SushiSwap Head Chef discloses $5.2M budget for DAO operation in 2023

SushiSwap Head Chef Jared Grey has disclosed that the DAO will spend about $5.2 million for its operating costs in 2023, with over 80% of the budget going to salaries.

Grey said he was making SushiSwap’s operating cost public, to promote the transparency of the DAO.

As I promised in Sunday’s tweet regarding Sushi’s Budget Snapshot for 2023, I am making the DAO operating costs public. Transparency is a critical component of a successful DAO. You can see most budget costs are salaries. 1/ pic.twitter.com/rVHXEJSfLR

— Jared Grey (@jaredgrey) December 13, 2022

Out of the $5.2 million allocated for the DAO’s operation in 2023, approximately $4.3 million, roughly 80% of the budget was allocated to contributors’ salaries.

Grey noted that the strength of every project lies in its talents and community. As a result, SushiSwap made a significant allocation to properly compensate its contributors.

The current salary structure of SushiSwap shows that its top two contributors earn about $500,000 annually, while the least-earning contributor gets $90,000. The DAO will spend about $294,000 to hire freelancers for the year.  It also budgeted to spend up to $475,204 on subscription payments.

Grey added that SushiSwap will release its financial audit by the end of the first quarter of 2023.

Sushi set to raise Treasury revenue

SushiSwap Head Jared Grey said that the past administration allegedly mismanaged the DAO’s resources which lead to a $30 million loss over the last 12 months.

In efforts to increase the DAO’s shrinking Treasury, Grey proposed that 100% of the xSUSHI revenue be diverted to Sushi’s Kanpai Treasury.

Grey explained that the Kanpai proposal will allow the protocol to rebuild its cash reserves and diversify its Treasury to earn yields from ETH and USDC without selling the tokens.

Grey added that the new Vote Escrow (VE) tokenomics model will allow Sushi to recapture market share, increase its trading volume, and accrue more value for token holders and liquidity providers.