About this document

This document is a work in progess. As the project evolves and milestones are completed, the contents of this document will be updated. Hence, this document will be managed using source control software, allowing readers of this document to review and compare the latest copy against a full history of changes.

What is Quadratic

Much, if not all, of the technical infrastructure currently used to identify, store, collate, publish and archive academic and scientific media can be addressed using decentralized solutions. However, all systems currently deployed involve centralization. For example, the Handle service requires the registration of a resource identifier with a single organization. Other services, such as those involved in publishing, are controlled by multi-national corporations. Some archiving software systems do utilize open source licensing but deploying these systems can be beyond the capabilities of an institution, and may require 3rd party service providers. Additionally, such open source software uses a centralized architecture resulting in a single point of failure/control.

Quadratic aims to solve this centralization problem by replacing every part of the ecosystem with decentralized alteratives. For example, services such as Handle and DOI could be replaced with a fully autonomous, decentralized solution using blockchain technology to ensure provenance and authenticity of web objects.

Quadratic's replacements of existing centralized technologies with decentralized equivalents are listed in the section "Deliverables".

What Quadratic is not

While Quadratic includes cryptocurrency features, it is not a get-rich-quick scheme. The fundamental idea of Quadratic is to explore the use of a cryptocurrency as a mechanism for attaching value to an asset in an ecosystem such as Quadratic's.

It should also be noted that cryptocurrency makes up only a part of the overall Quadratic ecosystem. Much of Quadratic is blockchain-based for provenance and immutability. Some of Quadratic is made up of off-chain software, using peer-to-peer technology to enshrine ownership and resist censorship.

The Quadratic (QUAD) token

The Quadratic token is a cryptocurrency used to attach monetary value to an asset or action on the Quadratic Platform.

The concept of attaching cryptocurrency-based value to a digital asset can be observed in its use by the Quadratic Identifiers resolution protocol which requires a staking of Quadratic tokens to generate a resolvable digital object. This digital object is represented as a Qu.Id non-fungible token and the protocol will hold the staked Quadratic for the life of the Quadratic identifier.

Qaudratic will be minted for general usage. The amount of Quadratic minted is yet-to-be-determined.

Quadratic will be acquirable by exchanging other tokens at a rate determined by the market.

Initially, value raised through exchanging Quadratic for other tokens will be used to fund on-going development of the features set out in "Deliverables" and for other day-to-day expenses.

The Quadratic ID (Qu.Id) token

Initially a tokenized representation of a digital object. This could be expanded to represent other digital identifiers such as a contributor profile or citation.

Initial Ownership

The project's founding organization will be responsible for the initial deployment and development of the Quadratic platform as laid out in the Deliverables.

Initially, much of the infrastructure will be deployed to a TestNet blockchain for proof-of-concept and for demonstrating the functionality and features of the technologies deployed.

Once the founding organization is satisfied with the stability of the technologies, a transition to MainNet will be initiated. As part of this "production" deployment, a utility token, Quadratic, will be made available for trade. As part of this deployment, the founding organization will determine an as yet undecided amount of Quadratic tokens to be circulated into the ecosystem. There will be no cap to the circulated supply and the creation of the Quadratic tokens (known as minting) may be executed more than once dependent on the requirements of the ecosystem.

Migration to a Tokenized Governance Model

The founding organization will determine at what time the platform should be transitioned to a community-owned model. A community-owned model will utilize tokenized governance principles to propose, vote and ratify changes to the Quadratic platform.

The founding organization will migrate any on-chain functionality such as smart contracts to community ownership. These smart contracts will be configured such that changes will require some kind of consensus via a voting platform. Additionally, new smart contracts will be deployable via community consensus using various automated deployment strategies.

Off-chain systems such as Quadratic's archiving software, will not be managed via a consensus mechansim. Instead, software will be available via open source licenses and will be developed by either the founding organization or by a core group of contributors. However, it may be possible for the community to propose features which should be integrated into the off-chain software and then vote on whether the feature should be developed and deployed. Additionally, the community may wish to include in the proposal a budget for the development and the ratification of the proposal may include the creation of Quadratic tokens to fund the propsed budget.

Milestone - Quadratic Token

The Quadratic token is an ERC20-compatible utility token.

Milestone - Digital Object Identifiers

Quadratic Identifiers (Qu.Id) is a digital object resolution service. Unlike services such as Handle.net and DOI, Qu.Id is fully decentralized and does not require yearly subscriptions with a centralized authority.

Qu.Id is discussed in depth on the Gitlab project page.

Milestone - Citations

Quadratic Citations (Qu.ite) provides decentralized citation management. In particular, citation impact factor could be measured and the creators of the cited work could be directly remunerated based on the reach of their work.

Milestone - Contributor Identifiers

A decentralized replacement for existing contributor and researcher identification systems such as ORCID.

Milestone - Tokenized Governance

A transition to a decentralized governance model.

A participant's voting power will be determined by the number of tokens they have, or, by the voting weight of a single token.

A minimum threshold of tokens, or, a particular voting "weight" will be required if a participant wishes to put forward a proposal.

The implementation of a tokenized governance model should be prioritized and the founding organization should ensure initial business decisions are transparently reported through the same governance model as that which will be used by the community. Such an approach will simplify the migration from the initial business model to a community-based one.

Milestone - Decentralized Archive

Quadratic.Network. Decentralized archiving using peer-to-peer database storage and network replication. Data associated with a work will be stored, replicated and distributed by the owner(s) of the work.