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Development Guide
Often, several open-source developers coalesce around a particular project and that project that becomes a very successful company or foundation. Due to the nature of these open-source projects, however, there is no direct way to concretely recognize the innumerable micro contributions of each contributor along the way. Furthermore, large open projects often struggle to get contributors acting in unison in ways that are decisive, unified, and directed. The CNC Portal is to solve these two problems by 1) creating the mechanism to financially recognize micro contributions and, 2) creating tools that promote the emergence of effective governance.
The Crypto Native Corporation Portal (CNC Portal) has the potential to be an extremely large and extremely complex project. This document seeks to identify critical functionality to streamline development towards an MVP. Key measures of success are:
1. A working prototype that can be used in real time by the Celebrity Fanalyzer & Layer8 Projects.
2. A public MVP that can earn us media attention.
3. A public MVP that can earn us crypto development grants.
The proposed solution must provide a framework for cooperation that recognizes the capital contributions of each contributor while maintaining politically cohesive governance to guide the project. Users must trust the system and the mechanism of profit sharing and governance. This is to be achieved by integrating various elements of Web3.0. Users must be able to:
1. Spontaneously self-organize & associate as loosely coupled individual contributors with different companies / projects.
2. Trade their Tokens for other Tokens & speculate on the success of CNCs
These two functional criteria must be achieved without sacrificing a superb user experience or site security. Obviously, this must be achieved progressively and over an adequate length of time (i.e., months and years).
Ideally, the CNC portal should be adequately flexible such that motivated entrepreneurs can found companies with a variety of policies and procedures for the creation of CNCs. In other words, individuals can choose how they want to structure their CNC. For example, as a traditional corporation where a set number of shareholders have ownership rights and control rights. However, Globe & Citizen will be taking a slightly different approach: the current design of the company remuneration system revolves around two unique Tokens:
1) The “Payroll Token”, “Wage Token”, or “Pay Token.”
2) The “SHER Token (Simulated Holdings and Equity Representation)” or “Profit Sharing Token”
The Payroll Token is indexed to a Fiat currency (most likely USD) and can be used to flex and extend payroll to the entire company in a fair and equitable way. For example: “Charlie is paid 100 Payroll Tokens per week. 1 Payroll token is indexed to 1 USD. This week, the company has generated substantial revenue and the payroll token is honored at a rate of 1PT = 1.2USD leading to Charlie’s weekly pay being 20 USD. However, next month the company has decided to invest heavily in a new system. The Board of Directors, which he voted for as partner, has made it clear that the company Payroll Token will be paid out at a rate of 1PT=0.9USD meaning and he will receive 0USD this week. Charlie is not angry about this because changes to the Payroll Token index affect everyone in the company proportionally to their relative wage/salary. Furthermore, his small sacrifice has been amplified across the company leading to thousands of dollars now ready for investment. If he has ownership rights, increased investment by the company also benefits him indirectly.”
The “SHER Token” or “Profit Sharing Token” is the token that confers profit sharing rights to its holders. If the board of directors declares a dividend, it will be divided amongst the holders of the SHER Tokens proportionally to the amount owned. Very importantly, SHER Tokens differ in a critical detail from Common Stock or Class A Controlling Shares that are traditionally used to confer ownership in traditional corporations. Unless the holder of a SHER Token is also actively employed by the company, SHER Tokens do not confer control rights. This is a critical distinction because it allows for early holders of SHER Tokens to receive a return on their investment but also exit the company if the need arises without hampering the continued growth and development of the company. It is the holding of these Tokens that define the following user types:
1) Contractors seek to bid on contracts and receive fixed payments upon completion of milestones.
2) Employees seek to gain regular employment with CNCs. Compensation may be by wage or salary indexed with Payroll Tokens.
3) Founders seek to create CNC's and involve contributors in exchange for remuneration in the form of wage, salary, or SHER Tokens.
4) Investors seek to purchase, speculate, and hold SHER Tokens.
5) Partners are both employees and investors simultaneously in a CNC thus conferring control rights. Eligibility to serve on the board of directors is contingent on being a partner and this is a critical distinction between how Globe & Citizen will be run and traditional corporations. (Note, the structure of the Partner roll is not without precedent. Rather it is based on the Canadian company MNP which is composed of Partners spread across geographic and legal jurisdictions in Canada).
As a contractor. I want to bid on jobs posted by Crypto Native Corporations on the platform. So that I can be compensated fairly for my work. When I do ‘X’ I get ‘Y’: when I sign a contract to complete work, I enter all necessary details into the contract so that myself and the Crypto Native Corporation that I signed with are bound by a smart contract to complete our respective duties.
As a potential employee. I want to create an online profile that showcases my talents, previous work experience, interests, and work availability in addition to other demographic information I care to share. So that I can apply to interesting job opportunities with Crypto Native Corporations on the platform thereby receiving fair and regular compensation. When I do ‘X’ I get ‘Y’: when I apply for a job and get hired, I am offered a contract that summarizes remuneration. I provide a cryptography wallet that receives the compensation I am owed based on the contract I signed.
As an investor. I want to invest either my time or money into a Crypto Native Corporation. If I invest my time, I may be rewarded bye wage, salary or ownership Tokens. If I invest my money, I expect ownership Tokens. So that if the company is successful, I too will be successful financially. When I do ‘X’ I get ‘Y’: when I agree to invest, I am bound by a smart contract which outlines under what circumstances I will be rewarded financially. It is imperative that I am able to enter and exit investments in a timely manner such that if speculation appeals to me, I can engage in the same.
As BOTH an Employee AND Investor I become a Partner. I want to be well compensated for the work I contribute, the ownership stake I control, and retain control of the company to which I am a Partner. So that I am both well remunerated and a relevant decision maker in the affairs of the company. When I do ‘X’ I get ‘Y’: when I choose to devote my time and investment to accompany, I expect to retain control rights outlined in a smart contract that protects me and my fellow partners. When I invest my time and money to obtain ownership Tokens, I expect to share in the profits of the business. When I exchange my time and effort for Payroll Tokens, I expect to be paid according to the smart contract I signed. When important decisions regarding the direction of the company are being taken, I expect to have a relevant capacity to contribute to shaping strategic direction of the Crypto Native Corporation.
As a founder. I want to create a company as a Crypto Native Corporation by myself or with the help of team members. So that I can attract talent to my company and pay them fairly for their contributions using a combination of Payroll Tokens and SHER Tokens. When I do ‘X’ I get ‘Y’: when I open a company, I am given control over its finances and hiring. If I choose two open the company with other founding members, we are able to agree on contractual terms of a smart contract that binds us together. If I choose to continue with the Crypto Native Corporation as it scales, I expect the opportunity to continue on as an Employee, Investor, or Partner.
Given that all financial securities are extremely heavily regulated, all transactions must be carried out in mock until such time as adequate care can be given to the legal and tax considerations of offering any asset that holds true monetary value -- digital or physical. In other words, all Tokens must be, at this time, valueless, abstract representations of future value created for the purposes of practicing technological implementations, iteration, and ideation. It shall be the moto of the CNC Portal that, “A fair day’s pay for a fair day’s labour and all necessary taxes paid.” In time, it is our ambition to integrate fully into the broader global economy.
Typescript; Tailwinds/Daisy UI; Polygon/Eth/Solidity; Vue.js; Node.js; Prisma; Postgres
The following phases represent slivers of functionality that can be developed serially.
i. Crypto Tips rebuilt using updated Figma design phase:
a. Function: A Founder is able to create a team, assign Tokens (arbitrarily at this time), and declared Pay. Use the arbitrarily distributed Payroll Tokens to calculate a “tip.”
b. Key Action: Ravi will use a random number generator to arbitrarily assign every team member Payroll Tokens that Ravi will then use to calculate a tip to be paid to the team via the UpWork bonus mechanism.
ii. Contract SHER Tokens phase:
a. Function: Founder(s) is/are able to mint SHER Tokens and write / sign contracts that distribute SHER Tokens to Employees / Partners / Investors according to agreed upon terms.
b. Key Action: Ravi will use a random number generator to arbitrarily assign every team member SHER Tokens which I will then use to calculate a dividend pay out made to the team using the UpWork bonus mechanism.
iii. Creation of governance mechanisms phase:
a. Function: Those members of the team who hold both Payroll and SHER Tokens will be granted the privilege of becoming “Partners.” This will allow them to participate in a governance vote. This will allow them to elect a board of directors.
b. Key Action: All company partners will elect a ceremonial board of directors. All of whom will be given ceremonial special hats. I.e., this first election will effectively be a joke.
iv. Delegation phase:
a. Function: The board of directors will be able to confer upon an elected executive (i.e., the CEO) the right to execute certain functions such as hiring, firing processing payroll, and offering contracts.
b. Key Action: The board will meet and formally hire / appoint a CEO. Hopefully Ravi.
v. Board or Directors approved payout:
a. Function: All partners will have the opportunity to propose governance issues and vote on the same. Furthermore, they will be required to make certain decisions, such as how much dividend to pay and how to index the Payroll Token.
b. Key Action: The board of directors will be asked to hold a meeting where they vote on a dividend payout and payroll index. Ravi will then be able to process these payments (and pay them out via UpWork).
vi. Hiring phase:
a. Function: Members of the global developer community should be able to create accounts add respond to, or offer, contracts defined by remuneration in terms of SHER Tokens, Payroll Tokens, or both.
b. Key Action: A public invitation will be posted to, for example, Linked In and interested participants will be hired for ceremonial roles and offered ceremonial contracts that are financial insignificant but still, very real.
vii. Other
a. Function: TBD
b. Key Action: TBD
• John is an open-source software contributor who specializes in C++ development. He routinely contributes to a code repository he is passionate about. In addition to contributing, he participates in the governance of this project through the proposed online platform. There he is elected to the board of directors and this fact is registered in the public blockchain for all to witness. while serving as a board member, he votes on important decisions like who the CEO should be. These decisions are also recorded in the blockchain’s public registry.
• Sarah is a prolific open-source software contributor who helps to maintain multiple code repositories. Even though she is an open-source developer, she still likes money and so she only contributes to projects which pay her SHER Tokens upon merging her development branches automatically through a GitHub Action. In this way, she has collected a large number of SHERs in her wallet. Overtime, one of the projects she contributes to does extremely well and the value of this coin greatly increases -- she earns a lot of money by cashing out. Several other projects she has contributed to do poorly, and these coins become valueless.
• Arthur is not a programmer. In fact, he is an English major who decided that becoming a teacher wasn't for him. He loves technology though and so he has applied his skills to writing the documentation necessary for several open-source projects. As a result, he knows the inner workings of these projects and can predict which will succeed and which will not. Based on this knowledge, he chooses to buy the SHER Tokens of those companies he believes in. If these open source projects become successful financially, he will get large payouts.
• Herb doesn’t have money but he’s a talented developer with ideas the skills to build it plus many friends. He wants his company to have the same structure as a traditional corporation with an initial SHER offering representing 100% of the company. These tokens are initially indexed to USD and define the value of his company. In the future he wants to sell these SHER Tokens to receive funds from investors and/or hire new employees. He uses the CNC Portal to configure the necessary contracts to create this company. Now Herb can scale until his company has a much higher valuation. Everyone who participated with Herb investing their time and / or money will benefit with him if they succeed.
The idea of being Crypto Native is not new (see https://medium.com/ecosystem-development/assessing-the-cro-structure-e21f251aea8f). Just as a classic corporation exists as a set of contracts that define a framework for cooperation between investors, employees, and other stake holders, Crypto Native Corporations exist as a set of smart contracts on the blockchain. In more concrete terms, a CNC accepts crypto as payment, pays employees in crypto, pays dividends in crypto, and carries on all other functions of a standard corporation only switching to fiat currency when engaging with outside service providers (such as cloud service platforms and paying national taxes). To be clear, a CNC is NOT a DAO. Here is a breakdown of the differences between them.
DAO – Distributed Autonomous Organization CNC – Crypto Native Corporation No central authority. Run by smart contracts. Central authority controlled by an elected Board of Directors.
Managed in the open with all decisions recorded on chain. Managed through the CNC Portal with only certain decisions recorded on chain.
Permissionless: anyone can purchase voting power through token ownership.
Permissioned: membership and control is determined by company rules and ultimately the membership at large.
Funds raised through token sales and Initial Coin Offerings.
Funds not raised. Equity is created through voluntary participation in exchange for tokenized equity representation.
The existence of DAOs demonstrates that there is no longer a technological reason why CNCs cannot exist. Furthermore, the success of contemporary corporations proves there is no sociological reason why CNCs cannot also succeed. CNCs are, fundamentally, just like any other corporation but for the jurisdiction in which its stakeholders agree to cooperate. In other words, CNCs are a unique form of human organization only in that, from inception, its membership has the potential to be distributed around the world. Fundamentally, a CNC is not more than a group of people agreeing to cooperate according to policies and procedures represented on the blockchain – that is all.