Dual powers of Xbox and Ethereum

The need to build and launch the Genesis Day ecosystem

Imagine Microsoft launches Xbox and there are no games.

The day the Ethereum genesis block is created, many elements of the ecosystem will be in place, including the core infrastructure, mining network, user app browsers, and applications. It is acknowledged that there will be a tremendous amount of development beyond Genesis to make Ethereum a sophisticated, decentralized consensus application platform. But on day one there will be a “launch title”.

When the idea for Ethereum was originally conceived in November, the intention was to be a simple “altcoin” (actually a metaprotocol on top of Primecoin) with a built-in scripting language. However, over time, we realized that the potential of the project has inevitably grown, and our current intention is to launch a flagship product called “EtherBrowser”. This is a browser that can browse both the traditional Internet and the decentralized web (knitting3.0). From the moment the Ethereum network is launched, EtherBrowser and the following elements of the ecosystem come into play:

• A fully functional implementation of the Ethereum blockchain that enhances Bitcoin technology with 1-minute block times and strong security (ghost protocol), which are decentralized applications (“ÐApps”) that can be used for anything that requires consensus (e.g. currency and token systems, name registration, proof of existence, etc.).
• It is a full-featured peer-to-peer protocol that apps can use to send messages between users. For example, decentralized messaging apps use this protocol for sending actual messages, but use blockchain for registering user accounts.
• Elegant browser and app store user interface for using ÐApps
• Network nodes (miners) process transactions and computations, secure the network through a consensus process, and are rewarded with fees and new ether issuance.
• A standard set of “built-in” utility-level apps: decentralized wallets, decentralized identity systems, decentralized reputation systems, decentralized messaging systems, decentralized name registration services, decentralized catalogs of decentralized applications, etc. are just a few of the roles. Low-level utilities on the system
• A standard set of built-in tools for both developers and end users: blockchain explorer, contract explorer, transaction creator, encrypted messaging tool, signing tool, authentication tool… And you can use the debugger for hardcore.

And soon after its birth, we hope to see a rich set of third-party decentralized applications, including decentralized custody services, decentralized notary services, decentralized exchange services, decentralized escrow and arbitration services, financial contracts, insurance contracts, lending services, and purpose-built reputation systems. , games, entertainment services, etc… Each app in various business verticals can leverage low-level system utility apps, such as identity and reputation systems.

Without operational decentralized applications, Ethereum is an empty shell. Delivering widespread decentralized applications from the ground up requires non-profit, public interest elements to be built alongside commercially driven applications in a competitive marketplace. In this requirement, Ethereum has dual authority.

It could be argued that certain elements within an ecosystem should be developed for the common good and do not benefit from a profit motive. Certain other elements are better developed in a competitive, commercial context. For example, it makes some sense to use public tax dollars to develop a coherent, large-scale, structured road system for the public good. But perhaps it makes no sense to build cars with public money. Because under the pressure of free market competition, development forces the design and production of better products and benefits the market as a whole.

Dual mission: non-profit and for-profit co-development

Two hub organizations will lead the Ethereum project under a dual mandate: a for-profit organization based in Zug, Switzerland, and a non-profit organization based in Toronto, Canada. Both of these organizations will be structured in a way that will allow them to remain strong and financially independent to ensure many years of ecosystem development and growth.

The Ethereum ecosystem will be built initially through partnerships between non-profit and for-profit organizations, and ideally through the broader participation of many other independent entities. Founding leadership will put in place mechanisms to ensure that the fundamental elements of the ecosystem are built and maintained in a manner that complies with the founding principles. Funding and independence are guaranteed to the organizations that guide the various paths of core infrastructure development (either state-registered enterprises or ultimately blockchain-registered enterprises).

At the same time, since the human economy is (or should be) primarily about free market commerce, non-profit organizations, especially for-profit organizations, will help more or less independent business activities start and prosper. . This support can take many forms, from providing resources and guidance to maintaining support channels and establishing joint ventures.

Hybrid organizational model

“MOZILLA is one of those (hybrid non-profit/profit) organizations, and if you look around you see others. There are many changes to the way these organizations operate, with the potential to shift the market towards the public interest, especially on a global scale.

“…the more I dug, the more I became convinced that organizations like Mozilla, WIKIPEDIA, KIVA, MIRO, etc. represented a new pattern whose mashup mission, marketplace, and web culture were worth understanding.

“The mission + market + web hybrid is important because it allows us to exercise the power needed to move markets on a global scale, while still looking at the small people, taking the long view, and staying true to our public mission. They show how an organization can and probably should work in the future.”

• MARK SURMAN, Executive Director, Mozilla Foundation

Trolltech/Digia (Qt), WordPress, Red Hat, Google Android and the Open Handset Alliance, Mozilla Organization, and many others have pioneered the dual-permissions approach and built thriving ecosystems and successful companies. A model developed by Sun in the late 90s is also instructive.

Sun Microsystems (now Oracle) developed its own Java computer language and libraries. Although Sun was innovative, it would not have achieved such a large market share if it had not realized that, as a commercial company, it had no control over the fundamental aspects of software development. It was expected that competitors would use it. To resolve this conflict of interest, Sun open sourced Java and developed a Java community process to drive growth of the platform in a nonpartisan manner.

Ethereum is an open source project and will remain open source. And the Ethereum project, backed by a non-profit foundation, will create a community development process that is philosophically similar to the Java community process. In fact, Ethereum has been developed following a so far less formal community development process.

The Ethereum non-profit organization specifies and guides the development of core Ethereum infrastructure. We will adopt a non-partisan community development process and develop, conduct, and support research initiatives in the general cryptocurrency space. The non-profit will have a membership comprised of original Ethereum founders and will soon add other independent leaders in the emerging space.

Ethereum commercial entities will be tasked with working with non-profit organizations to develop specific elements of the core infrastructure and build an ecosystem of decentralized application services and businesses that they develop, fund, or support themselves.

We believe this is the most effective structure in the short term. In other words, we are DAOists. Dao means decentralized autonomous organization). We will move as much of our infrastructure and governance to blockchain as quickly as possible. Our OpenSalary system will probably be the first component to move to blockchain. Stay tuned for more details on the topic of OpenOrganization and DAOification from both organizations. Our goal is to get you out of (state-registered) business if we do our job right.