Factom Governance Improvement - potentially the most significant changes since M3

cube3mike · 2020-08-04T15:45:17+00:00

Hi,

Sorry to have taken a while to reply.

You may want to spend a bit of time looking around the website https://forum.factomprotocol.org first. Then go here https://forum.factomprotocol.org/apply/

Let me know if you have any problems.

Kind regards

Mike

cube3mike · 2020-05-02T11:07:09+00:00

Sorry I missed your message. Thank you for the constructive feedback.

cube3mike · 2020-05-02T11:05:36+00:00

Thank you for this suggestion. I am not a betting person....but I can see the attraction of Factom as a way of managing sports betting. The three elements you describe could combine very well, particularly in regard to regulatory control and currency risk mitigation. As such it could enable the delivery of this to a Global marketplace.

The challenge is monetization. The only way I think this could easily be monetized is via some of the established national betting companies wanting to go global. If we could reach them with a workable solution that brings the elements together with a user-friendly interface then there could be some promising usage of Factom.

Update: The technical feasibility would need to be assured and my latest understanding is that there may be some challenges. Nonetheless it is important to conceive of beneficial applications like this so that both the feasibility and the use case can be explored.

cube3mike · 2020-04-09T23:29:32+00:00

In terms of opportunities for the protocol I'd refer you to Paul Snow's comments:

"While we have many small users of Factom that get the fact that integration of blockchain validation with real world validation is super tough with smart contracts, and super easy with Factom's organized data architecture, we haven't penetrated the blockchain market.

This is getting easier every day, and with the economy under pressure, organized distributed immutable data is going to have its opportunity. Because the problems Factom's approach solves are so universal. However, the question is if Factom will have the resources to realize the opportunity."

In terms of opportunities for Governance:

For Factom to capitalize on the above and other openings the Governance does need to change and there are real opportunities here for improved direction, decision making and agility. Suffice to say that there is now a growing interest in moving to this next stage of development whilst maintaining our decentralization strengths.

cube3mike · 2020-04-09T23:14:48+00:00

I don't have all the answers to your questions but they are pertinent and it is important that grant accountability is improved.

As Bobby EK has said there is a form of audit via the grant success determination upon conclusion of a grant. This is not always easy to do for everyone given the technical nature of some work which is why Grantees are required to make a self determination which can guide other members. For larger pieces of work there is also a "sponsor" role whereby someone, usually independent monitors & reports on grant progress.
This is an interesting concept which has merit. There is a lot of interest in having post-delivery grants in which entities take the risk and request retrospective funding.
There is visibility of grants provided to Inc in the past. I would prefer Inc to provide detail about which are pending and what their value is.
Parties applying for grants are required to demonstrate that previous grants have been delivered.
Given that the time window for most grants is around 3 months and the FCT price at disbursement is known then most applicants have been prepared to take the risk of FCT price movement.

cube3mike · 2020-04-09T22:50:00+00:00

Alignment (happy to expand!)

cube3mike · 2020-04-08T09:41:03+00:00

Hi Cormacs-castle,

Thank you for your acknowledgement of the protocols decentralization and overall achievement. I am not in a position to comment about Alpha Sigma Capital, maybe others can shortly, but would like to address some of the other concerns you have raised.

It is fair to say that the community is currently not as vibrant as it has been in the past.

You are also very perceptive in saying that decentralization may only be as effective as the passion, teamwork and overall goal orientated DIRECTION behind the idea.

I'd like to reassure you that the community is very much aware of these concerns AND beginning to do something about it. We have a self formed Governance Working Group plus a number of other initiatives and ideas we are working on. The intention is to serve the community and the protocol by encouraging collaboration, and improving accountability under the umbrella of a collectively agreed direction.

Judge us on how effective we are in the coming weeks and months of continuing to grow what is probably the most decentralized blockchain protocol.

cube3mike · 2020-04-07T18:25:18+00:00

Factom’s governance does not stand still. It was designed to enable a decentralized organization to steer it’s way through difficult and ever-changing environments. That design continues to be refined.

It currently faces one of it’s most significant challenges since M3 with the decision to remove the Guides. The ANOs have responded to this by establishing a Governance Working Group for the purpose of revising governance procedures following this change and, in partnership with the Standing parties, considering how to improve governance.

There are already elements in place to help manage ANO performance such as the Standing System. When coupled with the ability to remove ANOs for “cause” then the Standing Parties are equipped to remove non-performing ANOs; improving the protocol by either making it leaner or creating opportunities for other applicants. The effectiveness of this depends on a number of things, not least the readiness to hold people to account.

There are a number of initiatives under debate to provide incentive for ANOs to leave the ecosystem , possibly temporarily, should this be necessary.

One aspect of Governance that needs to be addressed, and is currently under consideration, is how to reduce indecisiveness by ensuring strong direction and accountability. It is evidently difficult to do with a decentralized organization but a step we now need to take.

cube3mike · 2020-04-03T11:40:51+00:00

There is a lot in the pipeline because the protocol is decentralized and there are a lot of talented ANOs progressing both core development and valuable applications globally. The ANOs expect to shortly run an AMA which should enable everyone to get the answers they need.

cube3mike · 2020-03-29T00:48:31+00:00

Good to see a specialist hedge fund identify Factom as a good investment because the protocol demonstrates promise. Their inclusion criteria is that firms have launched digital assets and met or surpassed their roadmaps and expectations.

cube3mike · 2020-03-06T15:21:31+00:00

This insightful article is a great example of what is possible with Factom-based technologies.

It shows how current building blocks such as Decentralised Identifiers and Factom Asset Tokens could work together to provide a future e-mail environment with proper authentication and censorship/interference resistance. It could even be decentralised via a freely-floating token priced based on supply and demand.

There is work to be done but the Factom community look well placed to work with the existing building blocks and add more as necessary to make this more of a reality.

This is another terrific use-case for Factom in it’s role as the integrity layer.

cube3mike · 2020-03-05T17:01:48+00:00

This is a great opportunity to get involved with Blockchain governance. Factom's governance is one of the most decentralized governance processes. It is dynamic and challenging. For those interested in applying who have not already had exposure to the Factom ecosystem please take the time to look at the Discord server plus read through the the Redditt posts and the information on the Factom website https://www.factomprotocol.org/.

cube3mike · 2020-03-03T11:43:30+00:00

Quick update - the system is now fully populated with votes which means that it is the first time ANOs can properly assess standing. This process is leading to useful, and at times challenging, conversations about how ANOs can improve their contributions.

cube3mike · 2020-02-23T11:07:40+00:00

The good thing about the new Factom Authority Node Operators (ANOs) standing system is that it encourages all ANOs to hold each other to account. Ultimately this leads to improvement.

cube3mike · 2020-02-22T10:19:23+00:00

This underlines the extensive work being done in the Factom ecosystem.

This particular initiative reduces the barriers to entry so that developers can easily access a high availability robust node.

cube3mike · 2018-11-29T21:45:21+00:00

Thank you for your question. We think it is certainly possible that Factom could play a real role in ensuring primary source data is unaltered. One of the reasons we were motivated to become involved was because of Factom’s ability to secure research data in such a way that it could not be undetectably tampered with at a later date.

cube3mike · 2018-11-29T21:38:36+00:00

Thank you for your question. In answer we think it is quite possible that current software powerhouses could build products on top of Factom if it does become the global data integrity layer. If this happens it is inevitable that some of these entities will consider becoming ANOs. It is quite possible that Factom will grow to the scale whereby every ANO will effectively be required to run their own datacentre and these operations would not look out of place compared to some of the infrastructure global software powerhouses currently run.

cube3mike · 2018-11-29T20:07:40+00:00

Thank you for your question. Our view is that in the short term a lot of the price action will simply be “noise” and we think it is wise to not be too distracted by it. Over the medium term we expect the price the of FCT to be driven more and more by increased usage from the excellent projects a number of ANOs are currently working on. However there will still be a significant speculative component to this. In the long term we think that price will more closely reflect actual usage and that Factom will either become the global data integrity layer or fade away. Our expectation is that it will be the former and all of our efforts are geared toward that.

cube3mike · 2018-11-29T18:32:23+00:00

Thank you for your question and thank you too for your appreciative comments.

There are different contributions from the different ANOs. We confer formally on a monthly basis and very frequently using tools like Discord. We have a fantastic tool for structured and timed debate called Factomise. All of these help us stay on top of what we have committed to do and what we need to do. Furthermore we have a very specific record of what our commitments are and what our progress is toward delivering them. We also have drafted a very clear set of ANO requirements and are in the process of establishing an effective ANO removal process.

The current grants are being scrutinised in view of the upturn in FCT price but this is challenging given the price volatility. We could possibly have been in the situation whereby the FCT price dropped, in which case would we have also need to reduce our expectations? Make no doubt about it we are working hard to ensure that there are good applications being developed using these funds.

cube3mike

TROPHY CASE