Designing the principles for “blockchain for good” ecosystem

After two successful validation sessions with our global community we are moving on to a design phase. Join us on September 2nd for an open design workshop to develop the first MVP for Blockchain for good Principles. Learn more about the initiative, the ideas and themes that emerged so far!

Snapshot from one of the validation workshops boards.

About the Principles initiative

Earlier this year we set out with the idea, which we presented in this article.

The aim of the “blockchain for good guiding principles” initiative is to establish a universal manifesto, a compass of sorts, created by and for the people and organisations that want to harness blockchain technology for good and achieve positive social and environmental impact.

In April we’ve hosted the validation workshops (two sessions) through which we wanted to ask the community how and why does this concept resonates with them, how do they understand it, and how should it come about. We were joined by nearly 60 participants from 20 countries that have joined us to brainstorm and validate the concept of establishing the principles. (Both sessions are documented in this Miro board). Below we present a summary of the ideas that emerged during those sessions and the analysis of the emerging themes.

Summary of the validation workshops

Why do we need the principles? For whom?

• To educate the builders and the users; to create a harmonised value system, common conscience, impact frameworks, guidelines, maps, sets of standards, best practices etc.
• To strengthen the potential of blockchain technologies to generate a positive social and environmental impact: equity, inclusion, privacy, self-sovereignty, legacy changes;
• …while warning about the risks of exploitation, bad use and negative impact such as: speculation, extractive economics, “green washing”, privacy violation
• To support economies & systems that benefits all life; supporting regenerative socio-economic systems that create prosperity for all life (regeneration) as oppose to ones benefiting individual groups (degeneration) — Regens vs. Degens.
• To empower the disenfranchised communities and marginalised groups; through transparency, equity, localisation (not just decentralisation), data protection, self-sovereignty.
• For everyone — with emphasis on builders (designers, engineers) and users; for women, for the media, for social impact practitioners, investors and philanthropists.
• For the Earth — for the environment and other living ecosystems on this planet.

How should we get there? How to develop the principles?

• In an open, transparent, inclusive, collaborative way; cross-community, cross-chain, cross-sectoral effort
• Knowledge-based, peer-reviewed
• Inclusive of all stakeholders (users!) and perspectives, especially of the marginalised groups and geographies
• Stories, visuals, use-cases (show positive examples

What should the principles be like?

• Accessible— simple and easy to understand for everyone; adapted for different audiences; open-source;
• Universal — agnostic of protocols, applicable to all blockchain technologies, replicable regionally;
• Functional — easy to use or adapt by projects, or protocols, or investors; possibly issuing certificates of some sorts;
• Agile — alive and not static; keeping up with the evolution of web3 and real-world changes; scalable, adjusted in depth and breadth according to needs (audience);
• Data driven — knowledge-based, employing indicators when applicable;

Themes that we have identified

Analysing the inputs we have received, we have identified a few main themes that appeared consistently across most submissions and feedback. We recommend that these themes are considered and accounted for when formulating the principles. The list is not final and is open to iteration.

1. Access and Inclusion (participatory, equitable)
2. Privacy and Self-sovereignty (data protection, data ownership)
3. Sustainability and regeneration (systemic impact, footprint)
4. Transparency

In an effort to organise the knowledge from the sessions and other inputs, and to start with some framework for the design workshop, we propose to group the principles in these areas (categories): Data, Architecture, Governance, User Experience. Just like with the themes the list is just a point of departure and subject to change during the design activities.

Let us know what do you think. Join the Design Workshop on September 2nd. Can’t make it? We’ll open the Miro board for contributions after the workshop.