dYdX Operations subDAO Finance Update 2024

This is a breakdown of the full expenses for the 2nd mandate of the dYdX Operations subDAO and the calendar year 2024.

Summary of 2024 Spending

In 2024 the dYdX Operations subDAO (“Ops subDAO”) spent $4.75m with the top three spending categories as follows:

1. Indexer: 54% ($2.55m)
2. Independent Contractor Compensation: 15% ($730k)
3. Legal Expenses: 7% ($320k) 

The average monthly expenses of the Ops subDAO are approximately $400k, covering both the DOF (Digital Operations Foundation) and DOS (dYdX Operations Services Ltd.) operational costs.  

Indexer

As noted in previous financial updates, the indexer AWS cost exceeded the originally budgeted $2m for the entire term. With an additional 200k spent in January 2025, the Ops subDAO’s total indexer expenses have surpassed $3m, covering Imperator’s (the service provider) fees, ongoing monitoring and support from the service provider, compliance-related expenses, and AWS.

Independent Contractor Compensation

Since the start of 2024, the contributors working with the Ops subDAO have grown from three to seven contributors, adding;

• Community & Communications Lead;
• Tech Team Lead; 
• QA Engineer; and 
• Legal Counsel. 

The expansion of the team served two main purposes: (i) to create redundancy in the Ops subDAO, making it more resilient and less dependent on single contributors, and (ii) to further professionalize the Ops subDAO’s activities. In particular, the addition of a QA Engineer allows the Ops subDAO to extend its capabilities in an area where a lot of value can be brought to the dYdX Community overall.

Legal

Legal costs averaged approximately $25k per month. The spending covered the corporate structuring of the Ops subDAO, as well as legal and regulatory analysis to ensure our activities are and remain aligned with applicable requirements and regulations.

2nd Mandate

The expenses over the full mandate are very similarly distributed as during 2024:

1. Indexer: 48% ($2.9m) 
2. Independent Contractor Compensation: 15% ($830k)
3. Legal Expenses: 10% ($600k)
   

Overall, the Ops subDAO, effectively managed expenses, staying within the originally approved budget despite increased indexer costs and expanded responsibilities. Hence, the Ops subDAO was able to extend funds into the first months of the 3rd mandate.

For the 2nd mandate, the breakdown of the largest spending categories is similar to 2024, with legal expenses accounting for a slightly higher percentage. This is due to the higher initial legal costs for incorporation and setup.

DYDX incentives for contributors are not included in the compensation figures above. In total, 110,000 DYDX have been paid out to contributors during the 2nd mandate. 

Funding the First Quarter of 2025

With the remaining DYDX that stemmed from a price increase between the 2nd mandate proposal and the OTC transaction for securing the $6.4m USDC, we were able to finance the first couple of months of the 3rd mandate with another sale of 750k DYDX in December 2024 at 2.12 USDC/DYDX.