Originally published on X
Ephemeral DAOs are hot right now. And I've been talking about them for a while in the context of poidh.
But it's come to my attention that most people don't understand poidh's potential for ephemeral DAOs.
How do we change that?
Silly name. Serious cypherpunk tool.
This needs to change, so in this article I'll be outlining how poidh works for ephemeral DAOs, as well as 10 examples of how the product has been used to create/run them (including one big failure).
By definition, every poidh "open" bounty that is created is a permissionless, decentralized, ephemeral DAO with unlimited upside.
This is because of our open bounty mechanism design that allows anyone to add funds to a bounty in exchange for voting rights on confirming the bounty's completion. The simple breakdown is this:
Someone posts a bounty for a specific outcome they want to see happen
If the community vibes with it, they crowdfund it permissionlessly (anyone can add funds)
Funders get voting power proportional to their contribution
Someone completes the task and submits proof
If the bounty creator believes the proof is sufficient, they nominate the claim for a vote
Funders have 48 hours to vote yes/no on whether they agree that the claim represents sufficient evidence
If >50% of participating voters vote "yes", payment executes automatically, and the DAO dissolves
If >50% of participating voters vote "no", the DAO remains intact, and the bounty creator can either nominate a new claim or choose to dissolve the bounty (all contributors receive their funds back to their wallets)
No setup. No overhead. No permanent structure. Just: form → fund → execute → verify → dissolve.
The key innovation is that governance only exists for the duration of the task itself. Ephemeral DAOs are focused on execution, not governance.
Here are 10 examples of ephemeral DAOs that have been run successfully on poidh for a variety of tasks (and one big failure).
Note: All $ values reported below represent the $ value at the time of bounty completion.
Value: $30,000
Contributors: 10 individuals and 1 DAO with 200+ members
poidh URL: https://poidh.xyz/degen/bounty/1167
Guinness: https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/82537-most-skateboard-kickflips-in-one-minute
Our flagship bounty, there's much lore to the DEGEN kickflip world record, but the TL;DR is that we started the bounty with $100 in @degentokenbase DEGEN.
After that, we went to a DAO on @farcaster_xyz (The Haberdashery) and proposed a $10,000 fund to boost the bounty. Following their own fully onchain vote, the funds were approved and added to the poidh bounty by head Hab @Spaghettiman699.
Finally, lead DEGEN @jacek0x added $20,000 to the pot. The bounty sat at ~$30,000 for 3 weeks before @davebachinsky submitted the video above.
I (as bounty creator) nominated the claim for a vote, voters voted in favor of the video, and the bounty was completed. A brand new world record, socially incentivized and democratically confirmed, 100% onchain.
Value: $230
Contributors: 10 individuals including @maurelian_, @Ayomayowacrypto, @degencondition, @GSkrovina, @nnnnicholas, @JeremyBoscolo, @Eddie3964368851, and @MariaBazooka
poidh URL: https://poidh.xyz/base/bounty/163
Data analysis: https://paragraph.com/@yesyes/checking-the-comment-velocity-of-real-users
Anyone who's followed me for a while knows I have strong feelings regarding social feeds. When Farcaster made their feed algo-focused in February 2024, I was extremely disappointed.
Looking to prove that the move was a mistake, I started this bounty with $55 and rallied other concerned users to chip in for a full data analysis of how the feed change was having downstream effects on the comment depth and user diversity of reply threads.
The analysis was completed by FC user @ yesyes. I nominated his claim for a vote, and the contributors agreed that he had satisfied the bounty requirements (no veto votes).
Sadly, even though the bounty succeeded in generating a valuable piece of data analysis, it did not convince the app management to revert their feed changes. But it stands as a lasting example for how individuals can pool funds to gather evidence via an ephemeral DAO.
Value: $130
Contributors: 3 individuals
poidh URL: https://poidh.xyz/arbitrum/bounty/90
Summary post: x.com/kennyistyping/status/1920542009485635874
This one was fun because it literally came out of an ephemeral-DAO-coded discussion. It started when @edmundedgar posted this:
It inspired me to spin up the bounty, written exactly as Edmund had worded it. I started the fund with $25, m-j-r.eth added another $35, then an anon address added $70. The bounty sat for a little over a week before @TheDudeA submitted his claim (using an awesome poster designed by @0fflinexo).
I nominated the claim for a vote, and all contributors voted in favor of releasing the funds.
What I liked most about this was the fact that the bounty was technically controlled by an anon wallet. They could have vetoed the claim I submitted for a vote, but they chose instead to confirm my judgment onchain.
To this day, I do not know who 0xb6aa is, but that doesn't matter. We collaborated to make something happen IRL.
Value: $30
Contributors: 5 individuals including @0xhanma_, @taliskye_, @XBorn_ID, and @1_1amZzz
poidh URL: https://poidh.xyz/base/bounty/706
Summary post: x.com/kennyistyping/status/1979613155467915524
One of the first success stories from our /publicgoods/ album, this bounty was created by @0xhanma_ with a simple mission: tangibly improving the cleanliness of a public spot.
It started with a $17 value and reached $30 after I added funds myself + promoted to attract contributors. By no means was this a "big dollar" bounty, but I was excited about it because it allowed us to show how poidh could bring flexible governance to extremely specific public goods tasks.
There were several low-quality claims early on, but nothing rose to the level of meeting Hanma's initial proof requirements. Then, we received the TikTok video from @xdiilll which offered the most comprehensive proof yet.
Hanma decided to put it to a vote. I voted, no contributors vetoed, and the funds were released after 48 hours.
5 pseudoanons crowdfunded a random act of public goods, another psuedoanon claimed the funds, and everything was coordinated without a single person ever controlling the funds.
Value: $1,550
Contributors: 23 individuals including @floar_eth, @yes2crypto1, @0xsebayaki, @heyproject7, @tonymfer, @0x_Omen, @lucianodeangeIo, @limone_eth, @thefirmjeff, @followmetoweb4, @Yerbearserker, @chapsmx, @farcaster_xyz, @harmonysage369, @antimoFM, @dwn2erth, @mazzydoteth, and @0xmisa_
poidh URL: https://poidh.xyz/base/bounty/1136
Proof of badge: https://etherscan.io/nft/0x9c5f45d5e1382e4058d334d93c6c01442012a4d9/10
A common misunderstanding regarding poidh is that it can only be used for traditional bounties. But the design space is actually much more flexible. You can use it for any type of goal that would benefit from having fully onchain crowdfunding.
In the case of this bounty, @CryptoStatuette already knew that she wanted @undefined_mfer to make NFC badges for Farcon Rome, but she was looking for a way to raise the $1500 necessary for funding.
This is a fully community driven effort. Every contribution helps support Farcaster native builders and creators, fund the design
We rallied contributors and were able to hit the goal in under 72 hours (largely thanks to a massive .2222 ETH contribution from the official @farcaster_xyz account).
On delivery @undefined_mfer claimed the funds, @CryptoStatuette submitted the claim for a vote, and all participants voted to confirm.
Value: $750
Contributors: 3 individuals including @sepehrshams13 and @jessepollak
poidh URL: https://poidh.xyz/base/bounty/909
Summary post: x.com/poidhxyz/status/1996282792150450335
The best part about poidh's open-ended funding design is the "unlimited" upside of anyone in the world being able to contribute to the pot.
This means a relatively small bounty can explode in value overnight and attract attention. You just need to come up with an idea that other people think is worth funding.
That's exactly what happened when @sepehrshams13 made his bounty asking people to make a 1-minute video onboarding a friend to the @baseapp.
He created it with $2, I added $23, and we figured we'd be lucky to get one video. But then the bounty caught @jessepollak's eye.
record yourself onboarding a friend to the @base app for a shot at $20 in ETH
best video wins!
poidh.xyz/base/bounty/90…
He added .25 ETH, and the competition was on. In total, we had 11 unique submissions and @0xhanma_ + @AnitaLondon19 ended up splitting the grand prize.
Sepi's bounty was a massive success, we got a fun case study, and Jesse was able to incentivize viral Base content with a single transaction.
Value: $420
Contributors: 4 individuals including @MkkStacks, @ETonbase, and @AwedJob
poidh URL: https://poidh.xyz/base/bounty/314
Summary post: https://farcaster.xyz/shzru/0x559cd61d
This came from an off-the-cuff post where I was asking people for wholesome bounty ideas. Someone suggested a bounty to support university students, so I spun this one up.
It was unique because, instead of asking for a new task to be done, the idea was to retroactively reward a student. The ask was to provide a link "proving that you're currently involved with university activities."
Friend of the app @AwedJob provided the majority of the funding with .1015 ETH, we had 3 legitimate claims, and Shifa won the bounty with links proving her attendance at a nursing school in Indonesia.
This is a useful template because gathering funding for someone who can provide evidence of a past accomplishment opens a wide array of use cases vs bounties that require net-new actions.
What is Ethereum?
Contrary to what I expected, not a lot of students knew what Ethereum was!
I had to take the time to explain it to them, and I unexpectedly onboarded a student on-chain via @baseapp. I set up his first-ever
Value: $120
Contributors: 4 individuals including @0xhohenheim, @WeThemMediaHQ, and @0xfornax
poidh URL: https://poidh.xyz/arbitrum/bounty/231
Summary post: x.com/poidhxyz/status/2035098691066019973
I was lucky enough to visit ETHDenver this year and had the pleasure of meeting Maceo from @WeThemMediaHQ while there. He has a brilliant vision for wanting to build a decentralized media brand, and we quickly clicked, discussing how he could leverage poidh.
This has led to the We Them Media album on poidh, which houses bounties related to filming videos and gathering journalistic evidence in the real world. One of the first bounties we ran was the "what is Ethereum" street interview challenge. We asked claimants to query unsuspecting bystanders for their understanding of our favorite smart contract blockchain.
I love this example because it showcases how a brand can use poidh to leverage their audience. Maceo comes up with the ideas for content, posts them on poidh, then anyone who is a fan of his work can seamlessly boost the bounty to ensure that it attracts great creators.
Decentralized journalism powered by decentralized, fully onchain crowdfunding.
Value: $175
Contributors: 10 individuals including @LeviTheGiant, @onchaindev_xyz, @bubby_io, and @rlaltizer
poidh URL: https://poidh.xyz/base/bounty/558
Summary post: x.com/kennyistyping/status/1946670689307734158
Last summer, @FlexaHQ launched a mini app that allowed users to make IRL payments at merchants with crypto.
@LeviTheGiant was a big fan, and he started this bounty with $20 to get someone to go capture a video of the process in person.
The bounty quickly ballooned, with one of the Flexa team members, @bubby_io, chipping in funds to help see the task done.
Within 24 hours, the task was complete when friend of the app @FishStiiickz uploaded this video.
There was, however, some controversy as the video didn't show the entire spending process inside the store. The payment had a chance of being one of the first bounties with a large number of contributors to be vetoed.
Thankfully, @LeviTheGiant talked with dissenters, addressed their concerns, and the vote ended up passing without any "no" votes.
Congratulations @FishStiiickz !
Thank you @poidhxyz for giving us the platform to incentivize the trading of $USDC on @base for
@FlexaHQ I'll be seeing you on the purple app @ChipotleTweets and @sheetz very SOON.
This bounty was the perfect example of poidh being used as a social media coordination tool, with a group of X users spontaneously collaborating to bring to life the content that they wanted to see on the timeline.
Value: $95
Contributors: 7 individuals including @brix_farm, @shamaya_kent, and @Eddie3964368851
poidh URL: https://poidh.xyz/base/bounty/517
Summary post: x.com/kennyistyping/status/1935474068700135594
Quite possibly the highest bang-for-our-buck poidh bounty of all time. This started as a simple onchain competition... I put $40 in the pot, gave a one-week deadline, and said whoever uploads the video with the most juggles would win.
Things started slowly with videos for 7, 10, 15, and 19 juggles. But then the contest exploded when Jesse did a video.
The bounty gained massive attention, and the next submission was for 200. A few contenders went back and forth, and a 600+ claim was on the verge of winning... until theochi came through with his submission literally 1 minute before the deadline.
This was a fascinating experiment that got me thinking about the dynamics of bounties, and how even relatively small dollar amounts could generate truly impressive actions IRL. We'll be back to break the world juggling record (eventually).
makes me wonder what the price would be to break the record
$1k? $5k? $10k?
Value: $1,200
Contributors: 7 individuals including @schmidtiest, @_proxystudio, @trishprattle, and @XBorn_ID
poidh URL: https://poidh.xyz/degen/bounty/818
Summary post: https://farcaster.xyz/gatedude/0xf9ab7e7b
This bounty started as an idea from my dad, and I was super excited about it. It seems like a great use case for the app and crypto in general, allowing us to provably get money pooled for people on the ground and in need.
I started the pot with $40, and it quickly gained another $160 from other contributors. It was at that point that "gatedude" reached out to me.
He had done some bounties before and had even won one, but he had also submitted some questionable claims before, so I was slightly skeptical he could make this bounty happen.
But he shared a wide array of screenshots from someone he claimed was on the ground in Gaza. There were lengthy conversations with them and enough evidence within the provided pics to make it clear they were, indeed, in Gaza.
He proposed claiming the bounty on their behalf, then distributing the funds to them. I was tentative about it because I still didn't fully trust him, but I said we could run with it and see the attempt before judging. He then posted the evidence.
gatedude.eth (@gatedude) cast on Farcaster
Hey @kenny I got a friend who lives in Gaza to plant the olive tree sapling.. The tree was planted in Gaza City; in the Al Daraj neighborhood. I als
It was at this point that things escalated, because @_proxystudio saw the post and added ~$1,000 to the pot.
This was when I made my mistake. I hadn't had a great feeling about gatedude up until this point, but he had just come through with enough evidence to convince a highly respected member of the community to quintuple the bounty amount.
I was also an early founder looking for a marketable bounty to be completed via my platform. Getting a tree planted in Gaza was a big win that we could hang our hat on.
So, I submitted gatedude's claim for a vote, and he was confirmed.
You can probably guess what happened next. He kept saying that he would come through with evidence of these "winter coats" being distributed, the money being sent to the people on the ground, etc.
But it never came. After going back and forth with him for over a month, I accepted the reality of the situation and made a public post on Farcaster explaining that I had been scammed and apologizing to the bounty contributors who had trusted me to properly vet claims.
They were kind enough to forgive me for the mistake, and we've since moved on, but the experience became a lasting reminder for me that, no matter how good a coordination mechanism is, it's only as robust and fraud-resistant as the humans running it.
My bar for evidence has consistently ratcheted up after 2+ years of paying out money to anons on the Internet, and I like to think I'm much better today at running effective bounties than I used to be. Which brings me to maybe the most important section of this article... how we can apply these past experiences to make the app even better.
I'm extremely proud of what poidh's been able to accomplish as an open source, bootstrapped, grassroots protocol. But there is still much to be done to make it a tool that communities around the world can rely on to accomplish their goals.
We need improved notification options to ensure that all bounty contributors are properly notified when claim voting periods begin/end
We need automated moderation options to ensure that bounty creators are not spammed with low-quality claims
We need more communication channels built into the app to allow creators, contributors, claimants, and fans to discuss bounty progress both publicly and privately
We need in/app crypto buys/sells and embedded wallet options so that users who are new to crypto can use traditional payment options to add funds to bounties or upload claims
We need AI-assisted options to help bounty creators write fantastic bounty descriptions and review claim information seamlessly
We need to make everything about the UX/UI 10x faster, cleaner, and more logical
We need top-tier security audits and backend infrastructure to ensure that poidh can safely run bounties that scale to millions of dollars and beyond
In short, we need to make poidh a truly enterprise-grade social and financial experience.
All of this work will take significant investments of time, energy, and capital. We are currently raising a seed round to make it possible. If you're an investor interested in pushing the limits of human coordination with onchain tools, please reach out. The DMs are always open.
And for anyone who'd like to support us outside of a traditional investment, consider purchasing our @Artizen @FundingCommons Fund for Public Goods artifact: https://artizen.fund/index/p/poidh
Or you can make a bounty, of course!
The examples above are meant to lend inspiration to people who are curious about the potential for ephemeral DAOs.
If you're looking for more ideas, there are over 1,500 past bounties you can view and discover on our website: poidh.xyz
Ephemeral DAOs offer a totally new way for humans to coordinate and impact the communities that they care about. The internet has always been good at generating attention, but it's been much worse at converting attention into coordinated action.
We hope that poidh can be that missing layer between online enthusiasm and real-world execution, and we can't wait to see what you accomplish.