According to Blockworks, Gitcoin, an open-source software funding platform, has announced a shift in focus from public goods funding to enhancing grants infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem. Since its launch in May 2021, Gitcoin's organizational hierarchy has been relatively flat, with no CEO and budgets for workstreams approved through community voting. However, as the DAO evolved, it became more technology-centric, which did not align well with the existing DAO structure. Gitcoin executive director Kyle Weiss said the structure was too disjointed and required a core group of individuals with context.
As part of the restructuring plan, two business units have been formed within Gitcoin. One unit will focus on coordinating product-specific work, while a subDAO will manage community and governance matters. Weiss noted that the company has experimented with various products over the years, with some being distractions and others valuable to its growth. The focus for 2024 will be on grants, as Gitcoin aims to be more associated with them, transitioning from an impact organization to a technology organization.
The DAO will move from independent workstreams to a structure more akin to a 'Labs' structure, similar to how Uniswap has Uniswap Labs or how Optimism operates with OP Labs. This change aims to ensure stability in software development and give the DAO material scopes of work to own. By granting software development teams greater leadership and more defined decision-making powers, the community can remain focused on achieving results through the grants programs via token voting. Gitcoin co-founder Kevin Owocki shared this sentiment, stating that the Labs team is designed to recognize the unproven nature of DAOs in software development and ensure world-class software is built.