Rootstock Collective Governance At A Glance
December 30, 2025 - January 13, 2026
Your bi-weekly dose of DAO drama, delegate shenanigans, and Bitcoin-powered innovation 
Highlights This Fortnight
The Rootstock Collective governance forum was absolutely buzzing with activity! From Real World Assets meeting Bitcoin DeFi to delegate compensation updates and sandbox experiments, thereās a lot to unpack. Letās dive in!
Grant Proposals: The Innovation Pipeline
[2510 Grant] Zerem Finance - RWA Lending Aggregator (Posted: October 1, 2025 | Active: January 13, 2026)
Zerem is bringing real estate to Bitcoin holders without forcing them to sell their precious sats. This $50K grant proposal aims to build a Real World Asset lending aggregator that connects borrowers with global real estate markets using rBTC as collateral. With 6 real estate developers already onboarded across Brazil and Paraguay (representing $3M+ in tokenizable assets), Zerem delivered their beta platform in December with 20 wallets registered, 10 actively taking loans, and a catalog featuring 230 vehicles and 300 properties. The team even showed up at Labitconf and Devconnect to spread the word!
Sentiment: Bullish optimism with thoughtful scrutiny - delegates are excited about RWA use cases but asking smart questions about market liquidity, milestone budgets, and sustainable business models.
[2601 Grant] Loan Interest Return to Boost Bitcoin-Backed Circular Economies (Posted: January 2, 2026)
Link: [2601 Grant] Loan interest return to boost bitcoin-backed circular economies
Hereās a social experiment with teeth: subsidize loan interest for circular economies using bitcoin-backed credit through Tropykus. For $8,500, this pilot would enable 4-6 communities (like Punta Bitcoin in Uruguay and Satoshilemu in Chile) to access bitcoin-backed loans while the DAO covers their interest costs. The goal? Help communities fund local initiatives without selling their bitcoin, all while onboarding them to Rootstock DeFi. Delegates are intrigued but raising valid concerns about sustainability, liquidity constraints, and preventing āfree moneyā behavior.
Sentiment: Cautiously curious - love the narrative, concerned about execution and long-term viability beyond subsidies.
[2508 Grant] All-or-Nothing Crowdfunding with Rootstock - Milestone 1 (Posted: August 18, 2025 | Update: January 12, 2026)
Link: [2508 Grant Proposal] All-or-Nothing Crowdfunding with Rootstock - Milestone 1
Stelios from Geyser is building āKickstarter but on Bitcoinā - an open-source all-or-nothing crowdfunding smart contract thatās actually making progress! The $24K grant proposal completed Milestone 1 in September with the contract, CLI tools, tests, and documentation all published under MIT license. Now moving to Milestone 2 for audit and real-world integration. This is the kind of practical Bitcoin infrastructure that gets delegates excited.
Sentiment: Strong support - community loves seeing open-source primitives that platforms like Geyser can actually integrate and use.
Other Grant Proposals Getting Attention:
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SwaptoX Aggregator (Jan 10) - DEX aggregator entering the ecosystem
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RootStock Global Wallet by Blockscout (Jan 9) - Block explorer team building a wallet
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MORA Trace Ledger (Jan 9) - Blockchain transparency for food and drink supply chains
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Rootstock QuestHub (Jan 9) - Still getting active discussion with 75 replies!
Governance & Delegate Activity
Recognized Delegate Compensation for December 2025 (Posted: January 6, 2026)
Link: Recognized Delegate Compensation for December 2025
StableLab as governance facilitator announced the December delegate payouts with some notable changes: delegates now get one āJokerā per year to offset a missed vote (404Gov and DAOplomats used theirs this month), and the metric switched from 60-day to 30-day read time. Gold Tier delegates (ChronoTrigger, TanĆ©, 404Gov) each receive 1,500 USDRIF, while Silver Tier (Curia, DAOplomats, Ignas) get 1,000 USDRIF. Also welcome CodeKnight - a new delegate joining from the Maker AVC days!
Sentiment: Appreciation for transparent governance and the new Joker system adding flexibility.
Introducing Recognized Delegate Compensation (Posted: January 5, 2026)
Link: Introducing Recognized Delegate Compensation š¦
Context for those just tuning in - the compensation system is designed to be super open with low barriers to entry. Requirements: 10k+ stRIF delegation, 90%+ vote participation, and 90%+ vote explanations. Top performers ranked by forum activity and engagement. The system already proved itself when Ignas received compensation just 2 months after joining!
Sentiment: Positive governance innovation - low barrier to entry is creating healthy participation.
Protocol Development
Proposal: Introduce the USD Vault (Sandbox Mode) (Posted: December 5, 2025 | Active: January 7, 2026)
Link: Proposal: Introduce the USD Vault (Sandbox Mode) on the RootstockCollective dApp
RootstockLabs wants to test ERC-4626 vault mechanics in the Collective dApp - and they only need 1 USDRIF from the treasury to do it! The sandbox will let users deposit up to 100 USDRIF to test yield generation flows through Tropykus and Avalon, with larger amounts available for whitelisted āfriends and familyā testers. Delegates love the low-risk experimentation but raised practical concerns about separating testing wallets from delegate wallets. The ERC-4626 standard is battle-tested across billions in TVL on other chains, so this could be a big step for Rootstock DeFi primitives.
Sentiment: Supportive enthusiasm - delegates appreciate controlled innovation but want clear UX and security boundaries.
Key Themes & Takeaways
RWA is Hot: Between Zeremās real estate aggregator and other tokenization projects, Real World Assets are becoming a major narrative for Rootstock.
Sustainability Questions: Multiple proposals are getting pushback on long-term viability beyond grant funding - delegates want to see paths to self-sustainability.
DeFi Primitives Matter: From AON crowdfunding contracts to ERC-4626 vaults, the community values reusable, open-source building blocks.
Liquidity Concerns: Curia and others are actively monitoring Tropykus market utilization - there are legitimate questions about whether current liquidity can support all these ambitious proposals simultaneously.
Delegate Engagement: The compensation system is working - high-quality discussion, thoughtful questions, and active participation from multiple delegates.
Coming Attractions
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Multiple grant proposals moving toward on-chain votes
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USD Vault sandbox testing beginning soon
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All-or-Nothing crowdfunding contract moving to Milestone 2 (audit phase)
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Continued debate on circular economy lending sustainability.
Final Thoughts
This fortnight showed the Rootstock Collective governance at its best: innovative proposals getting thoughtful scrutiny, delegates asking hard questions about sustainability and execution, and a genuine focus on building useful Bitcoin infrastructure. Whether itās helping families build homes in Uruguay, enabling Kickstarter-style crowdfunding on Bitcoin, or bringing real estate to rBTC holders, the vision is clear - Rootstock wants to be where Bitcoin meets real-world utility.
The delegate compensation system is proving its worth with engaged, high-quality participation. And the mix of āmoon-shotā RWA proposals alongside practical DeFi primitives creates a healthy portfolio of innovation.
Keep those stRIF delegations active, folks - governance is just getting warmed up! 
Forum Stats
Traffic really picked up after the holidays, with DAU/MAU up 27%! What a way to start the new year.
The most referred topics, meaning the topics most viewed when coming from external sources were:
[2601 Grant] Loan interest return to boost bitcoin-backed circular economies with 26 clicks
General Guidelines for Grant Applications with 14 clicks, and
[2507 Grant Proposal] Rootstock QuestHub with 14 clicks again.
Stats Snapshot:
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10+ active grant proposals in discussion -
8+ active delegate threads -
$80K+ in grant funding under community review
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Multiple proposals advancing through governance stages
As our team (Carmen and myself, coffee-crusher) are getting up to speed, this report is invaluable, itās great! Thank you!