tl;dr

• Hold a nOGs NFT and at least 11,111 $SPACE to activate your tip allowance

• Check your tip allowance from the Users Tab of the $SPACE Dashboard

• Include “# $SPACE” when replying to casts on your favorite Farcaster Client (nounspace!)

• Claim tips you receive at the end of October via a 30 day Hedgey Stream.

If you haven’t heard about tipping on Farcaster, it’s a concept originally pioneered by Degen in early 2024. Thanks to Farcaster’s public database of user activity and verified wallet addresses, Degen developed a layer on top of Farcaster which allocated daily $DEGEN allowances to Farcaster users. Users with available tip allowances could then distribute to other Farcaster users by replying to their casts with the amount to tip, ie. “123 $DEGEN.”

Once launched, tipping spread across the Farcaster network virally. Not only did it help catapult Degen into the coveted position of top memecoin, but it even played a large role in Farcaster's exponential growth.  Rather than a project deciding who to distribute tokens to, tips delegate this authority to the community. It feels amazing to tip fellow community members for content you appreciate, and it feels amazing to receive tips. Tipping is also quite easy; there’s no need to connect your wallet or confirm transactions, simply type the amount that you want to tip and the name of the tipping token, in our case $SPACE. Last but not least, the strategy is inherently viral. Rather than me or nounspace telling you how $SPACE is more than just a tip token–it’s also the fair-launched governance and utility token for nounspace–your fellow Farcaster friends can gift you some $SPACE, and you can find out for yourself.

On that note, learn more about $SPACE in last week’s announcement or on the $SPACE dashboard.

To activate your $SPACE tip allowance, you must hold at least 11,111 $SPACE as well as a nOGs (nounspace OG) NFT in the address associated with your Farcaster account. These requirements are subject to change in future seasons, and help ensure that the limited budget for tip allowances (1.5M $SPACE in Season 1) is allocated to real nounspace community members with real skin in the game. Within 24 hours of holding the necessary $SPACE and nOGs in your wallet, you’ll be able to see your tip allowance when you connect your wallet to the Users tab of the $SPACE Dashboard. 

If you haven’t already..

1. mint nOGs (0.0111 ETH, or free for Nouns holders)

2. swap $SPACE on Base

   

Next, head to the $SPACE Dashboard to view your daily $SPACE Tip allowance.

Finally, head to your favorite Farcaster client (*cough* nounspace) and let the tipping begin.

It’s so easy. Simply reply to a cast that you want to tip with the amount to tip followed by $SPACE. You include whatever other content you’d like in the cast as well.

Here’s an example of a valid tip:

Ultimately this is up to the community of $SPACE tippers to decide. Any cast on Farcaster is eligible to be tipped.

I can only speak from my perspective about the things that I like to tip:

1. Content that I find interesting or helpful

2. Content that I find beautiful

3. Content that I find beneficial to nounspace

How you tip or cast in hopes of getting tipped is up to you. My recommendation is to post unique, authentic, and valuable content. Bonus points if that content is related to nounspace.

How Not to Tip or Get Tipped

With great power, comes great responsibility. These tokens are intended to be allocated by the community to other humans on Farcaster that create valuable and unique content. These tokens are not intended to be distributed to bots, other accounts you control, or to users who are attempting to game the system for their own personal gain. The nounspace team will conduct a review at the end of the season and reserves the right to slash any/all tips given or received for users we believe are attempting to game the system for their own personal benefit. Users that do not wish to be slashed are encouraged to post quality, unique content that they wrote or created themselves, and to tip quality, unique content created by other humans on Farcaster.

When Can I Claim the Tips I Receive

Tips received during Season 1 will be available to claim by the end of October after the season has ended and the review has been conducted. Users will be able to claim a 30D stream of their total balance of tips earned during Season 1. Streaming is powered by Hedgey, and users will be able to claim from the Users Tab of the $SPACE Dashboard. Note that you must claim your tip stream within the 30 days; unclaimed tips will be reclaimed and rolled over into the total budget for $SPACE tips in the following season.

How to Suggest Improvements to $SPACE Tipping

The community and I would love to hear it! Share in the nounspace discord, the /nounspace channel on Farcaster, or as an RFC in the forum. If the community likes the idea, you (or anyone) could make a proposal and build the change you wish to see in the world.

What If I Have Other Questions?

Ask in the nounspace discord or cast in the /nounspace channel from nounspace.com

–

Head to the $SPACE Dashboard now to check your tip allowance!

Happy tipping friends 🚀 👾

- nounspaceTom

First and foremost, happy $SPACE launch day to you all! 🚀

We want to thank each of you that has supported nounspace over the past 6 months of our journey. We’ve gone from an idea that started as a joke, to a proposal funded by Nouns DAO, to a live app with the potential to onchain the masses. It’s been an amazing start to the long voyage ahead, and none of this would have been possible without each of the following pillars in the nounspace community:

The Capital Providers that contribute their stETH to the $SPACE liquidity pools (launched today).

The Developers that build Fidgets or contribute open-source code.

The Users that have minted nounspace OG NFTs (nOGs), customized their space, or participated in the fair launch.

And beginning today, nounspace DAO, the community treasury governed by $SPACE holders.

Each of these instrumental pillars have been allocated 20% of the $SPACE token supply, which continuously unlocks at a decreasing rate over the 11 year curve that began on June 14th, 2024 and ends on June 11, 2035 when the Max Supply of 1.1 Billion is reached. While the emission curve is not subject to change, the nounspace DAO is empowered to autonomously update the allocation of $SPACE emissions from this point on.

From now on, the team that has developed nounspace will be known as the Based Space Foundation, an independent organization dedicated to supporting the open source development, growth, and decentralization of nounspace. The Based Space Foundation is allocated the remaining 20% of $SPACE emissions. The Foundation’s supply unlocks at the same rate as each pillar. However, we intentionally designed nounspace to be independent and empowered to evolve in any direction the community chooses, with or without the Foundation.

Airdrop(s)

Capital Providers, Users, and Developers that have supported nounspace can claim $SPACE directly from space.nounspace.com starting at 1:11pm UTC on September 12th. If you haven’t qualified yet, there’s still hope! The next airdrop, Space Drop 1, will occur in October, and you can start qualifying now by minting nOGs or preparing for the upcoming launch of $SPACE Tips on September 19th. Both airdrops will be streamed to recipients over the course of 30 days.

Allocation for Drop 0

2M $SPACE: nOGs Holders (proportional to time held from May 15 to September 10th)

2M $SPACE: Users that customized their space by September 10th

2M $SPACE: Users that participated in the fair launch, proportional to yield contributed

26,000 $SPACE: Participants in nounspace’s Drop 0 coinvise campaign

Allocation for Drop 1 in October

1M $SPACE: nOGs Holders (proportional to time held beginning September 11th)

1.7M $SPACE: $SPACE tip allowances, allocated to nOGs holders that hold at least 11,111 $SPACE

TBA $SPACE: Participants in nounspace’s Drop 1 Coinvise campaigns (TBA)

The yield contributed by Capital Providers is used to purchase $SPACE and provide liquidity to $SPACE pools on decentralized exchanges such as Aerodrome and Uniswap on Base. This liquidity is owned by the nounspace DAO, and can be managed via governance.

You can earn $SPACE by depositing stETH on space.nounspace.com.
After 7 days, you can withdraw 100% of your deposit.

The nounspace DAO is governed by $SPACE token holders via the process defined in the nounspace Governance Process. Any address with at least 20,000 $SPACE tokens held or staked on Base can submit proposals. Addresses receive 1 vote for each $SPACE token they hold or stake on Base. nounspace DAO is powered by a state-of-the-art stack composed of SnapShot for gasless (free) voting, Safes for treasury management, and oSnap for empowering the community to autonomously and automatically execute transactions via governance.

Resources

• Discord

• Forum and Community Docs

• SnapShot

• $SPACE Dashboard

$SPACE Tips: Beginning September 19th, if you hold the nOGs NFT as well as at least 11,111 $SPACE you will receive a daily $SPACE tip allowance that you can use to tip other Farcaster users by commenting on their post with "# $SPACE" where # is the amount of $SPACE you'd like to tip. Future iterations may take into account the total amount of $SPACE held or staked and not require holding nOGs.

$SPACE Rank: Soon, a new variable will be added to the feed sorting algorithm(s) on nounspace that will consider the amount of $SPACE held or staked by each Caster. The greater the amount of $SPACE held or staked relative to other casts, the higher a cast will rank in the feed.

These are just the first 2 utilities that the Based Space Foundation plans to implement. If you have another idea for increasing $SPACE utility, you can propose it!

It’s been a pleasure serving as CEO of nounspace over the past 6 months. I couldn’t have asked for a better team, community, or opportunity. While my entire being remains wholly committed to nounspace’s success, this is exactly why I must step down as CEO and hand the reigns over to you, the community of rightful owners. nounspace now belongs to all of you, as the future of social should.

We finally have the tools. Now we just need to coordinate.

While I’ll cherish my memories as CEO forever, I look forward to continuing to contribute to both the Based Space Foundation as well as the nounspace DAO as an active community member. 

Your friend forever,

Tom
Former CEO of nounspace

On June 29th, just before our nounspace v0 launch, we kicked off the ATX Onchain Summer Extravaganza. In short, it was spectacular :)

Picture a warm evening in Austin, buzzing with the energy of blockchain lovers and beginners alike, mingling under the glow of ambient lights. The air was alive with the sounds of Willy Mcgee's Band and DJ Corduroi, accompanied by the unmistakable scent of fresh pizza. This wasn’t just any gathering—it was a glimpse into the future of tech and community.

And there was even more:

• Web3 Builder Crawl: Think of it like a pub crawl for your mind. Local innovators displayed their projects, demystifying blockchain and digital currencies for all attendees.

  

• USDC Welcome Here: We transformed five local vendors into crypto-friendly shops. Multiple attendees set up Coinbase Wallets, bought their first USDC, and executed fast & free blockchain transactions—showcasing the practical side of cryptocurrencies.

  

• Entertainment and Refreshments: Because even the most decentralized community thrives on good food and great music.

  

We envision the future of the internet as accessible and enjoyable as a neighborhood block party—no intimidating tech barriers, just genuine interactions and shared experiences.

The event was eye-opening for many. Attendees saw that blockchain isn’t just for the tech-savvy; it’s for anyone interested in being part of the digital future.

Despite some challenges (like explaining DeFi through song and dance), the night was a success, paving the way for our nounspace v0 launch. We operated on a mix of adrenaline and, yes, quite a bit of caffeine.

Now, nounspace is live, and the $SPACE fair-launch is just getting started. Beyond nounspace, the ATX web3 community is more vibrant than ever and continues to grow. If you missed the Extravaganza, don’t worry—there’s much more to come. We’re determined to bring the onchain lifestyle to a broader audience, one party at a time.

A heartfelt thanks to everyone who joined us for the ATX Onchain Summer Extravaganza. Your participation showed that the future of social media isn’t confined to the virtual world—it thrives anywhere our community gathers.

Keep an eye out for more IRL events, and jump into nounspace to help shape the future of social networking. Together, we're proving that the strongest communities thrive both online and in person.

Here's to more adventures—wherever they may lead!

The nounspace Team (Yes, still dreaming about that pizza)

P.S. Thanks to our partners ATX DAO and Blocklive.io for their incredible support.

Farcaster

nounspaceTom.eth on Warpcast

Last night's Onchain Summer Extravaganza in Austin was the best night ever. I collected tons of swag, bought cookies, crafts, and 2 medical marijuana pipes with USDC, gave sneak peaks of the new /nounspace, crowd surfed(!), and got to hang on stage while Willy Mcgee's Band played. They even sang 2 songs about me!

Farcaster

nounspaceTom.eth on Warpcast

I'm so hyped about the ATX Onchain Summer Extravaganza tomorrow that I'm gonna camp out at the booth tonight, just in case anyone shows up early. https://blocklive.io/event/onchain-summer-atx for those who have been under a rock. Tomorrow we party onchain 🕺 💃 https://imagedelivery.net/BXluQx4ige9GuW0Ia56BHw/b8a77b6f-9ab9-4513-a888-9fee47171a00/original https://blocklive.io/event/onchain-summer-atx

Farcaster

nounspaceTom.eth on Warpcast

Onchain Summer postcards have arrived, and we are only three days from kicking off the ATX Onchain Summer Extravaganza. Be a friend and mail one to someone who couldn't make it. I've been hard at work handwriting a note for each attendee and can't wait to see y'all! RSVP here https://blocklive.io/event/onchain-summer-atx

Starting July 2nd at 13:11 UTC (9:11am ET), nOGs holders can log in and start crafting their unique digital identity. Your nOGs aren't just an NFT anymore – they're now your portal to the onchain universe.

• Customize your theme with handpicked fonts, colors, and even HTML/CSS code

• Add, arrange, and configure fidgets to your heart's content

• Set the mood with your favorite tunes

• Create both a space (public-facing profile) and a homebase (a private space only you can see)

And this is just the beginning. We're cooking up even more ways for you to express yourself and interact with your internet friends and communities.

We dreamt up nounspace on March 14th, secured a $100k grant from Nouns on April 1st, launched nOGs on May 15, @nounspaceTom on May 23, and commenced the $SPACE Fair Launch on June 14. Now, just three months after setting sail, we're opening the doors to our earliest supporters.

Because you believed in us from the start. You saw the potential in a community-owned social network. You understood that the future of social media belongs to its users. Now, you get to be the first to help shape that future.

We're taking notes, implementing feedback, and building towards our vision of the future of social. In fact, we've already taken a major step in that direction. On June 14th, we commenced the fair launch of $SPACE, our governance token that will allow everyone to have a stake in nounspace's future. The response has been incredible – over 2600 stETH has already been deposited into the contract. 100% of the yield generated will be used to provide liquidity when $SPACE goes live on September 14th, exactly 90 days after the commencement date. With $SPACE, users will be able to own a piece of the platform and have a say in its governance.

In the meantime, nOGs holders, your moment is here! Dive in, customize your space, express yourself, and help us build the greatest social network with the strongest community. Because that's the one that will win. And with the momentum we're seeing from the $SPACE fair launch, it's clear that our community is ready to make waves in the social media landscape.

Remember, this is just the beginning. We're building something that's arguably as important as the future of finance – the future of social. And we're doing it fairly, openly, and with our community at the center.

To our nOGs holders: your portal to the onchain universe is ready. Log in, customize, and let's shape the future of social media together.

If you’ll be in Austin, TX on June 29th from 6-9pm, RSVP for the free event here

The term "onchain" might still be new to some, but it's quickly becoming the cornerstone of the next internet evolution. At Nounspace, we're passionate about bringing more people onchain, not just because it's the future of technology, but because it represents a more transparent, inclusive, and fun way of interacting online.

One of the core reasons we're organizing this event is to foster a sense of community. Blockchain technology can sometimes seem intimidating, especially for those who aren't tech-savvy. We want to change that perception by creating a space where everyone feels welcome, whether you're a crypto veteran or a complete beginner.

At the ATX Onchain Summer Extravaganza, you'll have the chance to meet local builders, artists, and enthusiasts who are shaping the future of art, finance, AI, communities, and social interaction. This event is all about bridging the gap between the real world (IRL) and the digital world (URL), showing how blockchain can enhance our everyday lives.

We believe that learning about blockchain should be as enjoyable as it is enlightening. That's why our event is packed with live music from Austin's best band ever, Willy McGee's Band, a DJ set from myself, Nounspace Tom, as well as special local guest, and a variety of booths offering free prizes and NFT giveaways. There will be food, drinks, and games to ensure that everyone has a great time.

More importantly, this event is an opportunity to demystify blockchain technology. Through interactive demos and hands-on experiences with local web3 builders, attendees can see firsthand how blockchain works and why it's such a game-changer. We’ll have local artists and merchants selling items for USDC on Base (zero transaction fees when using the Coinbase wallet) as well as a station to help you set up a wallet and get rolling with your first onchain dollars (1 USDC = $1).

Nounspace is more than just a social app; it's a movement towards a decentralized future where users have complete control over their data and relationships. We're inspired by the customizable and community-driven ethos of platforms like Myspace, but we're taking it a step further by building on the Farcaster protocol. This ensures that our users' data is secure, permissionless, and owned by them.

The ATX Onchain Summer Extravaganza is also a celebration of the tangible impact we can make by working together. Sponsored by Nounspace, ATX DAO, and Blocklive, our event highlights how decentralized communities can drive real-world change. From supporting local artists to empowering non-profits, we're showcasing how blockchain technology can be a force for good.

I can't wait to see you all at Springdale Station on June 29th from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM. Let's eat, drink, vibe, and play while we explore the endless possibilities of life onchain.
Together, we can make our industry less scary, more fun, and more accessible.

Remember, if you're already one of the 52 million Americans that owns crypto, you don't wanna miss this event. If you're not yet one of the 52 million Americans that owns crypto, you definitely don't wanna miss this event.

See y’all there!
🔆 OᑎᑕᕼᗩIᑎ ᔑᑌᗰᗰEᖇ 🔆

Tom, CEO of Nounspace.com

In T-Minus 11 minutes, at 1:11pm UTC on June 14th, 2024, staking in the Nounspace fair launch begins.

Visit space.nounspace.com to deposit stETH, earn $SPACE, and begin your journey.

For every block over the next 11 years, depositors will earn their fair share of the $SPACE tokens distributed in proportion to the yield their deposit generates. In 90 days, $SPACE will become claimable on Base, and the yield generated will be used to initiate a $SPACE liquidity pool on a DEX.

The future of social is community owned. Join us as we build this future together.

Nounspace is an open source Farcaster client centered around customizability. It’s a space for people, places, and things to create, customize, and explore, and is the Schelling point at the intersection of crypto, social, and AI. Our journey began on April 1 when we received a $100k grant from Nouns in the nouns x farcaster competition.

The v0 of Nounspace is centered around 3 core features:

Themes - Customize the look, feel, and sound of your space with fonts, colors, code, and music.

Fidgets - Embed a growing library of powerful functionality and mini-apps, and customize their style and settings.

Tabs - Multiply the power of Themes and Fidgets by adding additional pages known as Tabs.

Nounspace users will be able to unlock the power of Themes, Fidgets, and Tabs on both their Space (aka profile) as well their Homebase, which is a Space only you can see.

When $SPACE token launches in 90 days, Nounspace will be owned and operated by the community of $SPACE token holders.

We’re grateful to have some of the top communities in Web3 and Farcaster holding nOGs and signed up to customize their spaces during the upcoming v0 launch of Nounspace.

If you’re part of a community that’s interested in being one of the first to customize their space, mint nOGs here for earliest access and free Nounspace access for life. @nounspaceTom has also minted a handful of the earliest nOGs himself; if you think you’re part of one of the coolest communities in web3, join the discord to let him know why you deserve a free pair.

$SPACE is the governance and utility token for Nounspace. It's built on top of the MOR20 standard developed by Morpheus, and includes native crosschain bridging superpowers from LayerZero.

Initially, while stETH staking will take place on Ethereum Mainnet, $SPACE will be distributed on Base Network. Beyond Base, $SPACE is bridgeable to 55+ chains thanks to its implementation of LayerZero’s OFT standard, and we aim to expand staking to additional assets and chains in the near future.

MOR20 is a new token and fair launch standard created by Morpheus. For decentralized projects or protocols, the MOR20 standard offers a powerful way to both launch a token, bootstrap liquidity, and equitably distribute your token to Capital Providers as well as any other stakeholder groups.

The Based Spaced Foundation is an independent organization dedicated to supporting the open source development, growth, and decentralization of Nounspace. Because Nounspace is entirely open source, the Based Space Foundation has no ownership over the Nounspace brand or code, nor does it have any special powers. The Based Space Foundation is responsible for the development of Nounspace so far, and intends to continue developing Nounspace in collaboration with the community indefinitely. However, the Based Space Foundation strategically designed Nounspace to be independent itself, and to be in a position where the community can carry Nounspace forward in any direction they choose, with or without the Foundation.

Each of the following space cadets have played a significant role in nounspace’s achievements:

@albitrage

@cameronb

@hypocrisy

@latsko.eth

@paulapb

@realitycrafter

@ryannorton

@willywonka.eth

While they are excited to continue building on this journey as members of both the Based Space Foundation and Space DAO, ultimately the future of Nounspace rests in the hands of $SPACE holders.

The journey begins by visting space.nounspace.com

Once you arrive, the process is simple:

1. Approve and deposit stETH

2. Earn $SPACE each block

3. Anytime after 7 days, withdraw stETH instantly

• Supply: 1,100,000,000

• Curve: 4,015 days (11 years)

• Starting daily emissions: 420,069 $SPACE (84,013.8 per bucket)

• Daily emissions decrease: -72.793421654 $SPACE (-14.5586843308 per bucket)

• Each of the following stakeholder groups is instrumental to Nounspace’s success, and each will receive an equal 20% of the token emissions upon launch. When Space DAO launches in 90 days, the community of $SPACE holders will have the ability to update these allocations by passing a governance proposal.

Fair launch begins: June 14, 1:11pm UTC

Nounspace v0 launch: July 2, 1:11pm UTC

$SPACE LP deployment and claiming on Base: September 12, 1:11pm UTC

Today we’re announcing nOGs, Nounspace OG NFTs that grant earliest access to customize spaces on Nounspace as well as premium Nounspace for life.

nOGs aren’t just an NFT, but your portal to the onchain universe.

Each nOG is unique, and was generated by masking 11 doodled frames over 1,011 pieces of cc0 artwork and photography sourced from cc0-lib.wtf, basepaint.xyz, and pixabay.com.

Starting at 11:11 CST mint nOGs on hightlight.xyz for 0.0111 ETH each

Update: Mint is now live! 🚀

The 11 handdrawn nOGs frames were created by @Benjamin ⌐◨-◨, who also created Nounspace's branding and logo. As we create and share the first pieces of art that express Nounspace, some recurring themes we're exploring are human authenticity, uniqueness, and self-expression. The handdrawn logo & nOGs embody these themes, and make for perfect portals to a wide-variety of cc0 artwork and photography from diverse, web3-native creators around the world.

Fun fact: to enable nounspace engineers @hypocrisy and @realitycrafter.eth to stay focused on the harder, more necessary challenge of building nounspace, @cameronb and I took on the challenge of sourcing the cc0 artwork and generating the nOGs using the doodled frames that Benjamin created.

Because neither of us are devs, we used AI to write the necessary code and walk us through the steps to generate the artwork, and we couldn’t have been more pleased with the results. Even if we were master coders and typists, there’s no way we would have been able to write the code faster. And while we have no idea if the code is “clean,” it definitely did the job. The result is a simple, yet powerful demonstration of the synergistic potential of humans & technology, which we feel aligns perfectly with the ethos of Nounspace.

To recap, nOGs are not just beautiful, unique, nounish NFTs. They are the portal to the onchain universe. Wear nOGs to express yourself, secure your Nounspace OG status onchain, and support our ongoing development. You will be rewarded with earliest access to customize spaces on Nounspace, premium Nounspace access for life, and infinite possibilities.

to infinity and beyond,

nounspace founders 👾

nounspace.com | discord | /nounspace

Today, we're announcing the next major evolution of Nounspace - $SPACE

We believe that the final frontier of social media will be owned by its users and community, and that the social network with the strongest community will win. With this in mind, everyone will have access to the same opportunity to earn $SPACE, the governance & utility token for Nounspace soon™.

On June 14th at 1:11pm UTC, we will open our stake-to-earn program based on the MOR20 fair launch model:

• Deposit stETH

• Earn $SPACE daily

• Withdraw your stETH anytime

The MOR20 standard SPACE is launching on allows anyone who deposits stETH to allocate their yield to one or more specific project(s). In exchange for allocating their yield to help fund a project, such as Nounspace, stakers are rewarded with a daily stream of the project’s native token (distributed in proportion to their yield vs the overall emissions).

Half of the yield allocated to Nounspace will be used to purchase SPACE. The SPACE is then paired with the other 50% of the yield and deposited to a DEX liquidity pool. This enables fair price discovery in advance of the launch, and establishes liquidity to provide more stability to the token price afterwards. You can read more about the details of this model here.

We had the idea for Nounspace on March 14th, submitted a proposal in the Nouns x Farcaster competition on March 23rd, and received a $100k grant from Nouns on April 1st. On April 27th, we posted a 4 week propdate, dropped The Third Space on April 29th, and just 5 days ago revealed what we've built so far at Farhack 2024.

As soon as we started working on Nounspace, we received inquiries from multiple interested parties regarding how Nounspace planned to structure itself and raise funds. While this may sound like a dream come true for many entrepreneurs (including myself 11 years ago), this isn’t the Nounspace team’s first rodeo. Our journeys in web3 have shown us there’s a better way.

Specifically, the new fair launch standard developed by Morpheus, MOR20, caught the team’s attention and seemed like the answer to our questions. If you’re not familiar with Morpheus yet, I strongly recommend checking them out at mor.org. While I shouldn’t have to convince anyone that AI is important, some people, particularly those wielding tremendous power, unfortunately believe that AI must be centrally controlled. In case you missed it, the recent Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence dictated that the development and deployment of AI systems above a certain scale will be subject to strict licensing requirements and centralized oversight.*

These provisions create substantial barriers for open-source initiatives and smaller organizations seeking to innovate. Much like the government's past attempts to restrict encryption, this regulatory approach risks stifling the free and decentralized development of a profoundly important technology. If left unchecked, it could lead to a future where only a select few gatekeepers, beholden to government dictates, can shape the trajectory of artificial intelligence. Morpheus presents a compelling alternative vision - one that prioritizes openness, transparency, and broad participation in the AI revolution. As we stand at this pivotal juncture, it is crucial that we resist excessive centralization and defend the freedom to build and share AI technologies for the benefit of all.

Nounspace is supporting this mission by developing the MRC21: Non Fungible Agents smart contracts in a way that supports Smart Agents and Fidgets as well as enabling Nounspace users to discover and embed a growing library of Smart Agents on their space or homebase (alongside Fidgets).

So, when you’re building something as important as the decentralized network for AI, it’s self-evident that the only logical way to launch the token is fairly. This same logic applies to what we’re building with Nounspace: the future of social media, or as we like to call it, the Modular Onchain Universe.

We’ll share more details as we get closer. For now we just wanted to let you know it’s coming. In the meantime, be sure to follow our progress in /nounspace as well as Morpheus and other projects fair launching on the MOR20 standard on mor.org/ecosystem. Nounspace is taking notes from Morpheus' and other MOR20 projects fair launches, and will be sure to implement lessons from each. Speaking of which, last night Morpheus published this Launch Guide which included learnings from the MOR launch on May 8th.

You can also learn more about Morpheus and their fair launch mechanism in these 2 podcast episodes featuring Morpheus contributors, David Johnston and Erik Voorhees, and nounspace co-founder (and ATX DAO contributor) Willy Ogorzaly.

Decentralizing AI with David Johnston: a Dive into Morpheus and the MOR Token’s Fair Launch

Erik Voorhees: Shaping a World of Open Innovation in Crypto and AI

If you agree that the future of social media is community-owned, join the nounspace community and let's build it together.

To infinity and beyond,

nounspace founders 🧑‍🚀🚀

*Section 5(b)(ii) of the order requires AI providers to "obtain a license from the Department of Commerce" for models exceeding specific computational thresholds, effectively concentrating the most powerful AI capabilities in the hands of large, regulated entities. Furthermore, Section 7(c)(i) mandates that licensed AI systems must implement "approved safeguards" and submit to ongoing audits, granting the government significant control over their operation.

Disclaimer
This is our current plan, but nothing is set in stone yet and plans are subject to change.

gm frens! hope you're having the best day ever. today is the submission deadline, and we're so stoked to share what we've built so far. we're hoping to present this on stage today, but just in case we can't, we're putting it onchain for everyone forever. LFG!

and now... the moment you've all been waiting for, the first ever demo of Nounspace 🎉

Check out this awesome launch video we made! nOGs were created over the past 6 days with support from Claude AI. Huge shoutout to Benjamin Latsko (@willywonka) for doodling 11 amazing and unique noggle frames.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to smell what we've been cooking at Nounspace. We couldn't be more excited to be building Nounspace for, with, and alongside y'all, and we're grateful to all the early pioneers joining us on this journey.

👩‍🚀 To infinity, and beyond 🚀

@willywonka.eth
@realitycrafter.eth
@cameronb
@hypocrisy
@willywonka (the other willywonka 😂 aka Benjamin Latsko)

Where We Are

The internet is at a crossroads.

Web3 is on the verge of mainstream adoption, but it still lacks a use case compelling enough for the general public to drive a switch over to it from the current system. At the same time, public distrust in private control of the internet has been growing. Major tech companies like Facebook, Google, and Twitter collect and monetize user data, leveraging their control over algorithms to shape public perception and the flow of information. People are increasingly aware that these centralized entities are monopolizing access to the core value the internet provides society.

These two societal currents are converging towards a natural solution: a digital commons owned by all participants - our Third Space. This term extends the concept of third places, as a social environment separate from our home or workplace, to the digital realm. 

Beyond the financial applications, blockchain technology can also be a powerful tool for tracking participation, contribution, and power in a community. It is here that web3 will break out its holding pattern of bubble and burst, to provide a more consistent and essential value to the world. We can leverage these tools to make social media that is for the people, by the people, and that distributes the value it generates across the people who created it. This ethos is in stark contrast to the traditional model of extractive social media. It is with this new ethos that we will build a movement.

However, there is a lot of distrust to overcome. Between environmental concerns (which proof of stake networks have largely solved), and pump and dump schemes (which the community is getting better at catching), blockchain technology has garnered infamy among the general public. It is a hard reputation to fight against when considering onboarding lay people into this world.

This leads us to the most important question:

How will this time be different?

The beginnings of what a Third Space could look like have been started with the Farcaster network. Farcaster provides an amazing backbone to power social media, offering a Twitter-like posting and following service that can reach large audiences with a robust system architecture. At its core, Farcaster is a distributed data source. It acts as a layer of data for the internet that any social media client can access and host, replacing the centralized server that Twitter or Facebook keeps.

Farcaster clients (like Warpcast) act as the user interface for this social media system, providing a window that can be focused onto different sections of the Farcaster data layer (with all clients accessing the same fundamental pool of data and social graph). A similar system is being built by the AT Protocol and Bluesky. But clients for both of these decentralized data systems have set their ambitions at rebuilding Twitter, instead of innovating on the experience. 

We can take one small step (or perhaps a giant leap) further and build a client that empowers users to craft their own way of experiencing social media, a personalized vessel for navigating this shared layer of online content and apps. Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, users and organizations can create and share social media spaces with unique themes, layouts, and data sources. Communities can form around specific topics and curate a shared social experience with tailored feeds and discussions centered around their interests. Imagine that this platform can then also seamlessly integrate different Web3 experiences and information into a single ecosystem. Let’s call the technical system that enables this the Space Protocol and the client built on top of the system Nounspace. 

Let’s paint a picture of what using this platform might look like. After a stressful day, you open Nounspace, seeking a break from the crypto noise and wanting to unwind with some light-hearted content. Within the app, you have personalized feeds tailored to your interests, called spaces. You navigate to the cat space, a curated stream of adorable feline photos and videos, providing the perfect escape. Once you've calmed down, you feel like engaging in something more interactive. 

Without leaving the platform, you switch to a gaming space, where you can access a popular free-to-play fighting game. The game's cosmetic items are stored onchain as NFTs, allowing you to truly own your in-game assets. You dive into a few matches, setting a new win streak, and the app prompts you to share your achievement, automatically generating a cast for you to post to the built-in Farcaster feed.

Feeling reinvigorated, you move over to your personalized news space to catch up on the day's events. Throughout this entire experience, you never left Nounspace, seamlessly transitioning between different Web3-powered sections and activities – from consuming lighthearted content to gaming with owned assets and sharing achievements, all within a single, unified platform.

Nounspace leverages Web3 to create a cohesive, user-centric social media experience tailored to your needs and interests. It empowers you to own and control your digital assets and identity, while providing a sanctuary from the noise and manipulative feeds of traditional social media; offering a range of integrated and personalized experiences under one roof. But most importantly, all of these experiences are part of an open ecosystem, not a walled garden. Anyone can contribute and make building blocks for these spaces. We call these blocks Fidgets.

This section will get a bit more technical as we dive into the long term vision for Fidgets and the Space Protocol they are built upon. This is not intended to act as a full technical specification - we intend to release a white paper when we get closer to public release. Dynamic feed choices is just one example of the creative power that the Fidget system unlocks for users - the architecture defined here will enable a wide range of applications and experiences. 

Fidgets are the essential building blocks of the Space Protocol. A Fidget can be thought of as a self contained app. Fidgets can be installed and arranged onto grids known as Spaces, which serve as a dashboard for social media experiences.

But Fidgets are much more dynamic than an app. Fidgets are fully customizable and composable web experiences; anything from a game to a meme to a part of another Fidget. The entire architecture of Nounspace is Fidgets, all the way down.

You can nest any Fidget inside of another Fidget. Someone could build a music player Fidget, and someone else could install that into a Playlist Ranking tool. If you feel like you know how to make a better UI element, you can fork the existing UI, and replace that button you hate with one that you love. If you know how to code, everything about a Fidget is customizable. If not, those that do know can include customizable settings, like colors, fonts, or the contract address you want the Fidget to query.

Initially, core development will target small, simple Fidgets. These will act as building blocks for more advanced and interesting Fidgets.

A complete Fidget can be installed and run by a user inside of a Fidget Virtual Machine (FVM). It has everything that is needed to render the Fidget in the user's browser or native app, and run it. In contrast, a partial Fidget requires other components to be completed in order for the user to interact with it. Examples of some partial Fidgets include a data API to access FC data or a design style for a button.

Complete Fidgets must perform tasks across the 3 layers of the Nounspace system. Each layer handles a different essential aspect of the social experience: the data layer, the algorithm layer, and the display layer. Each layer can be customized by the user.

How data is stored and accessed. This is both personal user data for the Fidget, but also general information from public sources. A complete Fidget needs a way to write to data. It can store this data on IPFS, Farcaster, AT Protocol, or any other service. The Fidget that manages access to the API of one of these services covers the Data Layer

The way data is selected, and ordered for the user. This is the source of actual decision making power for the Complete Fidgets. These will access data from the Data Layer and tell the UI what to display. They also handle user input and pass relevant data that needs to be stored back to the Data Layer. 

How the data is displayed. Everything that falls under the category of UI and graphics. In the case of a social feed, this layer could determine if the posts were Twitter or Reddit styled. It also acts as the input layer for the user to manage the Fidget settings.

The way the user engages with the system, and manages what experiences they are using. Inside a client will be an FVM, running each of the Fidgets that a user installs. Nounspace will provide an open source client for public consumption. This client will come pre-installed with a basic theme for the user's initial Homebase and a Fidget discovery tool.

The most comprehensive example for a complete Fidget is a social feed. Let’s look at what a core Farcaster Feed Fidget would look like. 

The data layer will be built as an access point to a hub. Nounspace will use Neynar to provide this, but it could come from a self hosted hub. Whoever develops the Fidget can leave the configuration for how to access the hub. It would also be a valid implementation to have the data layer be built on top of a SQL replica of the Farcaster network (the type that hubble replicator creates).

The algorithm layer will be a simple “most recent” feed. It will query the data layer for casts, ordered by timestamp. A more complicated algorithm could be fed user data about likes to create a “most interesting” ordering instead.

The display layer will be formatted like a Twitter feed, with simple block dividers.

To enable customization of the UI, we will need to introduce another data layer Fidget that will talk directly with the display layer. Since Farcaster currently does not support large amounts of profile data being stored on the platform (April, 2024), an IPFS connection will be used to write unsupported settings data for the current user and this specific complete Fidget. An IPFS connection Fidget will be used to manage reading and writing this data.

Initially, Fidgets will only be developed internally and the options for where to source Fidgets from will be limited. Once we have reached the point where we can support allowing anyone to publish their own Fidgets, we will launch a Fidget Registry to track all Fidgets and their versions and forks. This registry will be funded as a public good. The Fidget Registry needs to exist as a distributed source of information about which Fidgets have passed the reviews to make sure that they are bound to the right underlying smart contracts, and not an attempt to scam developers or users who install them. (This also helps prevent a situation where an open source Fidget is used to power a for profit Fidget, but the for profit Fidget does not properly set up the contracts to pay out the open source Fidget for its use)

One of the biggest issues on the internet is how we pay people for the wonderful work that they do. Web3 has been largely working to deal with these problems and offers some of the most transparent and community driven solutions. We plan to follow the principles outlined in Morpheus' MRC21. If we treat each Fidget, complete or partial, as an NFA (Non-Fungible Application), we can track who owns each component part of the complete Fidget. Any revenue generated by an NFA will be divided among the subcomponents, thus sharing value with anyone who works on the development of a Fidget, including open source developers who write code for the good of all.

A small portion of the revenue generated by any Fidget will be streamed back into Nounspace. Nounspace will share these earnings through tokens which will be distributed to the following groups:

• Community, for the value that they bring to the network & the connections they create.

• Developers, for the Fidgets they develop and offer for free.

• Protocol, to fund ongoing development for the open source Space Protocol code that powers all of the Fidget ecosystem.

• Team, to maintain the Fidget Registry and the publicly available free Nounspace client

• Capital Providers, for their support in making this project happen.

All Fidgets in the Nounspace universe will be free to install and configure, they just might not function properly until a payment is made and recorded on a blockchain. It is easier to gate at the app level than it is to gate at the installation page. This gives every developer much more control over the costs of their app.

This means that installing the Fidget is free, but it can check the chain for a token saying that you own access to the Fidget and gate full functionality if you don’t.

The beauty of this system is that it allows all of the ownership of apps to be recorded in such a way that you will always be able to install anything you own again, onto any new device you get.

Lay folk who are not well versed in web3 will largely be turned off by a platform that seems to be a hot bed for everything that they have been told is bad about crypto. It is going to be hard to break out of that world. 

To do this, we have to fix three problems for these folks:

• Reduce the technical overhead and make it easy to understand
  This means things like: make the sign up flow feel like any other web2 website, no secret recovery phrases. Onboarding needs to start in a web2 like manner and slowly introduce web3, not slam them over the head.

• Make the platform free to use
  Requiring a user to invest any money, whether that is for a membership, or to buy tokens, will be a dealbreaker. New users must be able to sign up and be off to the races without spending a dime. Money can be made from users down the line, but the core features of the social platform must be free.

• Make the content broader than just degen activity 🎩
  Excessive degen activity will turn off ‘normies’ that are new to web3. We can only push their comfort zone so far. We need content that is relatable beyond the web3 bubble. 

To make web3 accessible, it has to masquerade as web2. Always meet your users where they are at. No one wins if you make the end user feel like an idiot. There are a couple ways that we can achieve this, but one is going to be a real deal breaker.

We have to abstract away the wallet by embedding it. This is already catching on in other parts of the web3 world. Requiring users to set up and manage a wallet is not going to work. So how do we address this? We make the client and the wallet into the same tool. If the client has a basic sign up and login flow using a username and password, the web2 users will feel right at home. Under the hood, the client will create a key pair and encrypt the private key online, using the user's chosen password. Very similar to how a password manager stores data. This will allow users to login to the client from any device and access their same account. 

Since under the hood it is all powered by wallets, there will still be ways to create new accounts and login using other wallets, but these are for trained wizards only, not muggles.

Every social media platform carries a large number of people who exist on the platform, but who only participate through likes, if at all. Reddit has named this group of users Lurkers. Lurkers are not a bad thing, as they make up the 80% of the population that consumes content, compared to the 20% that create content (these are not study backed numbers, 80/20 split is just a famous one that is probably not far off). 

Lurkers want to consume content, and generally want to do so without spending any money. Can't blame them! But how can a world powered by paying content creators for their content appeal to a general public that wants things for free?

Traditional social media has solved this problem with ads. Charging their users through visual clutter. I am not opposed to ads, but I am opposed to having them shoved down my throat without choice (I use an ad blocker for a reason). 

What if, instead of ads, people who wanted eyes on something could offer to pay users for their time?

We make lurkers into contributors instead of detractors by allowing them to be paid for their attention. An advertiser could pay the user who chooses to watch their ad, a researcher could build a poll and pay users to engage with it. They in turn can take the money made and give it to the content creators that they want to support. We create an in app ecosystem that allows even the cheapest schmuck who does not want to spend a dime to still earn rewards. Then they can take these funds and go tip, purchase fidgets, mint NFTs, and participate in the web3 economy that powers Nounspace.

Finally, any social media platform has to be just that, social. If we only build an insular community of web3 nerds, web2 normies will not want to get on board. This is where the dynamic data layer comes into play. We can build Fidgets that pull from any data source. Most importantly, we can merge into other decentralized social networks, including more mainstream ones like AT Protocol. This will allow Nounspace users to interact with folks outside of the Web3 ecosystem, like the users over on Bluesky. And it will allow existing Bluesky users to easily switch over to the Nounspace experience.

The larger the network graph that Nounspace is connected to under the hood, the more appealing the project will be to a broader audience.

Any good product needs to start with focus and direction before trying to broaden its reach. Our first step for Nounspace will be a Nouns targeted space. The Fidgets in this space will serve as an example of what can be built and to act as a proving grounds for the Space Protocol. This means that the initial tooling will be built to target the following data layers (this is not a comprehensive or complete list for the long term):

• Farcaster

• Nouns 

• Etherscan

• Coingecko

For items in the other layers, Nounspace’s core website will act as the platform layer. We will build initial versions of algorithms and feeds for Farcaster data. More advanced implementations will roll together different data sources into a single feed. 

As we develop, we want to gradually extend and develop tooling for communities beyond Nouns. These will start as recycled versions of previous tools, adopted to fit a more generic profile (i.e. adapting the Nounish Governance Fidget to support SnapShot spaces).

At the same time, we will also begin to tinker with a broader range of customization options and theming. Once we feel comfortable with the API for Fidgets, we will open up the floor for community submitted Fidgets. Initially, we will perform a manual review process for Fidgets to make sure no malicious actors are taking advantage of the system and ensure that we have ways to catch them before we open up Fidget development to be totally public.

While Farcaster is the primary focus, in the future the core team will focus on developing open source data layer Fidgets that will connect to other networks beyond Farcaster (AT protocol being the obvious choice, though Mastodon’s ActivityPub would also be a ripe target). There will need to be some adaptations made to the signup flow to support managing multiple different accounts. A well made data layer Fidget will allow developers to onboard and login users to multiple different platforms. By offering connections to other social media sources, the Space Protocol will be able to expand and become a universal protocol to unite disparate social data protocols into one experience.

We hope you will join us on this journey towards making the internet a more collectively created and owned experience.

Groundwork

First we’ll get the boring but necessary housekeeping stuff out of the way:

• frfr incorporated - labs entity that contracts team to build nounspace, but does not own nounspace. Nounspace will be owned by its community.

• 3 month budget planned, multi-sig deployed, payroll and expense tracking implemented

• Team emails, g-suite, discord, notion, 1pass, and a dozen other accounts set up

We also aligned on some S.M.A.R.T. goals for July 1:

• Release a functional MLP (Minimum Lovable Product)

• Sign up 10,000 Nounspace OGs

• Generate at least $350,000 in revenues

While aggressive, we’re playing with a strong hand, and each of these is attainable if we play our cards right.

Design

Thanks to a ton of support from the other @willywonka, Benjamin Latsko, the creative direction and branding for Nounspace has come together splendidly. I’m stoked to present for the first time ever, Nounspace’s logo along with some very special inaugural swag that we’re bringing to Farcon.

For mediums and touchpoints where nounspace is the product and the key narrative, we use the handdrawn brand == 10-15% usage

For all mediums and touchpoints where we are the platform, we use the pixel perfect version in black&white or use the typeface as the window with dynamic backgrounds. == 85-90% usage

On this note, we have a question for y’all. What do you think our primary domain should be, Nounspace.wtf or Nounspace.com? Keep in mind that while Nounspace is building for Nouns first, the vision is much bigger than Nouns.

Vote in frame:

Farcaster

willywonka.eth 🗑️🎩🌈 on Warpcast

wdyt anouns? https://frame.vote/y5ujQTL0

If you’re coming to Farcon, come find the Nounspace team to score some of our first swag ever, designed by Benjamin Latsko. If you’re not coming to Farcon, stay tuned for this swag to be available on Benjamin’s store https://regardless.wtf/ soon.

Introducing Nounspace Tom, my new favorite t-shirt. This is the nounspace team’s new uniform, but we made a few extra that we can give away as prizes at Farhack and the skatepark takeover in Venice Beach happening Monday (stay tuned for more deets).

 One of our next major milestones is to open up registration to our first user and drop the Nounspace OG NFTs.

Nounspace OG NFTs will grant earliest access to customize spaces on Nounspace and include free Nounspace functionality for life to their holders.

Here's an early concept we're exploring with a few examples of Noggles as masks to art and photography.

Current thinking is to cap supply at 11,111, and mint 1,111 ourselves to gift to communities and thought-leaders especially those that are nounish. The other 10,000 will be sold for .0111 ETH each to generate 111 ETH in revenues we can use to build more faster.

Product and Development

The team is aligned on the roadmap and feature requirements for MLP, technical architecture,  and has already made some initial progress on development.

After forking an open source farcaster client OpenCast to get a headstart and avoid the need to rebuild a lot of core Farcaster functionality, @moreReese suggested we take a look at Herocast, an open source farcaster client inspired by Superhuman. Herocast was a better fit, and after a great convo with the lead developer, hellno, we aligned on an architecture + collaboration plan to enable us to continue pulling in upgrades from eachother.

Hellno and Herocast are awesome, and they’ve already added some valuable functionality to Farcaster, such as the ability to easily create and manage multiple Farcaster accounts as well as the ability to create and manage shared Farcaster accounts powered by Hats Protocol. Considering web3 communities are our initial target users for Nounspace, these features are super valuable, and we’re grateful we don’t have to build these ourselves on top of the other work we have mapped out these next few months.

Another big focus on the engineering side this past month has been on Fidgets, the core innovation and killer feature of Nounspace. A lot of thought has gone into designing the optimal Fidget Architecture, and we think we’ve nailed it. Before finalizing it and going into too much detail, we’re testing it out by asking interested developers to do what they do best, build. We’re offering an unofficial bounty during Farhack to build a Fidget, and we put together some draft resources that have everything a developer needs to build a Fidget and more. Check out the details on the Fidget bounty here:

Last, but not least, I’m excited to share the MLP Spec and Feature Requirements that the team has aligned on. We’ll continue polishing these docs, finalizing UX, and breaking it down into Github issues, but the outline is all there. We’re very excited to build these features, and we hope you are too.

🍴 Fork herocast 

🏡 Homebase

🌌 Space

Homebases and Spaces are composed of the following elements:

🎨 Theme 

🧭 Nav

✖ Tabs

🔮 Fidgets

All of these docs are open for comments. If you have any ideas for how we can make Nounspace more awesome, we’d love to hear it!

Up next:

1. Make a big splash at Farcon with a small budget. Plant lots of seeds and make magical connections. There’s no better place for Nounspace to be.

• Swag ✅

• Event ✅ (gonna be lit, details coming soon)

• Hackathon Bounty ✅

• Vibes ✅ ✅ ✅

2. SHIP!!! Now that we’re aligned on the roadmap and have clear specs, it’s time to build. I’m expecting daily progress from the team as we knock out the necessary issues for MLP one-by-one, kanban style

3. Finalize UI/UX for all MLP functionality

4. MORE SHIPPING!!!

5. Release NFTs for early access to customize spaces on Nounspace as well as OG NFTs for free Nounspace functionality for life.

6. Announcing details on Nounspace’s fair launch on May 8th. The future of social media is community-owned. Lots more details to come, but note that staking won’t begin for at least a month after announcement, and then it will be another few months before the token is transferable. Make sure you’re following /nounspace.

Ask:

1. If you love what we’re building and think you have what it takes to help us build this rocketship while flying it, we’d love to hear from you, especially if you’re a rockstar developer. My DMs are open.

2. Whenever you see content posted by or about Nounspace, please smash that like and recast button! It means the world to us as we try to establish ourselves in the noisy, crowded space we live in.

Thank you to everyone who read this far! As a token of appreciation, I made you this “free” NFT: