Starting a Revolution in Democracy with Cryptovoting

The story behind cXc and Purple Cryptovoting, coming soon to the Steemit Blockchain. Founder Douglas James goes through the ideas that evolved into cXc and Purple.

Read on Medium: https://medium.com/@currentxchange/starting-a-revolution-in-democracy-5d1faf64de54

I conceived of the grandfather system to cXc when I was 14 years old

I visualized each piece of media, like a video or picture or song, as a box. Outside of the box was a label which had the metadata about the data in the box, as well as protocols which this box hooked into based on its datatype and what the user enabled.

The system I envisioned would allow owners of any data to make a label, this label would show information about that data, as well as allow them to declare relationships that this data offered.

These relationships could be licensing, they could be a desired connection, such as a instrumental that is searching for someone to put vocals on.

The relationships could show the relation of one piece of data to another, such as same creator, or same parent data.

This system would not store any data itself, it would be the system of labels, the protocols that declared relationships of data throughout the entire world.

These protocols would store the minimum amount of data necessary to show as much as needed about each piece of data. The system would then catalog this metadata for quick computation and distribution of information.

A network around the world would allow this information to be distributed freely and fairly, allowing a free economy of data to open up.

Fast forward to college.

Never forgetting about the original box system, I became obsessed with a platform that would replace US copyright law, which I tentatively called CopyHouse. I learned about contract law and copyright law, and found that the creation of a contract system that was legally sound was actually quite easy. There are no laws specifying who can create a contract or what the contract must look like outside of a few basic elements (offer, acceptance, consideration, mutuality). Contracts don't even have to be written, and never have to be registered.

I learned that copyright law was nothing more than granting you the right to sue someone if they use something you created without permission. Furthermore, registering a copyright is completely unnecessary to have "copyright protection". Further furthermore, there is no actual protection against your copyright being used illegally, just a system of ramifications for the violator if you choose to take legal action against them.

I decided to create a system that allowed the owners of media to generate their own contracts, and have a real copyright through proof of authorship that never expired and could be verifiably proved. They could choose from clauses that were generated by the users of the system, modify these clauses, and piece together their own contracts. They could make these open, so that anyone could pay or complete some action to use the work, or make them closed and exclusive so that interested party would have to contact the licensee. The system also had built in offers, counter offers, agreement, and a system of arbitration.

I envisioned this system for creators of digital media like art, music, and photographs, especially musicians. I imagined a use case where a band could create a contract where people could pay money and receive the album for a discounted rate when it comes out, as well as write a contract that would allow a record label to purchase the distribution rights for the album.

This system takes back power for the creators, as they're the ones to write the contract, not the record labels.

I changed the name of the project to Current X Change and registered Current X Change LLC.

The concept evolved when a map got introduced. People displaying contracts would post them on the map in their local area. People looking to fulfill a specific kind of contract would be able to search the local area for contracts of this nature.

For example, a musician that creates instrumental beats could put them up, and the rapper who purchases these beats could easily find them. The beat maker would have a contract about the use of the beat. The rapper could then counter-offer the contract, or agree to it. This contract may be money, a requirement of crediting, and may have limits of usage.
Each contract has permissions and restrictions. These permissions include what a person can do with the media, and restrictions can be anything, including geographic area, time, usage, or anything else.

Ahywho, seeking counsel, I learned that the best thing to do was launch the bare minimum of the system, the MVP. In developing this idea, I stripped the contract system away, and started thinking more about the unit of exchange. I thought "What is the most benefit to the user from this application?" With the contract system on hold, the benefit came from exposure and connection of like-minds.

I started to think about the algorithm that would figure out if one thing was more valuable than another for two similar things. The first system I developed was called Rel (relevant) points. Rel points would declare a content relevant to the display, and acted like a like or UP. This value would then be used to display content that was projected to most what a user was looking for. It wasn't a very good system, but had some interesting components. The Rel points were relative to time, and the user could place a bet whether or not they thought the content would go up over time when they spent their Rel. If what they voted on went up in Rel in the future, they were rewarded with more Rel points, making empowered curators.

In 2016 I came up with a better system which became Purple. I decided each person should get a certain number of votes per day, and never be able to have more than this amount of votes, so no saving votes, use it or lose it. When they gave these votes to a piece of content, the creator would receive them in another form that they could save, vote, or trade. The free votes were called Sol, meaning Sun, and the accruable votes were called Blue. Finally, a real-money token called Purple got involved, allowing creators to receive money from the votes they received if they choose not to vote them.

You can read more about this system in the Purple Whitepaper.

The application changed completely as I focused on what was the benefit to the user. I am a rapper and have a lot of friends that are rappers too. No matter how good they are, they never get much exposure without spending money. I saw a great opportunity for exposing musicians, artists, ideas and more through a mapping platform similar to what I had previously designed. Once I had laid out the ides for music, I saw great potential for the system.
This was more than just music.
This is more than just art.
This could change the world.

I'm a huge believer that systems that are similar to the universe itself succeed.

As above so below.

This system modeled the propagation of energy systems throughout the universe. We are in energy system, within the energy system of the earth, within the energy system of the Solar system, within the energy system of the galaxy, within the energy system of the universe, all existing with a toroidal shape with similar rules.

This system is a natural propagator, just like we are propagating our energy through the universe.

More than just a system to find new music, this system could be used to spread ideas and share solutions for real-world problems. This system could be used to govern, to fix things, to stop corporate control. To level the playing field for all creators, all beings of the planet.

The system became simplified into what it is today, a place for creators to share their creations posted on third party sites with the world, gaining exposure, creating events, collaborating, being heard. I knew that by creating a system with the most possible benefit, eventually I would have the opportunity to build it out into a better reflection of what I see as possible for empowering creators. cXc Music is currently being developed as a wonderful system to help musicians and listeners alike. Through proving the concept with cXc Music, we will be creating something great and foreshadowing something even greater.

These concepts of ownership of media, licensing, and creating Genius Contracts (I just made that up) that are the legal contract equivalent to what Smart Contracts are for derivatives, are on hold while we see what a little universal love from Purple and cXc Music can do for our world. We will continue to design and progress systems of energy and expansion on this planet, charging forward with the solutions of love and light, freeing us from attachments to the old ways of control and stifling human nature. Love will prevail in this battle for the mind and heart of Earth.
Together we can share our love.
Together we can unify.
Together We Are Earth.

Love & Light,
Douglas James
Founder & Chief Visionary
Current X Change / Purple
Read the Whitepaper