Skip to main content

Open Libra: The Road Less Traveled

· 5 min read

A force of the public which has the capital necessary to make meaningful interventions, at the scale of the largest organizations in society. This requires independence, durability, and sense.

Independent, Perpetual, Sensible​

OL looks different because it is different. Open Libra does not have a foundation, has no labs entity, no VC funding, and no ICO. Why not? Because, unlike the First In - First Out pump and dump schemes that litter the Crypto landscape, Open Libra has a clean regulatory and moral profile to serve our focused mission — perpetual funding for impact in society, independent of corporations, governments, and traditional finance of the day.

The unique feature of digital assets is their opportunity to be perpetual, a highly misunderstood and underrated property. OL measures its plans in centuries, on much longer scales than you are accustomed to if you are in tech. But if instead the product is defined as independent and good capital, then a 100-year time frame is plausible. The next generations should expect there to exist an institution (more like a force of the public) which has the capital necessary to make meaningful interventions, at the scale of the largest organizations in society. Open Libra is five years in, and still pre-launch. Deliberately being principled, vigilant, and evolutionary.

Forget Cryptocurrency, Think Open Titles​

The future lies in the thing that comes after currencies: durable capital which can accumulate entitlements, benefits, and rights over time. Digital titles that are both accessible and enforceable over generations, far beyond transient software versions and networks. Crypto makes a tacit promise: wealth while participating in what the future brings. We extend that further to create a product everyone would want to be a part of: to invite the 98% of the world who seek to participate in future themes of technology, social coordination, and build wealth through engagement with society.

We ask difficult questions of the industry because, to us, the design space is clear, but the offers in the market are not.

Learn more about our vision at https://openlibra.io.

2024: A Year of Resilience and Progress​

2024 was a pivotal year for Open Libra. Reinforcing our commitment to the long game, the project undertook several strategic measures to solidify its foothold and secure the mission.

We faced an exploit, a multi-step governance abuse which involved social engineering, deception, and transaction manipulation.

This was not a software failure, but a breach of trust.

This of course, is not a surprise, and neither an unexpected disappointment. OL goes slow in order to observe and correct the course. The abuse unfolded faster precisely because the exploiters began to take notice of the core founding team that was catching up to the evidence.

The active community responded with an industry-leading forensic process that disabled 98% of exploited funds, demonstrating our commitment to fairness and justice in our community. The community has been clear from the beginning, that we do not invite or suffer that Open Libra is not for the 2% seeking quick wins at the expense of fellow community members. To address these challenges, a hard fork was executed and forensic tools were created, available at GitHub, facilitating interoperability and expanding the Open Libra ecosystem.

It took months to develop Forensic Db, a missing piece of blockchains. The comprehensive forensic database ensures project accountability and transparency. Where necessary, proper authorities in The Netherlands were also engaged to ensure regulatory compliance and proper legal standing.

Learnings​

Socialized Enforcement​

Unlike traditional blockchain projects with centralized governance structures, Open Libra enforces norms through four levels of socialized enforcement. When loose social consensus fails, you should expect to see several layers of enforcement:

  1. Smart Contracts: Improve the binding of key policies of your community norms.
  2. Social Slashing: Start a new network that reinforces the norms, move the party elsewhere.
  3. Civil Legal Recourse: Utilizing judicial systems is fair game when Smart contracts are multi-party agreements.
  4. Criminal Enforcement: Ultimately, criminal enforcement is reasonable against fraud and misconduct when a sovereign's laws overlap with ours.

First In Last Out is Worth Fighting For​

One of OL's oldest founding beliefs is that First In First Out leads to abuse in markets (pump and dump). Many of our exemplary policies (Slow Wallets, Community Wallets) are explicitly designed with a goal of “First In, Last Out” principle. In 2024, we diverged from this norm, both intentionally by exploiters and unintentionally by distraction. Governance upgrades have been proposed and are in progress to ground us in this principle again.

Looking Forward to 2025 and Beyond​

As the project sets its sights on the future, Open Libra will introduce several key initiatives in 2025 designed to reinforce its mission and expand its impact:

  • SlowWalletV2 Proposal: Enhancing security and longevity for long-term holders.
  • Project Nest Egg: An initiative that aims to transform Libra into a force for good by funding high-quality real-world businesses by effectively deploying capital through Community Wallets. By harnessing voluntary contributions, these wallets become a strategic asset, driving sustainable growth and innovation within the ecosystem.
  • Validator Bidding Optimization: Streamlining the validator selection process for greater efficiency.
  • Exchange Listing Initiatives: Community-driven efforts to expand accessibility and liquidity.

Join Us​

The active community invite experts across disciplines who align with our mission and are committed to sustainable, long-term impact to JOIN US: https://openlibra.io.