GG @ Edge Esmeralda

GG
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Governance Games by Butter [3rd Edition]

June 2—6, 2025
Edge Esmeralda / Healdsburg, CA

RSVP

GG EE is a track within the broader Edge Esmeralda program.
Click here to apply for a spot during Week 2 of Edge Esmeralda.

Register your interest in attending GG EE here.

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What is GG?

GG EE is a live experiment in collective intelligence, capital allocation, and decentralized governance—focused on advancing Ethereum’s long-term growth objectives.

How much does Ethereum’s Governance constrain its Growth potential?

Over five days, we’ll explore how Conditional Funding Markets (CFMs) and other governance mechanisms can address the Ethereum ecosystem’s growth objectives. Through working sessions, strategy games, and high-context discussions, we’ll design and prototype a CFM to fund Ethereum’s most promising growth initiatives.

The result: a first-of-its-kind governance game, designed, played, and launched by us at Edge Esmeralda.

Discover how CFMs are already powering real-world governance experiments↴
Futarchy vs. Grants Council: Optimism’s Futarchy Experiment

Core themes we’re exploring this year:

→ Futarchy & Market-Based Governance
→ Ecosystem-Aligned Capital Allocation
→ Mechanism Design & Decision Infrastructure
→ Forecasting, Signal Quality & Transparency

Take a peek at the highlights from last year’s inaugural event → YouTube Playlist

We’re building this together.

We’re designing GG EE as an open, evolving experiment—and we’d love your input.

We’re gathering builders, researchers, and ecosystem leaders to stress-test ideas, experiment with new models, and explore what it takes to coordinate at scale. Your perspective will help us curate an agenda that reflects the most urgent questions and emerging approaches across the space.
If you have ideas for speakers, topics, or collaborations, drop a comment below.

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GG Program Overview

Day 1 — Align: Signal Discovery

Morning Coffee Hour & Networking

Opening

  • Setting the Agenda — Vaughn McKenzie-Landell, Butter

Presentations

  • Ethereum’s Growth Problems, Levers, and Metrics — TBA

Collaborative Discussion

  • Whiteboarding — Surfacing Signal: Mapping Ethereum’s Growth Opportunities

  • Synthesis & Goal Setting — Aligning on What Matters Most: Ranking & Selecting Ecosystem Objectives

LUNCH

Afternoon: Open Discussion & Co-working

Day 2 — Diverge: Exploring the Design Space

Morning Coffee Hour & Networking

Warm Up

  • Pitches — Participants pitch 30‑min break‑outs under the top 3 themes

Open Space

  • Intro to Open Space Technology + Agenda Setting — If it matters to you, propose it.
    Overview of OST guidelines, defining themes, objectives and topics for breakouts.

  • Peer-Led Breakout Sessions I & II — 2x30 min breakouts covering first two (of three) themes

  • Unconference Block A — Proposals, mechanism-specific breakouts, interest-based meetups (self-organized sessions by participants)

LUNCH

Open Space

  • Peer-Led Breakout Session III — Final 30 min breakout covering last (of three) themes

  • Unconference Block B — Deep dives, reactionary conversations, or critiques (self-organized sessions by participants)

  • Solo / Co-Working Block — Time to reflect, document proposals, synthesize insights
    (Option to start drafting CFM-relevant inputs: objective framing, metrics, proposal sketches)

  • Group Close & Lightning Shares — 2-min highlights from breakout note-takers or hosts + Briefing on output / prep for Day 3

Day 3 — Wargames: Testing Assumptions

Morning Coffee Hour & Networking

Context Setting

  • Futarchy & CFMs 101 — Robin Hanson, George Mason U

Wargames Part I

  • Conditional Funding Markets — How information signals relate to prices + applied forecasting principles (Facilitated by Good Judgement)

LUNCH

Wargames Part II

  • Governance Games — Interactive role-play to navigate multi-stakeholder governance scenarios (Incl. Michael Zargham + Team, Polycentric Governance x Connor McCormick, Negation Game)

Debrief

  • Reflection & Analysis — Review insights and takeaways

Optional Evening Meetup

Day 4 — Converge: Design Sprint

Morning Coffee Hour & Networking

Opening Talks

  • CFM Design Principles — Alex Hajjar, Butter
  • Coordination in Practice — TBA

Design Sprint Part I

  • Collaborative CFM Design: Scoping — Selecting growth objective and success metrics + Defining CFM parameters

LUNCH

Design Sprint Part II

  • CFM Proposal Design — Sketching & modeling proposals
  • Submit CFM Designs — Share concepts with funders / advisors for feedback

Day 5 — Deploy: Retrospective & Next Steps

Morning Brunch & Sync

CFM Design Showcase

  • Team Presentations — Each group presents refined CFM proposals

Retro

  • Closing the Loop: Reflection & Next Steps — What was surfaced, what was learned & what we’re committing to beyond GG

Join us @ GG

GG EE is a track within the broader Edge Esmeralda program.
Click here to apply for a spot during Week 2 of Edge Esmeralda.

Register your interest in attending GG EE here.

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