Super painful. Super stressful.

Now finding a new approach and adjusting to the new reality.

https://twitter.com/basexHQ/status/1784652112334377431

We were virtually certain that the GG20 will happen

❌ on automated AI review

It is particularly painful as 2 human reviewers were ✅ and it is AI that ❌ one criterium?

You provided us with additional info but the team was unable to approve this time.

Unable or unwilling?

Doesn’t matter.

For a moment we felt as belonging to community, not so much anymore.

Straw that broke the camel's back

Just before the GG20 major breaking change to our infrastructure, that massively affected our messaging (no longer “join the platform”).

https://mirror.xyz/0x81e64EFA58bf79F1649F267E16451Fbf836071f6/P3B_cRgtHaAY9w3LsTPozrsUkQa51tUHRlmxjF5sdao

A little bit earlier meeting aligned team at ETH Denver:

https://mirror.xyz/0x81e64EFA58bf79F1649F267E16451Fbf836071f6/n7xNuQhitGNfiN2OFzZEAozs-QwKZvq1IlnJDW_BpSw

(we hope to join forces and work together)

Selling the .com domain

We will be not continuing in the current format, that’s why selling basex.com domain.

It's only 5 letters, .com, sex, brandable, especially if you do something on Base L2.

Bear in mind that WWW were first digital collectibles.

Best contact: marsXRobertson@gmail.com (info@basex.com may not work anymore as we are wrapping up)

Next steps

Give us some time, allow dust to settle, we have some draft notes but too early to share without full clarity.

For now, accounting for externalities remains a big unsolved problem

Who else is working on it?

https://twitter.com/WeDontHaveTime/status/1750813829951627574

(5 minutes of fame, it was a pretty good interview)

Trying to resolve with Kleros:

In the previous blogpost we wrote about alternative approach:

https://mirror.xyz/0x81e64EFA58bf79F1649F267E16451Fbf836071f6/n7xNuQhitGNfiN2OFzZEAozs-QwKZvq1IlnJDW_BpSw

Below copy-paste (for easy indexing in google) from our internal chat, I’m more than happy to share bold impactful vision for the world:

The current version of BaseX stopped working due to Goerli sunset.

Kleros = not married to any particular technology. It was pain to integrate last time.

Please add @GregTrifan11 (dev from Romania I'm working with) to this group so we can decide on the next steps...

You did something in 5 days. It took me many months (if not years) to achieve similar quality.

On the upside: I think I have game theory and incentives figured out, hacker mindset, thinking like adversary, RED TEAM and finding holes.

Together we can make this project a massive success.

I'm working towards GG20 grant application.

I will mention BaseX and EBF Impact Network and Georli Testnet sunset = opportunity to START FRESH

Sharing bold impactful vision for the world

We need network of trust!

I love network of trust.

Trust as lubricant in business.

I would like to make it even bigger: TRUST SCORE on the INTERNET

(and the metrics of evalution can be varied, that's a seperate major feature)

Next steps

Starting from open-source transparent public communication and update.

The BaseX.com platform is currently not available.

We need to figure out the next steps, maybe even focus on Celo in order to participate in their matching round? Clear incentive to do so…

Time will tell, for now explaining the situation with Goerli shut down.

It wasn’t a priority until it became a priority… 🙈

Current status: go to market, partnerships, onboarding = genuine challenge.

To prove that economy works in practice = not attainable at the moment.

In the meantile, let's write an article describing economic assumptions. It will become content marketing piece educating about the space, so clearly let's do it :)

Radical change is possible

One of the original assumptions is that radical change is possible, it all starts from the belief. We genuinely believe that BaseX is so much better than existing system to the point where some forward-thinking country will simply adopt it as a standard. Countries are slow to move though, it takes the legislative process. It will not happen overnight and probably the first country will be a small one, but that's clearly an objective that will indicate "we've made it".

Meaning of the name: BaseX. It's inspirational. Solid base with eXponential potential. "X" can stand for any number of metrics.

In fact we are not married to any particular metric. Initially: SDG (sustainable development goals). Then: EBF (ecological benefits framework). Then: best of both worlds, we can use both and discover interesting interdependencies in data.

Polluters pay

Fundamental assumption: polluters are responsible for negative value.

Here are some high profile examples

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill

BP and the Department of Justice agreed to a record-setting $4.525 billion in fines and other payments.[23][24][25] As of 2018, cleanup costs, charges and penalties had cost the company more than $65 billion.[26][27]

In September 2014, a United States District Court judge ruled that BP was primarily responsible for the oil spill because of its gross negligence and reckless conduct.[28] In April 2016, BP agreed to pay $20.8 billion in fines, the largest environmental damage settlement in United States history.[29]

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinkley_groundwater_contamination (related movie "Erin Brockovich” with Julia Roberts)

Currently it takes time to reach compensation settlement in environmental cases like this. With public pressure, independent journalism and platform like BaseX with regular people reporting on the polluters = with increased awareness it can happen much faster and for larger amount of cases, not just the high profile ones.

The polluters compensating for damage is essential in providing the buy pressure for positive value generated. Otherwise there would be only supply side (various organisations creating positive value) but no-one around to purchase it.

What else provides value for PVT - positive value token?

(tangent: we are looking for a better name, one of the option is GIFT: generated impact functional token)

Compensating for pollution seems like the most obvious use case.

Another option: philanthropic donors who want to support organisations doing something good.

Another option: flex and virtue signalling, sometime buying PVT and displaying it as badge of honour.

Another option: businesses signalling green credentials and accepting PVT and offering discount to those who accumulated it and want to use it.

BaseX carbon credit standard

Current system: prohibitively complicated, expensive, not scalable.

Objective: we need loads of people (farmers around the world) to do reasonably good job, as opposed to high barrier of entry and sending samples to the lab, especially in countries without same day Amazon delivery.

Technology makes it possible, the timing is excellent:

Dispute resolution

Who decides what is truth, what is real? (so-called “oracle problem”)

Currently: Kleros jurors

Potentially: Web of Trust and attestations

Post on Gitcoin governance forum with the conceptual description: https://gov.gitcoin.co/t/the-impact-web-of-trust-could-change-everything/17635

ETH Denver hackathon implementation:

Not married to Kleros. In fact it is non-obvious how to explain to the non-technical, not-crypto-Web3-native audience. On the other hand, explaining Web of Trust, attestations and reputation system is not straightforward either.

Another option for dispute resolution and assessment is an independent 3rd party. Personally it is not my first preference but if the market decides that is a way to go = so be it. It might be easier to explain, it seems more familiar, „just trust these guys” but it is not aligned with „don’t trust verify” principles of blockchain industry.

More info

Check the website / wiki / pitchdeck / whitepaper.

I really wish there was more evidence that economy can work. But the assumptions seem robust and with more data the parameters can be fine-tuned. There is entire section on the wiki dedicated towards tokenomics and keeping it healthy, without flooding the market with large number of tokens.

Next steps

The team what delivered EBF Network of Trust in incredibly strong.

And the success from hackathon is receiving attention:

https://x.com/lineabuild/status/1770473837198508255

Thinking about combining the best approaches and joining forces, in fact we created a Telegram chat and we actively discuss the next steps (building in public and transparent communication). That’s why this blog post, to explain some economic assumptions and probably the single most important principle: polluters pay. EBF has “benefits” in the name but it can be expanded to accomodate negative value and create a buy pressure for generated impact.

Think in terms “negative benefits” aka “externalities” and accounting for the full cost of the producs, goods, services. Such approach will tap into free market forces.

This is a great 5 minutes summary video:

https://twitter.com/WeDontHaveTime/status/1750813829951627574

Easy to explain.

Easy to understand.

Makes intuitive sense.

The reason why it doesn’t exist yet: how to measure it in a reliable way. Convergence of exponential technologies makes it possible to have solid chance of solving this problem. And even if the solution is not always 100% accurate, even a partially valid solution is a step in the right directions that offers data towards finetuning.

https://twitter.com/marsXRobertson/status/1771326631283409186

Deciding on the metrics.

Decicing on the dispute resolution.

Deciding on the governance.

And in the meanwhile leading the initiative by building prototypes, proof of concepts, talking with real users and gathering more data.

Nice little interview from Davos 🗻❄️🇨🇭

https://x.com/wedonthavetime/status/1750813829951627574

Good to hop on the platform with 135.8K followers...

The Founder's Bootcamp by Kleros pitch 💯 💯 💯

• Preparation: 2m14s

• Post-pitch reflections: 3m07s

5am on borrowed laptop, no software, no edits… And yet pulled it off 😎

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1R2BkNcgwMrjBSY_CwQxJIvrUZBAQy1T9MPqCKaftgD4/edit?usp=sharing

Next steps: let’s talk ☎️ (calendly link)

My other talk from Davos

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1mqxDnI67D9mKP51Y5EX2StZHSJA7R41k1acU2m2JHh8/edit?usp=sharing

Some photos

Genuinely epic trip overall

Extended campervan rental not once, not twice, but three times 🚚

Same with the flights. Purchased not one, not two, but three flights ✈️

Lesson for the next trip: allow a few extra day for serendipidous flow and spontaneity.

The energy is still there. And once you put yourself into an elevated state of consciouness, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.

https://basex.com/grant

We intentionally agreed to opt-in Shell money.

It will be “pass through” towards those who are rebelling against toxic system:

https://rebelsinprison.uk/

https://chuffed.org/project/xr-injunction-injustice

EBF potential partnership

https://twitter.com/basexHQ/status/1730269159827689489

Kleros incubator progressing

Public goods funding

https://twitter.com/owocki/status/1732747264941060253

https://community.optimism.io/docs/governance/retropgf-3/#voting

Impact evaluation foundation

Better metrics.

https://www.impactgenome.com/

https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/our-work/true-cost-accounting/

https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2021/living-long-and-living-well-the-wellby-approach/

Kleros Web 2.0 style?

Solving problem.

End-user does not care if there is blockchain on the backend.

Kleros-like system, but using traditional Web 2.0 tooling… But is there a problem? Would anyone use it?

Octant

Unfortunately got rejected for the current round, need to show more progress and social proof.

https://octant.app/projects

https://discuss.octant.app/

Kleros bootcamp

https://blog.kleros.io/the-founders-bootcamp-by-kleros/

GG19

https://twitter.com/basexHQ/status/1721672239139938494

Devconnect in Istanbul

FOMO intensifying.

But so many things happening around London.

https://devconnect.org/

Reasonable goal

https://mirror.xyz/0x81e64EFA58bf79F1649F267E16451Fbf836071f6/vsJzbLAY3AfbVtJdkjnKPFb4Owqnz3lvVJGbul5SMPg

Conversation about business model

Just like B-Corp?

https://bcorporation.uk/b-corp-certification/pricing/

Or maybe through dogfooding?

Distraction or priority?

https://mirror.xyz/0x315f80C7cAaCBE7Fb1c14E65A634db89A33A9637/-ueZUymRDotaedqS9WumzCLXU8qK2nQXOSRIfiegZh4

This whole 🇵🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🇷🇺 situation is deeply worrying.

There is much more that does not reach the media news cycle… Truly excellent newsletter that is making me aware how little I know.

Till the next time

No amount of little UI / UX fixes will push the project forward.

We need to onboard real people, real project, real organisations.

100 organisations is a SMART goal to accomplish till the end of the year.

Who is our first audience?

Web3 communities already involved in doing impactful stuff.

• Gitcoin

• Giveth

• CLR.fund

• Octant

We are a blockchain project that relies on end user having a wallet, such as as Metamask. Over time we will integrate with no-wallet solution (like privy) but in the meanwhile our core focus are Web3 communities.

Incentives

It pays off to be early.

We do not know the exact mechanism but surely there will be some retroactive incentives.

We intend to establish a new standard and the first 100 organisations on the BaseX will become part of this standard…

Let’s do it 💪

Join on us on this journey...

• beta.basex.com

• calendly.com/marsxr/basex ☎️

It should be easy to get started but in case of any questions always here to help…

Screenshot from the site:

Recent accomplishments and next steps

1️⃣ Applied for the Filecoin grant:

https://github.com/filecoin-project/devgrants/issues/1642

2️⃣ Reaching out to Climate Round participants:

3️⃣ Better explainer videos

1. One minute summary

2. Technical demo

3. Background of the space, motivation, ecosystem

4️⃣ Roadmap and milestones

It was a challenge to describe the milestones for the purpose of Filecoin grant. We know what we want to do find measurable metrics was a challenge regardless.

Main goal: incentives towards healthy economy 💯💯💯

https://wiki.basex.com/Roadmap-00d4fb7d392d4d83a8a486afb5899665

Also main goal: listening to feedback received from 2️⃣ after talking with real users.