Network Funds

The Geo Web's partial common ownership system requires users to pay an ongoing licensing fee to "the network" to obtain and retain digital land property rights. Who exactly is "the network" though?

The Geo Web is a public good. Therefore, "the network" is a non-exclusionary term. Anyone in the world can join the network as a user, creator, publisher, or developer. With this definition of "the network," network funds offer not only an opportunity, but a responsibility to fund the common good rather than privatize the funds for personal gain.

Even with no private profit motive, this will still be a dynamic challenge rather than something to be definitively "solved." What produces the highest ROI common good will evolve over time. There will inherently be competing incentives, incomplete information, and risk for all the initiatives which the network funds are used to undertake.

It is not the Geo Web protocol designers' goal to play kingmaker with the funds, but instead to develop value-driven, credibly neutral mechanisms that encourage permissionless innovation and embrace decentralized decision-making through markets and voting.

Early network funds will likely tend to be allocated toward the advancement of the core protocols and infrastructure of the network itself. Given the stage of the network, it's prudent to first ensure the ongoing survival and success of the network.

The scope of what can be done with network funds won't stop there. There are endless other public goods, private goods with positive externalities, and prosocial opportunities. The mechanism design to better allocate these funds will be an exciting area of research and development for the Geo Web for years to come.