Appreciation Tokens (@) are the basic unit of currency in the Allodium abundance-based monetary system. Appreciation Tokens are generated abundantly, and distributed equitably amongst the members of the Allodium Exchange, while simultaneously incentivizing the development of the Cooperative. The symbol “@” (AT) is used to represent Appreciation Tokens, similar to how “$” is used to represent various Fiat debt-based currencies, like the USD.
Appreciation Tokens (@) are generated in three ways:
1: Each member of Allodium generates one Appreciation Token (@) per day, as appreciation for their membership. This @ is automatically credited to their account. This is the most equitable method of @ generation and distribution, incentivizes membership, and creates a base inflation rate of total @, relative to the total number of members in Allodium.
2: Labor volunteered towards the development of Allodium generates 10@/hour, which is credited to the laboring member’s account after the completed labor is verified by a majority of Allodium Ø stakeholders, or by a member who has been delegated with this responsibility by a supermajority of Allodium Ø stakeholders.
3: Members can exchange 1000@ into a stake in Allodium, called an OG Cred (Ø). Each OG Cred (Ø) generates 10@/week for the Affirmed Sovereign who holds it, which is automatically credited to the Ø stakeholder’s account every Tuesday. A maximum of 168Ø per member creates a limit on disparity of @ generation & voting weight and encourages the development of ‘fully accredited members’ (Jedi) whose economic incentives change and who will be responsible for guiding future development.
Once @ are generated on the Allodium Exchange, they can be transferred to the Waves Exchange app, where anyone (including non-members) can take direct custody and trade them freely as currency.
Note: Appreciation Tokens are indivisible- no decimals, only integers!
Background
Making tokens of appreciation the basis of currency has many benefits, but to explain them fully, first we need to understand some economic and historical context…
Capitalism has proven to be the dominant form of economic system on our planet, because it harnesses the most powerful economic force on the planet- the free market. Whether the market participants are individuals, industries, or nation/state collectives; capitalism revolves around the concept of accumulating capital (value). The underpinning of capitalism is capital; how that capital is defined (valued) determines the effects of the capitalistic system…
For example, when gold is the basis of capital, the currency is stable because gold is immutable. Individuals are incentivized to extract the gold from the Earth, and, over time, the available supply of gold increases for the market participants, creating a rate of inflation limited by the rate of gold mining/extraction/refinement/minting. This gold-based capitalism thrived for millennia, and today gold is still considered to be valuable. However, there are also downsides to this gold-backed monetary system.
First of all, gold must be physically moved from place to place in order to make transactions, which creates friction in the economy, as it takes energy to move the heavy metal all over the place. This led to the invention of banks, who would store the gold and then issue paper gold certificates so that the gold could be traded via paper certificates instead of transporting the heavy metal. This led to another problem of fractional reserve lending… but we’ll get to that another time.
Sovereign Naan, [21.01.19 22:17]
The second, and arguably most important, downfall of this gold-based economic model is that it has no virtue, morals, or respect for life. Value is measured in terms of gold, and the ability to extract gold. A thriving ecosystem has no value compared to the gold which could be extracted after that ecosystem is destroyed. There is no inherent virtue, no inherent morals in a gold-backed economic system… the accumulation of gold is valued and incentivized above all else.
A more recent iteration of capitalism came in 1971, when the most dominant nation on the Earth, the United States (of America), denounced gold as the standard of capital, and adopted debt as the new standard of capital. This dominant nation issued paper and digital debt certificates and enforced their usage upon the world with military might; creating a near-monopoly on energy(oil) resorces to back the debt notes, deemed “petrodollars”.
A debt-based capitalistic model values and incentivizes the accumulation of debt above all else. As a method of centralized rule, the debt-based model is very effective. Market participants compete to accumulate additional debt, and the more debt they accumulate, the more indebted to the system of debt-based capitalism they become. Worse than the gold-based system regarding virtue and morality; the debt-based system actually incentivizes immorality and evil, by creating universal debt- the inverse of nature, which is universally abundant!
The downfalls of the debt-based system are manifold. First of all, with the free market harnessed towards the accumulation of debt, the market participants (and eventually the entire world) ends up in a state of scarcity. Scarcity and debt go hand-in-hand for without scarcity, there can be no debt, and the accumulation of debt increase the overall scarcity.
The second, and arguably most important, downfall of debt-based capitalism is that it is inherently destructive and exploitive of abundance, and life in general. Wherever life thrives freely, agents of debt-based capitalism are incentivized to extract or destroy that abundance so that the remaining life is forced into scarcity, and has to compete to survive. Whenever new products and solutions are created which have the potential to unshackle the market participants from this perpetual state of scarcity, those products and solutions are destroyed or perverted by parties who are incentivized to do so. The end-result of a debt-based system of capitalism is perversion and eventual extinction.
Now that there’s a little context, here’s why Allodium’s form of capitalism; defining Appreciation Tokens (@) as the basis of capital; incentivizes abundance, thriving life, and healthy ecosystems.
First of all, the generation of Appreciation Tokens (@) does not require mining of the Earth’s resources, or indebting and destroying life on Earth. The tokens are generated out of Appreciation: of membership, of investments towards development of the Cooperative, and of the reinvesting of resources with the Cooperative. This harnesses the free market to increase the overall membership, increase the development of the Cooperative, and increase the sharing of resources so as to maximize the overall Appreciation of the market participants.
Appreciation Tokens (@) can be transacted in a frictionless manner, and there is no incentive for debt or fractional reserve lending. Because the @ are generated abundantly and do not require competition in order to come into existence, the resulting effect on the market participants (and eventually the entire world) is a state of abundance!
The second (and arguably most important) benefit of defining capital as tokens of Appreciation is the inherent values instilled in the market. Rather than harnessing the free market toward extracting gold from the Earth, or indebting/destroying life on Earth, the free market is harnessed towards maximization of Appreciation. This incentives behavior and production which naturally produces the emotion of Appreciation. It humanizes the economy and directs the virtue of Allodium.