Gearbox as a protocol was launched by the DAO. Since day 0, there has been no one person, group, or entity controlling the protocol. GEAR governance has been in charge since December 2021, and has become more decentralized since then. It has been a combination of snapshot voting and guards [tech and fin multisigs] which were enacted by GEAR token holders too. You can read about the governance framework in more detail in the general protocol docs.
As a summary of governance processes:
Let’s go over the main points now…
There is no centralized team controlling the work or promising anything. Different groups and initiatives, each with expertise, get funding from the DAO to contribute. There isn’t a CEO or a group of people in charge, instead, it’s a level playing field with open-source code and processes. Anyone can suggest their initiative and take over.
Some of the chad devs and contributors are mentioned in Team: Contributors & Initiatives.
By organizing contributors into initiatives rather than fixed roles, various tasks can be carried out in parallel without relying on centralized planning. That was done thanks to the suggested OBRA framework which further decentralized the DAO. The latest can be found here:
Everyone can see what is going on, where funding is going, and what happens. As for expenses, those have always been transparently communicated in Monthly Spending Reports.
The DAO and its token holders only vote for the big picture, and then anyone can come in and propose their initiatives to get funding. No working groups, no central entities. Just reporting as per the 3-month cycles, so that the treasury doesn’t get looted.