosted many DAO Talk Twitter spaces with panels of guests from leading DAO projects. Together, we discussed each pressing issue of DAO governance (incentives, delegation, voting, etc.) and brainstormed improvements. We also hosted many spaces on DAO news, interesting proposals, and data — analyzing the DAO space in detail for more people to better understand and appreciate what goes on inside a DAO. Recordings of our spaces are available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify via this link.
The DeXe Protocol DAO also hosted and participated in a large number of activities to present DeXe’s solution to a mass audience. DAO contributors attended key conferences and a lot of side events like Token2049, ETHCC Paris, Devconnect, and more. There, they introduced the Protocol both on- and off-stage, and hosted workshops.
Many important partnerships were formed that will bring the DeXe way of DAO governance to many new communities. Among them is the partnership between the DeXe DAO Studio and RAKDAO — the crypto regulator in the UAE. That partnership resulted in the Studio becoming the official DAO-building partner of RAKDAO, which means many new DAOs built on top of the DeXe Protocol.
In conclusion
The year 2023 was certainly a year of achievements for DeXe and its every contributor. We extend a massive thanks to every contributor, community member, partner, and supporter of DeXe — the big success of 2023 is your success!
Lastly, we invite everyone to learn more about DeXe on the Website and the Whitepaper. 2024 is already shaping up to be a year of even more progress and achievements.
Stay tuned!
