Aggregation & atomization: dependency funding round dynamics
The term “public goods” has been diluted - “dependency” might be better. Round-based funding mechanisms incentivize atomization - how can we avoid this? Thanks to Carl, Cheeky, Jonas, and Tim for review and comments. Cover image from the NOAA page on corals - “most corals are made up of hundreds to hundreds of thousands of individual coral polyps.”“Public Goods” vs “Dependencies”Funding Round TradeoffsReflecting on OP Retro Round 5Possible modifications for rounds“Public Goods” vs “Dependenci...
Aggregation & atomization: dependency funding round dynamics
The term “public goods” has been diluted - “dependency” might be better. Round-based funding mechanisms incentivize atomization - how can we avoid this? Thanks to Carl, Cheeky, Jonas, and Tim for review and comments. Cover image from the NOAA page on corals - “most corals are made up of hundreds to hundreds of thousands of individual coral polyps.”“Public Goods” vs “Dependencies”Funding Round TradeoffsReflecting on OP Retro Round 5Possible modifications for rounds“Public Goods” vs “Dependenci...
Protocol Guild: a funding framework for the Ethereum commons
Valuable resources are produced within the Ethereum commons. The way they are produced matters to their integrity. Protocol Guild is a stewardship funding protocol which upholds that integrity. Thanks to Barnabé, John, Josh, Paul, and Tim for review. *************************************** Commons are productive systems which create resources for collective benefit. Some examples from the broader digital commons, include Wikipedia, Linux, and Ethereum.ethereum as a commons, parallel to existi...
Protocol Guild: a funding framework for the Ethereum commons
Valuable resources are produced within the Ethereum commons. The way they are produced matters to their integrity. Protocol Guild is a stewardship funding protocol which upholds that integrity. Thanks to Barnabé, John, Josh, Paul, and Tim for review. *************************************** Commons are productive systems which create resources for collective benefit. Some examples from the broader digital commons, include Wikipedia, Linux, and Ethereum.ethereum as a commons, parallel to existi...
Ethereum Guilds: opportunities + challenges
Protocol Guild’s design and traction emerged from a unique context - attempts to replicate should keep this in mind: e.g. Dev Tooling Guild, Basic Infra Guild Thanks to Tim beiko and Josh Davis for review Over the last 2.5 years, I helped to launch the initial version of Protocol Guild and steward it toward its current state. On seeing its success, many people have suggested that the model should be reproduced for other Ethereum software stacks. While I agree this should be explored, I hope t...
Ethereum Guilds: opportunities + challenges
Protocol Guild’s design and traction emerged from a unique context - attempts to replicate should keep this in mind: e.g. Dev Tooling Guild, Basic Infra Guild Thanks to Tim beiko and Josh Davis for review Over the last 2.5 years, I helped to launch the initial version of Protocol Guild and steward it toward its current state. On seeing its success, many people have suggested that the model should be reproduced for other Ethereum software stacks. While I agree this should be explored, I hope t...
Capital and enclosure in software commons: Linux & Ethereum
Entities which extract profits from software commons like Linux and Ethereum have the greatest incentive and capacity to co-opt them. The views shared here are my own and may not necessarily represent those held by Protocol Guild members or the Ethereum Foundation. Cover image from Spirited Away (2001). If you prefer to listen, audio versions can be found here:Linux & Ethereum: Commoning vs Commodifying (Sept. 2023) Protocol BergSafeguarding Ethereum’s Soul: Protocol Guild and governing the d...
Capital and enclosure in software commons: Linux & Ethereum
Entities which extract profits from software commons like Linux and Ethereum have the greatest incentive and capacity to co-opt them. The views shared here are my own and may not necessarily represent those held by Protocol Guild members or the Ethereum Foundation. Cover image from Spirited Away (2001). If you prefer to listen, audio versions can be found here:Linux & Ethereum: Commoning vs Commodifying (Sept. 2023) Protocol BergSafeguarding Ethereum’s Soul: Protocol Guild and governing the d...
So - you want to start a Guild?
Recently, more people have reached out expressing interest in creating a version of Protocol Guild for their particular domain. This post is for anyone also considering a similar “commons infra guild.” It explores the primitives and characteristics central to the mechanism as well as their tradeoffs in other contexts.Funding allocation primitivesWhile it’s still a project in development, the Guild was structured to facilitate funding with the lowest bureaucratic overhead possible imposed on m...
So - you want to start a Guild?
Recently, more people have reached out expressing interest in creating a version of Protocol Guild for their particular domain. This post is for anyone also considering a similar “commons infra guild.” It explores the primitives and characteristics central to the mechanism as well as their tradeoffs in other contexts.Funding allocation primitivesWhile it’s still a project in development, the Guild was structured to facilitate funding with the lowest bureaucratic overhead possible imposed on m...
