0x7bc48221…3332sent to0xf790a5f5…1365·#22,516,552·view on Etherscan
# Should Nouns DAO Explore Escrowed Milestones?
**With the treasury declining and each funding decision carrying more weight, how can Nouns DAO continue to back ambitious ideas while minimising risk?**
## tl;dr
This post proposes starting a discussion about adding milestone-based escrow proposals as an additional proposal option. This would allow Nouns oversight over proposal progress and keep proposers accountable to their deliverables without requiring a high-trust environment.
## Background
We have seen Nouns DAO experimenting to achieve sustainability by funding a variety of for profit and public goods initiatives. But as treasury pressure increases, the cost of underperforming proposals becomes more acute. This is an issue Nouns has been facing for years. Today, the DAO has two main tools for disbursing funds: direct sends and Streams.
While Streams introduce flexibility, they also introduce risk. If a project underdelivers, the DAO must act quickly to cancel. This is easier said than done. In other words, Nouns currently lacks the tools to appropriately address proposal risks. Both send proposals and Streams follow an optimistic approach that lacks the teeth to instill accountability in the proposers. Without escrowed milestones, the DAO is left vulnerable to rogue proposals. While the DAO deliberates and coordinates whether to cancel a stream, the DAO is bleeding funds.
Recent proposals like Prop 711 and Flows highlight the need for appropriate tooling. In both, community members asked: *Why not escrow milestones?* Why not let proposers unlock funds **after** proving work has been completed?
- Cancelling Prop 711’s Stream ([https://www.nouns.camp/proposals/766](https://www.nouns.camp/proposals/766))
- bixbite.eth says: “Also, other DAOS release payments in **milestones** where someone reviews the progress for completion before releasing future payments, so it's not that crazy of a concept to have a bit of oversight on things” ([https://www.nouns.camp/proposals/766?tab=activity&item=0xb67ed20fdcf323ee8d24a88ddb991fbead130764d93a0600f80fbb1dfe42d431-825](https://www.nouns.camp/proposals/766?tab=activity&item=0xb67ed20fdcf323ee8d24a88ddb991fbead130764d93a0600f80fbb1dfe42d431-825))
- Feedback on the candidate for the defeated Flows proposal ([https://www.nouns.camp/proposals/785](https://www.nouns.camp/proposals/785))
- 0xjanedoe.eth writes: “Why not take a “smooth” approach—split the budget into **milestones** incrementally, and let the DAO assess results before committing more capital?” ([https://www.nouns.camp/candidates/605?tab=activity&item=0xfa7702821af6ce4201e881b2da3b4cd9e7375dc9f422e5134e3332ab29339bf4-83](https://www.nouns.camp/candidates/605?tab=activity&item=0xfa7702821af6ce4201e881b2da3b4cd9e7375dc9f422e5134e3332ab29339bf4-83))
## What Would Escrowed Milestones Look Like?
We believe it is worth exploring the addition of **milestone-based escrow proposals**. These would:
- Break budgets into agreed-upon deliverables
- Use arbitration for transparent dispute resolution
- Allow fund releases to be initiated via DAO votes or delegation
- Reduce community oversight burden by shifting accountability to proposers
A feature set for a Nouns escrow could look like this:
- **Proposers receive funds progressively**, aligned with agreed-upon deliverables.
- **Nouns DAO retains financial oversight**, ensuring capital is deployed effectively.
- **Disputes are handled transparently** via **decentralised** Kleros arbitration.
- **Milestone updates** are handled **together with fund releases** through an integration with [Propdates.wtf](https://propdates.wtf/)
- The Nouns community receives the **option to choose between on-chain and off-chain release of milestones**, using [Snapshot’s oSnap module](https://docs.snapshot.box/v1-interface/plugins/safesnap-osnap). More information on an implementation with Safe can be found [here](https://docs.snapshot.box/v1-interface/plugins/safesnap-reality).
Any community member can raise a release (or dispute) proposal at any time. To ensure **fair dispute resolution** and bespoke arbitration features, ***[Kleros](https://kleros.io/)*** is used for on-chain dispute settlement. Milestones are escrowed using [SmartInvoice.xyz](http://smartinvoice.xyz), a tool incubated by [RaidGuild](http://raidguild.org), that enabled over $400k in escrowed work. It was recently integrated into **Nouns Builder** for DAOs on Base, Zora, and Optimism.
## Why Now?
Enabling escrowed proposals would not replace Streams or direct sends, it would **add optionality**. It could help the DAO support more complex proposals with better oversight, especially in cases where:
- Deliverables are clearly defined up front
- Work is non-recurring
- Large budgets or long timelines are involved
## Precedent
Integrating a milestone-based escrow proposal type into Nouns DAO brings financial discipline, increased accountability, and stronger dispute resolution mechanisms. We believe this is a natural evolution of Nouns DAO’s funding model, allowing it to support more complex and ambitious initiatives with reduced financial risk.
For RaidGuild escrowing milestones looks like this:
- [https://ipfs.io/ipfs/Qmc5t7Y3eKKWz5YfQVwF1d6kJkowQciHiYqYpHdUfRY4qg](https://ipfs.io/ipfs/Qmc5t7Y3eKKWz5YfQVwF1d6kJkowQciHiYqYpHdUfRY4qg)
Recently we also supported Nouns Builder DAO ([nouns.build](https://nouns.build/)) in rolling out escrow proposals to all Nouns Builder communities on Base, Optimism, and Zora. The proposal for introducing escrow milestones and how escrowing milestones looks for Nounish DAOs can be found here:
- Escrow Milestones Proposal at Nouns Builder:
- [https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmZfbZUMfvvx8iSBTSgSkA2ryyUGbEw1h8qUVJX7UMSm2R](https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmZfbZUMfvvx8iSBTSgSkA2ryyUGbEw1h8qUVJX7UMSm2R)
- Screenshot of an escrow proposal on nouns.build:
- [https://nouns.build/dao/base/0xe8af882f2f5c79580230710ac0e2344070099432/vote/29](https://nouns.build/dao/base/0xe8af882f2f5c79580230710ac0e2344070099432/vote/29)
## Open Questions
We would love your input:
1. Would **you** support enabling escrowed milestones as an option for proposers in Nouns DAO?
2. Are there proposals you think *should* use this model?
3. What concerns do you have about implementation, enforcement, or UX?
4. What else is needed to improve proposer accountability?
**This is not a proposal yet, but we’d like to start the conversation. If there is interest, we would explore escrowing milestones for Nouns further and develop it into a proposal over the coming weeks.**should-nouns-dao-explore-escrowed-milestones?