Establish House of Stake Operational Budget for July 2026 – June 2027
Frontmatter
hsp: 026
title: Establish House of Stake Operational Budget for July 2026 – June 2027
description: Defines the operational budget required for House of Stake to function as a Treasury Governance Engine, covering governance operations, legal compliance, treasury management, and execution capabilities.
author: House of Stake Head of Governance (@AK_HoG)
discussions-to: https://houseofstake.org/proposals/cmpzypaux0008og10wn7elqij
status: Draft
track: Decision
type: Simple Majority
category: Operations
stakeholders: NEAR tokenholders, House of Stake Foundation (HoSF), proposal authors and stakeholders, NEAR Foundation (NF), NEAR ecosystem
created: 2026-06-04
requires: House of Stake 2.0 Mandate Update, House of Stake Constitutional Documents and House of Stake Foundation legal documents
Abstract
This proposal establishes the operational budget for House of Stake (HoS) for the next 12-month operating period, enabling it to function as an independent governance institution and NEAR’s Treasury Governance Engine.
The budget focuses on governance operations, legal compliance, treasury management, and execution capabilities, ensuring that House of Stake can operate securely, transparently, and effectively.
It does not include costs for personell, product development, or any other cost items not listed in this proposal.
These costs have not been subject of a tokenholder vote and will continue to be covered by NEAR Foundation (NF).
House of Stake is proposing a lean operating model that scales with governance demand: we establish independence in areas that are core to House of Stake’s mandate, while leveraging existing NEAR Foundation infrastructure and services where appropriate.
Budget Overview
Operational Budget:
196,000 USD + 60,000 NEAR
Upon approval, this proposal authorizes the Head of Governance and the House of Stake Foundation to deploy the Operational Budget as outlined in this proposal.
Any unused funds will remain in House of Stake’s treasury.
Context
House of Stake is entering its next phase: becoming an independent institution responsible for governing NEAR’s economic policy and treasury.
To fulfill this role, House of Stake must establish the operational capacity required to execute governance decisions, manage treasury operations, ensure compliance, and operate securely.
This lean operating model scales with governance demand: we establish independence in areas that are core to House of Stake’s mandate, while leveraging existing NEAR Foundation infrastructure and services where appropriate.
Problem
House of Stake currently lacks its own dedicated operational infrastructure and budget.
Without this:
- Governance decisions cannot be reliably executed
- Treasury operations remain dependent on NEAR Foundation
- Legal and compliance risks increase
- Transparency and accountability are limited
Approach
This proposal establishes a minimum viable operational budget.
It focuses on:
- Infrastructure only where necessary
- Efficiency over duplication
- Execution capability over complexity
Lean Governance
This is the first proposal to fund House of Stake operations from its own treasury, and it is intentionally lean.
Our product is legitimate, transparent, and well-informed decision-making in the best interest of NEAR. As long as governance activity remains limited, the operational structure supporting it should remain lean as well.
To preserve treasury resources, House of Stake will leverage existing NEAR Foundation capabilities where appropriate, including:
- Software and operational licenses
- KYC/KYB infrastructure
- Payment rails
- Data and analytics
- Legal support
At the same time, House of Stake will maintain independence in areas core to its mandate:
- Legal compliance and financial reporting for the House of Stake Foundation
- Treasury management and transaction security
- Governance, operations, and IT support where independent capacity is required, or where NF resources are limited
This approach balances operational independence with efficient use of treasury resources.
Updated Operating Budget
The revised annual operations budget is:
196,000 USD + 60,000 NEAR
This represents approximately 23.16% of the original budget request in April.
Unlike previous versions, this proposal covers a full 12-month operating period rather than the remainder of 2026.
Our Principle: Governance Should Breathe
These changes reflect a simple principle:
- We do not build infrastructure that is not needed
- We create systems that can grow and shrink with demand
- We introduce mechanisms because they serve the ecosystem, not because governance frameworks are expected to have them
- We keep costs low while remaining ready to scale when activity returns
End-to-end Value Hypothesis
Objective
- Start establishing independent infrastructure in a lean, cost efficient way
- Enable reliable execution
- Ensure compliance and security
Outcome
- Lean governance institution
- Spending discipline
- Executable decisions
- Functional independence
- Transparent reporting
Dependencies on pending/upcoming proposals
- None
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
KPIs
Execution Reliability: ≥95% of voting processes completed end-to-end on schedule; with financing and ops support in place.
Transparency: 100% of required reports published in full and on time; 100% of delays communicated with clear updates within 48 hours.
Compliance Readiness: 100% adherence to legal, regulatory, and reporting requirements (including Cayman Foundation obligations); zero compliance breaches at HoS Ops team.
Security Robustness: 0 security breaches impacting treasury funds or governance/data infrastructure.
Reporting Cadence
Quarterly: Comprehensive report covering KPIs, budget usage, treasury status, operational performance.
Yearly: Full annual report, including audited financial report, on-chain records, vendor disclosures, and overall performance.
More details see section “Milestones & Implementation Plan”
Technical Specification, Budget & Resources
Budget Breakdown
(all figures in USD/NEAR '000)
| Category | Description | Budget USD | Budget NEAR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | HoS Ops Manager | 60.00 | |
| Security & Smart Contracts | Covered through proposal-specific budgets or NEAR Foundation support | $0.00 | |
| Legal & Compliance | House of Stake directors, accounting services and legal counsel | $142.00 | |
| IT & Infrastructure | IT Services | $54.00 | |
| Data & Insights | Covered through NEAR Foundation infrastructure | $0.00 | |
| Treasury & Custody | Multisig wallet management and treasury infrastructure | $0.00 | |
| Compliance Tools | Covered through NEAR Foundation infrastructure | $0.00 | |
| Software | Covered through NEAR Foundation infrastructure | $0.00 | |
| Total Ops Budget NEAR | 60.00 | ||
| Total Ops Budget USD | $196.00 |
Applies to a full 12-month operating period.
All estimates are intentionally tight and include no contingency buffer.
Some software, service, and license agreements may extend beyond July 2027 due to annual contract terms. Where such commitments can be covered within the approved budget, they are considered authorized under this proposal.
Should additional funding be required, House of Stake will coordinate with NEAR Foundation where appropriate and return with a separate proposal for tokenholder approval.
Buffer & Risk Management
The operational buffer has been removed.
NEAR Foundation has confirmed it can support genuine emergency situations if required.
Any additional operational costs resulting from future funding proposals should be included, justified, and approved as part of those proposals directly.
HoS Skin-in-the-Game (Co-Funding Pool)
The Skin-in-the-Game mechanism has been removed from this proposal.
This is not because the mechanism itself lacks merit. Rather, at this stage it remains unclear whether, when, and to what extent protocol revenues will be distributed through House of Stake in the foreseeable future.
Rather than implementing a mechanism without a clear use case, House of Stake believes it is better to revisit the concept when ecosystem conditions justify it.
Backwards Compatibility
No protocol changes.
Security Considerations
Mitigations include:
- Treasury management through dedicated custody infrastructure
- Independent compliance and financial reporting
- Legal oversight
- Transparent reporting
- Dedicated governance and operational support
- Use of established NEAR Foundation infrastructure where appropriate
Stakeholders
- NEAR tokenholders
- House of Stake Head of Governance, team and Foundation directors
- Proposal authors and stakeholders
- NEAR Foundation
- NEAR Ecosystem
Milestones & Implementation Plan
- June 2026: Forum discussion
- June 2026: Voting
- Upon approval: Activation of lean operating model and treasury
- Upon approval: Continued use of shared NEAR Foundation infrastructure and services where appropriate
- Upon approval: Continued operation of independent treasury management, compliance, and governance functions
- Quarterly: Reporting on KPIs, budget utilization, and governance activity
- Q2 2027: Annual review and follow-up budget proposal
Team & Accountability
RACI – Budget Responsibility & Decision Framework.
| Category | Responsible | Accountable | Consulted | Informed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core Infrastructure | HoS IT | Head of Governance | Ops Manager, BuilderOps, NEAR Dev | Tokenholders |
| Security & Smart Contracts | HoS IT | Security Council | NF Dev, auditors, relevant domain experts (case-by-case) | Tokenholders |
| Legal & Compliance | Ops Manager | HoS Foundation Directors | External legal counsel | Tokenholders |
| IT & Infrastructure | NEAR Foundation / HoS IT | Head of Governance | NF IT, auditors | Tokenholders |
| Compliance Tools | NEAR Foundation / Ops Manager | HoS Foundation Directors | Legal, compliance providers | Tokenholders |
| Treasury & Custody | HoS IT, Ops Manager | HoS Foundation Directors | Security Council, legal advisors | Tokenholders |
| Software & Subscriptions | HoS IT | Head of Governance | n/a | Tokenholders |
Implementation Notes
- Tokenholders remain the ultimate authority through governance
- Directors ensure legal and fiduciary accountability
- Head of Governance ensures alignment with mandate and priorities
- Ops Manager ensure execution and coordination,
- HoS IT: Service provider with dedicated NEAR and security expertise, hiring completed
- Additional Oversight Layers: Sensitive categories (treasury, legal, compliance) include additional oversight layers (Security Council, auditors, domain experts)
Functional Independence
a) Shared Infrastructure: Where software, licenses, or operational services already exist within the NEAR Foundation and provide a cost-efficient solution, House of Stake may continue using them.
b) Governance Independence: House of Stake maintains independent authority over governance processes, compliance obligations, treasury oversight, and decision execution.
c) Treasury & Security: Treasury management and transaction security remain under House of Stake control through dedicated treasury infrastructure and governance processes.
d) Scalable Operations: Operational capacity should expand or contract based on governance demand, ensuring resources remain aligned with ecosystem needs.
For this proposal, the Head of Governance is authorized to select vendors based on best fit (quality, security, cost-efficiency). Vendor selections and key details will be disclosed in quarterly reports.
Governance of Continuation
Applies to the 12-month operating period following approval of this proposal (July 2026–June 2027)
Future budget requirements should continue to reflect actual governance demand and operational needs.
Conflicts of Interest
The author of this proposal serves as Head of Governance at House of Stake and is contracted by the NEAR Foundation, including for activities related to the implementation of this proposal.
The proposal is aligned with House of Stake’s mandate. To mitigate any potential conflict of interest, the Head of Governance will abstain from voting on this proposal. All relevant disclosures and potential benefits associated with this proposal are subject to House of Stake’s Conflict of Interest Policy and Code of Conduct.
Changelog
This proposal is an update to the budget proposal published on May 4, 2026.
This revision includes:
- Reduced operational budget to $196.00k plus 60.00 NEAR
- Removed the operational buffer
- Removed the Skin-in-the-Game co-funding mechanism
- Updated the proposal from a Season #1 operating model to a full 12-month operating period
- Clarified use of shared NEAR Foundation infrastructure and services
- Updated budget allocations to reflect current governance demand
- Simplified reporting requirements (no buffer, no co-funding allocation)
- Updated implementation plan and accountability framework
- Revised functional independence model to focus on governance, treasury, and compliance independence while leveraging shared infrastructure where appropriate
Copyright
Copyright and related rights waived via CC0 1.0.
House of Stake — Decentralization Score
Power Concentration — 8/100
VP Distribution — 5/100
Participation — 25/100
Governance Activation — 45/100
Delegation Health — 45/100