diff --git a/pitch.md b/pitch.md index 889d616..512b28b 100644 --- a/pitch.md +++ b/pitch.md @@ -1,58 +1,91 @@ ## Contents -1. [Overview](#overview) -2. [Context](#context) -3. [Thesis](#thesis) -4. [Revnet Research Group (RRG)](#revnet-research-group-rrg) +1. [TLDR](#tldr) +2. [Overview](#overview) +3. [Context](#context) +4. [Anatomy of a revnet](#anatomy-of-a-revnet) +5. [Thesis](#thesis) +6. [Pitch to investors](#pitch-to-investors) +7. [Revnet Research Group (RRG)](#revnet-research-group-rrg) - [RRG Mission](#rrg-mission) - [Bottom line](#bottom-line) - - [Pitch to investors](#pitch-to-investors) - [Structure](#structure) - [Onchain management](#onchain-management) - [Offchain management](#offchain-management) - [Ideal partners](#ideal-partners) - [Roadmap](#roadmap) - [Spend](#spend) -5. [$REV](#rev) - - [Anatomy of a revnet](#anatomy-of-a-revnet) +8. [$REV](#rev) - [$REV stage 1](#rev-stage-1) - [$REV stage 2](#rev-stage-2) - [$REV stage 3](#rev-stage-3) -6. [Legal](#legal) -7. [Examples of revnets](#examples-of-revnets) -8. [Investor FAQ](#investor-faq) +9. [Legal](#legal) +10. [Examples of revnets](#examples-of-revnets) +11. [Investor FAQ](#investor-faq) - [Should I invest in RRG, $REV, or...?](#should-i-invest-in-rrg-rev-or) - [What are the risks I should be aware of?](#what-are-the-risks-i-should-be-aware-of) +## TLDR + +Internet-native organizations structured as tokenized revnets will outcompete C-Corps, DAOs, and other governance-based financial structures by better encouraging growth-based alignment between leaders, workers, investors, and yesterday's customers that helped make today possible, while removing common causes for disputes between them. + +The $REV network itself runs as a revnet, and earns 2.5% of each revnet's outflows from raised funds and revenues. + ## Overview -Technological breakthroughs push entrepreneurs, capital providers, and regulators to create and use new standard financial structures that fit the contours of progress. It isn't a coincidence that [joint-stock companies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint-stock_company) were the defining structure of the mercantile era, that [limiting liability of corporations](https://www.jstor.org/stable/764920) played the same role during the Industrial Revolution, or that today's Silicon Valley startups are defined by the use of broad-based equity compensation like [Y-Combinator's Safe financing documents](https://www.ycombinator.com/documents/).[^1] +Dominant organizational and financial models have always suited the technologies of their respective eras. It isn't a coincidence that [joint-stock companies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint-stock_company) were the defining structure of the mercantile era, that [limited liability corporations](https://www.jstor.org/stable/764920) played the same role during the Industrial Revolution, or that today's Silicon Valley startups are defined by the use of broad-based equity compensation like [Y-Combinator's Safe financing documents](https://www.ycombinator.com/documents/).[^1] + +In this era of AI, social, and crypto networks that champion open source and publicly innovate on internet-native concepts, corporate-stock models of organization are anachronistic, leaving much to be desired for entrepreneurs, capital providers, and consumers alike. We think revnets – a tokenized financial structure made for capitalizing and growing online money relationships – will emerge as the new standard for financing internet businesses, from startup to scale. -This decade has seen major progress across many technological domains. Some of these domains, like genomics, are well-served by traditional corporate-stock models. For other internet-native businesses, especially AI and crypto projects who champion open source and are innovating on internet-native concepts, traditional models have clear shortcomings for entrepreneurs, consumers, and capital providers. +Think of revnets like bitcoin's halvening rule – once deployed, bitcoin's issuance policy leads to a guaranteed 21m supply over time. Instead of a fixed supply with periodic supply shocks like bitcoin, revnets enforce a certain other set of guarantees that determine where tokens go when it is paid and under what conditions tokens can be cashed out. Revnets are a **fully pre-configured** financial structure – although they can evolve over time, they do so according to rules which are set in place at the time of their creation. This means: + +- **Governance-free**: Governance inefficiencies and takeovers of funds – among the most common failure modes for DAOs – are impossible. +- **Management-free**: Revnets operate autonomously according to their pre-configured rules, making rug pulls and overreach impossible. +- **Liquid**: Revnets work with the open market to make and take liquidity, helping startups bootstrap growth and making market manipulation unfavorable. +- **Deterministic**: Investors, builders, community, and customers each acts within a revnet's known rules, enforced programmatically from start to finish. +- **Familiar**: Transparency and diligence are simple. Once one revnet's workings makes sense, all revnets make sense. -We think revnets will emerge as the standard for internet businesses and economies. Revnets are a new financial structure made for capitalizing and growing internet-native money relationships. Blackrock CEO Larry Finck says the necessary and inevitable tokenization of everything will enhance the landscape of finance, we think revnets will participate by being the most productive structure for both large organizations and small businesses to tokenize revenues and fundraises throughout the globe. Revnets are the SAFE and C-Corp agreements of this economy but 100x better. +Revnets also inherit the best properties of Ethereum: + +- **Immediacy**: Encode sophisticated financial relationships between global participants which would be impractical to manage with traditional contracts. +- **Clarity**: Allow for ownership and access rules that can't be subjectively misinterpreted. +- **Certainty**: Express clearly scheduled rules which cannot be broken. +- **Auditability**: Impossible to hide, simplifying diligence for all participants. +- **Connectivity**: Easy, reliable, and open access to and from other smart contracts, including other revnets for composable accounting schemas. +- **Everywhere**: Allow organizations to tokenize their revenue and fundraises on any EVM blockchain, expanding to new ones as they emerge and prove their legitimacy. + +Blackrock CEO Larry Fink and prominent others say the necessary and inevitable tokenization of everything will enhance the landscape of finance. We've known this for years. We think revnets will participate in the mainstream's vision by being the most productive structure for both large organizations and small businesses to tokenize revenues, fundraises, and financial partnerships throughout the globe. Revnets are the SAFE and C-Corp agreements of this economy but 100x better. ## Context -When planning the upcoming release of several revenue-forward projects of ours, it was clear organizing with traditional models would have clear shortcomings for us as entrepreneurs, for our consumers, and for those interested in allocating capital productively. We've also been observing major crypto players Uniswap, ENS, Maker, Arbitrum, Compound to name a few – try to address these shortcomings by combining standard for-profit companies with tradable tokens and experimental govrenance structures like DAOs. We've noticed that in practice, decentralized governance and capital allocation is hard and often leads to vulnerabilities, inefficiencies, and power struggles. [^2] +Those of us developing revnets have been contributors to the Ethereum ecosystem over the past 4 years, most notably having helped build the Juicebox protocol, the juicebox.money app, and the Juicebox DAO community driven by the $JBX network. -We sought a better way given the tools we knew well. Revnets are expressed using the upcoming Juicebox V4 protocol, which is built in large part by the team behind revnets. The team comes from having deployed and progressed the Juicebox protocol over the past 4 years, the juicebox.money app, and the Juicebox DAO community driven by the $JBX network. +Juicebox is public infrastructure that provides a tokenized language for expressing various organizational financial guarantees. It has been used by Constitution DAO, Assange DAO, Shark DAO, Moon DAO, Cryo DAO, Juicebox DAO, the tornado cash developer legal defense fundraiser, and 1,331 other projects, facilitating over $185 million in ETH payments. -This is the same Juicebox that facilitated Constitution DAO, Assage DAO, Shark DAO, Moon DAO, Cryo DAO, the fundraisor for the legal defense of the the tornado cash developers, and payments to 1,331 other projects, facilitating over $185 million in ETH payments. We've witnessed the demand for tokenized fundraising and revenue first hand, we know the tradeoffs of the tools at our disposal intimately well, and we understand the legal moment when it comes to growing onchain organizations using various types of agreement. +Revnets are now the next step, a particular expression of the Juicebox language. We've been experiencing the demand for tokenized fundraising and revenue first hand, we know the tradeoffs of the tokenization tools at our disposal intimately well, and we know how cultural narratives around tokens work. We've been consistently one step ahead of the curve and steadfast in our values. -Revnets are a **fully pre-configured** financial structure – although they can evolve over time, they do so according to rules which are set in place at the time of their creation. Think of it like a fancy Bitcoin halvening rule. This means: +This team also understands the legal moment we are in when it comes to growing onchain organizations. We made revnets in part as a pre-requisite for many of our own upcoming projects in need of a tokenized financial engine that specifically allows us to push our revenue-seeking concepts forward with confidence. It is clear to us that: -- **Governance-free**: Governance inefficiencies and takeovers of funds – among the most common failure modes for DAOs – are impossible. -- **Management-free**: Revnets operate autonomously, according to their pre-configured rules. -- **Deterministic**: Investors, builders, community, and customers know that each revnet's rules will be enforced programmatically from start to finish. -- **Familiar**: Transparency and diligence are simple. Once one revnet's workings makes sense, all revnets make sense. +1. We don't want to lean exclusively on traditional models which inevitably create misguided incentives for the types of internet-native networks the future will increasingly demand. +2. We don't want to lean on governance-based DAOs. Major crypto players – Uniswap, ENS, Maker, Arbitrum, Compound to name a few – try to address legal uncertainty by combining standard for-profit companies with tradable tokens and experimental governance structures. We've noticed that in practice, decentralized governance and capital allocation is hard and often leads to vulnerabilities, inefficiencies, and power struggles. [^2]. We also don't want to manage more lawless revenue-generating governance-based DAO's like $JBX, one is gracious plenty. +3. We don't want to live off grants and donations from so-called public goods funding initiatives, common in today's onchain open source landscape. We believe revenue-forward open source products can be more desired than free-to-use copycats, so long as there is collective confidence in their underlying financial structure's productivity. + +Revnets are the tool we need to encourage more projects to hit the gas without incumbent tradeoffs. Their time is now – revnets would be too fragile to exist if a rent-seeking fiduciary facilitating the handling of money and rules was required, and can only outcompete as an encoded contract between network participants enforced by the blockchain protocols of today. -Revnets also inherit the best properties of the Juicebox V4 smart contracts: +## Anatomy of a revnet -- **Immediacy**: They encode sophisticated financial relationships between global participants which would be impractical to manage with traditional contracts. -- **Clarity**: They allow for ownership and access rules that can't be subjectively misinterpretted. -- **Certainty**: They express clearly scheduled rules which cannot be broken. -- **Auditability**: They are impossible to hide, simplifying diligence for all participants. -- **Everywhere**: They allow organizations to tokenize their revenue and fundraises on any EVM blockchain, expanding to new ones as they emerge and prove their legitimacy. +Each revnet has a token and is defined in stages. Each stage specifies five rules which dictate how the revent operates: + +- **Duration:** How long does the stage last? A revnet’s final stage lasts forever. +- **Price:** + - **Starting price:** How much does it cost to buy a single token when the stage begins? The payment's value stays within the revnet and can only be accessed by token holders who cash out. + - **Price increase:** How frequently, and by how much, does the token's price increase within the stage? +- **Split:** What percentage of token issuance (and buybacks) are set aside for a list of recipients, and which address is the split operator? The split operator can add, remove, or modify recipients from that list, changing how the split is allocated within the fixed percent set for the stage. +- **Automint:** How many tokens get minted to a list of recipients at the start of the stage? This functions like a "pre-mint" only accessible once the stage has started. +- **Cash out tax:** How much does the revnet's next potential cash out value increase each time a token holder cashes out? + +If token holders add liquidity to an [AMM](https://docs.uniswap.org/concepts/uniswap-protocol#order-book-vs-amm) and it offers a better price than the revnet, the revnet will route incoming payments to that market instead of issuing new tokens. The revnet's split is applied to these buybacks as well. + +Built using Juicebox v4, revnets can grow to accept money on new [EVM-compatible networks](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/evm/) as they emerge, and also offer cash outs on those networks. Holders can move their tokens between chains. When they do, the revnet automatically moves funds to back those tokens to maintain those tokens' value. ## Thesis @@ -60,19 +93,25 @@ Revnets can power millions of startups to become global movements, high net-wort With revnets, the open internet will win _because_ it best serves creatives, builders, investors, and consumers alike. -We're open to partners who can help propel this thesis forward. +We're calling on partners who believe in a revenue-forward version of the open internet to join the $REV network. + +## Pitch to investors + +We encourage investors to participate directly in the $REV revnet from their favorite EVM chain, see [below](#rev) for details. The first 90 days of revnet will favor grassroots investors. + +For those investors who prefer interacting with a corporation in fiat instead of accessing $REV directly, RRG can facilitate access while also charging a 1% management fee per year of management, paid in $REV. ## Revnet Research Group (RRG) -We're starting a dedicated Revnet Research Group (RRG) LLC to support the revnet ecosystem and help it interface with conventional tech and finance sectors. +We'll use an LLC named RRG to support the revnet ecosystem and help it interface with conventional tech and finance sectors. -We think it's important for RRG to set an example of how a corporate entity can be successful as a scoped subcomponent of a public onchain revnet structure, in this case [$REV (see below)](#rev). +We think it's important for RRG to set an example of how a corporate partnership can be successful as a scoped subcomponent of a public onchain revnet structure, in this case $REV. ### RRG Mission -Encourage the growth and sustainability of open internet economies – large and small – through revnets. We're shooting for $1 billion of assets locked in revnets in 4 years. +RRG will serve the growth and sustainability of open internet economies through revnets. We're shooting for $1 billion of assets locked in revnets in 4 years. -In the short term, we've got 10 game changing projects ready to use revnets, including the fee-collecting project of the Juicebox V4 protocol. We need to make sure they are all wildly successful, delivering revnets as the clear vision of how wealth will be most productively created and distributed in our future characterized by digital networks and cryptographic identities. +In the short term, we've got 10 curated projects ready to use revnets. We need to make sure they are all wildly successful, delivering revnets as the clear vision of how wealth will be most productively created and distributed in our future characterized by digital networks and cryptographic identities. ### Bottom line @@ -82,14 +121,6 @@ While doing so, RRG will accumulate $REV. The $REV revnet receives a 2.5% networ RRG will also have leverage to charge fees when facilitating access to revnets for traditional institutions. -### Pitch to investors - -We encourage investors to participate directly in the $REV revnet from their favorite EVM chain, see [below](#rev) for details. The first 90 days of revnet will favor grassroots investors. - -For those investors who prefer interacting with a corporation in fiat instead of accessing $REV directly, RRG can facilitate access while also charging a 1% management fee per year of management, paid in $REV. - - - ### Structure RRG is an LLC owned by Jango, Filip, Aeolian, KMac, and Rob. RRG is a [$REV](#rev) token holder alongside other holders. @@ -119,11 +150,11 @@ Offchain management of the corporation will be led by Jango, Filip, Aeolian, KMa Robert Leonhard is the co-founder of [Open Esquire](https://openesq.tech), a group of legal engineers serving Ethereum projects and many Juicebox projects. -### Ideal partners +### Ideal investors Anyone is welcome, though we want to especially encourage partners who want to help with growth strategies and could see themselves using revnets in other areas of their portfolio. We (folks from around the Juicebox community) are about to deploy Juicebox v4 and the first [cohort of production revnets](#examples-of-revnets). We're looking for partners who believe in the mission, believe in the team, and can help make this launch chapter successful. -We want to invite both token-confortable people to interact directly from their favorite EVM blockchain, and token-curious people to interact through RRG. +We want to invite both token-comfortable people to interact directly from their favorite EVM blockchain, and token-curious people to interact through RRG. ### Roadmap @@ -139,22 +170,6 @@ RRG will use the bulk of the $REV it earns to support the launch, security, and $REV runs on its own as a revnet according to the rules below – there is no governance. RRG is a token holder alongside other token holders and has no special powers. Anyone can participate in $REV at any time. -### Anatomy of a revnet - -Each revnet has a token and is defined in stages. Each stage specifies five rules which dictate how the revent operates: - -- **Duration:** How long does the stage last? A revnet’s final stage lasts forever. -- **Price:** - - **Starting price:** How much does it cost to buy a single token when the stage begins? The payment's value stays within the revnet and can only be accessed by token holders who cash out. - - **Price increase:** How frequently, and by how much, does the token's price increase within the stage? -- **Split:** What percentage of token issuance (and buybacks) are set aside for a list of recipients, and which address is the split operator? The split operator can add, remove, or modify recipients from that list, changing how the split is allocated within the fixed percent set for the stage. -- **Automint:** How many tokens get minted to a list of recipients at the start of the stage? This functions like a "pre-mint" only accessible once the stage has started. -- **Cash out tax:** How much does the revnet's next potential cash out value increase each time a token holder cashes out? - -If token holders add liquidity to an [AMM](https://docs.uniswap.org/concepts/uniswap-protocol#order-book-vs-amm) and it offers a better price than the revnet, the revnet will route incoming payments to that market instead of issuing new tokens. The revnet's split is applied to these buybacks as well. - -Built using Juicebox v4, revnets can grow to accept money on new [EVM-compatible networks](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/evm/) as they emerge, and also offer cash outs on those networks. Holders can move their tokens between chains, and when they do, the revnet automatically moves funds to back those tokens to maintain those tokens' value. - ### $REV stage 1 _Inaugural 90 day $REV sale ⏩. Your payments are worth 2.5x what they'll be worth in stage 2. Mint the first of two batches of tokens to honor pre-launch work._ @@ -204,7 +219,7 @@ Each revnet’s rules are defined up front, and all transactions are public. Onc Now is the time to learn from the legal outcomes of the past few years and bet on deterministic mechanisms where no entity can change or control the rules once deployed, and where all information is publicly auditable. -RRG has it's own managerial efforts and is therefore selling structured access to a C corporation through a SAFE, but only engages with the $REV economy as a token holder. +RRG has it's own managerial efforts and is therefore selling structured access to a C corporation through a SAFE, and only engages with the $REV economy as a token holder. @@ -227,7 +242,7 @@ Learn more and reach us from RRG at [rev.eth.sucks](https://rev.eth.sucks). ### Should I invest in RRG, $REV, or...? -There are three core entities in play: $REV, RRG LLC, and JuiceboxDAO ($JBX). According to the $REV specs above, RRG and JuiceboxDAO are both expected to receive a split of $REV issuance and buybacks, making them great proxies to build ongoing exposure to $REV's revenue growth – albeit subject to the risks associated with each entities' governance process. +There are three core entities in play: $REV, RRG LLC, and JuiceboxDAO ($JBX). According to the $REV specs above, RRG and JuiceboxDAO are both expected to receive a split of $REV issuance and buybacks, making them great proxies to build ongoing exposure to $REV's revenue growth – albeit subject to the risks associated with each entity's governance process. - The only current way to access the ecosystem for participants who don't want to access tokens directly onchain is through RRG. RRG will facilitate revnet interactions on traditional investors' behalf, albeit for a management fee. RRG is not investible directly. - For those comfortable accessing tokens onchain, $JBX is a fixed-supply governance token which has been on the market for several years, now utilizing its treasury to build out the Juicebox ecosystem – the revnet project and several others were informally incubated from within JuiceboxDAO. You can learn more [here](https://docs.juicebox.money/dao/). @@ -235,14 +250,17 @@ There are three core entities in play: $REV, RRG LLC, and JuiceboxDAO ($JBX). Ac ### What are the risks I should be aware of? -**Smart contract risk**: Revnets are built using the Juicebox V4 protocol which can exists across multiple EVM blockchains. Though it is a fork and iteration of Juicebox V3 that has secures tens of millions of dollars in locked value on Ethereum mainnet, there is the possibility of smart contract bugs that cause the system to collapse. JuiceboxDAO has spent the better part of the last year's time and budget on testing, documentation, and hiring third party auditors, though is always encouraging more eyes on the open source code base. Ultimately, smart contract security comes from production lindiness while managing funds at risk. +**Smart contract risk**: Revnets are built using the Juicebox V4 protocol which can exist across multiple EVM blockchains. Though it is a fork and iteration of Juicebox V3 that secures tens of millions of dollars in locked value on Ethereum mainnet, there is the possibility of smart contract bugs that cause the system to collapse. JuiceboxDAO has spent the better part of the last year's time and budget on testing, documentation, and hiring third party auditors, though is always encouraging more eyes on the open source code base. Ultimately, smart contract security comes from production lindiness while managing funds at risk. -**Organizational risk**: $REV runs on its own and has no organizational risk. RRG and $JBX on the other hand, do have organizational risks exposed through the same governance means that affords them certain flexibilities to persue emergent opportunities. Engaging in either RRG or $JBX should warrent due diligence to understand how decisions have been made and how they'll likely continue to be made within those organizations. +**Organizational risk**: $REV runs on its own and has no organizational risk. RRG and $JBX on the other hand, do have organizational risks exposed through the same governance means that affords them certain flexibilities to pursue emergent opportunities. Engaging in either RRG or $JBX should warrant due diligence to understand how decisions have been made and how they'll likely continue to be made within those organizations. -**Market risk**: RRG is a for-profit organization that will look to build its $REV exposure and harness its specialization in revnets to become successful. We believe revnets are marketable and can outcompete alternative organizational structures, but this is an unproven thesis with projects outside of our own. Choosing an organizational token structure is a big decisions that each project tends to make only once and stick to forever afterward. It's hard to become the standard structure, but once the standard is set it tends to stick. At first, the revnet sales cycle will likely be long, we'll want to observe how the structure provides value both as a supportive component of already-existing organizations, and as the core piece of new orgs starting up. We'll lead the way with great examples of successful revnets folks can look up, starting with $REV, whose energy will help us reach critical mass. +**Market risk**: RRG is a for-profit organization that will look to build its $REV exposure and harness its specialization in revnets to become successful. We believe revnets are marketable and can outcompete alternative organizational structures, but this is an unproven thesis with projects outside of our own. Choosing an organizational token structure is a big decision that each project tends to make only once and stick to forever afterward. It's hard to become the standard structure, but once the standard is set it tends to stick. At first, the revnet sales cycle will likely be long, we'll want to observe how the structure provides value both as a supportive component of already-existing organizations, and as the core piece of new orgs starting up. We'll lead the way with great examples of successful revnets folks can look up, starting with $REV, whose energy will help us reach critical mass. -**Immutability risk**: Though a revnet's immutability is its core value prop, some might also view this as a risk. A revnet is impossible to course correct once deployed and legitimacy has been established. Mainly, the $REV specification that determines issuance policy could turn out to not motivate activity as much as intended. A perfect revnet configuration is hard to know ahead of time, and there aren't many levers that expose control within its ruleset – like bitcoin, the hardcoded rules can only teleologically be deemed productive if the network proves itself in competition with forked alternatives. The two variables that do offer control and flexibility within the $REV revnet specs are the 38% split that rrg.rev.eth will operate, and the autominted tokens. RRG can play a part in reorienting priorities using the split in order to stimulate some desired behavior, and can reasonably expect the autominted token holders to act in the best interest of the network's growth. +**Immutability risk**: Though a revnet's immutability is its core value proposition, some might also view this as a risk. A revnet is impossible to course correct once deployed and legitimacy has been established. Mainly, the $REV specification that determines issuance policy could turn out to not motivate activity as much as intended. A perfect revnet configuration is hard to know ahead of time, and there aren't many levers that expose control within its ruleset – like bitcoin, the hardcoded rules can only teleologically be deemed productive if the network proves itself in competition with forked alternatives. The two variables that do offer control and flexibility within the $REV revnet specs are the 38% split that rrg.rev.eth will operate, and the autominted tokens. RRG can play a part in reorienting priorities using the split in order to stimulate some desired behavior, and can reasonably expect the autominted token holders to act in the best interest of the network's growth. [^1]: Other recent examples: the gig economy, DAOs, and remote work. [^2]: [Uniswap](https://docs.uniswap.org/concepts/overview) raises funds and employs developers under the for-profit Uniswap Labs, but the Uniswap protocol is governed by $UNI token voting. The competing interests of token holders and Uniswap Labs have led to a number of controversial decisions over Uniswap's fee switch, source code licensing, and cross-chain deployments. Other projects have faced similar controversies when the interests of token holders and developers have diverged. +--- + +Ethereum is one of a kind. We have incredible respect and gratitude for the work of our peers that make our contributions possible.