Gov/en/Portal:R&D/Innovations:Annual Value Increase

💡 In simple words: Imagine giving money to help build a platform for everyone. As thanks, your reward could grow a little each year, like 5%. To pay for that, the monthly fee would also grow yearly. A study should check this stays fair.

🎯 In 20 seconds (scientific summary): This Wave 2 Open Call study explores a 5% annual value increase as a long-term substitute for the bonding-curve multiplier, aiming to provide a stable, non-usurious return for donors. To fund it, the base subscription would rise about 5% yearly. The study would assess feasibility and socio-economic risks, especially affordability in developing nations.

Annual Value Increase (Study)

Supporting the ecosystem

The primary goal is to allow people to support the development and deployment of the WikiDeal platform and its marketplaces through donations. These funders make a donation without any guarantee of return, but with the possibility of recovering their donation in the future.

To protect this potential return from inflation, the system aims to operate primarily in stable currencies, such as the Swiss Franc (CHF).

Replacing the multiplier with a 5% interest

Early funding rounds require high bonding curve multipliers (such as x100 or x30 in Prototype 1) because the risk is very high. However, as the platform matures, the risk decreases. In Prototype 2, the multiplier is expected to drop from x30 down to x10, or even down to x1.

Ultimately, the goal is to phase out the bonding curve multiplier entirely. In its place, the only advantage or potential return for a donor would be a steady 5% annual increase on the reward. In Switzerland, a 5% rate is considered non-usurious and perfectly acceptable.

Impact on subscriptions and the mutualist vision

To fund a 5% annual increase on rewards, the monthly subscription fee must also increase by 5% annually.

For example, starting at a base of CHF 1 per month, a 5% annual increase means the subscription would reach approximately CHF 3 per month in about 22 years.

By that 15 to 25 year horizon, the vision is that WikiDeal could have a billion users (similar to Wikipedia) and a massive volume of transactions. The platform is designed in a mutualist spirit: users would be able to pay for fundamental daily services (water, transport, electricity) at their actual cost, without generating profits for shareholders or the platform itself. Compared to the high commissions charged by speculative and lucrative platforms, a model running at actual cost plus a modest 5% annual return for early donors remains extremely competitive and affordable.

Risks, side effects, and the Open Call

This mechanism is a healthy and important concept, but it is not guaranteed and must be debated. We must identify potential loopholes, flaws, and perverse side effects.

A major perverse effect to study is affordability in developing nations. If the subscription reaches CHF 3 per month, it might represent 3% of the monthly income for someone earning less than $100 a month, which could become a barrier to entry.

Because of these implications, this topic is the subject of a dedicated Wave 2 Open Call. This reflection must take place and conclude before the end of Prototype 1, so the community can decide whether and how to implement this 5% annual value increase as the multiplier drops in Prototype 2.

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State of the art

Whether and how value should grow over time for early supporters touches classic research on time preference, interest and money design. The works below are explored as background for this draft Open Call.

• Shane Frederick, George Loewenstein and Ted O'Donoghue (2002), Time Discounting and Time Preference: A Critical Review, Journal of Economic Literature, 40(2): doi:10.1257/002205102320161311.
• David Laibson (1997), Golden Eggs and Hyperbolic Discounting, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112(2): doi:10.1162/003355397555253.
• Irving Fisher (1930), The Theory of Interest, Macmillan: author page on Wikipedia.
• Silvio Gesell (1916), The Natural Economic Order: book page on Wikipedia · Silvio Gesell.
• Bernard Lietaer (2001), The Future of Money: Creating New Wealth, Work and a Wiser World, Century: author page on Wikipedia.

See also: Open Calls · All innovations · Economy and funding