House of Stake Working Groups Update May 2025
As part of the House of Stake initiative, four working groups are actively shaping strategic direction and operational frameworks for the NEAR ecosystem. Below is a summary of key outcomes in May and plans for June.
1. Ecosystem Growth Strategy Working Group
Focus
Aligning on the key objectives and KPIs for NEAR’s ecosystem growth strategy, to help prioritize the initiatives our working group will focus on
Participants
Tané, Areta, Aurora, NEARWEEK, Charles Garrett, Slime, Cameron Dennis
May Highlights
- Held 4 interactive workshops that surfaced 7 key opportunity areas
- Developed an almost-final matrix of goals and KPIs (user growth, dev retention, TVL growth)
Ecosystem Growth WG Key Metrics Drafting
June Plans
- Publish the Key Objective/KPI matrix and open a 7-day async feedback window
- Present the refined strategy for feedback and iteration during the next House of Stake community call
How to contribute:
Review and comment on the KPI matrix when it’s published- Share any ecosystem initiatives you’re involved in that align with the growth goals
2. Network Economics & Security Working Group
Focus
Assessing the impact of potential validator issuance reductions on decentralization and long-term sustainability.
Participants
Slime, Alan, Takeshi, Rika Goldberg (404 DAO)
May Highlights
- Launched a community survey on inflation and staking
- Compiled a list of ~40 NEAR-native projects (validators, DeFi, AI, wallets, games, etc.) to receive the issuance survey
- Assigned outreach owners using NEAR Catalog and ecosystem mapping tools
June Plans
- Publish anonymized survey results and raw data
How to contribute:
- Take the staking/inflation survey (if you haven’t yet)
- Share the survey within your community circles
- Provide feedback or ideas on how to improve the long-term network economy
3. Governance Infrastructure & Processes Working Group
Focus
Designing scalable and transparent governance processes for House of Stake and the wider NEAR ecosystem.
Participants
Tané (Takeshi and Shoji), 404 DAO (Cole), Slime, Alan, Cameron, James
May Highlights
- A draft forum post was prepared to introduce the governance submission process and collect initial proposals (draft link)
- Explored directions for AI-assisted governance. James (james.near) is currently studying HoS contracts in order to build an assistant with these potential capabilities:
- helping users lock/stake NEAR to get veNEAR and delegate it
- reviewing or summarizing proposals with recommendations
- participating in governance discussions
- creating proposals
- voting autonomously
Community-built multi-agent proposal generator
June Plans
- Publish the forum post and begin accepting community proposals
- Continue testing AI-based governance tooling (community testers welcome)
- Implement UI/UX improvements in the governance portal
How to contribute:
- Submit your proposal once the forum post is live
- Volunteer to test AI-based governance tools
- Share UX feedback or ideas to improve the governance portal
4. Treasury Management Working Group
Focus
Creating clear guidelines for how NEAR’s treasury is used to maximize impact, manage risk, and support sustainable ecosystem growth.
Participants
Yuen, Slime, Cole
May Highlights
- Reviewed treasury management initiatives from Arbitrum and ENS
- Assessed legacy NEAR DAO treasury practices and gaps
- Discussed legal entity structure with Lane
June Plans
- Align with Growth WG on funding priorities
- Launch community survey on treasury goals and risk preferences
- Begin draft of initial budget and allocation framework
- Meet with NF counterparts (Founder Success, Strategic Initiatives) to discuss guidelines, respective areas of focus, preventing overlap, etc.
How to contribute:
Fill out the treasury goals & risk survey (when released)
Share examples or ideas for effective Web3 treasury management
Reach out if you have legal, financial, or operational expertise to offer