Hi everyone, I’m James, Head of Impact at Octant. We’ve been running a grants program for public goods since 2023, with Shielded Voting by Shutter Network being a strong recipient. For the last 6 months, we’ve been focusing on Octant v2, which is an ecosystem growth engine designed to preserve principal capital. The protocol turns treasury value flows into programmable and sustainable funding for communities across web3. I’m excited to share this proposal in how the infrastructure we are building can support Shutter DAO 0x36!
I. Executive Summary
Shutter DAO 0x36 currently holds a significant amount of idle USDC, representing untapped potential to actively support and strengthen its ecosystem. This proposal outlines a structured pilot to transform idle treasury assets into a reliable source of Shutter DAO 0x36 ecosystem funding. By deploying capital into an Octant v2 ERC-4626 Vault, Shutter DAO 0x36 can securely generate yield that flows directly into community-controlled funding streams, empowering SHU holders to drive growth through recurring initiatives.
Key Highlights:
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Unlocking a sustainable funding source with a secure, audited & highly trusted yield generation strategy.
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Recurring funding for ecosystem-aligned initiatives. This includes marketing and communications, builders using the Shutter API, and encrypted mempool R&D across Ethereum L1, L2s, and Alt L1s.
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Empowers Shutter DAO 0x36 to grow its ecosystem while retaining full control, flexibility, and autonomy over its treasury.
II. Motivation and Context
Shutter DAO 0x36 has emphasized simplicity, security, and sustainability in conversations about activating its treasury. Community sentiment reflects a clear preference for straightforward, low-risk solutions that empower collective decision-making.
Shutter’s core infrastructure remains strong, but ecosystem activity around it has slowed with few external teams actively building on or marketing the Shutter stack. This pilot offers a timely opportunity to re-energize the ecosystem by activating the approximately $1.5M USDC currently sitting idle in the DAO’s treasury. By generating sustainable yield and routing capital into strategic initiatives, Shutter DAO 0x36 and Octant v2 can grow usage, raise visibility, and invite new contributors to participate in the DAO’s mission, while increasing the community’s ability to support projects that align with long-term goals.
III. Why Octant v2
Octant v2 is built to help DAOs like Shutter DAO 0x36 continually deliver tangible, measurable value to their ecosystem. Instead of simply holding capital, the DAO can actively fund projects and initiatives your community cares about most, all within secure, standardized infrastructure. Here’s specifically how Octant’s tools help your ecosystem thrive:
Automated Yield for Continuous Ecosystem Funding
Conventional yield-bearing solutions typically return generated yield directly back to depositors, with no built-in way to automatically support broader community goals. In contrast, Octant’s vaults automatically allow you to direct yield into a splitting contract or a specific funds allocation contract. Built on the secure and audited ERC-4626 standard, Octant’s infrastructure provides robust downside protection, ensuring your original deposits are always safeguarded and remain fully withdrawable. This combination of protected principal alongside automatic yield allocation, streamlines ecosystem funding without adding complexity.
Flexible and Responsive Funding Tools
Our allocation tools put your community in full control of how and where your funds are directed. Specifically designed to support community participation, the tools allow Shutter DAO 0x36 to easily run regular grant rounds where SHU holders directly propose, evaluate, and vote on projects and initiatives. This means your community can quickly and transparently fund developer grants, educational programs, technical infrastructure, or strategic partnerships based on collective priorities. Adjusting these allocations is straightforward, enabling your DAO to stay agile, responsive, and directly engaged in shaping your ecosystem’s growth.
Collaborative Impact Across Ethereum
Our motivation is to strengthen Ethereum and the builders who rely on it. Octant v2 lets DAOs direct yield to their own priorities through transparent, community-led rounds. This pilot applies that model within ShutterDAO 0x36, with 100% of The DAO’s yield allocated through approved programs.
Looking ahead, Octant v2 will include an optional module called the Ethereum Sustainability Fund (ESF). The ESF is a shared pool that aggregates voluntary contributions from aligned communities to support Ethereum-wide public goods and core infrastructure. It is not part of this pilot. If ShutterDAO chooses to explore it later, participation would be decided by a separate DAO vote that sets the contribution amount, asset, cadence, and the review or exit process. We mention it here for context and transparency about our longer-term intent.
IV. Proposed Operational Mechanics
In this diagram only yield moves; principal stays in the vault.
Step 1: Treasury Deposit & Yield Generation
We recommend Shutter DAO 0x36 to deposit $1,500,000 USDC into the audited Octant ERC-4626 Vault, configured with Morpho’s “Steakhouse” USDC yield strategy (rated A+ by Credora, ~4-6% APY). This strategy is one of Morpho’s highest-performing and most trusted USDC options. Although APY fluctuates, it has historically remained close to its current rate. It’s important to note that the yield strategy is external to Octant, and we cannot guarantee any specific APR.
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DAO maintains complete custody and can withdraw principal at any time.
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Octant does not take any fees.
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Yield generation is automatic, secure, and transparent.
Step 2: Yield Routing via the Payments Splitter
Once yield is generated in the Octant ERC-4626 Vault, it flows through the Payments Splitter—a configurable module that allows Shutter DAO 0x36 to define how that yield is distributed across multiple impact streams. This step is where your DAO translates passive yield into active capital for growth.
100% of yield will be sent to one or more pathways. Many options exist such as community grant rounds, direct builder or contributor payments, ecosystem partner collaborations, or payments for DAO operations. The configuration is fully customizable and can change as the DAO’s strategy evolves.
This setup can be adjusted by governance at any time. The Payment Splitter’s configuration is flexible: Shutter DAO 0x36 may choose to route yield into other modules in the future (e.g., Regen Staker for SHU stakers or direct allocations to specific multisigs), but this pilot keeps it minimal by design—focusing on core growth and ecosystem engagement.
Step 3: Community allocation via grant rounds
Once yield is routed, ShutterDAO 0x36 decides how those funds are used. We recommend a community grant round model where SHU holders stake tokens to participate, members managing round operations review proposals, and approved recipients receive routed yield based on how SHU stakers vote.
Any new grant cycle is initiated by a DAO proposal and vote. Round initiation follows Shutter’s existing governance (Snapshot or on-chain, per your norm). When approved, a defined portion of yield is directed into that round’s funding mechanism.
Participation requires locking SHU in the Regen App. The app records staked balances, which determine each member’s voting power proportional to the amount staked. Only actively staked SHU is eligible to vote unless the DAO sets an alternate whitelist in the round parameters. After voting ends, the Regen App triggers on-chain routing of the approved yield to the recipient projects and approved addresses.
By default, routed yield is paid only to approved projects or recipient addresses. Payments will be made in the vault underlying asset, USDC, unless a round explicitly specifies another asset and the DAO approves it.
Cadence and execution. We suggest two to four rounds per year depending on how large of a funding pool the DAO wants available. A simple cycle is: proposal window, community review, voting window, and payment execution. After voting concludes, funds are distributed to approved recipients automatically and all results are recorded on-chain.
Step 4: Pilot Evaluation and Iteration
Shutter DAO 0x36 can evaluate how effective the Octant v2 technology is at any point, though we recommend doing so after two full grant cycles. If rounds are held quarterly, this would align with roughly a six-month timeline. The cadence is entirely up to the DAO. Following the review, the DAO can vote to continue, refine the strategy (with support from Octant as needed), or fully withdraw its principal.
Step 5: Release Timeline
August 2025: Vaults in second audit.
Beginning of November 2025: Vaults deployed; Shutter DAO can begin depositing capital.
November–January 2025: Yield accrues (recommended) to seed a meaningful first round.
November 2025: Regen App target release to support SHU locking and voting.
Late 2025 / Early 2026: First community grant round(s).
Post-two rounds: Pilot evaluation and governance vote to continue, refine, or withdraw.
V. Custody & security
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DAO custody, always. ShutterDAO 0x36 retains ownership of principal at all times. All vault actions that move funds are gated by a DAO-controlled multisig.
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Suggested multisig setup. Use a Gnosis Safe. Recommended min of 3-of-5 signers. Signers need to be nominated and ratified by the DAO.
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Emergency unwind The DAO multisig may execute an emergency unwind to redeem external strategy positions back into the vault’s underlying asset (e.g., USDC) and pause further deployments. The multisig cannot transfer vault principal to external addresses without a subsequent on-chain DAO vote.
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Emergency steps. On trigger: (1) Safe executes unwind to redeem into the vault underlying; (2) pause automated distributions; (3) post an incident summary in the DAO forum with relevant tx hashes and next-step recommendations. Any re-deployment or transfer of principal requires an on-chain vote.
VI. Expected Outcomes
The pilot will demonstrate explicit, measurable benefits:
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Sustainable Funding: Activation of idle treasury capital into predictable yield (~$85,500 annualized).
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Enhanced Community Empowerment: Increased governance engagement and funded ecosystem projects.
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Spotlight Flywheel: Creates regular community visibility through public RFP’s, grant cycles, SHU locking, and dispersement, highlighting the DAO’s vision and attracting contributors.
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Future demand lever: An upcoming roadmap release of a “swapper” module will enable auto‑converting a configurable portion of distributed yield into SHU prior to allocation, complementing SHU locking for voting power, with the idea of increasing demand for SHU.
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SHU Utility Enhancement: Potential improvement in token utility and mechanics through:
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Governance participation via SHU locking mechanism
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Directing ecosystem funding into SHU-aligned initiatives
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VIII. Metrics and KPIs
This pilot is designed to test the sustainability, usability, and governance alignment of Octant v2 within the Shutter DAO 0x36 ecosystem. The following metrics are suggested starting points and can be refined collaboratively with the DAO:
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Capital Efficiency: Total yield generated over the pilot period, percentage of yield allocated vs. idle, and time-to-distribution from yield capture to funding execution.
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Community Participation: Number of SHU holders locking tokens in the Regen Vault, percentage of staked SHU relative to circulating supply, voter turnout in each grant round, and participation trends across rounds.
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Operational Efficiency: Ease of configuration, clarity of governance flows, time required to launch a round, and any friction reported during proposal submission, voting, or fund disbursement.
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Ecosystem Impact:
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Number of proposals submitted and number funded per round
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Quality and delivery of funded project outcomes (e.g. shipped features, integrations, open-source contributions)
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Adoption signals such as increased usage of the Shutter API, new builder or contributor engagement, and cross-ecosystem partnerships
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Qualitative community feedback gathered via retro reports or surveys to assess satisfaction and strategic alignment
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These metrics are intended to guide the DAO in evaluating the effectiveness of Octant v2 as a sustainable funding mechanism, and to support informed decisions at the end of the pilot.
IX. Seeking Feedback
We’re excited about the potential of this pilot to sustainably activate the Shutter DAO 0x36 treasury and support your community’s growth. To ensure we’re aligned, we’d appreciate your feedback on:
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The proposed amount and timing of the initial deposit.
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Your preferences around community governance for SHU-holder participation in grant rounds.
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Willing to go into further details about the Ethereum Sustainability Fund, if there is interest.
We look forward to your input to help finalize this proposal.