Redacted Files #16
Welcome all to a special edition of Redacted Files, where we cover Metropolis and what they are building.
Let's get to it and learn about what's going on, and what's in store for Redacted and Metropolis
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The Metropolis team is changing the way on-chain organizations manage permissions. Using “pods”, which are a lightweight permissions wrapper around Safe multi-sigs, Metropolis is enabling dynamic signer management that is uniquely built for on-chain organizations.
A quick TLDR on Multi-sig wallets.
A multi-sig is almost like a shared account for on-chain activities. These shared accounts act a lot like your typical account on a blockchain – they can hold assets, take on-chain actions like providing liquidity, and are often granted unique permissions (like upgrading smart contracts).
What’s different about multi-sigs is every multi-sig has “signers”. In order to execute any transaction (like transferring assets, providing liquidity, or upgrading smart contracts, etc), a certain number of “signers” must approve. This stops individuals from making decisions that may not be agreed upon by the group.
Example:
A Safe has 7 members and requires 4 of 7 signers to approve transactions.
One of the members submits a transaction to the blockchain to initiate a transfer.
The other members now must either approve or reject the transaction.
In order for it to succeed, at least 3 of the remaining 6 members must approve the transaction.
Once the approval threshold is met, the process can be completed and the transaction executed.
This happens for each and every transaction made on the Safe.
This allows for groups of people to jointly manage high value resources in organizations (whether it be assets, permissions, or something else entirely). For this reason, multi-sigs are used by almost every organization in web3. Note that Safe is the most popular multi-sig wallet and the terms multi-sig and Safe are often used interchangeably.
Where does Metropolis fit in?
With multi-sig wallets being the base layer for on-chain organizations, creating processes for managing who is a signer on a given Safe is of utmost importance. That’s where Metropolis fits in.
Pods are the core product of Metropolis. Technically, pods are wrappers around Safe multi-sigs that support management of signers. In practice, pods create containers for securely managing on-chain permissions.
Pod Management
Pods utilize membership ERC-1155 NFTs to authorize access to the multi-sig. New members are added to a pod (and thus, added as signers on the underlying multi-sig) by minting a keycard NFT for them, and access can be revoked (removing a signer from the underlying multi-sig) by burning a member’s NFT.
These NFTs can be compared to key cards, where the multi-sig is like a room, with a lock on the door. In order to enter, the user needs to have the key card, in the form of having an NFT held in their wallet. If you have the key, you have access.
What’s exciting about pods isn’t just the membership NFT, it’s the “Manager” role. In a traditional Safe, adding and removing signers requires a transaction – which requires the approval threshold being met. With pods, a “Manager” can be assigned. The Manager has the ability to unilaterally add or remove signers (requiring no approval from other signers).
The “Manager Role” set of permissions:
Managers have unilateral rights to add and remove members of a pod, reducing the need to reach quorum and submit.
Pods can only have a single Manager, and in cases where no Manager is set, the pod would function the same as a regular safe stated above.
Managers can be assigned during the creation of a pod or anytime afterwards.
A pod can serve as the manager of another pod, allowing for a hierarchical structure if desired.
A smart contract can also serve as the manager of a pod.
ENS Names and Podarchy
Once a Safe has been “podified” the owners of the Safe will be prompted to give the Safe a name. This name is then registered with ENS. For example, If the team named the Pirex pod, Pirex, then pirex.pod.xyz would automatically be registered for that Safe. This means that as the multi-sig interacts with various protocols, it will come up as “pirex.pod.xyz” instead of the full safe address, making it easy to read and track across the ecosystem.
In addition to owning the ENS name, this pod also has a custom spatial interface – called the “podarchy” – which serves almost as a homepage for that pod. Here, you can find detailed information about a given pod – including everything from current signers and proposals, to financial data. You can explore the Redacted podarchy at: https://pod.xyz/podarchy/redacted-emergency.
Redacted and Metropolis
Moving toward a more decentralized entity is very important for Redacted and the team. As we decentralize, our pod structure will too.
One of the most exciting features of pods is the ability to delegate the “Manager” role (which can unilaterally add or remove signers) to a smart contract. This means it is possible for the holders of BTRFLY and rlBTRFLY to vote in signers to the pod, effectively giving the community a say in who sits on Redacted pods moving forward. Much like the Strategic Asset Committee has contributors that were voted in by the DAO, they would oversee and relay information, acting as a conduit between the team and DAO. This is a path that we’re excited to explore over time as we decentralize.
To hear all about the upcoming integrations, please visit the Redacted Official YouTube and listen in to the Community Call where Metropolis team members Dan, Chase, and Julz joined the core team and shared lots of insight and information about what they are building, and how it will improve upon what Redacted is currently doing, as well as what's coming up in the future.
Interview Questions:
In 1 sentence, describe Metropolis.
Metropolis builds pods, which protect on-chain permissions.
How does this make the process more decentralized?
When we think about permissions, that can include anything from the ability to transfer USDC for payroll or the ability to upgrade a smart contract on the protocol. Often these types of permissions sit in a multi-sig (delegating these types of powers to an individual is often not best practice for security reasons). If you’re going to delegate these permissions, though, you need an accountability mechanism for properly decentralizing that authority. Pods provide that accountability system by creating a structure for adding and removing signers on a given multi-sig.
Who have you integrated with?
The beauty of pods is they’re built on top of Safe, so pods leverage all the amazing features and integrations that have already been created for the Safe ecosystem. We also leverage ERC-1155s for our membership NFTs, so anything you’d want to do with a traditional 1155 (like perhaps token-gating a chat), you can do with pods. And we also have custom integrations with tooling partners like Snapshot, Tally, and Parcel.
How has the greater crypto community perceived the Pods system?
We’re proud to work with some of the most exciting DAOs, including Redacted (of course), but also orgs like ENS and Pleasr. Over the past year or so, we’ve definitely seen governance become more pod-oriented – and we’re excited to continue supporting communities building and protecting value across the ecosystem.
Are the membership NFTs soulbound? Or can they be transferred?
The protocol allows for membership NFTs to be either transferable or non-transferable – that’s a decision that can be made by the pod itself.
Assuming large adoption of Metropolis, what do you think success looks like?
An ecosystem of interoperable pods that creates a shared language of organizational permissions.
Is there any DAO tooling that you feel would also add to the Redacted Ecosystem?
We’re excited about combining pods with other projects within the Safe ecosystem – using things like Zodiac Scope Guard in combination with pods to create really robust, very secure permissioning systems.
What makes you bullish today?
It sounds cliche, but continuing to build in a bear is bullish. As an industry, we’ve spent the last couple of years experimenting and exploring what’s possible. We’re excited to see the fruits of that labor come to being as we apply those learnings and push forward. It’s exciting to feel like the signal is getting stronger and the noise is getting weaker.
Any future alpha you can tease for the readers?
Of course! We’ve been heads-down working on what we call the “podarchy” – which visualizes an organization’s pod structure in a spacial interface. We’ve got some really cool new features coming out – which will allow anyone to dig into the finances, permissions, and membership of an organization. We think making these things legible is one of the most important ways we can create better standards across the ecosystem.
Important Links - 🐛♻🦋
Contributors: EthHunter, Molecul, Kolten
“Time Flies In BTRFLY”