Fun fact 1: There is a crypto UBI protocol that has generated 500,000 users (yep!) by distributing the value of merely ~3 cents per user per day. It’s the biggest (non-game) EVM protocol behind Uniswap that you probably haven’t heard of.
Fun fact 2: “Continuous Airdrops” aka Universal Basic Income (UBI) will be the only solution to a future where bots and AI does all the work.
How can we get to the next 1Bn users on Near?
I propose that we can get there a lot faster if we pay users just a little money for signing up, and for staying engaged. It doesn’t have to be big sums. Imagine this:
- Users receive 2 Near for signing up to the basic requirements. It will be less over time, but let’s start with 2 Near…
- Those basic requirements? To have a custom wallet name, and a near.social account, and most importantly: they have qualified for a proof-of-personhood SBT. No other requirements. No need to sign up on a website. No need to join a DAO. Just airdropped as a reward for signing up and confirming that they are a real user.
- If the user then stakes at least 50% of those Near, then they will be eligible for a fractional Near every day going forward, in perpetuity, as long as they remain staked
- Users could maybe also receive a double-up boost for a few weeks anytime they participate in a governance poll or vote for NDC.
This way we would achieve a ton of benefits. Here are some:
- More real users signing up for Near
- More staking, and importantly, more distributed staking, which means a more secure protocol
- More participation in governance votes and polls
- A stronger proof-of-personhood protocol (yes, size makes it better)
- Unlocking and enabling all the good stuff that PoP would give us: quadratic voting, quadratic funding, 1-person-1-vote, human-gating the DAOs, fair project launches, fair airdrops, learn-to-earn, play-to-earn, etc, etc.
We are already building a proof-of-personhood protocol with i-am-human.app, which will be ready in a few months. Then building a streaming UBI protocol will not be very hard. The biggest challenge will be this: How could it be funded? Well, here are some example ideas:
- A one-time grant, which is set to a half-life of maybe a year (meaning it will always keep paying out but the payments will be incrementally smaller)
- Stake the NDC treasury in a APY-generating protocol, then donate the APY to fund the UBI program (which also means the UBI payments will decrease with a shrinking treasury)
- Redirect a small fraction of the gas fees towards funding the UBI (which would create a program that would grow over time)
- Any other fundraising ideas??
So…
- Who will have the best infrastructure to deliver UBI globally when the world is ready for it? Let’s build it on Near.
- Which blockchain will have the most real users? Let’s make it Near
Ping me on Telegram @kazanderdad or Twitter @k8zander for more ideas on how to make this a reality.
Cross-posted from here