Weekly Review
There is much work to be done at CommDAO. We are entering a stage of planning that involves recalibration and presentation, as we seek investors and prepare an NFT drive, with a view to raising funds and establishing stronger governance bodies. Fortunately, we have meticulously preserved every aspect of development in our “web3 social experiment” through Commlink, which can be viewed also as a glossing of the entire Decentralization movement since the beginning of 2022.
For 21 weeks now, a team of writers/designers/researchers has been studying and reporting on our organization, as well as the state-of-the-industry. So, we have created an easy reference index on our site: https://commdao.org/commlink/. If you are just getting into web3, this could be a most valuable bread crumb trail through the forest of newbie confusion. As an investor, this should impress you with our dedication and thorough evaluation at steady, regular intervals. The full record of CommDAO is an international blueprint of creative interaction during a fascinating phase of web3 development.
While Commlink is a living think tank and the best go-to for deeper study of this project, we have also taken pains to simplify and refine our focus into a foundational, new whitepaper. Take a look at the current state of this work, which is being edited and refined on a weekly basis by top researchers, as our mission evolves towards firmer foundations and more elaborate considerations: https://commdao.org/%c2%a2ommpaper/
We believe that any worldly endeavor should be undergirded by a comprehensive philosophy. And the biggest juggernaut bubbling to the surface of our contemporary economic and political transitions, is the resounding force of Community, as the glue and lifeboat of global civilization, as the best model of group collaboration, as the most scalable configuration resonating worldwide. So, we start there, to build a community.
But as our project involves many experimental elements, such as structuring governance models through access/ownership of metaverse real estate floors in a “Commtower” sold as NFTs and the distribution of 8 billion C0MM/CLUB tokens worldwide etc, the development of the paper must proceed as a work-in-progress, as speculation and feasibility synthesize in real time.
Regarding our partnership with Alterverse, the Commtower itself is still in a construction/design phase, as their core team continues to line up new partners and more fully build out the world of Sky City. Check Alterverse’s current status here: https://medium.com/alterverse/alterverse-investor-updates-july-2022-a1dd95e8f7b9
A page on our website has also been dedicated to this specific project: https://commdao.org/commtower/. We have established an Alterverse thread in our Discord to index developments with them as they continue to proceed through the Binance Incubation Program, as it enters Season 5! Get a ringside seat with CommDAO as we hold the first property scored in the now burgeoning Epicenter! The last I checked, there were only 4 spots left open for vendors/stores/virtual RE dev. Close to 100 hundred spaces filled so far. So, we are right in the middle of the action of this new metaverse economy experience.
The CommDAO organization itself serves basically as a vehicle for worldwide community interactions, but it must develop realistic programs that are energized weekly, or else interest in the endeavor wanes. We all need a steady flow of projects to stir our interest and keep us visualizing, writing and creating in a growing environment.
To that end, we are taking more time to interact with our largely African ambassador marketing design squad, predominantly in Nigeria and Ghana. I believe with a little more work, we could unlock quite a larger participation spread in these countries and in others nearby, like South Africa, which also has a vibrant crypto trader freelance culture.
Each week we are holding design contests for the most innovative ads, memes, and shills in support of CommDAO. It seems to be catching on. We distribute Ravencoin ($RVN) and our native Commtoken ($C0MM) worldwide steadily now. The designs are improving week to week, and clear voices are beginning to emerge. And so we hope to continue elaborating and widening the contest structure each week and attract many more designers. Africa holds an enormous potential for the tech world, as they have developed crypto knowledge due to economic instability, and a very large labor pool, that is ready to work hard and steady over uncertain terrain.
Here are 2 fine examples from this week from Dani Beehive and Yhuddee111:
You can view the rest of the design picks for this week here. And we are opening up the Call for submissions to the outside world beyond the Ambassador Squad. Anyone can participate by sending their designs to our twitter message box: https://twitter.com/thecommunitydao
From our whitepaper: “Community DAO is a perpetual protocol generator and “crowdwork” mechanism that can be geared towards any new project, anywhere in the world, requiring the backdrop of “community” in order to develop.”
By experimenting with a variety of contest structures to test incentive levels, we are trying to manifest the “crowdworking” mechanism of an active community. There will be more exercises as the project evolves and the numbers grow.
Last but not least, let us not forget Ravencoin. Community DAO is very much a part of the larger Ravencoin community and wants to better network with all of the fascinating projects on its chain. This involves meeting, greeting, listening to podcasts, examining new art series as they pop up and generally engaging in friendly ways. I do this regularly, and I encourage all members to start reaching out and making friends with the Ravenites.
This week there was a solid episode of a relatively new podcast series (now on Season 2) called Spilling the NFTea on When Virtual Worlds Collide: Gaming Industry Meet the Metaverse! The production is sponsored by STO Market and is hosted by Megan Nyvold and Jessica Burns. Midway through minute 13:45, they begin to focus on Ravencoin, unboxing some merch sent from the Ravenist NFT exchange. Then they have a fun discussion about Ravencoin and talk about how it is expanding into the NFT art world.
The episode was charismatic, vibrant, and informative. The girls actually cited that Ravencoin was their favorite web3 community and that it was Bitcoin 3.0, as many enthusiasts refer to it in a speculative, promotional manner. In response to a discussion about RVN not having a CEO, Megan Nyvold claimed the office, as a joke. Some hardcore ravenites did not take it that way and replied in a scolding tone, that RVN will never have a CEO!
But we got it, and yet it is NO joke that STO Market loves Ravencoin, as RVN was partly designed to address the issue over unregulated securities that became a runaway train with ICOs in the wake of the rise of Ethereum. Maintaining sexy shows like Spilling the NFTea will be key components in continuing to develop Ravencoin’s attractive public image and popularity with the authentic Decentralization movement that originally grew out of Bitcoin.
Over and Out,
Dow Dao
Stats
Twitter Followers: 1,157
Discord Members: 433
Alina’s Alignment
How DAOs Might Define the Future of Business
DAOs are decentralized, autonomous organizations that operate on the blockchain. They are self-governing systems with no central authority controlling them. DAOs can take many forms. They can be profit-driven businesses or nonprofit organizations. They can also be hybrids of any of these types of organizations.
Types of DAOs
Investment DAOs
An investment DAO allows investors to pool their resources to make investments as a group. Investors vote on which investments to make and how much money should be allocated for each investment. The profits from each investment are then distributed among the members according to how much money they put into the initial fund.
The benefits of this type of DAO are that it allows investors to share risks and gain exposure to different types of assets without having to deal with all the administrative hassles involved in managing multiple accounts. For example, suppose an investor is interested in investing in real estate but they don’t have enough capital or expertise to do so on their own. In that case, they could join an investment DAO where several other members are also interested in real estate investing. Then all of them can share their resources and knowledge while being able to invest as a group rather than individually.
Service DAOs
A service DAO provides a specific service or product to its users and charges them for the use of that product or service. It could mean providing accounting services, storage facilities, or entertainment content. This type of DAO is similar to a traditional business in that it takes in revenue and uses that revenue to cover operating expenses and provide profits to investors. The difference is that anyone can buy shares in the DAO and become an owner, so the profits are shared among many people instead of just those who invested directly in the company before it began operating.
Social DAOs
Social DAOs are designed around promoting social interactions between people who share common interests and goals. Their goal isn’t necessarily profit; instead, they exist to help people connect and achieve common goals through collaboration and sharing of resources with one another.
Collector DAOs
Individuals use Collector DAOs to raise funds by selling their collections, which can include items like art, jewelry, and coins. These DAOs can also help collectors establish reputations as experts in their fields so they can sell their expertise to other collectors or art buyers who want to know more about the history behind the pieces in their collections.
Media DAOs
Media DAOs are similar to Collector DAOs. In this case, the content creation is done by the community members themselves instead of relying on professional content creators. Blockchain technology ensures that there is no censorship in the content published on these platforms, as every piece of information is stored on an immutable ledger accessible by anyone who wants it.
Grant DAOs
Grant DAOs provide grants to fund projects that align with their mission statement and values. These projects could be anything from scientific research to art or community development initiatives. Grant DAOs are often funded by donations from individuals or other organizations who share similar values as those expressed in the DAO’s mission statement.
Protocol DAOs
Protocol DAOs create standards for other DAOs to follow. They act as a governing body that sets the rules of the game and ensures everyone plays by them. Protocol DAOs also provide a framework for other DAOs to build their applications on top of them (e.g., Ethereum). This means that if you want to build your own cryptocurrency, you don’t have to start from scratch but can simply use an existing protocol such as Bitcoin or Ethereum instead.
DAOs Will Challenge Traditional Business Methods
Traditional businesses are built on centralized authority. There is a single person or entity that makes all the decisions and has control over the company’s capital and assets. They also have to be in charge of hiring, firing, and managing teams of people.
A DAO is different because it has no central authority or decision maker. Instead, it is governed by smart contracts, which can be programmed to make decisions based on predetermined rules or parameters. These contracts could be used to manage any aspect of the business without having to rely on a human intermediary like a CEO or CFO. In theory, this would allow organizations to operate more efficiently with less overhead cost and bureaucracy than traditional companies.
Conclusion
When done right, DAOs could completely restructure the way business is done. They could change how we raise money, sell our products, and hire employees — all while giving us more control over our careers and lives in general.
Danoskie’s Developments
Crypto Adoption: Advantages and Barriers
As the world evolves, humans continue to find easier ways to make ends meet for themselves and their loved ones.
This brought about the development of different ways of buying and selling, which is generally known as trading.
Traditional trading was meant to be trade by barter, a system of exchange in which participants (two or more) in a transaction directly exchange one or more goods or services for other goods or services without the need of a third party, such as money or a promise. This system has no balance of exchange, because the exchanged goods or services might be worth more or less than what is received.
People continued to envision ways of getting things done, which led to the use of a physical asset known as money.
Money is an effective way to remove misunderstandings and cheating that are part of human relations.
Coins were made available across all the states and republics of the world as a legal tender.
Today, there are different currencies used in different countries.
Regulations were put in place to monitor the rate at which the money was circulating, just like the people who own more physical assets than others. They were called rich or wealthy people because they had lots of visible and countable coins in their castles and fancy storehouses.
People then converted these coins into a digital form of currency after using the printouts with different colors and identifications, which had become useless at country borders.
Developers and early users of these digitalized currencies called them cryptos, and they're still struggling for mass adoption.
What is cryptocurrency?
Cryptocurrency — also called crypto — is a digital currency that is designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. It also has the ability to be traded across borders at the same value or rate.
Cryptocurrencies are supplied by different companies, with blockchain technology as their platform. For example, Ravencoin operates on the Ravencoin blockchain and has a specific number of coins in circulation.
The crypto world is growing every day and is being adopted by many people of all ages as a way to make the unreal real.
In the days of creation, people used coins to trade. The same will happen with cryptocurrency.
There are many advantages and disadvantages to using crypto. The advantages of cryptocurrencies include cheaper and faster money transfers and decentralized systems that do not collapse at a single point of failure. The disadvantages of cryptocurrencies include their price volatility, high energy consumption for mining activities, and use in criminal activities that has prompted governments around the world to place restrictions on their use.
Are there any pros or cons to trading these coins and tokens?
Pros of Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency is not like other goods and services that we provide for customers to purchase. We have to invest in it by buying some of the offered tokens.
Doing so can yield massive returns. For instance, a person who invested about $1,000 in Bitcoin in 2013 would be worth over $400,000 today.
Another way to invest in cryptocurrencies is through crypto project's Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), which have created a number of huge returns in a short amount of time.
Cryptocurrencies tend to have a shorter time span of investment returns than physical assets. For example, a $100 million house built in the middle of a city might be used as a hotel or office and would take seven years to break even. That's not the case with cryptos. Some cryptos could make a complete return on investment within minutes, just like gambling.
Cons of cryptocurrency
Whatever has advantages also has some disadvantages. For cryptos, it's very obvious.
Cryptocurrency is very volatile, meaning that its value can change drastically in a short time. For example, if a multimillion-dollar crypto project were to get hacked or if there were a meltdown in the coding of the project, investors would lose all of their investment quickly. Two examples of this happening are Axie Infinity and the burning Luna blockchain.
Due to these disadvantages, cryptocurrency seems unlikely to bridge the gap for mass adoption anytime soon.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Centralized Finance Platforms and Decentralized Finance Platforms (CeFi and DeFi)
In Commlink #20, I wrote about Centralized and Decentralized Finance. I took the time to explain the differences between the two. I concluded that Centralized Finance is more of a monopoly while Decentralized Finance requires a team.
This week, I will be discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the two.
ADVANTAGES OF CENTRALIZED FINANCE PLATFORMS
CeFi or Centralized Finance strikes a middle ground. It offers financial services aimed at bridging the gap between the platforms of legacy finance and the new economy of digital assets. It does not do away with the role of intermediaries while dealing with both digital assets and fiat currencies.
According to CoinRabbit by Diana Kelly, the advantages of Cefi platforms include:
- CeFi platforms, owing to their legacy and credibility, have been able to develop highly intuitive and convenient user experiences.
They are equipped to offer a wider range of traditional finance services, such as direct support for fiat currencies. This is partially the reason why CeFi platforms still outnumber the DeFi ones by a large margin.
- CeFi offers custodial solutions that share the risk of new users in managing seed phrases and keeping the addresses and keys safe.
- Boosted transaction processing
- Increased buying and selling processes (fiat-crypto trading)
- Support cross-chain exchanges of multiple cryptocurrencies
- Available customer support
- Ease of use
DISADVANTAGES
- In centralized platforms, users miss the opportunity of having autonomy over their funds.
- These platforms have no incentives for the 1.7 billion unbanked people worldwide, who are unable to pursue many financial opportunities because of their inability to get into any system with tight regulatory requirements.
- Higher transaction fees due to third-party compliance
- Lack of control over funds
- Required personal information
- Lack of transparency
ADVANTAGES OF DECENTRALIZED FINANCE PLATFORMS
- DeFi solutions offer decentralized protocols, platforms, and services that have completely removed the scope of traditional intermediaries, such as banks and government-backed financial institutions, from any type of transaction dynamics.
- Decentralized platforms and permissionless protocols ensure that no third party gets involved in a peer-to-peer transaction. In traditional finance, transactions are subject to authorization by the respective banks or financial institutions. DeFi platforms are open for anyone to join without having to apply and get permission from a centralized body.
- The DeFi service, owing to its distributed ledger technology or DLT, makes all its transactions public for the participants to see. It ensures a high level of transparency.
Users are free to trade the assets yielded by DeFi platforms on external platforms.
- No personal information is necessary
- No third-party involvement
- Complete transparency
- No geographical requirements (anyone anywhere can engage in DeFi)
DISADVANTAGES
- No cross-chain exchanges
- Not ideal for beginners
- Lack of centralized authorities often results in risks emanating from a lack of chargeback features or adequate safety-net mechanisms.
- Lack of centralized authority also makes DeFi platforms suffer from a lack of accountability and makes them more prone to scams. Losing a personal wallet address or private keys results in loss of assets owing to the absence of intermediaries who could help to recover.
Going through the advantages and risks associated with these two finance platforms, the main difference between choosing which to use boils down to the question regarding trust issues: technology or human?
This is totally by choice, and the examination can be based on:
- Operational Preferences
Users might choose to trust a CeFi platform as it operates as a business with people in charge of managing funds and executing the services. Alternatively, in the spirit of using decentralized currencies, people might choose to use decentralized financial services as this provides more control and more transparency when engaging in the various activities on offer.
- Market Value
In just one month in 2020, the DeFi industry grew by $125 million as investors flocked to make use of DeFi applications. While DeFi has grown at an exponential rate over the last few years (the industry is currently worth over $137 billion), CeFi platforms still far outnumber them. (Oobit blog)
- Innovation
While the traditional financial sector has seen little innovation in the last several decades, both the DeFi and CeFi industries are providing huge advances in propelling the sector forward.
Finally, while each has its own benefits and risks, there is no denying that they both are providing a more inclusive approach and better access to financial services, improved infrastructure, attractive yields, and together promote more secure and innovative financial tools.
While both industries provide a giant leap forward for the financial movement, which one you personally chose to engage in is up to you - realistically, you can use both options if you wish.
Ambassador Report
What shall we say other than "Thanks" to all our invited guests? You followed the link which we posted in your tweets/posts to join our Discord server. Thank you so much for following the simple instruction. This is what we're capable of, and we won't stop to do what we know best. We've got our leaderboard below, which contains our reward system.
Leaderboard/Ranking
Rank Twitter username
Dani_BeeHive
Yhuddee111
Banacubana
CommDAO Weekly Design Contest - 7/15/22
Foundation Top Design Picks:
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Marketing Top Design Picks:
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Kirton Call
[From Crypto Is Coming To Credit Cards- By AnnaMaria Andriotis - Wall Street Journal, July 14, 2022, R2]
Will you one day use crypto for everyday purchases? Visa, Mastercard and others think so and are taking steps to pave the way.
Cryptocurrencies are a volatile investment today, but card companies including Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. are betting crypto will one day be used routinely for everyday purchases from food to clothes to plane tickets - and they don’t want to be left behind when that happens.
Consumers now can make payments with cryptocurrencies linked to Visa and Mastercard cards provided mainly by fintech companies, but it’s a niche market. And transactions generally depend on third parties converting the crypto to local currencies. Visa and Mastercard - the largest card networks in the U.S. - say they are working on ways to handle the mechanics of crypto payments themselves. These efforts, if they succeed, would mark a major turning point - the first time that the decades-old networks would enable settling payments in assets beyond what most consider mainstream currencies.
For now, the card networks largely view their efforts as geared toward banks, fintechs and other businesses they consider clients. But the moves could ultimately have a big impact on the way consumers and merchants make transactions.
This could mean a future where it will be common to pay for sandwiches, clothing and other daily purchases by pulling out a card that’s funded by cryptocurrency, similar to the way debit cards are linked to checking accounts…
Still, while the recent crypto crash has shaken some investors, payments companies have pressed forward with their plans for crypto-backed payments during similar drops in the past and now say they will continue on the same path. “Independent of the prices of any given crypto asset on any day, we are seeing continued interest from our existing clients and new developers coming into the space,” said Guy Sheffield, global head of crypto at Visa. “We want to…take a long-term perspective on how crypto can impact payments and focus on adding as much value to the ecosystem as we can.”...
Over the past five years or so, crypto has moved from an asset largely isolated to wealthy investors and millennials dabbling in the possible next big thing to one that could become a rival in everyday consumer payments…
—
[From New Financial Jobs For Our Virtual Future - by Chris Kornelis - Wall Street Journal, July 14, 2022, R2]
Money and possessions are evolving, and financial jobs will also change to keep up. Here’s a look at new roles that could emerge.
NFT Appraiser
As our lives increasingly migrate to digital and virtual worlds, we’ll begin to acquire assets in those worlds, says Ken Timsit, managing director of the Cronos blockchain network. At the same time, he foresees the “financialization of everything,” in which anything with intellectual property value can become a unique digital asset that can be owned-music, games, even sneakers. Last year, collectors spent billions of dollars trading digital art and collectibles, most of which were attached to NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, which act as vouchers of authenticity on the blockchain for virtual goods. So how to assess the value of these virtual assets? Call in the NFT appraiser. Financial institutions will need to hire people from a broad range of industry sectors to help them understand how to properly evaluate digital collectibles, Mr. Timsit says. Mr. Timsit says. “Experts from all walks of life will be contributing to calibrating those models.
—
[From The Complete Guide For Asset Tokenization on Blockchain - from ITECHPOST - 7/8/22]
Asset tokenization is a concept developed for times when one has some money to spare for investments but not enough to make a very significant one.
For instance, you wish to put aside around $1000 monthly to invest in real estate. Even if it's a significant amount, it's simply peanuts when you're buying physical assets like property.
Besides, there's no means to buy only a few square meters of real estate, as it's generally all or nothing.
But what if there is a real estate owner who needs $1000 urgently, and the only asset he has is the property itself. Even if the amount he needs is much smaller than the price of his property, he'll have to sell it off entirely to arrange for it.
Here's where asset tokenization comes into the picture, catering to your and the real estate owners' needs.
Asset tokenization can break down the total value of the property into tokens, which are only percentage shares of the underlying asset.
Out of this, he can sell off even $1000 worth of property shares on a Blockchain platform that supports smart contracts. This way, both the investor and the seller get what they want…
Let's see how asset tokenization on blockchain benefits your business.
Benefit #1: It promotes asset liquidity
It is one of the most apparent benefits of asset tokenization. Physical assets are generally illiquid, which means it is difficult to buy or sell them due to rigid rules of engagement.
But on a blockchain-backed platform, authorized investors meet the authentic sellers and get to invest in only percentage shares of the otherwise rigid physical asset.
Being conducted on a public ledger, the investment in tokenized assets is valid, legal, and transparent in all ways.
Benefit #2: It eliminates the mediators
Dealing with intermediates reduces profit margins drastically in asset transfer.
But conducting asset tokenization on blockchain removes the part of an intermediary.
Besides, since every transaction detail is in the public domain, the direct transaction between an investor and a seller is via highly transparent mechanisms.
Benefit #3: It offers higher accessibility to prime assets
Only through asset tokenization on blockchain can a rightful owner fragment the ownership of the asset into tokens. These tokens are of the minimum possible value, as deemed fit by the owner.
On the other side, the asset becomes accessible even for small investors by fragmenting the ownership in this way.
Besides, tokenization on blockchain removes the minimum investment period and other rigid investment rules…
The token economy is the future of investments. And asset tokenization on blockchain lowers the barrier of minimum entry cost for small investors.
For sellers and creators, it generates possibilities to diversify shareholding and facilitates crowdfunding.