Introducing the District Registry – district0x
One of the most innovative and forward thinking projects out there. I've been a little bummed by the price movement recently but when I think about what's in store for this project down the road it all seems irrelevant.
Original Article (https://blog.district0x.io/introducing-the-district-registry-5adb890363b0)
Introducing the District Registry
An incentivized voting game to determine access to the network
As an open source project we are frequently asked how we intend to ensure that prospective marketplaces make use of the district0x Network Token for their district, how we will safeguard the district0x Network from malicious actors which could open the project to legal risks, and how we will dictate access to the District Staking Interface and a suite of ancillary services designed to maximize network effects and build moats around the district0x Network.
Today we introduce the first component of a multi-pronged approach which we believe will address the aforementioned questions, the District Registry.
The District Registry
The District Registry is a decentrally-maintained smart contract which stores the credentials of districts which have been granted access to the district0x Network. The presence of a district in the District Registry signifies that the district has been accredited by DNT holders as non-malicious and value-additive to the district0x Network via an incentivized voting game.
The District Registry is modeled after the adChain Registry, a collaborative effort between ConsenSys and MetaX, which makes use of a deposit and challenge mechanism to allow token holders to maintain a whitelist of approved members in a decentralized manner.
When a prospective district wishes to apply for access to the district0x Network, they will submit a DNT deposit with their application to the registry, initiating a challenge period during which any DNT holder can challenge submissions that they believe do not add value to the district0x Network or could put the network at risk. Token holders can challenge the application by depositing an equal amount of DNT to the registry, opening a voting period during which all DNT holders can vote for inclusion or denial of the specified district in the registry.
DNT holders are incentivized to participate in the challenge and voting process to ensure that districts added to the network bring value, thereby protecting and increasing the intrinsic value of their DNT. Participants on the winning side of a vote also stand to receive a portion of the deposit made by the losing party in the event.
Amending our plans to mint 1 new DNT every time a district is created on the network to assign the initial voting rights in the corresponding Aragon entity to a district’s creator, we now intend to require district creators deposit DNT when submitting a proposal or making use of the district creation interface, allocating the initial voting rights. The required deposit amount will be periodically voted upon by DNT holders.
The aforementioned change comes in conjunction with an amendment to our plans for 1:1 DNT-to-voting-right staking. We now intend to make use of a sliding pricing curve which will add incentives for early supporters and protect districts from malicious voters, with the amount of DNT required to stake to mint 1 voting share increasing as a district’s deposit pool grows. More details on the staking mechanism will be presented in a subsequent blog post and white paper update.
Flow of Value Between Network Participants
The diagram below illustrates the way which DNT will flow between entities in the district0x ecosystem in the event of a district proposal submission and challenge, with the proposal ultimately being approved.
In the graphic above, we see the following steps occurring:
A new district proposal is submitted to the registry with a 1000 DNT deposit affixed.
A DNT holder believes the proposed district would detract from the value of the network at large so they submit a proposal challenge, depositing 1000 DNT to the registry to initiate a challenge vote to approve/deny the proposal.
After a voting period, the district is approved for inclusion in the District Registry. Given such, the challenger’s deposit is forfeited, split between the submitter of the proposal and the voters.
Having been approved, the district is added to the District Staking Interface, a new deposit pool is opened to allow DNT holders to stake tokens to the district, and a corresponding Aragon entity is deployed to the Aragon Network.
The proposal submitter’s 1000 DNT deposit is transferred to the district’s deposit pool, assigning the initial voting shares in the Aragon entity to the submitter.
Once the district creation interface has been deployed, rendering the district proposal process obsolete, districts launched via the creation interface will need to undergo the same journey to be added to the district0x Network and granted access to a suite of ancillary services exclusive to members. You can replace ‘District Proposal’ with ‘Newly Created District’ in the flow chart above to visualize this change.
district0x Network Ancillary Services
In addition to Name Bazaar, Meme Factory, and other marketplaces to be developed, the district0x team will continuously seek to deploy ancillary services which provide network members with distinct advantages over similar markets which may seek to utilize their own token for governance or fork away from the district0x project.
Chief among the benefits inherent to members is inclusion in the District Staking Interface, the UI by which DNT holders will be able to stake their tokens to deposit pools to mint voting shares in district-specific Aragon entities. Some other potential ancillary services include:
Inclusion in the district0x Network Directory
Inclusion in network-wide search results
Ability to utilize the planned district0x Network Escrow service
Ability to utilize a network-wide identity and reputation system
Ability to participate in a network-wide dispute resolution mechanism
Marketing and promotion via official district0x Network channels
In building out a suite of services exclusive to members of the district0x Network we believe we can maximize network effects, building a moat around our marketplaces and those which share our ideals of open participation for all. By doing so, we believe we can make the decision to utilize DNT as the staking token for any particular marketplace an easy one for district creators to decide upon.
Protection Against Malicious Actors
The d0xINFRA framework currently under development is being designed to be extremely general purpose, allowing virtually any type of marketplace to be built upon it without outside interference. This level of freedom doesn’t come without potential downsides, namely the inability for us to prevent the emergence of marketplaces which are illegal and morally reprehensible being built on top of the framework. These limitations are inherent in any open-source technology.
By installing a mechanism for governing access to the district0x Network, we establish a means by which DNT holders can protect against malicious actors which could put the project at risk, ensuring that they are omitted from any supportive services or association with the network at large. We believe this will help to safeguard the district0x Network and ensure it’s longevity.
A special thanks to Ameen Soleimani (https://medium.com/@ameensol) and Mike Goldin (https://medium.com/@voidsnax) for sharing their work and thoughts on token-curated registries which serve as the foundation of the District Registry model.
Source (https://blog.district0x.io/introducing-the-district-registry-5adb890363b0)
Author: Joe Urgo (https://blog.district0x.io/@JoeUrgo)