Overview

Members of the Mento Governance Watchdog group oversee the Mento protocol by scrutinizing governance proposals. They pay close attention to the execution code of each proposal, identify malicious payloads, and veto proposals via a 3-of-8 multisig if needed. The stages of a Mento governance proposal are as follows:

1. A proposal is submitted on-chain.
2. Voting for the proposal starts immediately and lasts 7 days.
3. If a quorum is reached in favor of the proposal, it is queued for execution for 2 days (the duration of the timelock). A proposal can be vetoed by the watchdog multisig from the moment it’s being queued until the moment it’s executed.
4. The proposal can be executed (execution phase is open-ended / there is no expiry).

Vetoing a proposal is a “last-minute” defense mechanism against malicious actors, ideally caught early in the process and voted against by the community. If you notice anything suspicious in any proposal, immediately notify the rest of the watchdog group members and the Mento Engineering team so others can examine it as well. It’s always better to err on the side of caution.

What to Veto

Mento Governance Watchdogs are expected to veto all proposals which:

1. have a description that does not adequately reflect the execution code of the proposal, and/or
2. have a high probability of harming the Mento Protocol stakeholders.

Stakeholders of the Mento Protocol include:

• Mento stablecoin holders
• MENTO token holders
• projects and partners relying on Mento infrastructure

Watchdogs are expected to prioritize the safety of Mento stablecoin holders (i.e. risk averse Mento stakeholders) over the safety of consciously risk-taking Mento stakeholders like MENTO token holders.

To give a concrete example: a governance proposal to distribute all reserve collateral to MENTO token holders should be vetoed as it clearly undermines the safety of Mento stablecoin holders even when it might be beneficial to MENTO token holders and investors.

When in doubt, Watchdogs should rather veto and ask for resubmission of the proposal after ensuring the legitimacy of the proposal (safety over timeliness).

How to Monitor Proposals

A telegram group with all the current watchdog group members has been set up, as well as a public Discord channel for the community to openly discuss proposals and raise flags if needed. Members of the watchdog group are expected to self-organize and provide at least three reviews before a proposal is executed.

A bot monitors submitted proposals and will automatically notify both channels whenever a new proposal is detected. The message will include a summary of the proposal, which you can further inspect using various tools: