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Nexus Mutual DAO

People join as members of the Nexus Mutual DAO and access the benefits of membership. Nexus Mutual is a member-driven protocol and DAO. People contribute to the protocol when they buy cover, underwrite risk, build risk management businesses, assess claims, or participate in governance.

Members who want to work to further the protocol's development, growth, awareness, or adoption can contribute to the DAO through a grant or a DAO team. Grants and teams are funded through the NMDP process; successful proposals receive funding from the DAO treasury (formerly referred to as the Community Fund).

People that contribute should help further the Nexus Mutual mission. Teams and contributors should share the Mutual's values.

Mission

Our mission is to build an ecosystem in which anyone can protect anyone else by sharing risk. We often refer to this as the global risk marketplace.

Values

Nexus Mutual members value:

  • Trust–our commitment to transparency and our track record for paying claims should speak for itself, as we know we earn trust through our actions.
  • Egalitarian–we are building an open protocol and DAO, so that protection is accessible by anyone.
  • Integrity–we engage honestly with one another, keep our word, and always choose the right decision even when it's difficult.

DAO treasury

The idea for the DAO treasury originated from a member's post on the forum. After the idea was discussed, Proposal #116 was voted on and passed by members to form a DAO treasury multisig and to mint 250,000 NXM for the treasury to use for grants.

Members decide what community projects and teams are funded from the treasury.

Multisig signers

The treasury multisig signers were decided through a Snapshot vote. The community voted for the following members to act as the treasury multisig participants:

The multisig signers will sign off on, but not decide, which proposals pass and do not pass. They will enact the will of the wider Nexus Mutual community who vote with their NXM.

DAO treasury addresses

The DAP Treasury consists of several Safes.

Contributing to the DAO

Members can contribute to the DAO in a variety of ways. Reviewing governance forum discussions, providing comments and feedback, and voting in governance is an important way all members can contribute.

Those who want to put their talents and skills to work for the DAO can create an NMDP to request a grant for a single-purpose project or another purpose. Any grant proposal should highlight how someone's work will benefit the growth and development of the Mutual. Learn more about the NMDP grant process on the Nexus Mutual DAO Proposals (NMDP) page.

Members can also contribute to an existing team or establish a new team that can serve the DAO for the long-term and provide a necessary function that is not being fulfilled within the DAO.

Before creating an NMDP team creation request, review the existing teams.

DAO teams

Currently, there are four DAO teams. These teams work on behalf of Nexus Mutual DAO members, and their funding is approved through the NMDP process. You can review the most recent DAO team funding proposal to learn about each team's priorities, duties, and more.

Community team

The Community team empowers members, staking pool managers, DAOs, and the broader ecosystem by providing educational resources and tools that promote growth in cover sales. They also design and manage communication channels to foster engagement and strengthen member retention.

This team plays a vital support role, assisting members with everyday inquiries as well as offering direct guidance during claim events. Through consistent communication, engagement, and reliable support, the Community team enhances the overall member experience and ensures better access to key resources.

This team was first established in 2021 and has since changed name and split into two separate teams (i.e., Community and Marketing).

Team members

Head of Community (FT). Sem is responsible for community management, content production and coordination across the social channels, including content delivery in targeted channels. She conducts regular research on ways to improve member experience within Discord, governance forum, etc. and provides supports to knowledge and project management.

  • Bio. Sem joined the Community team part-time in February 2022 and later transitioned to a full-time team member in June 2023. She has a background in freelance governance research, notably with reState Foundation on the Future of Governance Toolkit. Her career spans roles as a VC Associate focusing on emerging fintech, product management, organizational design consulting, and human-computer interaction research. Sem earned an MSc and BSc from the Technical University of Munich and is fluent in English, German, and Turkish.

Marketing team

The Marketing team is responsible for growing Nexus Mutual’s brand awareness, engaging target audiences, and driving new member growth. Their work includes planning and executing marketing campaigns, creating and distributing content, and managing the Mutual’s various marketing channels.

By promoting Nexus Mutual and reaching potential members globally, the team increases visibility and engagement. With a clear content strategy and data-driven performance metrics, they not only expand the Mutual’s reach but also provide the DAO with transparent measures of marketing impact.

Originally part of the Community team, the Marketing team has submitted a proposal to operate independently, recognizing the distinct goals and functions that set Marketing apart from Community efforts.

Team members

Director of Marketing (FT). Phil is responsible for creating content for the Nexus Mutual account, developing and implementing comprehensive social media strategies to increase brand awareness, engagement, and generate leads for our B2B and B2B2C products.

  • Bio. Phil joined Nexus Mutual in July 2024. He has 10 years of experience from startups to Fortune 1000 companies and a degree in Marketing. Prior to joining Nexus, he was the Content Communications Lead for Unstoppable Domains, a unicorn in the blockchain space. He got into crypto through NFTs at the end of 2020 and has never looked back.

R&D team

The R&D team tackles complex challenges within the protocol and broader ecosystem. Their goal is to decentralize problem-solving, foster transparency, and attract skilled members who are motivated to address difficult issues.

By staying aligned with Nexus Mutual’s mission and values, the team prioritizes thoughtful, sustainable solutions over quick fixes that could compromise long-term goals. They actively engage with members to collaboratively explore, critique, and solve problems, cultivating a community of capable and committed contributors.

Team members

Head of R&D (PT). Rei is responsible for leading projects, managing contributors, working with DAO and Foundation members to increase participation in research, analytics, protocol design and product design.

  • Bio. Rei has served as Head of R&D since Q1 2023. Began working on Nexus Mutual in May 2018 as the first full-time employee, covering economic design, legal set-up, actuarial modeling, documentation, and early business development. Advisory Board member since February 2020. Previously qualified as a UK actuary, held a variety of back-office and front-office corporate roles in reinsurance and brokerage.

Dune Wizard (FT). Tomasz is responsible for writing SQL queries in Dune, capturing accurate current and historic information across the Nexus Mutual smart contracts.

  • Bio. Tomasz is an experienced Data Engineer specializing in analytics engineering with a wealth of hands-on experience contributing to the Dune Spellbook repository. Proficient in SQL, dbt, and Python, with a keen ability to build robust analytics dashboards utilizing platforms like Dune Analytics and Power BI.

Product & Risk team

The Product & Risk team is responsible for enhancing existing cover products and creating new ones to boost sales, expand into new markets, and offer members robust protection against major on-chain and off-chain risks. They also provide support to both new and established syndicates and distributors building on top of the protocol. Additionally, the team researches emerging risks to develop comprehensive risk frameworks and pricing models.

Team members

Head of Product & Risk (FT). BraveNewDeFi leads research on emerging risks and conducts feasibility assessments for new cover products, including the development of cover wording. He oversees the product and cover listing process within Nexus Mutual and regularly evaluates new protocols for listings in the Nexus Mutual user interface. In collaboration with the Legal team, he helps draft cover wording, schedules, and annex documents to support product development and listings. Brave also monitors correlation levels across active covers and works with the Business Development team to track upcoming cover expirations, enabling proactive outreach and demand generation for newly available capacity. As part of his role, he collaborates closely with staking pool managers across the Nexus Mutual ecosystem and manages the Community Staking Pool. Additionally, BraveNewDeFi continues to serve as the primary point of contact during claim events.

  • Bio. BraveNewDeFi joined Nexus Mutual in 2021 after actively contributing to the DAO and helping establish the DAO teams model—a framework for onboarding and offboarding teams within the DAO. He launched the first DAO team, the Community team, and collaborated with other contributors to expand the team model to support the Mutual’s growth. Over the following three years, Brave applied his expertise in risk to develop a comprehensive DeFi risk and exploit database, which is now used internally to assess and price risk for both new and existing listings. In August 2024, after a year of involvement with the Product & Risk team, Brave was voted into the role of Head of Product & Risk.

DAO team funding

If the DAO team budget request proposals are approved by members through Snapshot governance, the DAO treasury sends funds to the team multisigs. With the NMDP 7: Q3 & Q4 2024 | DAO Teams Budget Request Proposal, members voted to streamline the payment process. All of the funding for DAO teams is held in the DAO teams multisig (formerly, the Community multisig) and payments are managed from that multisig.

The DAO teams have implemented an oversight process for any non-salary payment requests from the DAO teams multisig.

DAO teams (formerly, Community) multisig

The DAO teams Safe has a three-of-five (3/5) signing threshold.

DAO teams multisig signers

All signers are required to use a hardware wallet-secured address for their signing address.

  • BraveNewDeFi
  • Rei
  • Sem
  • Tomasz
  • Hugh

Past team funding proposals

Proposing a new team

Members who want to launch a new team can write and post a team creation request NMDP. They should include the following information.

Title. NMDP: [Concise title for proposal]. For example: NMDP: Create Merch team

Summary. Short summary, no more than 250 words, of your proposal.

Specification. The what and how of your proposal. What is the team and how does it add value to the DAO, benefit members, or improve the protocol?

Purpose. What broad purpose does your team serve?

How team aligns with DAO values, mission. How does your team help further the DAO's mission and align with the Mutual's values?

Priorities. What time-specific projects does your team plan to focus on over the next six months?

Ongoing responsibilities. What duties and responsibilities will your team have over time that are not specific to the next six months?

Team members. What are the roles within your team; who are the members; what is their background/biography; and what is the salary request for part-time or full-time contributors; what is the payment request for contractors?

Budget request. If funds are being requested, which should include salaries, payments, and any other costs, then a breakdown of resources and expenses with line-item requests for the next six months is required either in the main NMDP or a supplementary proposal.

Proposal status. Depending on what stage your proposal is in, you must include:

  • Stage. One of the following should be added: 1) Open for Comment, 2) Closed, 3) Open for voting, 4) Accepted, or 5) Rejected.
    • If you choose to conduct a signaling vote using Snapshot, please update status to Signaling Vote and link to that vote. Signaling votes can be used but are not required.
  • If it is in the Open for Vote stage, add the link to the Snapshot proposal

NMDP Template | Team creation requests

  • Title
    • Summary
    • Specification
      • Purpose
      • How team aligns with DAO values, mission
      • Priorities
      • Ongoing responsibilities
      • Team members
        • Description of role
        • Biography
        • Salary, Payment
      • Budget request
    • Proposal status

Requesting funding for an existing team

Established teams that are nearing the end of their funding period can write and post a team funding request NMDP. They should include the information included above, with the exception of the values/mission alignment, and the following:

Six-month performance review. Did your team deliver all of the priority projects and deliver value for the DAO and members? How did your team perform compared to the previous proposal?

NMDP Template | Team funding requests

  • Title
    • Summary
    • Specification
      • Purpose
      • Priorities
      • Ongoing responsibilities
      • Team members
        • Description of role
        • Biography
        • Salary, Payment
      • Budget request
      • Six-month performance review
  • Proposal status