The Energy Web Community Fund
Energy Web (EW) is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the transition to a low-carbon, customer-centric electricity system by unleashing the potential of blockchain and other decentralized technologies. To achieve our mission, we focus on:
- Building global, public, open source decentralized infrastructure for the energy sector;
- Helping our members deploy new solutions leveraging the Energy Web infrastructure, and;
- Fostering a global community sharing best practices around the Energy Web Decentralized Operating System (EW-DOS).
We are excited to announce an updated governance and management structure for the Energy Web Community Fund that will enable EW, our Members, and the broader energy sector to speed our progress.
Background
As outlined in the original Energy Web Chain white paper, a total of 37.9M (~38% of the total supply) Energy Web Tokens (EWT) will accrue into the Energy Web Community Fund between the EW Chain genesis block and 2029. The Community Fund is dedicated entirely to enhancing the open-source EW-DOS technology stack and expanding its real-world use.
To date EW has governed the Community Fund but not utilized it in any way. As a Swiss foundation, we don’t have shareholders, we don’t seek profits, and we do not directly participate in energy markets. Every single decision we make — from long-term strategy, to the allocation of resources, to day-to-day operations — ties directly to our goal of developing a public digital infrastructure that speeds the global energy transition. In fact, Swiss law is very specific and focused on ensuring that the Community Fund is utilized in a manner consistent with our mission. However, as is the case with our technology, we want to involve a broader audience that is also focused on achieving our mission in the governance of the Community Fund. After consulting with Swiss regulatory experts, Energy Web Chain validators, and our Members, we are pleased to announce an updated Community Fund governance model that fulfills EW’s legal obligations.
Applying the Community Fund to Advance EW’s Mission
Beginning today, the Community Fund will be divided into three specific applications, each with a distinct purpose and “Reserve.” Each Reserve will be allotted approximately 1.26M EWT annually through 2029. Energy Web Tokens will remain in the Community Fund contract itself, even as each reserve is managed separately. There will not be a specific budget or allocation target for a given Reserve or year (i.e., there is no minimum amount of EWT that must be “spent”). All requests for funding will be judged on the impact they create on our overall mission and roadmap. Each Reserve may allocate a portion of its balance at any given time to achieve specific goals via the processes described below.
The Energy Web Chain Reserve will be governed by the validators of the Energy Web Chain via the existing EW Chain governance mechanism (EW will initially act as the administrator responsible for carrying out the decisions of the validators, and the EW team will provide input on the process to maintain legal compliance). The EW Chain Reserve will be used to support technology development directly related to the usability, security, and evolution of the EW Chain including:
- Implementing parachain / sharding technology to support “EWC 2.0”;
- Enhancing and expanding EW Chain wallet integrations;
- Developing additional clients for the EW Chain;
- Developing and operating bridges to other networks;
- Application monitoring services, including the block explorer;
- Educational resources and developer support;
- Research and implementation of new consensus mechanisms and on-chain governance tools.
EW Chain validators will be accountable for ensuring distributed EWT are used to support the mission of the foundation as intended.
The Energy Web Operations Reserve will be dedicated to the technical development, legal, administrative, community building, regulatory, and research efforts undertaken by the foundation and its operating companies to fulfill its mission. Moving forward, the foundation will invest heavily in additional development of open-source components of the Energy Web Decentralized Operating System. Priorities include developing scalable decentralized messaging and data storage solutions, continuing to enhance the features of the Origin and Flex toolkits, and updating the EWC decentralized identifier implementation. The Energy Web team will manage this share of the Community Fund and regularly solicit input and feedback from both EWC validators and the broader Energy Web community to help EW prioritize its technology roadmap.
The Impact Reserve will be dedicated to directly funding real-world projects that leverage EW-DOS to create a measurable reduction in carbon emissions from the global energy sector. Potential examples of eligible projects include grid digitization and electrification efforts in emerging economies, development of community-scale renewable / microgrids, or even helping transition EW Member projects in economically disadvantaged communities from pilot to commercial scale. (Note: EW does not and will not build, own, or operate electricity assets; the Impact Reserve will be used to fund external parties engaging in these efforts, potentially including EW Members). More generally, our vision is for the broader EW community to filter and highlight opportunities for the Impact Reserve — potentially using an application process or signaling vote to prioritize opportunities on a regular basis. EW will manage this portion of the Community Fund and regularly solicit input from the broader Energy Web ecosystem.
We look forward to unlocking the potential of the Community Fund this year and continued development of the Energy Web Decentralized Operating System with the EW ecosystem.
