The WhiteCoin Foundation Paper Author: Chris Salsman (mogonzo)
Abstract This is a proposal for creating an enduring, inclusive, community driven, financially transparent cryptocurrency association with organically expanding mandates and goals: ‘The WhiteCoin Foundation’. The WhiteCoin Foundation’s root mandate will be the maintenance, development, and promotion of WhiteCoin. Rather than depending on a small group of individuals, the foundation will serve as a networking hub for any party with a vested interest. By employing democratic and merit based inclusion models, the foundation will be able to ensure the delivery of high quality services from a large pool of talent via organized and focused crowdsourcing. By using a near flat power-structure, peer review, and project based leadership methods, The WhiteCoin Foundation will become an enduring institution that encourages a constant flow of new talent. The WhiteCoin Foundation will also serve as a medium for assisting the community supporting the coin in starting new initiatives, leveraging them to recruit even more talent. This organization will then have the brand and means to deliver a service that goes beyond the simple operation of a coin. By pooling expertise in organizational leadership, security, code development, web development, and marketing, The WhiteCoin Foundation could then offer its collective services for payment. This payment in other currencies will then be used to buy cryptocurrency (beginning solely with WhiteCoin) and payout employees. By operating as a not for profit foundation, financial resources gathered could be distributed among members at high rates of pay for their work, among other possible benefits for future activity. By embracing a community based inclusive approach that capitalizes on the profit motive, The WhiteCoin Foundation will then have the ability to become unbound by the current coding of WhiteCoin’s software, paving the way for future innovation and financial returns for all involved. These growing mandates will in turn support the primary cultural motivation of our industry and community: the expansion of crypocurrency’s adoption everywhere. Table of Contents (sections) 1. Concepts & Background Information
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2. The Purpose of the WhiteCoin Foundation
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3. Proposed Structure of The WhiteCoin Foundation
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4. Proposed WhiteCoin Foundation Roadmap
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The WhiteCoin Foundation Paper Section 1: Concepts & Background Information A brief history of WhiteCoin WhiteCoin was founded in April 2014 by a group of anonymous developers who eventually cut and run. Within a week of its creation WhiteCoin was a sensation, reaching the top five in volume trading for all crypto currencies. When a series of critical flaws were discovered in WhiteCoin’s original coding, the community stepped up to employ the cardinal rule of crypto: “When the devs fail, we take over.” In a matter of days, a large and diverse team of experts assembled to seize control from the original devs, review, and fix WhiteCoin’s code. Employing crowdsourcing, peer review, and loose consensus decision making models, WhiteCoin’s code was repaired within a week. WhiteCoin continues to operate using these models, and is working to expand and refine them via documents like this. Reference 1: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=568517.0 Reference 2: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=587193.0
Key Concepts within WhiteCoin Foundation Model Crowdsourcing From Wikipedia: “Crowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, and especially from an online community, rather than from traditional employees or suppliers.” Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdsourcing Loose consensus decision making models From Wikipedia: “Consensus decision-making is a group decision making process that seeks the consent of all participants. Consensus may be defined professionally as an acceptable resolution, one that can be supported, even if not the "favourite" of each individual.” Notes: In contrast to full consensus based models like the one described here, loose consensus models are more ad-hoc in nature. Loose consensus based decision making models have been historically employed by online action groups since the inception of the internet itself. Following simple Y/N votes on a simple majority method, taking action on items becomes a relatively simple task. Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consensus_decision-making
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The WhiteCoin Foundation – Transparency, Community, and Economic Progression
The WhiteCoin Foundation Paper Near flat power structures In contrast to “rank and file” hierarchical power structures, a flat power structure sees every member of an organization as equal. Work is evaluated via peer review. Organizations that employ near flat power structures form an organizational hub that serves as an inclusive management structure. The video game studio Valve employs a flat management structure, which has been credited with the explosions of creativity that periodically emerge from the organization. However, some exemployees of Valve have criticized this structure for encouraging “invisible management cliques” that are not accountable to anyone. It is therefore suggested that creating an accountable operations team would prevent the creation of such cliques. Reference 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_organization Reference 2: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-07-08-valves-flat-structure-leads-tocliques-say-ex-employee
Project based leadership Under this model, any new project undertaken by the foundation would have its own unique leadership as determined by those operating the project. Project based leadership is best employed out of flat or near flat power structures, as used by organizations like Valve or the political action wing of Anonymous. Any member of the WhiteCoin community could propose an operation for review. As the resources (both materiel and personnel) are assembled to meet the requirements of an operation, the operation becomes officially launched. This provides protection against the initiation of numerous failed projects. Projects would begin after meeting a simple list of agreed upon criteria, for example: 1. Project human resource requirements met? 2. Project physical resource requirements met? 3. Has community support been achieved? When all three questions have a yes answer, a project would begin and elect a representative to the operations committee of the WhiteCoin foundation. Reference 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valve_Corporation Reference 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(group)
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The WhiteCoin Foundation – Transparency, Community, and Economic Progression
The WhiteCoin Foundation Paper Merit based inclusion Merit based inclusion models are simple and elegant in structure. In spirit, as an individual provides work and results for an organization, that individual is included in more operational decision making. By employing this model, the operation of a given organization becomes driven by the most effective and motivated people in its community. When existing members of the team are evaluating new talent for inclusion, a simple set of questions are asked: 1. Has this person provided important work for our organization? 2. Has this person been consistent in providing work? 3. Is this person reliable and trustworthy in our experience? If the answer is yes to all three questions, an individual is then considered to have sufficient merit for inclusion. By offering rewards for hard work, this model serves as both a motivator and a control mechanism to ensure consistent and high quality deliverables. Peer Review From Wikipedia: “Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people of similar competence to the producers of the work (peers). It constitutes a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards of quality, improve performance, and provide credibility.” Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer_review
(see next page for Section 2)
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The WhiteCoin Foundation – Transparency, Community, and Economic Progression
The WhiteCoin Foundation Paper Section 2: The Purpose of The Whitecoin Foundation The primary mandate of The WhiteCoin Foundation will be the maintenance of the coin itself and the promotion of its use, while remaining accountable to the community that drives it. In addition to that -once the infrastructure is in place- The WhiteCoin Foundation can branch out to include logical extensions of that mandate. By embracing the concepts listed under section 1, The WhiteCoin Foundation will be able to bridge the gap between anonymity and persistent identity in online commerce. Cryptocurrency employs a trustless exchange model allowing for individuals who are unable to identify eachother to exchange goods or services. By using these concepts in the operation of our foundation, we both stay in tune with the fundamental concepts of cryptocurrency, and enhance our ability to work in all of the various spheres within. By using peer review and loose consensus based decision making models, crowd sourcing and project based leadership initiatives become possible. Together, this will make The WhiteCoin Foundation the productive, inclusive, merit based organization its mandate requires while allowing members to guard their privacy as needed.
Organic growth of Foundation Mandates Once consistent operations to meet the first mandate have been achieved, organic growth to additional supporting mandates becomes possible. The first of those additional mandates is to become an employment opportunity for members. Other communities and operations within the crypto currency industry have already reached out to the WhiteCoin team requesting services or assistance. Much like a multipool, The WhiteCoin Foundation would hire out its talent and many consultants for pay in other crypto currencies. By acting as the intermediary and employer, the WhiteCoin Foundation would be entitled to retain a reasonable percentage based service fee from contracts to further strengthen its operations. The remainder of pay from contracts will then be converted to WhiteCoin over exchanges, and paid directly to the consultants and contractors of a given project. By leveraging WhiteCoin’s existing high profile brand, community members and potential employees will gain access to more lucrative contracts by working together. Paying in WhiteCoin (and the process of buying what’s needed from the market) will also help to further increase both volume and market cap. As the WhiteCoin Foundation’s second mandate grows stronger it will become possible to consider a third supporting mandate: charitable operations. It has been well established that the charitable actions of crypto currency communities have improved the marketcap and volume for their respective coins. Take for example DogeCoin and the Jamaican Bobsled Team, the act of donating a tiny percentage of their market cap increased the total value of their currency by a
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The WhiteCoin Foundation – Transparency, Community, and Economic Progression
The WhiteCoin Foundation Paper larger proportional percent as a result of the subsequent media coverage. By taking its own unique approach and seeking charitable opportunities that correspond to WhiteCoin’s culture and mandates, The WhiteCoin Foundation will be able to further promote the use of our currency and thus the expansion of our market, as well as improving our reputation among crypto and larger communities. These three mandates will ensure that the WhiteCoin Foundation will not only be a sustainable, but indeed a constantly growing foundation with roots in multiple areas of interest and funding. By relying foremost on community and innovation rather than just technology, the WhiteCoin Foundation will not be bound by any current or future limitations, including coding or software.
(see next page for Section 3)
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The WhiteCoin Foundation – Transparency, Community, and Economic Progression
The WhiteCoin Foundation Paper Section 3: Proposed Structure of WhiteCoin Foundation Summary To meet the primary community driven mandate, a detailed and understandable organizational construct is required. In concept, this mandate would be achieved via an operations committee that is accountable to a “WhiteCoin General Assembly”. By holding regular meetings, this General Assembly would function as the bridge between the operations of The WhiteCoin Foundation and the community it serves. At general assemblies, members of the WhiteCoin community will be able to propose new projects and ideas, while current operations will present progress reports for review and critique by the community. At general assemblies any member of the WhiteCoin community will have the opportunity to: request information, suggest action, volunteer for or step down from an existing operation, or motion a topic for debate among the community. General Assemblies Any format or structure of general assemblies will require further consultation with the community to ensure effectiveness and compatibility with its needs. In concept, general assemblies will function using accepted and understandable formats such as Roberts Rules, or the loose consensus based decision making model described in section 1. Agreeing on this format will need to be one of the first actions taken by the WhiteCoin community following the acceptance of this proposal. Operations Using the concepts of project based leadership, the operations of The WhiteCoin Foundation would be broken into committees. Overall committee structure would be created to allow for organic growth and sustainability. Each action committee within The WhiteCoin Foundation would supply a representative to the Operations Committee responsible for the overall day to day operations of The WhiteCoin Foundation. In addition to these representatives, the Operations Committee would be composed of a President, Director of day to day Operations, Secretary, Treasurer, and a democratically elected community representative. In addition there would be administrative committees made up of community members that will also elect members to the Operations Committee. Founding administrative committees would include: a code development committee, marketing committee, and policy committee.
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The WhiteCoin Foundation – Transparency, Community, and Economic Progression
The WhiteCoin Foundation Paper Process for determining positions Membership of each committee will be open to all members willing to volunteer, and each committee would employ the methods described in section 1 to: assign and review tasks, as well as elect a representative to the operations committee. For all other positions within the foundation, nominations, competitions, and elections would be carried out via the General Assembly & relevant committee meetings. WhiteCoin Foundation Membership Logistics: How the community drives the operation of the foundation By combining an official registration system via forms on a website, and outreach to our existing community platforms, participation in operation of The WhiteCoin Foundation becomes simple. For registration on the website, individuals would be broken into two categories: Member & Supporter. Members would pay a reasonable registration fee to gain access to “members only” communication channels, as well as be exempt from paying dues at General Assemblies. Other benefits for becoming a member should be added for future consideration, including: reduce cost access to any premium content, discounts on products and services. Supporters would not be required to pay any fee up front, but will be asked to pay small dues at General Assemblies to attain voting power. Expanded definition of both members and supporters will require consultation with the community. Attendance at General Assemblies will be open to the public, and all in attendance would have voting power either by: paying a small entry due (10 WC suggested) as a supporter, or registering as a member of the foundation. This would allow for a verifiable democratic process by assigning identifying numbers to members & supporters. By employing tipbots, new supporters could vote in assemblies before they’ve even downloaded a WhiteCoin wallet. Simple IRC Bots could be created to facilitate this process and allow for easy adhoc signup and providing a membership number.
Financial Accountability & Transparency As the foundation is registered legally, the organization will take collective control of accounts. Adopting aspects of cryptocurrency’s exchange model, there would be a clear process where two final approvals are required for asset disbursement. Approval would be required by the two primary bodies of The WhiteCoin Foundation (Membership as represented via General Assemblies, and the Operations Team) via an understood process with consent of the community. This will ensure majority consensus for approval of expenditures.
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The WhiteCoin Foundation – Transparency, Community, and Economic Progression
The WhiteCoin Foundation Paper Expenses would be broken into two primary categories to ensure smooth operation: 1. Regular expenses (operation costs and regular payroll) 2. Special expenses (new project proposals) The Operations Team will assemble a financial report of expenses to date, and anticipated future expenses for the operation of the foundation for the General Assembly. Once approved, disbursements would take place on an agreed upon schedule. Special expenses would be handled as needed and approved by the membership. In concept, this model would adapt both democratic and merit based decision making processes. Where a balance is struck between the membership’s desires, while granting the volunteers who contribute increased but accountable decision making power. As a temporary measure, financial control of accounts were placed under the author’s (mogonzo) care with a promise of liability. The current agreed upon construct is that no financial disbursements may take place without consent of the temporary operations team (referred to previously as the transition team). To date, since fundraising began, only disbursements to mindfox have been approved via his foundation controlled unique donation address, as it is strictly understood that anyone donating this address expects all funds to be transferred to mindfox.
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The WhiteCoin Foundation – Transparency, Community, and Economic Progression
The WhiteCoin Foundation Paper Section 4: Conclusion & Proposed WhiteCoin Foundation Roadmap Deployment of the methods and concepts described above will single the WhiteCoin Foundation out as a truly unique and innovative force in cryptocurrency. By using state of the art organizational methods The WhiteCoin Foundation will not only be sustainable, but indeed a constantly growing organization with roots in multiple areas of interest and funding. By relying foremost on community and innovation rather than just technology, the WhiteCoin Foundation will not be bound by any current or future limitations, including coding or software. The three mandates described in section 2 naturally support the primary cultural desire of our industry and community: the expansion of cryptocurrency’s adoption everywhere. The following roadmap is proposed to achieve these goals: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Debate and accept an initial proposal for creating The WhiteCoin Foundation Debate and accept format for General Assemblies & committee structure Create & populate individual operations committees Established committees elect representatives to the operations committee WhiteCoin Foundation is officially founded legally WhiteCoin Foundation begins work on first mandate WhiteCoin Foundation begins work towards additional mandates Expansionary goals: growing the community & forming alliances with other groups and investors
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The WhiteCoin Foundation – Transparency, Community, and Economic Progression