Layer 3 · Economy
2 Treasury Ruleset
- Layer: 3 — Economic & Resource System
- Status: Stub — not yet adopted
- RCOS reference: §5.3, §5.5
Treasury Scope
RCOS definition5.3.1, 5.5.4
- 5.3.1 The community MUST explicitly define which resources are held in the shared treasury and how treasury boundaries interface with private resources.
- 5.5.4 The Treasury Ruleset MUST define, at minimum:
Why draw a hard line around treasury funds?
Without an explicit boundary, any money flowing near the community — a founder’s personal card, a side account, an informal reimbursement pool — can drift into being treated as community money, with all the obligations that entails. Naming exactly which accounts are treasury and which are not protects both the community and the individuals paying out of pocket.
<What constitutes treasury funds and which accounts are declared community treasury accounts — to be defined.>
Any new treasury account must be declared and approved via a Strategic decision before funds are received into it.
Income Sources
RCOS definition5.3.2
- 5.3.2 Income sources and any external income interfaces MUST be explicitly defined.
Why route all income through one declared list?
Every income source carries strings — reporting requirements, expectations, dependency risks. If income channels can open informally, those strings get attached before the community has had a chance to weigh them. One declared list, changed only through Strategic decisions, keeps the community’s obligations under its own control.
<Current income sources and rule for approving new income interfaces — to be defined.>
Spending Authority
RCOS definition5.3.3, 5.7.1
- 5.3.3 Spending authority MUST be explicitly bounded through:
- 5.7.1 The following MUST be explicit:
Why spell out thresholds in a table?
When spending authority is vague, two failure modes appear: either every small decision escalates and nothing gets done, or a single steward quietly accumulates discretion no one ever voted to grant them. A table of amounts, decision types, and authorized bodies removes the ambiguity and makes unauthorized spending immediately visible.
| Amount | Decision Type | Authorized Body | Mechanism |
|---|---|---|---|
Transparency and Reporting
RCOS definition5.3.4, 5.3.5, 5.6.1
- 5.3.4 Transparency MUST be the default for treasury balances, inflows, outflows, obligations, and commitments.
- 5.3.5 Any exceptions to transparency MUST be explicitly defined, justified, time-bounded, and MUST NOT prevent members from auditing compliance.
- 5.6.1 Shared resources, flows, and obligations MUST be visible to the community by default, with only limited and explicit exceptions.
Why make transparency the default, not a feature?
Opacity in a treasury compounds: one missing disclosure invites another, and before long members can no longer verify whether the community’s money is being handled as they agreed. Making real-time visibility the baseline — and requiring any exception to be named, justified, and time-bounded — keeps audit within reach of every member, not just stewards.
<Accounting ledger requirements, roles for financial management, and reporting rules — to be defined.>
Reserve, Risk, and Debt Constraints
RCOS definition5.3.6
- 5.3.6 The community MUST define reserve, risk, and liability policies, including:
Why block debt and long-term obligations by default?
Debt and recurring commitments bind the community beyond the people currently in it — future members inherit the obligations. Forbidding them unless a Strategic vote explicitly authorizes keeps long-term constraints from being entered into casually, and preserves the option to stay lightweight.
<Debt, long-term obligation, contingency reserve, and off-treasury instrument rules — to be defined.>
Conflict-of-Interest Rules
RCOS definition5.4.3
- 5.4.3 Economic mechanisms MUST NOT allow members to bypass governance authority boundaries defined in Layer 2, including through purchasing influence, creating dependency, or converting economic power into informal decision authority.
Why ban self-approval outright?
Even well-intentioned people unconsciously tilt decisions toward their own interests; a rule that requires disclosure and abstention removes the judgment call and the social pressure to “trust someone.” Self-approval of spending is the single most common way small governance systems quietly lose integrity, so the rule is stated bluntly.
<Self-approval prohibition and conflict-of-interest disclosure requirements — to be defined.>
Ratification Record
- Adopted:
- Decision type: Strategic
- Version:
- Decision record: