Ethereum, Chainlink Frogs and Sacred Social Contracts
Crypto Communities and their Unique Sub Cultures
Ethereum and Chainlink are the clear leaders in their respective categories and are often considered a match made in heaven. While these blooming communities have had their ups and downs, all should take notice at the amazing work being done towards building a New Open Financial System.
Ethereum is a piece of public infrastructure with a thriving community focused on changing the world. While the value the world receives from Ethereum grows each day, it still requires secure inputs and outputs — known as The Oracle Problem — in order to make its Smart Contracts even more valuable to the real world.
Chainlink has taken the crypto industry by storm by achieving many industry firsts. They were the first to solve the oracle problem, the first to collaborate with Google and even birthed the world’s first Meme Frog Army — known as “The LINK Marines.” These adamant marines fight misinformation, spread positive news about Chainlink and sit comfy as they guarantee speculators that LINK will go to the moon. It is important to note that the primary presence of the LINK Marines is on Crypto Twitter, which is prone to sybil attacks. While some may try to denounce the LINK Marines, one cannot dismiss the Chainlink business development, marketing and go to market strategy which is truly unrivaled — with the exception of The Great Copy Paste King, Justin Sun.
The Sacred Social Contracts
Exploring the truths of Community, Governance and Centralization.
Social Contracts have been around since the beginning of civilization and even live at the core of Money.
Social Contract defined:
“an actual or hypothetical agreement between communities and their rulers.”
For the purposes of these particular Social Contracts, one must understand the different parties involved:
- The LINK token, Built on Ethereum™
- Chainlink the Corporation
- Chainlink the Protocol
Sacred Social Contract #1: LINK Value Capture
- The LINK token will be used for all payments within The Chainlink Protocol, avoiding the plague of economic abstraction.
- The LINK token will be used as trustless value stake within The Chainlink Protocol, subject to slashing for misconduct.
Sacred Social Contract #2: Community Support and Fixed Supply
- Chainlink the Corporation — whom owns ~65% of the LINK Supply — will use those tokens they received during the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in order to continue to build the protocol, support the ecosystem and incentivize node operators.
- Chainlink the Corporation will never mint additional LINK tokens — on Ethereum or any other chain. This would raise alarms around centralization and even potential United States Security Exchange Commission Violations.
Killer Communities
They build, they battle and they provide the dankest memes
The power of a community can never be ignored, as can be seen by what the Ethereum community has achieved year over year since its establishment in 2014.
While many claimed that Ethereum would be overcome by the daunting “me too” Ethereum Killers, there has been little value delivered by any competing public blockchain. The network effects and friendly developer moats that Ethereum has created are so far unmatched.
In the coming years, we may see the rise of those claiming to be “Chainlink Killers” as the decentralized oracle battleground heats up. Chainlink has also amassed incredible network effects that any competitor will have to overcome before claiming superiority. If such a battle does arise, I can guarantee that all competing communities will feel the wrath of the LINK Marines as they will be armed with not only their most powerful memes, but the Sacred Social Contract of LINK Value Capture engraved into their chest plate.
About the Author
Anthony Bertolino is dedicated to educating the world about Ethereum and the future of finance. He studied Blockchain Technology at U.C. Berkeley and currently lives in Los Angeles, California. If you want to learn more or have any questions, reach out to him on Twitter.
