Welcome!

As i think a remittance project like this is in need to create more real-world demand and in the longterm could potentially provide a large boost to our number of transactions, i decided to support your proposal. Good luck with your proposal.

Thank you for support, this is why I decided to organize this project and submit it to the DAO.

George, you know that our budget is very tight in these troubled times.
You ask for the ENTIRE budget left (after the Core proposals will be approved), which i consider irresponsible and even reckless.
Even more so, that you already had a multi-month proposal approved last cycle, which is still paying out for this and coming cycles.
There will be no room left for any other proposal, besides yours.
Please consider completing existing funded proposals over their payout timeframe first, before applying again and again for even more funds.

Point: it could be more important than other budget requests in terms of # of new customers it could produce

Thanks for your comment, Junior87.

I have been working for many months to recruit, train and/or assemble both this team and the required infrastructure. People are in motion. People are excited. People are urging me to get started. This was the cycle where it all came together. This is not really something I have control of. This simply the speed at which the work came together.

We are in a bear market, maybe at the bottom. We desperately need bona fide real transactions to create demand pressure to ensure our price falls no further. Remittances are our strongest use case. The Venezuela-Colombia region is where our marketing and adoption is strongest. This is what concerns me. Dash is what concerns me.

Hence I offer this opportunity to the DAO in the most timely manner possible not because I am irresponsible or didn't consider the state of funding requests (I did and it gave me great pause) but because I believe we desperately need it.

I am not the decision-maker here. I am the humble servant. All I can do is survey the field, create the vision, build the team, start as cheaply as possible, and offer the opportunity to you guys. What you do with it is your choice.

If I was to make a political calculation and say, oh, this could step on toes, then that would be a disservice to the entire ecosystem, a kind of price-fixing, or cartelization, where there was some spoken or unspoken agreement among PO's to not compete with each other. And this would be wrong. I would be presuming to make your decisions for you.

The DAO does not work when PO's collude against it. It works through competition. By offering you this choice, I have chosen to put the DAO and the vision of a true DAO ahead of any other concern. You remain free to vote it down.

The Dash Retail proposal is software infrastructure for my other projects from which I draw zero compensation and play a minimal role. The very capable developers (known community members) are doing all the work. Once again, if I place limits upon myself, I am doing a disservice to the DAO. If we can grow faster and do so cheaply, why would anyone want to stop that?

Thanks again, happy to answer any other questions.

He's asking for 330 DASH, how is that the entire remaining budget?

If you visit https://app.dashnexus.org/proposals/leaderboard you will see there are 4048 Dash not yet appropriated. Dash Core has two proposals this month, totaling 3710, which if funded, would leave 338 Dash not yet appropriated. Keep in mind that this proposal came in before Core proposals, so the PO could not evaluate Core proposal amounts. I believe that the Dash Nexus proposal, which is more costly than this one, did not receive funding due to lack of funds in the treasury last month.

I don't find this proposal to be "irresponsible" or "reckless". It offers an excellent opportunity to continue working in Venezuela at a reasonable price. It sets attainable goals that will have a meaningful impact. Perhaps it will not be funded because the budget cycle is tight, but that is no fault of the proposal owner. We should be happy to consider the offer.

We did touch base with Core to see if their ask would be the same 60% as last month. George did everything possible to fit within the very tight constraints. Also, note that the scope of his proposal takes up the slack left by the unfortunate events of the Dash Venezuela Merchant prop, which carried a price tag of 295 Dash. Plus, this prop gets you teams in Ecuador, Peru, Spain, Venezuela and Colombia to do the on-the-ground grunt work to get the remittance market to Venezuela on its feet.

solarguy

Total Available Budget : 6176.72

Multi-Period proposals already approved from previous cycles : 2129.13
Core-Team Compensation (march) : 3100
Core-Team Business Development : 610

Unallocated for this month : 337,59 Dash

Remittance into Venezuela is what has been missing from our Venezuela strategy so far. A team outside Venezuela is best situated to deliver that key piece.

We could not get a better team that the one George has built in Colombia to start getting remittance into Venezuela happening.

This project will give us valuable experience allowing us to expand to dash remittance within and into Latin America as a whole.

Core have been babbling about US-Mexico remittance being a key pillar and era of focus for a year (or more?), have a large budget for it (would be under biz dev) and have 0 results to show.

I bet George’s team can do more for dash remittance in Latin America in this 4 month (330 dash p/m) proposal than core have done forever with a bigger budget.

FWIW I support the other good projects inside Venezuela as well as Georges efforts, not one or the other.

Thanks for your support, bitedge.

Dear George,
Ambitious proposal, but I think that it escapes extremely delicate aspects regarding the activities proposed in this reckless project created from Colombia, but with a sustained operation, largely, with the work achieved for almost two years in Venezuela.

In Venezuela we are a block of autonomous and united communities

The Dash communities in Venezuela were satisfied with the decentralized spirit of the Blockchain. They are autonomous and have generated the ability to work in a block, with co-responsibility and transparency among them. In 18 months they have received the direct support of Dash Venezuela, support from the international community through crowdfunding, the DAO and other Fintech initiatives in the case of professional training. Some of them have participated in several rounds of proposals to the treasury and DashBoost, by the way, with edges similar to yours, which have been available for the evaluation of the entire community for months, and which received different results from the DAO.

Affirming that the communities have not been supported in Venezuela, rather than ignorance, is a lack of respect that borders on the defamation against those who have directly strived for more than a year and a half to build a network that covers almost the entire national territory, coordinating efforts to carry out a project in our country, for the benefit not only of Venezuelans, but of the entire Dash community.

There is no merit in trying to deny the growth of Dash in Venezuela

Ensuring that they will "verify merchants" and "update DiscoverDash" is to deny the hard work of recruitment, adoption, education, implementation, training, follow-up and constant support that Dash Venezuela, the allied communities and other projects that make life in the country to companies, businesses, entrepreneurs and non-profit organizations.

You have tried to pigeonhole this team with other groups that have committed faults, minimizing our work that you may not see, but that the constant support of the Master Nodes endorses.

We do not see in the region, nor particularly in Colombia, a development in blockchain and crypto formation, in the commercial actions of any crypto, as we achieve Dash communities in Venezuela LONG AND WIDE of the Venezuelan territory. That should be your main concern, instead of trying to "replace" the effort of a whole team that has given great and unprecedented results as Dash Venezuela and all its allied communities have given.

It has been our best practices and our decentralizing spirit that has resulted in the constant call of other enthusiasts who, outside of Venezuela, approach us to advise them by promoting exchanges of experiences and knowledge that even at the beginning you take advantage of.

Your proposal could generate administrative and criminal penalties

In Venezuela there is a government institution called Superintendence of Cryptoactives and Related Activities (Sunacrip), which regulates, licenses, permits, promotes, coordinates and supervises the use of activities related to cryptoactives, which by the way, is the only organization of this type in the world. REMITTANCES are a subject regulated by the economic entities of the State, in charge of the exchange control and particularly in the case of the cryptos, by the Sunacrip. This activity is legal, under certain parameters, otherwise, as established by law, there are ADMINISTRATIVES SANCTIONS such as temporary closures or prohibition to operate commercially, PECUNARY FINES against your property and even SANCIONES PENALES such as imprisonment.

It is clear that you and the team you represent have not studied the legal regulations that apply to crypto in our country, if you did, you would know that you have to register as a natural or legal person and apply for licenses and permits to do this or any other type of crypto activity in Venezuela. You would know that to date there is only one company authorized by the State to do so. And you would know that in Venezuela the sanctions as established by law, DO NOT PRESCRIBE.

I suggest that you review the viability and pertinence of proposing a project for which you have inadequately reported and that puts at risk the work and commitment, not only of Dash Venezuela and all the communities that live here, but also the effort and investment of the masternodes owners who have supported the Venezuelan project, but especially, you are willing to put at risk the integrity and security of all those who represent Dash in the country.

We are a block of talented leaders who love our country

We are struck by the promise of "saving people" from a country with a market full of regulations, based on political news that we all know, many times are not true, a country that YOU DO NOT KNOW, and finally, and more serious still, to base its promises on a change of government without knowing the consequences that this could derive in our society.

Work without solid bases that endorse the project without knowledge of the Venezuelan regulations, making promises about events that have not happened, subtracting merit to teams and communities that have worked hard, with concrete and auditable results for almost two years, wanting to look like unifying and saving project of LatinAmerica, definitely, is not the most ethical way to work. If it were not for the positive reports you have presented of your project, we would say that this is simple OPPORTUNISM.

Around the world many people have been moved by the social and economic political events that Venezuela is facing and have taken advantage of possible help to alleviate these situations, however, unlike you, thousands of these people are respectful of the professional abilities of Venezuelans who have bet on the country and have the theoretical and practical knowledge to develop high quality projects such as the one developed by Dash Venezuela and all the communities allied to this project

I do not want to say goodbye without sending you the invitation to meet and be received by Dash Venezuela, the Dash communities, and the at least 10 owners of projects approved by the DAO in our country and that you know of the experience, adoption and usability that Dash has in Venezuela.

I contend that this comment from @JahlexisTafari is an inappropriate attack on this proposal and enforces the fact that Dash Venezuela has failed to achieve its goals. Dash Venezuela has apologized for ignoring the pleas of MNOs to appear and report on its activities. Dash Venezuela has "assumed full responsibility" for the "delay" in reporting appropriately to DashWatch, however, other than saying this, has done nothing new. These are the failures Dash Venezuela admits to.

While it is true that the DAO has received some value for its investment in Dash Venezuela, I believe that much of that investment has been squandered. I have seen evidence that demonstrates that there are not as many merchants that accept Dash in Venezuela as has been reported. I have also seen evidence that the communities in the "network of alliances" built by Dash Venezuela have been ignored by the home office. Some of these communities are eager to work with George in this proposal. Dash Venezuela has not properly reported the number of employees it has maintained, and has not provided sufficient reasoning for maintaining such a costly infrastucture. Please review their latest report from dashwatch here: https://dashwatch.org/files/1548395884077.pdf

I support this proposal from George Donnelly. I have reviewed evidence that George is working with people in Venezuela today. Much of George's efforts in Venezuela have been the ground work for this proposal and have yet to receive any funding. I believe that it is time for the DAO to make a better investment in Venezuela and this is a great opportunity to do so.

JahlexisTafari

Please see George's reply to Junior, above. I think that addresses your criticisms. I don't think George is denying that there have been great things done in Venezuela. We are faced with very very difficult decisions due to the severe budget constraints. I wish our budget was 10x the current size and we could fund everything. Unfortunately, we don't have that luxury at the moment.

Respectfully, solarguy

To proposal owner : since this is a rather ambitious project you are undertaking with a multi-term period, would it be possible to implement escrow into your proposal ? Your thoughts please...

Thanks for your question. I welcome ideas, questions, requests and suggestions of all types. If there is an escrow provider interested in working on this, I am interested to hear what they can offer me.

That said, if I should fail the network in some decisive way, the DAO has shown itself fully capable of moving proposals from the top of the list to the bottom in a matter of days. Our governance system is fully capable of ending bad proposals within 1 cycle.

And the first month is going to involve trial and error anyway. We, the now considerable team I have recruited and trained for the DAO at no additional cost, have an action plan, but once you implement any plan, things change. You discover new opportunities. You learn you were wrong about X and doubly right about Y. And this is normal. I am not progressing through some pre-established process here, such as levels in a video game, paperwork for a government license or grades in a school.

I am venturing out into the unknown and creating value for the DAO where it did not previously exist. This is an inherently creative process that requires great flexibility of mind and action. Escrow introduces an additional and inflexible variable that could actually harm the project, not to mention serving as a brake.

What's more, in order to make interesting results happen for the DAO, I must take on personal commitments to people for compensation and other resources. Without doing so, I am unable to get the results we need. Should escrow interfere with my ability to fulfill the commitments I make in the name of the DAO, then we will have sullied the sterling reputation I have built for myself/Dash (because we are in this together) in Latam so far.

Further, I am doing this in Venezuela, a nation in hyperinflationary crisis where the prices of things can change from one day to the next, a nation where the DAO has made significant investments, investments which are now at risk due to no fault of mine, but which I am attempting to not just save, but leverage for meaningful growth.

Finally, I am not a new person. I have been producing standout results for the DAO for 8 months in this same area of the world while providing exemplary transparency to Dash Watch.

George keeps me interested in Dash. Proposals like this are what make me log onto my account and feel the need to get involved. This is how we win. Great work George and I wish you all the best! You are killing it out there!
-Dash Bus Blake-

Thanks Blake, much appreciated.

This is an ambitious proposal from a proven efficient team. George is very good at strategy and problem solving. The time is past for nice ideas and talking about adoption, and anything else that does not produce a real jump in transactions. Dash needs real world use and adoption. And he will give you the transparent and obvious metrics to see that progress. I believe his method of reporting will set a new standard for props. At a great price I might add.

Full disclosure, I played a modest role in designing this proposal.

solarguy

Thanks for your support, solarguy, and for your ideas and guidance.

@george this has become alarming and concerning, you have multiple concurrent proposals for 1000's of dash with no escrow, and not much history

Thank you for your comment. Let us be factual:

- "1000's of dash" is not a true statement.
- "not much history" is not a true statement.

What active projects do I have in motion for the DAO?

- Dash Colombia, now #3 globally in merchants and active wallet installs for (often considerably) less than USD$14,000 per month.
- Dash Retail, essential software for expanding the digital cash vision from which I draw zero compensation, which has already produced an AWS-hosted POS software (not developed by us) available to use globally (https://pos.pagacondash.com) (soon with transaction tracking) and a more robust Dash exchange rate server.
- Dash Latam, which received 1 x 87 dash in funding and got us into Sao Paulo, Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Cúcuta and potentially Lima and Quito, and from which I drew zero compensation.
- Dash Venezuela Remittances, from which I draw zero compensation and which leverages the first 3 proposals to save the DAO time and money.

All of this while providing exemplary transparency to Dash Watch, including monthly reports, video, photos, direct always-on access to my accounting and a 90-minute interview.

How much money has George received from the DAO?

Jun Jul Aug 2018 3 x 22 dash = 66 dash
Sep Oct Nov Dec 4 x 59 dash = 236 dash
Sep (Dash Latam) = 87 dash
Jan Feb 2 x 179 dash = 358 dash
Feb (Dash Retail) = 129 dash

Grand Total: 876 dash

Why are so many eggs in George's basket?

Dealing with the DAO is very challenging both to get approval and to maintain a stable working situation. It is simply a fact that this discourages many (not that I recommend changing anything).

Challenging to get approval because you have to pay 5 dash and create stunning proposals, or else you will fail. Challenging because the potential proposal owners overwhelmingly do not speak the same language as the decision-makers. Challenging because transparency requires a lot of paperwork and care.

Challenging to maintain a stable working situation because proposal owners have families and working for the DAO is risky. You can lose funding, your funding can decrease in value. Crypto is a new industry where anything can happen. We are at the bottom of a bear market where enthusiasm can be scarce.

You will not see "the creation of new Dash leaders" as a line item in my budgets but that is what I do every day. I have at least 11 very solid individuals in training working for the DAO as part of my proposals who will one day have their own proposals and/or play leading roles in the Dash Latam ecosystem. But the one only one willing/able to take on a project like this at this time is me.

If the DAO has some other leader who is willing and able to do what I do, by all means, let us bring him on board. I started off months ago thinking I would be small fry in this community.

I did not seek all of this responsibility, but I will not shirk it either. All I can do is the best job I am capable of, which includes creating new visions, relationships, projects and results for the DAO.

What the DAO does with that is outside of my power.

@georgedonnelly you may want to consider recalculating for ibstance you missed your stopgap funding request.

Thank you

MrHack, thanks for your comment. You are once again incorrect, I am afraid, as the numbers above do indeed include the stopgap funding.

Jan Feb 2 x 179 dash = 358 dash

That 179 is the 6x59 proposal's final 2 remaining months + the stopgap 2x120. 59+120 =179.

Happy to answer any other questions you might have.

Would escrow resolve your qualms? Somebody has to pick up the slack in Latin America. It would be a shame to waste all that momentum. You want more transactions and real world use? George can deliver that, and provide "best in class" reporting and metrics. Solarguy

You said the same about eugenia and vz before,

Eugenia provided demonstrable results did she not? Now we are faced with the extremely unfortunate choice imposed on us by the very skinny budget. How to best leverage those results going forward......
solarguy

You are evading his question, would escrow resolve your problem with this budget propsal ?

Qwizzie, i concede escrow wont make a difference in this case, however slowing the cart a little would allow a greater deal of MNO to see the operations of dash-latam interally, and make an informed decison

Considering george has three existing paying proposal, it seems we are putting our eggs in one basket situation again.

Where one party steps up and is willing to go across the whole world and back, and we know how that ends in the past..

I like the work george is doing and how he is going on about it, my concern primarily is he may be biting of more than he can chew.

Thank you

I suppose the answer to your question about escrow is multi-fauceted and not as black and white as we hope thr escrow inter alia, have to be sttuctured in a fashion to assist the PO and maximize roi for DASH.

Just vote no with your imaginary masternodes, and stop concern trolling.

Or you can vote with your REAL nodes for bs, great intellectual abilities there kiwi.

Cheers I will, got to admit that your concern trolling is so predicable now and you get in early to ensure that you are at the top of the page. Got to give credit where credit is due....lol.

And a bit over ambitious*