MetaVault #12: $POW to the People

The significance of $POW for the future of PV

SpaceWalk

Jan 31, 2022

This is MetaVault, the best way to keep up with the Pixel Vault universe: PUNKS Comic, MetaHero, United Planets, $PUNKS, $POW, and lots of DAOs.

Before jumping into the post, a quick reminder that I launched the MetaVault podcast with my co-host, Brad Barrett. Every week we dive into the latest alpha and project dynamics with frens from the company and community. This week we had one of the smartest investors in the NFT world, Abraham. He’s the co-founder of Reidar DAO and Coterie Capital, two leading edge Web3 projects. This guy was at the top of our list as our first guest. The pod came in right under the 60-minute mark, but we could’ve talked to him for hours. Excited to have him back on soon.

And remember, you can always find me on Twitter and via email. I’ve had a lot of great conversations with long-time holders of PV assets and newcomers to the project looking to buy their first NFT.

In PV’s December 30th town hall a community member asked a great question:

What happens to the 60% of $POW that isn't distributed in staking and in the game?

And to add some color to the question, there is a total of 1 billion $POW tokens, 200M (20%) of which is currently being distributed during this initial six-month Staking Pool 1. The only PV NFTs that are eligible to earn $POW during Pool 1 are MetaHeroes. GFunk said Pool 2 will be at least another 200M (20%) and be distributed during gamified staking as the Sidekicks are introduced, staked, and everyone is immersed in a super fun blockchain-based game. Which leads to the question: What’s the intent for the remaining 600M (60%)?

GFunk added that 400M (40%) is “held by treasury to be distributed through future use cases.” This could be a reference to things like the recently announced $POW grant concept (see the bottom of the Jan 19th Town Hall recap). So that accounts for 800M (80%) of all $POW.

What about the remaining 200M (20%)? GFunk’s short and sweet answer:

20% is held by the the team with different vesting schedules.

Ok, now we’re talking.

Added detail from Jacob Wittman, PV’s newly hired general counsel and key strategic voice within the PV leadership ranks, opened my eyes:

[The vesting schedule] ranges from from six months to two years to four years, depending on team.

The fact that $POW is being distributed to the team in a vesting schedule construct indicates it’s being treated as company equity. In the Founder’s DAO channel in Discord, GFunk even stated he was the largest $POW holder and published his percentage (I won’t repeat the percentage here, some alpha has to live in the PVFD Discord! But the number was lower than I expected, speaking to his generosity with PV employees.)

Hmmm.

And why does this matter? Well, if I was an employee who was given $POW tokens that vest over several years, I’d bust my ass to see that $POW price rise. My allocation may not rise, but the value of my allocation definitely can. If I was the CEO of the company, the price of $POW would become my stock ticker. It might feel sorta “corporate” to think like this, but this is the reality.

And what about the impending VC funding? Think they’re getting $POW tokens as equity? If it’s announced that they are, what do you think it’ll do to the price of $POW?

I bring all of this up because there was a ton of talk toward the end of last year about a PVDAO token — a token that could represent ownership in the company. Not in fractionalized CryptoPunks. Not in the Founder’s DAO treasury of art and assets. But, no kidding ownership in Pixel Vault.

Around the time of NFT.NYC, GFunk mentioned holding very productive talks with VCs. Coming out of that week, it sounded like the language around PVDAO changed a bit. I don’t know if the two are linked, but what felt like a certainty turned into a possibility. Here’s GFunk from the January 12th Town Hall:

That is a stretch goal. For now, the Founder’s DAO was acting as that arm off of the Pixel Vault entity, as it were. But the idea is, over time, we'll continue to decentralize decision making. And you know, when a PVDAO token should arise, that would be when the Founder’s DAO token would stake, right.
We have a lot here happening in the next two weeks or so. But you know, in the interim PV Founder’s DAO tokens could be stakeable for a variety of things.

And again, why does this matter? My contention is that $POW is the stand-in for a PVDAO token. This is the token that represents ownership in the company. GFunk has said it over and over again: stack as many $POW as you can through your MetaHeroes during Staking Pool 1 period. Why? Maybe because you’re soaking up more ownership of the company before Sidekicks begin to dilute the distribution.

And what about references to staking PVFD tokens for a PVDAO token? Or references to bonus tokens if you own a genesis set? With an additional 400M (40%) in the treasury, why couldn’t part of that be allocated to rewarding the Founder’s DAO? Say, 100M (10%) that vests over four years. Maybe it’s based on assets owned plus the length of time held. That’d be a fun way to distribute tokens to the earliest supporters.

To be clear, while $POW may be a decent proxy for ownership stock, it’s certainly not a proxy for ownership voting rights. The community couldn’t use our $POW allocation to propose and vote on the direction of the company. This construct doesn’t replace the mechanics of a DAO. And in all honesty, the legality of running a major corporation (likely to be valued near $1B when the VC funding announcement comes out) through a DAO is very murky. This fact alone could’ve sent GFunk in another direction.

But what is clear is that the company has incentive to drive value to $POW.

And one last time, why does all of this matter? Because you can go on Uniswap right now and buy $POW for $0.16. If you don’t have a MetaHero or simply can’t afford one, the earliest way to maybe own part of the company is through $POW — possibly alongside some of the smartest VCs in the industry.

(Full disclosure, I recently put my money where my brain was and bought a small bag of $POW via Uniswap on the day when the BeanieGate FUD was at its highest. I’ll continue to look for price points that I feel comfortable with and pick up additional tokens. As the disclaimer below states, DYOR. Everything I wrote above is speculation. I have zero inside knowledge of the company’s objectives.)

Some Disclaimers: None of this is financial advice. DYOR. And yes, I’m obviously a PV collector and long-term hodlr. Not a whale by any measure (maybe a squid?).