A joke is not a joke. Explaining the proposal for ethereum’s fixed supply cap of 120 million eth, Vitalik Buterin stated at a public meeting of ethereum developers: “It basically…
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Is there a need to learn about complicated topics in a complicated way? or can we just learn the basics ?.
How does a plane fly?
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The topic that has engineers arguing…. it is done by a process of creating a pressure gradient between the top and bottom of the wings. The science behind creating the gradient is not simple however, it all boils down to having a lower pressure above the wing than below creating “lift”.
How does a kettle work?
An everyday item for most of us. The electric kettle. When a kettle is turned on a large current flows through a metal coil at the base of the kettle and the resistance of the metal causes the metal to get hot as the current tries to get through. this in turn heats the water.
But how does it know when to turn of? and no it does not have a thermometer. A thermostat in the kettle when touched by steam changes shape which switches off the kettle.
The trending one right now. Blockchain technology.
Blockchain technology can be really complicated to understand, and thats because it is. But simply put, blockchain is a decentralised database that updates digital record of who owns what and how much of a cryptocurrency.
How we know 1 Kilogram is actually a Kilogram!
A Kilogram is the mass of a particular prototype which is kept at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. Therefore, if the mass of this prototype is halved half a Kilo becomes one kilo if that makes sense?
How does a signal that is transmitted through the air become a picture in a TV screen?
Modern TV’s contain many pixels inside them which are small light elements which can be turned on or off. The signal received by a satellite dish tells which pixels to turn on and which to turn off at a certain time. This creates your image.
“Many people's hands are painted red to form together a large red heart” by on
Token curated registries hold a lot of promise, but for whom? In this post we’ll ask if TCRs could spur a regrowth in unions and trade guilds. Specifically we’ll examine the current home repair/maintenance market, as it’s a process many are familiar with. But first, some background.
As it applies to the token trading markets TCRs are a solution to a big problem. Having the best token projects join a self regulatory organization will help stave off heavy handed gov interference and inject meaningful discourse into the ecosystem. Messari, an for token projects, is going to be a great organizational model for other TCRs. Let’s get some background on TCRs and how they work from of :
The high-level concept of a token-curated registry is this: there’s a list you want to be on and you think you deserve to be on the list. You are then willing to pay an application fee in an effort to make that list — either on a one time basis or via recurring credentialing “dues” — because there is intrinsic value to inclusion. You can think of a TCR like a cooperative, where existing members vote to include new participants and share in the costs, and rewards, of running the community.For most professions, a TCR looks a lot like a guild
In the middle ages, guilds were formed as a response to the centralized power of lords. Lords could impose whatever taxes they wanted on the commerce in a local village. The masters of a given trade in a village would come together to form a guild and protest over taxation by the lord. This relationship of tradespeople vs lords can be seen today across professional industries in the form of tradespeople vs the marketplaces. Network effects of today’s web mean that dominant marketplaces hold much of the power in the trade professions. In order to find the best professional of a given trade you have many options, but they’re not created equal.
Free Marketplaces
Tools like craigslist are the most fair in terms of being an open market with low barriers to entry. They have little curation or governance and as such put those burdens on the people in the marketplace. You may have experienced some of these burdens when posting a job yourself on craigslist. Researching a fair price, evaluating submissions, and managing the project to your satisfaction is a large undertaking even for small jobs. Understandably many people would prefer to have someone else handle the details for them, this is where “regulated marketplaces” come in.
Regulated Marketplaces
A regulated marketplace like Angie’s List or Thumbtack is the response to both the needs of customers to curate professionals, as well as helping professionals find work. Where this model falls short is in network effect, when one marketplace becomes dominant in a region or sector they can begin to squeeze both sides of the transaction for more value. Often this squeezing for margin pushes out the highest quality providers and customers out. The best contractors generally opt to go it alone and have to compete against the platform they helped grow.
Token Curated Marketplaces
Applying the TCR model to concept of trade unions may solve many of the problems with both open and curated marketplaces. Because of the overhead required by traditional union-like organizations, tradespeople in these sectors can’t compete on price in the majority of cases especially small jobs. For this example, lets assume that the overheard of a TCR is low enough that members could compete on price in any market.
TCRs and Free Markets
Given the choice between an independent professional or a member of a TCR, the choice should be simple. A TCR member will have had to show proficiency to a group of their piers, pay membership dues, and be backed by the reputation of their union. With much of the guesswork around an individual provider handled, free markets + TCR’s could replace much of the value curated marketplace companies currently provide but at lower cost.
TCU’s and Regulated Markets
In a regulated market, much of the value provided to the consumer by the marketplace is that of screening and time saving. In an area with a robust community of TCRs much of the screening work will be handled by the TCRs themselves. On the provider side, curated markets offer a steady stream of work. This work however comes at a high upfront cost and often isn’t guaranteed. By self organizing into a TCR, local tradespeople could pool their resources and create their own curation services or simply delegate the bidding of jobs on free markets to junior TCR members.
So what now?
Every time a new concept like TCRs emerges we believe it’s imperative to think about how it may remove complexity and improve lives for everyone. As people invested in this new field we need to be conscious of how the tools we create may be used beyond our own needs. This concept of Token Curated Registries as it pertains to labor is very loose, but illustrates how beyond financial systems, crypto is going to change everything.
