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Introducing token forging

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As previously mentioned, World Builder isn’t a single project. It’s an ecosystem. It’s a think tank and incubator that will launch several projects, and help other people launch their own projects as well. To create a more unified system, and to create a number of interesting economic dynamics, we’re creating a token forging system.

Most token based projects release tokens as part of an ICO. However, this system is really just a security sale. And tokens that aren’t representative of actual ownership really shouldn’t be securities related to the operation. So we’re promoting a different route.

Using WRLD, people will be able to forge new tokens for related projects. The amount of WRLD needed to forge a new token will depend on a number of factors, established by the project developers. However, a number of aspects will be universal to each project. First, a TRX fee will be needed in order to become a smith for a given token. The second is that as more people try to forge tokens, the cost to forge will increase, and only decrease as time passes. This process in some ways simulates limited resource capacity in mining and other similar tasks, and creates a PVP environment.

Moreover, the WRLD that’s given to the project will not be distributed immediately. It will be locked out of circulation. The exact rate at which a project will be able to reclaim the tokens will be set by the team, but will generally be about 1% per month. In this way, the total amount of WRLD in circulation will decline as more people forge tokens and more projects emerge. As a result, there will be a constant fluctuation in available tokens, creating a more dynamic ecosystem for WRLD.

Example Forging

Here’s a very simple example of how the forging system will work, using the Arcadium token as an example. You can learn more about Arcadium by visiting its official Telegram channel.

There’s still a lot of work to do, and we’ll be beta testing the system for a while. However, as the project grows, we’ll release more details and open the process up to additional members.

Make sure to bookmark the World Builder site, and if you want to start collecting WRLD, just grab some from the faucet.

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We’re developing an ecosystem, not a currency

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A lot of projects seek to create what they believe to be cryptocurrencies for their projects. And there are plenty of reasons to develop cryptocurrencies. However, WRLD is not a currency, and never was meant to be one. Instead, WRLD is the foundation for the ecosystem that we’re building. It’s one reason why we chose to create one trillion tokens, and to use a fixed supply TRC-10 token, rather than a TRC-20 token with a mutable supply.

As a think tank and incubator, World Builder plans on supporting numerous projects. Some of these projects will provide entertainment. Others will provide financial services. Others still will help promote monetization of daily activities and important activities that are generally poorly monetized, such as social engagements and scientific publishing.

WorldCoin’s Use

If WRLD were to be used as a currency, fixed supply would be problematic. Fixed supply tokens lead to deflation, and deflation is not good for the health of a currency. But as a fuel, it’s fine. And that’s what WRLD is. It’s the fuel that drives the operation of related projects.

As part of the project, we’re developing a modified TRC-20 token standard that allows for continuous minting of new tokens, using WRLD. So long as a person has WRLD, they can send it to the TRC-20 contract of one of our projects, and get tokens from it. WRLD that is contributed will then be distributed to the contract/project managers to be used for their future operations.

Preventing Hyperinflation

Wait! If a person can just keep sending WRLD to the contract and keep getting tokens back, won’t that lead to a rapid inflation in the supply of the new token? It would, except that each contract will store the WRLD for a period of time. The project managers will only be able to pull a small percentage each month. This process will temporarily reduce the supply of WRLD, driving up its value.

At the same time, the return on minting will decline, as more people mint the token, so more WRLD is necessary to mint the same number of new project tokens. With each new token minted, within a given period of time, it’ll be harder and harder to mint additional tokens, but the supply will never be capped entirely. In this way, token generation for the projects continue, but not without some kind of bound.

Interest in Tokens

One can think of it mining using WRLD, or one can think of it as an interest system, where a user freezes WRLD, and in return they obtain interest in the token of their choice, all while supporting the ecosystem, as a whole. This economic model is very different from the economic models used by most cryptoassets today.

People who have a lot of WRLD will be able to generate a lot of tokens for our project, so even if WRLD doesn’t have too many functions yet, now is the time to grab it, either through the faucet or through an exchange like Poloniex. It’s inexpensive right now, but it won’t be for long.

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Gamifying ICOs

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Moving beyond traditional ICOs to improve health of the released cryptoasset, and protecting against regulatory headaches

Typically ICOs are just sales. A certain amount of funds are taken in, and a certain number of coins are given out. The typical ICO is, after all, modeled on IPOs: initial public offerings of stocks. The tokens are used to fund a project, and generally are issued with the expectation that the tokens will have a use in the final project when it goes live.

SEC Headaches

However, many ICOs have come under fire because they are essentially releasing securities and selling securities, without going through SEC approval. Kik, for instance, has been sued by the SEC for its ICO. The company obtained millions of dollars in its ICO. And the SEC is not happy and the SEC has authority over any security token. 

Unfortunately there is no single definition for a security token, so it is often difficult to tell whether a given token is a security subject to SEC regulations. What’s even more absurd is that the SEC did not even release guidance on ICOs until April 3, of 2019. Kik’s ICO was in September of 2017 that Kik had it’s ICO. In other words, the SEC decided to sue a company that supposedly violated SEC requirements, when the supposed violation occurred over a year and a half before releasing the guidance on what was considered acceptable!

It’s clear that the SEC has incredible power to threaten and control. And its almost certain that the SEC has stifled the power of ICOs. However, there are some ways to reduce the chances of getting hit. The more useful a token is, the less likely it will be deemed as a security. And that’s where gamification comes into play.

Basic Games to Raise Interest

People like games, and people like crypto. Games and crypto are starting to go hand in hand as more people become comfortable with the technology. So my solution for getting things going with World Builder was to create a series of simple games that people could play, which would act as a form of advertising for my larger scope project, and also potentially a source of funds. 

In my case, the first game I made was a faucet game. The faucet gives out tokens for free. The player just needs to click “take a drop” once in a while, and they get my token added to their in game balance. They can withdraw it, or leave it in for interest. They can however pay some TRX to get an interest boost, and that boost itself relies on a competition model: the more people have boosted in total, the more a player has to boost to keep their interest rate high, thus making it a game in and of itself. 

Uniqueness

While other ICOs could follow the WorldCoin model, there should be at least some differences that make it unique. Obviously the overall desired use of the token should be different. In the case of WorldCoin, it’s eventual use, either in its TRC-10 form or TRC-20 form, will be as an in game asset to buy and sell buildings, items, and so on. But the games in the gamified ICO themselves should have a level of uniqueness. And honestly, there are a lot of styles of games that are easy to develop which can utilize a token, so the options are nearly limitless.

The games should also relate to the overall project, in order for them to act as advertising for the project itself. Puzzle games that require someone to find information on the site’s page, for instance, would help increase the number of people looking at the project information.

Am I Actually Protected

I’d say I did a pretty good job of making the ICO something unique. I mean, figuring out what the SEC will or won’t do is next to impossible. Whether you hire a lawyer or cut open a crow and burn its insides in an offering to the gods, your answer will be just about as trustworthy. But this gamified method of getting my coins out there definitely builds a good argument for any defense I might need.

Conclusion

There’s more than one way to distribute tokens and leverage them. Gamified ICOs, or perhaps I should call it an IGO, is an underutilized option. Having mini-games that immediately create a use for the token helps ensure that the token will be considered a utility token, rather than a security. And IGOs can create a very healthy token, by creating a number of mini-games that get the token into peoples’ hands, get revenue into the issuer’s hands, and gets people actively using the token. It is very important that people become comfortable with using the token, rather than just HODLing it. So a team that has the capacity to create unique mini-games really might want to consider this option, especially if the mini-games can be associated with the broader project. And hopefully, gamifying ICOs, which drive the token towards being a utility token, helps protect the ICO from SEC regulation.

Cover art: Photo by Carl Raw on Unsplash. Also published on publish0x