---
title: 5.2 Sputnik V2 and Astro DAO on NEAR
description: Sputnik and Astro and developing robust DAO infrastructure on NEAR
---

# 5.2 Sputnik V2 and Astro DAO on NEAR

Sputnik V2 and Astro DAO refer to NEAR DAO tooling logic, deployed exclusively on NEAR’s native network (not Aurora). In the context of the emergence of DAO’s, Sputnik and Astro represent the future potential for developing robust DAO infrastructure on NEAR to power decentralized governance across verticals in the future. 

However, we are only at the very beginning of this paradigm shift: DAOs and OOs (on-chain organizations) are extremely immature - with the tooling running just slightly ahead. The goal of this lecture is to break down what is Sputnik V2, how Astro DAO improves upon Sputnik V2, and what remains to be done in terms of DAO tooling on NEAR - looking forward to the future. 

## Context and Possibilities



![](@site/static/img/bootcamp/mod-em-5.2.1.png)


From the outset, one of the most difficult things concerning DAO tooling, is the massive scope of potential applications for DAOs. In short, _"How do we approach the logic of decentralized autonomous organizations when the very scope and nature of a DAO is rapidly expanding and changing?”_

On NEAR, Illia has designed a very robust logic for DAO tooling that is unique to the NEAR Ecosystem. This tooling logic is known as Sputnik, and in April of 2021, Sputnik V2 launched with a number of highly innovative features. Sputnik V2 was then used as the basis for creating a more simplified and user-friendly tool for anyone to make use of - this tool was known as Astro DAO. In its current form, Astro DAO has been kept inside of Pagoda, and is not spinning out as its own product - meaning the playing field is wide open for disruption and innovation in NEAR specifically. 

## Sputnik V2: Logic and Possibilities 

The core logic of Sputnik V2 centers upon the idea of proposal kinds and actions. That is to say, types of proposals that a user could put forward, and a set of actions that a user may be allowed to take, in relation to a proposal. A user’s permission is the combination of the type of proposal kind, and the action that a particular user is allowed to take. This is the basis for different ‘Roles’ among different participants: 



![](@site/static/img/bootcamp/mod-em-5.2.2.png)

In terms of what kind of proposal kinds exist, and what actions can be taken, Sputnik is built [around the following logic](https://github.com/near-daos/sputnik-dao-contract): 



![](@site/static/img/bootcamp/mod-em-5.2.3.png)
![](@site/static/img/bootcamp/mod-em-5.2.4.png)


This essentially means the following: 



* A role is structured around:
    * The kinds of proposals a user has permissions to create. 
    * The types of actions a user has permission to take, for a specific proposal kind. 

Mathematically, this means the following: 



![](@site/static/img/bootcamp/mod-em-5.2.5.png)


In its most broad and expansive form, Sputnik V2 is designed to accommodate up to 3,432 possible roles. 

Beyond the permissions for specific types of users, Sputnik is also built to provide specific vote policies for users: 

This can be done in two ways (or a combination of both): 



1. By token weight - meaning the passage of a proposal by users with the acceptable role is done by the weight of the amount of tokens each user votes with. And notably this is not limited strictly to NEAR Tokens, but could be set as a combination of any NEP-141 tokens. 
2. By role weight - meaning members vote from the role they possess, with each role having 1 vote. 

On top of these parameters, the DAO must also decide on the quorum threshold - or how much vote is needed to be accumulated for a policy to pass. A bond amount for posting a proposal, and a proposal period, for how long the proposal is considered for. 



![](@site/static/img/bootcamp/mod-em-5.2.6.png)

Altogether, Sputnik is extremely modular insofar as it allows any creator to create an on-chain organization around different permissions for users to put forward types of proposals, actions to vote on proposals, and policies for deciding how voting is done. Interestingly, the _FunctionCall_ proposal-kind is extremely broad insofar as virtually any type of action leveraging smart-contracts on NEAR can be leveraged within a DAO to be done by the DAO as a whole. 

## Astro DAO

With Sputnik V2 NEAR launched an exceptionally robust DAO tooling factory that needed to become more user-friendly in order to become operational. In 2021, Jordan was brought into Pagoda to launch Astro DAO, as a user-friendly platform for quickly and easily spinning up DAOs on NEAR using the Sputnik V2 logic. 


![](@site/static/img/bootcamp/mod-em-5.2.7.png)


The one significant innovation of Astro DAO - beyond a much improved UI/UX, is its communal _actions library._


![](@site/static/img/bootcamp/mod-em-5.2.8.png)


In short, anyone using Astro DAO can create a custom function call or proposal kind for their DAO, that can then be plugged into any other DAO on the platform. This represents a _significant_ opportunity for open-source collaboration, the development of library-specific verticals for different types of DAOs and OO’s. 



![](@site/static/img/bootcamp/mod-em-5-multiple.png)


## V3 and Unfinished Business

While Sputnik and Astro DAO represent monumental leaps forward for DAO tooling on NEAR (as compared to Sputnik V1), there remain a number of areas of development that would vastly improve DAOs on NEAR. Dubbed as Sputnik V3 these enhancements include: 

* **Granular Vote Policies For Specific Proposal Kinds:** Being able to set how certain types of proposals (i.e. adding a new member or allocating funds) has a different vote criteria from other proposals. 
* **Reputation and Proof of Humanity / Attestations:** Carrying over past user history from other engagements in the ecosystem (dApps, other DAOs, etc.)


![](@site/static/img/bootcamp/mod-em-5.2.9.png)


* **DAO Hierarchies and Inter-DAO Communication:** Being able to structure roles and actions more specifically within each DAO, and merging DAO decisions, such that if DAO _A _does X, DAO B can only do Y or Z. 
* **Configurable Tokens Based Actions to Include:**
    * **Staked / Delegated:** Stake for vote weight or delegate to certain accounts. 
    * **Bonding Curves:** Allowing proposals to remain open and evolving over time, based on staking, delegation to the proposal. 
    * **Fungible Token / Non-Fungible Token Dichotomy.** Allowing for NFTs to be utilized for access, and voting or a combination of both NFTs and FTs. 
    * **Legal Wrappers for DAO incorporation similar to the LAO.** Legal setup such that the DAO can be legally organized at the same time as when it is created on-chain. 

Most importantly, the takeaway here is that DAOs as a whole are in their infancy, and while much work remains to be done, there are a number of upgrades, iterations, and organizational opportunities for keen builders and ecosystem developers. The verdict is still very much out on which ecosystem has the best DAO tooling. 

## DAO Business Models and tokens

Importantly, DAO’s have struggled around business model design and monetization pathways. This is largely due to the fact that ‘tooling’ and ‘infrastructure’ is largely open-source or easily replicable. This presents a unique opportunity for an ecosystem as a whole to develop a strategy around building and offering subsidized or free DAO tooling and libraries for a robust DAO toolkit that any dApp or protocol could make use of. 

## The Opportunity Before Us For DAO Products

Looking ahead to the future, the opportunity in front of us for DAO products can be summarized as follows: Vertically, DAO tooling will become more complex, and more granular, while open-source libraries can become more rich and developed. Horizontally, DAOs will rapidly expand to encompass more and more industries - beyond the narrow scope of crypto-native treasuries, NFT communities, and protocols, eventually VC’s, investment funds, community organizations, legal organizations, and even national governments can be imagined to move on chain. 

## Future DAO Product Recommendations for NEAR Specifically

* **The Figma of DAOs.** A full proposal of this can be found [here](https://docs.google.com/document/d/17q8HSlSIYjVyxV1YeBX--0HkJbi4SYZeHPKmM2oYqcw/edit). In short, the idea is to create two interfaces for DAO tooling on NEAR: (1) The first, for developers and builders, is to create an extremely easy to user interface from which DAO creators can leverage plug-and-play actions from Astro and Sputnik to drag and drop DAO organizations into existence and in communication with one another. While some have dropped the idea of the ‘wordpress’ for DAOs, the complexity of the actions yet underlying logic is more similar to Figma. (2) Second, a clear pathway for users to spin-up different types of DAOs based on specific vertical needs: for Protocol Treasuries, for Investment DAOs, for Network States, and for NFT communities. In short, one click setup of pre-set DAO configurations. 
* **The Network State Spin-Up Structure.** Praxis, Afropolitan, Balaji and many, many others are pioneering a new future of start-up cities, network states, and break-away organizations that are seeking to create new polities fully on-chain. Not only is the narrative power around this movement fantastic, but there is serious capital, builder-interest, and growth potential of this vertical. NEAR would be very smart and forward looking to develop an easy to use, Network State pipeline / product, including legal wrappers, and national agreements to incentivize builders to create their network states of the future in the NEAR Ecosystem. Combined with products like Request Finance and Roketo, the idea of a startup-country can be practical and implemented within a couple of months. 
* **Custom Libraries for Specific Verticals.** The idea of building out the libraries of the future for DAO creators, centers upon expanding the limits of what developers and users believe to be possible. The roll-out of DAOs and OO’s is thus constrained by the roll-out and development of smart-contract logic on NEAR, as well as different combinations of products and tools that exist (for example, Croncat). As more products build on NEAR, more smart contracts are deployed, and more products are synthesized, and ever-increasing pool of potential use-cases emerges for DAOs on NEAR. In order to ‘Keep up’ with this innovation, there is a low-hanging fruit opportunity to establish a public good around DAO library improvement, maintenance and organization. 
