Hyperstructures

It is now possible to create Hyperstructures that run for free, forever—so we should use that logical extreme as our starting point, not something we should avoid or ignore. With new paradigms comes new value systems, and with Hyperstructures we have the opportunity to create public goods that can remain free forever, whilst rewarding the builders ... See more

By being free forever, there is no incentive for someone to 1-for-1 replicate the same functionality—since there is no additional value capture or risk minimization that comes from doing so. At a societal level, a hyperstructure only needs to be built once. This does not mean there isn’t an incentive to innovate, people will still have the incentiv... See more

The implication of being permissionless means that everyone can confidently build their own platforms, applications and economic models on top of the Hyperstructure without the risk of deplatforming. There are no API keys required, and no fear that a platform can suddenly upend your entire project on a whim.

In Hyperstructures, any participant's value captured is synonymous with their value generated. The inverse is also true, if any third party or entity has the ability to freely extract value from the system without value creation then the system then it is not a hyperstructure.

Another example is the Zora Finder’s Fee, which incentivizes participants to provide a key resource—distribution. This fee is paid to anyone who finds the winning bidder or eventual buyer of an NFT. Finders expand the utility of Zora, and they do not have a monopoly on the NFT markets being displayed, a finder only captures the value they’re creati... See more

A great example of an Expansive fee is the Uniswap LP fee. LP fees incentivize participants to provide the key resource—liquidity. This fee is paid to anyone who is providing liquidity to a pool, it is not paid to Uniswap. LP’s expand the utility of Uniswap, they do not have a monopoly on providing that utility and an LP only captures value on what... See more

There is a subtle difference between profit and value, and by extension profit extraction and value creation. While it is entirely possible to extract profits in the short term, this is likely in direct conflict with long term success and value creation. I would even go as far as to say that being "for-profit" is a skeuomorphic mode of operation, a... See more

But what does ownership mean in this context? The presence (and control) of a fee switch that can be turned on across the protocol. This creates a dynamic called the "threat of the fee". This means that owners of the Hyperstructure have the right to turn that fee on across the protocol at the base level at any time via a vote. It’s the threat of th... See more

A hyperstructure can simultaneously be free to use and also extremely valuable to own and govern. This is a familiar value model that we observe for NFTs: the media can be universally free to consume, yet valuable to own and control as an individual or group.