Realms Breaks Ties with Solana Labs to Form Separate Entity

Best known for simplifying governance procedures for over 800 DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) across the Solana ecosystem, Realms announced it would be ‘spinning-off’ from Solana Labs.

The move coincides with the launch of R.E.D., or the Realms Ecosystem DAO, which aims to spearhead a sustainable, decentralized model for public goods funding.

What are some of the implications of the Realms Today Trust’s formation and what can network participants expect to see next?

Realms Evolves into Realms Today Trust

Originally designed and managed by Solana Labs, Realms has announced its evolution into a separate entity. Now operating completely outside Solana Labs’ jurisdiction, the Realms Today Trust will continue to provide governance infrastructure to an expanding ecosystem.

The Realms Today Trust announced its intention to develop a forked version of Solana Labs’ existing governance program. Like most protocol’s, the original Realms program empowers holders of specific SPL-tokens to participate in votes and proposals to guide the direction of their favorite Solana-based applications.

Realm’s departure from Solana Labs illustrates Solana’s dedication to further decentralizing the ecosystem and reducing Solana Labs’ influence on the future of the network. Realms has played a crucial role in the growth of the Solana ecosystem, boasting a TVL of over $1.5B worth of governance tokens in the platform.

The move continues a trend seen several times already in Solana history. Core Solana infrastructure providers like Metaplex and Anza both began their stories within Solana Labs before expanding outwards to become separate entities.

Realms contends that Solana is the ideal blockchain for building comprehensive governance programs. 

Reinforcing this belief, Realms highlighted some of the Solana-based DAO achievements, including Jupiter DAO becoming the crypto industry’s most engaged DAO in terms of voter participation.

$200k Allocated to Kickstart Decentralized Grants Program

Eager to start delivering changes for the good of the ecosystem, the Realms Today Trust has wasted no time in launching R.E.D. The Realms Ecosystem DAO is a fully decentralized grants program designed to provide funding and support the growth of DAOs within the Solana ecosystem.

R.E.D. will feature a unique governance structure, and launches with $200k to be allocated to Solana-based DAOs. 

Dozens of Solana’s biggest DAOs were granted access to the R.E.D. based on their contributions to the SPL-governance codebase and involvement in discussions pertaining to the Realms ecosystem.

From launch, the R.E.D. will benefit from the support of some of Solana’s biggest decentralized entities, including Jito, Marinade, Pyth, and Metaplex.

Next Steps

At present, Realms’ biggest technical undertaking is the ongoing development of its no-code DAO-builder. However, core contributor and Realms Today Trust team member Dean Pappas teased a wealth of upcoming features that are expected to launch on the platform in the near future.

At Solana Breakpoint 2024, Pappas unveiled new concepts like DAO credit cards and the Realms Accelerator, which aims to showcase novel perspectives on how SPL governance can be leveraged in onchain economies.

Additionally, the Realms Today Trust will be tacking one of the biggest challenges facing DAO administration. Realms is currently developing a service that helps to guide DAOs through the incorporation process, helping them to become recognized as official real-world entities complete with a legitimate Trust and bank account.

Decentralized governance is one of the founding principles of the blockchain industry. By improving governance services and facilitating smoother incorporation processes and DAO-building tools, the Realms Today Trust is taking significant strides towards a more distributed and aligned internet.

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