A Case Study of the Commons Stack

An In-depth Academic Analysis by Felix Fritsch

This is a preliminary Case Study of the Commons Stack, a philanthropic framework developed for Blockchain communities that makes use of bonding curves and introduces conviction voting. Paper authored by Felix Fritsch, PhD candidate at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa.

Introduction

The Commons Stack is building a blockchain-agnostic tech stack of open source modules that facilitate funding, decision making, retrospective and real-time analysis as well as prospective modelling and simulation of DAOs in the service of the physical and digital commons they support. Their understanding of ‘commons’ is strongly influenced by institutional economist Elinor Ostrom, who famously rejected the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’ verdict (Hardin 1968) neoclassical economics had cast upon any deviation from either private or state ownership by scrutinizing the conditions under which commons can and do thrive.

Building on her eight principles for commons stewardship, the Commons Stack presents systematic realignment of incentives as the missing key to effortless scaling through reconciliation of individual and common interests. In line with Ostrom’s institutional perspective, the team embarks upon devising mechanisms — institutions — that lure individual actors into contributing to a common cause by applying to their rational self interest. In the words of Griff Green, founder and hitherto main donor to the project, its premise is to “build a system where everyone acting in their own best interest propels the commons forward”(Green 2019).

The scope of the claim to overcome the conflict between individual and collective aims through incentive alignment that appropriately rewards altruistic behavior already justifies in-depth engagement with the mechanisms proposed so far. If it really holds, the Commons Stack may single-handedly have created the economic foundation on which the Commons Economy could finally scale effortlessly, without having to suppress the acting out of selfish behavior which given commons almost inevitably come to struggle with at a certain point. But even if this claim is found to be somewhat overblown, which at least conventional economic and political wisdom strongly suggests, evaluation of the proposed mechanisms nevertheless showcases aspects of devising blockchain based economies that have only received sparse attention so far.

This starts with the Commons Stack’s methodology, which, rooted in engineering and complexity science, sets new standards in the field in terms of multi-scalar modelling and rigorous simulation of envisaged economies prior to their actual deployment. The inscription of governance rights into tradeable memetic derivatives of a common cause likewise already constitutes a fascinating experiment in itself, as it combines multiple recent innovations whose implications are yet to be explored by and large.

The reasons the Commons Stack makes for an interesting case study of this dissertation go beyond its methodological and technological contributions and their claimed consequences, though. Among the projects reviewed in this doctoral thesis as different instances of commoning on the blockchain, it is the only one that frames itself as post-capitalist while whole-heartedly rejecting any left political label. Although this may partly be explained by the technical and engineering background of most of its contributors and the widespread lack of explicit political consciousness in technical circles, it is nevertheless striking.

Another, related explanation is that the Commons Stack is the only one originating in the blockchain ecosystem proper, venturing into Commons territory upon realization that the affordances of blockchains render them appealing commons environments, while all other projects originate in commoning traditions and have come to adopt blockchain as a means to a preconceived end. Be that as it may, the origins of the Commons Stack and its members provide a valuable insight into the ideational environment of blockchain startups building common infrastructure, in particular with regards to the inherent tension between libertarian and commonist frames surfacing in the way the project communicates its aim and perceived value proposition.

In this light, the technical analysis of proposed infrastructure is complemented by a narrative analysis of the project’s communication that focuses on surfacing ideological incommensurabilities, their attempted discursive resolution as well as their conclusive materialization in devised structures. In order to thus set the scene not only for a presentation of the Commons Stack’s technological ambitions but also for the subsequent interpretation of technology and accompanying narratives in terms of ideological dispositions as well as personal and ecosystemic backgrounds, the case study starts with a brief description of the association, the main team members and their methodology.

This is followed by an in-depth consideration of the technological and economic particularities of each of the four modules comprising the Commons Stack’s “Commons” design in light of the Commons Stack’s core value proposition. A particular focus will be placed here on identification of the conditions under which this value proposition can be assumed to hold true. While this warrants constant stress-testing for exploits by malicious actors, the architects of the envisaged structures are given the benefit of doubt with regards to the actual technical feasibility of their proposals.

This default acceptance of assumptions does not, however, apply to the discourse analysis following the technical analysis — in particular with regards to interpreting the devised structure in terms of its social, political and economic implications and blind spots. Rather, specific narrative tropes are identified and critically interpreted in light of their ideological substance in order to provide an ideational backdrop against which the project in its entirety can be interpreted in terms of its relation to different theories of commoning.

Read the full paper here:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347390484_The_Commons_Stack_Realigning_Incentives_Towards_Public_Goods_Case_Study

Everlasting gratitude to Felix Fritsch for his dedication and hard work in bringing this paper to reality.

Cite as:
Fritsch, Felix. (2020). The Commons Stack. Realigning Incentives Towards Public Goods. Case Study. 10.13140/RG.2.2.12931.73767.