The Community Goals and Founding Principles of The SiaClassic Foundation
We stand for a truly decentralized, censorship-resistant, permissionless blockchain network and protocol. We believe in the original vision of Sia, as developed by the team of incredibly talented individuals at Nebulous. However, we feel it is critical for our community to know and understand where the Foundation stands on a number of important issues that demand action. As such, we will continue to embrace the core tenants of the Sia founders’ original vision while striving to maintain absolute transparency and decentralization within the SiaClassic blockchain.
To those ends, as a foundation and community, we agree and resolve that:
- The purpose of SiaClassic is to develop, expand, and optimize a decentralized data storage platform secured by permissionless blockchain technology.
- There shall be no changes to the SiaClassic blockchain which cause negative and undermining effects to the immutability, fungibility, scalability, or general integrity of the chain, for the sake of the community and network.
- There shall be no ASIC manufacturer discrimination within our protocol or practical network usage.
- As development on behalf of the community is necessary for continual maintenance and re-optimization of the protocol and network, the SiaClassic Foundation can, and will, offer both cash and in-kind grant contributions.
- The SiaClassic Foundation will continually seek to develop and support new technologies and products that will advance the SiaClassic community, and the DLT community on the whole.
- Any individual or group may participate in the development of improvements which simultaneously maintain the resolutions in this agreement, in cooperation with the SiaClassic Foundation for the enhancement and advancement of the project and community.
- The SiaClassic Foundation will not pre-mine for any reason, at any time.
Governance
There is no topic in blockchain more subject to debate and intense opinions than proper governance of decentralized communities. That zeal for debate and fairness actually plays a large part in what makes a good governance model so hard to attain. The SiaClassic Foundation has committed to learn from the mistakes and missteps of our predecessors, bringing necessary, practical governance to a divided community.
As such, we believe that our approach to governance is appropriate, viable, and remarkably straightforward. We understand that simple, effective, and balanced rulemaking, can allow control of the protocol — and the direction of its future vision — to be maintained from within the community.
In recent years, governance has become a mechanism for ruling and maintaining control over others. In contrast, we hold firmly to the ideal that the intended nature of democratic governance should be to regulate the behavior of those in positions of authority.
We strive for a win-win solution but as the saying goes, “a good compromise is one in which all parties come away equally dissatisfied.” This axiom is never more true and apparent than in decentralized communities.
The Foundation’s goal is to balance the ebb and flow of the community’s will. While we understand that the individuals in the community will rarely be in complete agreement, we will strive to align this Foundation with the will of the majority for the benefit of all participants.
Moreover, we trust that the governance model for our Foundation and protocol will permit the community to do the following:
- Develop an attainable and sensible roadmap for our future, in both the short- and long-term.
- Constantly explore new rules and procedures to enhance transparency and advance our community goals and objectives.
- Elect board members pursuant to the bylaws.
- Ensure that formal audits of the Foundation’s financial records are posted publicly, in a timely fashion, and with third-party verification of integrity and transparency.
Practical Governance
In an effort to effectuate practical governance, this Foundation will:
- Work with industry experts and community developers to achieve and sustain the community’s technical roadmap, in both the short and long-term.
- Work with all miners, without discrimination to hardware manufacturer or computer architecture implementation, to ensure the viability and sustainability of mining on the SiaClassic network, through block rewards and transaction fees.
- Work with the entire community to grow the functional utility of the network, and develop production-ready solutions to engage academia, industry, and government.
Off the chain, the Foundation will ensure that the community and all interested parties will have direct access to the SiaClassic Improvement Proposals (SCIPs) process. Moreover, the Foundation will ensure that the Proposals are reviewed and addressed appropriately.
Financing the Foundation
The Foundation will be supported in four (4) ways:
- Charitable donations from individuals and businesses,
- Grants for research from governments and other non-governmental organizations,
- A ten (10) percent development fee on block rewards
- Affinity partnerships with third-party companies.
In the coming few days — to supplement this overview — we will publish an in-depth financial feasibility analysis and operational budget for the Foundation.
In an effort to give the community a stronger voice in this process, we will be forming a Community Advisory Council. This council will be made up of key members of the community. They will help inform decisions and find solutions to issues facing the ecosystem.
We aim to create value for the coin, miners, and community at large. We fully understand the strength of a decentralized community, and we want to show the world what an organization like this is capable of. We hope you’ll join us.
To nominate yourself, or any other community member to the Community Advisory Council, please fill out this form.
This foundation is made possible because of a community of people passionate about this project, miners who protect the network, and developers who devote their time and energy to it.
Are you one of those people? If so, please join us.
