0. Last week, I officially published my final yet-to-release work on 3ook.com. I naturally assumed it would be quite some time before I had the chance to publish anything again. I had forgotten that it was also time to release the official LikeCoin v3 Whitepaper, and what better venue than 3ook.com, which itself implements the LikeCoin protocol. So, just one week later, I have published a new “work.” Although it’s only 14 pages long, it carries the eight-year history of LikeCoin—from whitepaper to protocol, from protocol to application. To now publish the v3 whitepaper on the v3 dApp built upon the v3 protocol is especially meaningful.

1. In this era of AI’s reign, the first thing I consider when writing is whether I’m creating a “creative work” or a “document.” If it’s the latter, like an official letter or a referral, I’ll let AI take over without hesitation, feeling neither guilty nor embarrassed. On the other hand, if I’m writing a creative work, or part of a larger one, I won’t allow AI to intervene until I’ve at least finished a first draft, to avoid its premature influence on my train of thought. The LikeCoin v3 Whitepaper falls somewhere between a creative work and a document, and thus it has become the one piece among all my “works” with the highest level of AI participation. However, in the process, the AI “copy-referenced” a large volume of my past writings. It’s hard to say anymore whether this whitepaper was written by me with the help of AI, or by AI with the help of me.

2. As the saying goes, “You have your scheme, I have my countermeasure.” Since authors now use AI to generate massive amounts of content, readers have learned to “retaliate” by using AI to read massive amounts of content. So, what will most likely happen is you either won’t open the LikeCoin v3 Whitepaper at all, or if you do, you’ll just toss it to an AI for a summary and glance at the conclusion. Communication that was once between people becomes communication between human & AI → AI & AI → AI & human. Works that were once human creations become works written by humans through AI, or even “works” written by AI through humans. Reading and appreciating works, which should be a human activity, becomes a process of uncritically cramming down information through AI’s comprehension, receiving stories in the style of a rapid-recap YouTuber.

3. I’ve gotten sidetracked with my complaints, let’s get back to the topic. Since the zeroth LikeCoin v3 Greenpaper last May, after community deliberation, funding approval for development, and the launch of the application and data upgrade program, we have finally entered the home stretch. The LikeCoin v3 Whitepaper has been finalized and submitted as a proposal for a community vote. Not everyone in this world enjoys freedom of expression. If you hold LikeCoin, please cherish your right to vote. Go to the LikeCoin DAO and cast your ballot. Even voting no, abstaining, or encouraging others to abstain is a legitimate, reasonable, and lawful exercise of your web3 civic rights.

4. If the proposal passes smoothly before the end of the month, we will hold a simple yet formal minting ceremony during our next community meeting on September 1st (Monday) at 18:30 (Taipei/Hong Kong time). We will witness the birth of the LikeCoin v3 token on the Base chain of the Optimism Superchain together with the community via livestream. You might want to save the meeting location now: meet.google.com/ndv-fbfx-cat; if you only want to watch the livestream, you can also use YouTube: youtube.com/likecoin.

5. Running in parallel are the second and third phases of LikeCoin v3 development, including the staking dApp, upgrade program, and smart contracts related to community governance. Furthermore, after the LikeCoin v3 is minted, volunteers will begin contacting information sites like Coingecko and Coinmarketcap to update the information of LikeCoin, and will prepare the $LIKE v3 liquidity pool on decentralized exchanges in advance for user trading.

6. The “volunteers” I mentioned above don’t actually exist yet. “Don’t ask why nobody is doing this; first, admit that you are ‘nobody.’ Because ‘nobody’ is omnipotent.” If you, this “nobody,” are interested in becoming a LikeCoin volunteer and participating in the construction of decentralized publishing, please leave a comment or contact me.

7. Additionally, we have not forgotten the host of validators who have contributed to the community over the past five or six years by securing the v2 LikeCoin chain. Since mid-June, the LikeCoin v2 inflation rate has been adjusted to 0. The community also passed Proposal 90 to subsidize the validators who are staying on to help users transition to v3 from the community fund. Although the role of validators will no longer exist in LikeCoin v3, we will still need delegates to represent public opinion. There is no gatekeeping mechanism for participating in web3 governance; it’s permissionless. If former validators or other users are interested in becoming delegates for the LikeCoin community, please proactively promote yourself to the community, let everyone get to know you, and earn their delegations in the future.

8. At some point, it seems, issuing a cryptocurrency no longer required a whitepaper. Not only will no one blame you for not clearly writing out your mechanisms, but on the contrary, you might be blamed for making people read a whitepaper to understand your mechanisms. In this atmosphere, the entire procedure for LikeCoin’s v3 upgrade seems very old-school; some might find it anachronistic. Therefore, I must thank you for reading this far, especially everyone who has, or will, open the whitepaper to try to understand and participate in the development of LikeCoin.

p.s. It only belatedly dawned on me today that the whitepaper had to be finalized, so I changed this topic at the last minute. The series on decentralized management of cryptocurrency inheritance, originally scheduled for this issue, will be postponed until next week.