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In a peer-to-peer, decentralized system, the economic model is one of the most critical components—delivering the incentives of supply and demand to effectively attract, engage and reward participants. Autonomi's economic system is designed to:
Encourage node operators to contribute storage space, bandwidth, and computing resources, thereby fostering growth and scalability.
Construct a resilient economic framework capable of adapting to changes in the external environment.
Support the resilience and growth of the Network by rewarding developers, strategic partners and other key contributors.
Meaningful rewards for software development, services, and data that provide value to those using the Network, and that benefit wider society.
There is a fixed Maximum Supply of 4,294,967,296 tokens. While capped, the rate at which the token supply approaches follows a tuneable emission and supply schedule.
Token rewards will be distributed evenly across eligible nodes without having nodes compete against each other in computational power or staked token quantity, addressing the consolidation of power issues with tokenomics built on top of PoW, PoS and PoS consensus mechanism.
Every data upload incurs payments from up-loaders to node operators. Unlike conventional cloud or decentralized storage, there is no extra cost other than the initial data payment, preventing cost escalation. This transparent payment system ensures predictability and affordability for users, and allows applications and services to scale rapidly without large data or infrastructure cost burdens.
Physical infrastructure-based decentralized platforms require upfront infrastructure availability before usage can scale. To drive node network growth, new token emission incentivises node operators independent of current network usage levels.
Node operators are incentivized to remain online as the expected rewards increase linearly with the node's uptime (proof-of-uptime).
Node operators are incentivized to provide correct service to the network, as incorrect service results in prompt exclusion from the rewards program (proof-of-correctness).
Tokens can be instantly transferred without fee.
At the inception of the Network, a Genesis Supply of 1,288,490,189 tokens will be issued, and subsequently distributed. This represents 30% of the Maximum Supply.
The remaining 70% of the supply will be emitted by the Network over approximately 30 years.
Tokens will be emitted during an upload event and become available to the node operator. The number of tokens emitted as the result of each event will be in proportion to the amount of data stored. Emissions will continue until the Maximum Supply is reached, according to the emissions schedule.
Each whole token can be subdivided times, creating a total of 4,294,967,296,000,000,000 available sub-units, or nanos.
There will be a total Maximum Supply of whole tokens created over the Network’s lifetime. That's 4,294,967,296.
Autonomi tokens are recycled when users exchange them for Network services, which means that there will always be a supply for node operators to earn.
Tokens will be emitted during an upload event and become available to either the client or node operator. The number of tokens emitted as the result of each event will be in proportion to the amount of data stored. Emission will continue until the Maximum Supply is reached.
At the time of writing the Autonomi Network is still pre-release. However, a token called MaidSafeCoin (eMAID and MAID) can be purchased on cryptocurrency exchanges. When the Network goes live MAID will be exchanged for the live Network token on a 1:1 basis.
Nodes all have the same capacity and on average over time will all be as full as each other, but there will be some local variations which leads to fuller nodes quoting higher prices. The client should choose the lowest store cost offered for each chunk stored.
The rate of payment will also depend on the ‘storage reward rate’, which is a variable based on the quantity of free resources in the Network as well as the number of tokens in circulation.
This happens automatically, and the effect is to create an incentive for those supplying resources to provide storage when the overall spare capacity is low, and a disincentive when the amount of free space is high.
By adjusting the storage reward rate according to the amount of free available space on the Network, users storing data are charged at the optimum rate. This supply and demand relationship results in dynamic pricing, translating into competitive prices for data storage
By adjusting the storage reward rate according to the amount of free available space on the Network, users storing data are charged at the optimum rate.
Tokens are automatically distributed by the Network to the operators of Nodes as payment for the supply of data storage, bandwidth, and compute resources: these are Resource Supply Rewards. They make up 85% of each Data Payment made to the Network.
Before a file is stored on the Network, it is broken into chunks and encrypted. Each chunk has a unique hash value from which its Network address is derived.
Nodes also have a unique Network address. Data is stored on the nodes which have the closest Network address to the data itself.
A client can find the nodes that are closest to a chunk’s address by querying the Network. Once it knows the closest nodes, it performs a ‘store cost’ query to ask the price to store data at that location. The price depends on the storage capacity of the nodes, which ultimately depends on demand.
Once the client knows the store costs offered by the closest nodes, it picks one and sends the data along with the transfer paying for it. Upon receiving the data, the chosen node verifies the transfer, takes the payment, verifies the data itself and stores it. It is then replicated to the other close nodes. To receive payment a node needs to store new data and already have all the existing data in its range. When receiving data payments, nodes make sure that both their Resource Supply Reward and Network Royalty are valid before storing the data.
The data payment amount is regulated by the dynamic pricing formula, which is designed to facilitate the network's scalability in tandem with its usage. Additionally, dynamic pricing serves to bolster network stability by deterring spam uploads.
where
represents the Network fullness.
As illustrated in the figure above, Dynamic Pricing reflects a correlation between network capacity and price. When network capacity is ample, prices remain low, incentivizing increased data uploads. Conversely, when network capacity is limited, prices rise to encourage more node operators to join. This dynamic relationship between storage capacity and price ensures that node operators are appropriately incentivized as the network necessitates additional capacity.
As the network approaches full capacity, prices increase exponentially to deter the acceptance of data exceeding its limits. This mechanism safeguards the network from becoming overloaded with data beyond its capacity.
At the heart of the Autonomi's philosophy is the conviction that computers, and the networks that connect them, exist to serve human needs. The value of software should be based on its usefulness to people, not on its ability to harvest personal data.
The Internet revolutionised software distribution and gifted us global hyper-connectivity, but the data mining ad-based business models that underpin today's web have warped our interactions with technology and distorted our relationships with one another. Tracking, surveillance, and behaviour manipulation, all in the name of ROI. A compromised and very different vision from the one that birthed the web.
It's time for a fresh blueprint for funding apps, building networks, and sustainably financing open software development. A blueprint that emphasises real-world utility, respects privacy and advocates for interoperability, autonomy, and open standards. One where apps, services, and protocols are collectively funded and rewarded by the network itself. An approach which asserts that invaluable software ought to be backed and consistently funded by the Network's inherent resources, rather than relying on fleeting benevolence, predatory capital or a privacy bait-and-switch.
Network Royalties are a mechanism through which software development, services, and data which provide value to people who use the Network, benefit wider society, and meet the objectives of the project, can be meaningfully rewarded and sustainably funded.
Autonomi's native tokens are the oil of the Network's economy. They recirculate through the Network and allow its internal market for resources to function.
Each time a Data Payment is made as files are uploaded or edited, 85% of that fee goes to nodes supplying the storage, but the remaining 15% is remitted as Network Royalties.
These royalties are redistributed to people building apps and services in the Autonomi ecosystem, and those maintaining the core protocol and the libraries supporting it.
Where Resource Supply Rewards are paid to those supplying computer resources to the economy, Network Royalties reward those providing utility and benefit to users through knowledge, innovation, and creative endeavours, and for them to be economically empowered by the Network itself.
Network Royalties are paid in support of the following areas such as:
Supporting the research, design, development, and maintenance of the Network and protocols, enabling its ongoing operation, enhancement and security.
Development of software applications, platforms, sites, and services that run on, and/or provide utility to users of the Network.
Creators, publishers, and curators of data that is made publicly and freely available for the common good can become eligible for Network Royalties.
Royalties will also support the sustainable and transparent governance of the Network and provide the required administration. They will also help foster the growth, health and understanding of the Network and its ecosystem, through education, and promotion.
As an autonomous and decentralized system, the Network is being designed to facilitate the distribution of Royalties directly to participants without the need for third-party intervention, nor a centralized authority.
These royalty payments will be made by the Network itself, rewarding participants such as application developers, service providers, and data owners, based on usefulness and utility of contributions to individuals and the health of the Network overall.
While the mechanisms for these automated distributions are still in development, they are a key milestone in the Network’s roadmap.
Until such time as the Network Distribution of Royalties is implemented, the Autonomi Foundation will collect and oversee the distribution of Network Royalties in accordance with the needs of the Network, and its ability to meet its objectives, through the following methods:
Grant Making: Royalties may be paid in the form of grants to fund new areas of research, prospective development of software, services, or other activities.
Rewards: Participants can be rewarded retrospectively in line with the utility and value of their contributions, endeavours, or services to the users of the Network and the project’s objectives in a given period.
Ad Hoc Payments: The Foundation may also make ad hoc payments to fulfil its objectives and remit, its governance and regulatory obligations, and in order to cover the costs of administering and distributing Network Royalties. Grants, rewards, and ad hoc payments will be made from the Network Royalties Pool, with any unspent or unclaimed funds in a given period returned to the pool for further distribution.
A portion of the Genesis Supply will also allocated to a Network Royalties Pool to help sustain the Network and the ecosystem in its early days, and reward and incentivise its contributors. This will be administered by the Foundation.
The foundational premise of Autonomi asserts that larger network sizes correlate with enhanced performance and heightened security. However, the dynamic pricing mechanism, while effective in providing a supply-and-demand-based incentive structure that augments rewards as demand rises, operates retrospectively. In essence, rewards only increase once new demand has emerged. This retrospective nature can potentially delay network growth due to market inefficiencies. The time lag between increased prices and the subsequent generation of additional resource supply could impede network expansion and adversely affect user experience.
The emission of the remaining token supply, comprising 70% of the maximum supply, will serve as a forward-looking incentive mechanism, ensuring consistent and dependable rewards for participants. Specifically, 70% of the remaining supply (49% of the total supply) will be distributed to the nodes participating in data storage as storage emissions. The remaining 30% (21% of the total supply) will be reserved for the potential future utility of the network nodes.
The storage reward emission rate the day after the genesis is defined by the following formula:
Where:
is the maximum token supply, and
50% of the storage emissions will be distributed over a period of 9 years, while 90% will be distributed in approximately 30 years. The yearly inflation rate will start at approximately 10% in the first year and decrease gradually each subsequent year. It is anticipated that the significance of the emission-based reward will diminish over time, with node incentives eventually relying fully on data payment as the network matures.
Data payments serve as a fundamental incentive mechanism through which data uploaders directly compensate node operators for network utility. When a file is uploaded to the Network, it will be broken down into multiple small chunks, with each chunk assigned its own network address based on its content. These chunks will then be stored in a group of nodes whose network addresses are close to the respective chunk. Since the chunk hash is randomly distributed over the address space, data payment will be random and evenly distributed at scale.
As the network scales, the likelihood of a node receiving data payment increases linearly with its uptime. Nodes that don’t contribute to the protocol will be ignored by neighbouring nodes, thereby excluding them from the reward mechanism. These mechanisms resemble Proof-of-Uptime and Proof-of-Correctness models employed by other decentralised protocols to encourage desirable participant behaviour.
Initially, 85% of the payment is allocated to node operators, while the remainder replenishes the Network Royalties Pool, intended to foster ecosystem growth. As the network matures, it will transition towards automatic distribution of Network Royalties to the builders based on the KPIs of the projects, effectively replacing the funds managed by the Foundation.
Furthermore, the data payments are designed to include a burn mechanism, through which a portion of the data payment can be permanently eliminated if necessary to manage the token supply as the Network matures.
When the Network is launched, a Genesis Supply of 1,288,490,189 tokens will be created. This is 30% of the Maximum Supply. These tokens will be distributed as follows:
After the launch of the Network, holders of MaidSafeCoin will be entitled to swap their coins for the new Autonomi token on a 1:1 basis.
This applies to both the original coins issued on the Omni layer (MAID) and the ERC-20 version (eMAID).
Holders of MaidSafeCoin will collectively be allocated 452,552,412 tokens. That's 10.536806937% of the Maximum Supply.
MaidSafeCoin is a proxy token issued as part of a crowd-sale (or ICO) in April of 2014 that supported the development of the Network. In fact this was only the second ever ICO, and sold out in a matter of hours.
It was accompanied by the publication of the original project white paper.
This is an increase from the allocation of 10% described in the original project white paper, accounting for an additional 23,055,683 MaidSafeCoins issued during the crowd sale. Tokens will be distributed to MaidSafeCoin holders in the form of an airdrop, with each MaidSafeCoin entitling the bearer to one Network token.
Each company share of Maidsafe.net Limited will entitle the bearer to 105.8221941 tokens, resulting in shareholders being allocated 214,748,365 tokens. This is 5% of the Maximum Supply.
Any unclaimed shareholder funds will be held by the Foundation for a period of seven years following the inception of the Network, after which these tokens will be transferred to the Network Royalties Pool.
Out of the Genesis Supply, 621,189,412 tokens will be allocated to a Network Royalty Pool and distributed as Network Royalties. This is 14.463193063% of the Maximum Supply.
This initial Royalties Pool will be split into the following funds: