ICON Republic of Blockchains
* White Paper: ICONstitution and Governance.
URL = https://m.icon.foundation/resources/file/ICON_Yellowpaper_ICONstitution_and_Governance_EN_V1.0.pdf?
"As a key member of ‘Blockchain Interoperability Alliance’, ICON shares a common goal to interconnect with isolated blockchain networks and develop global standards for inter-blockchain networks."
Description
"What Deleuze refers to as deterritorialization always leads to reterritorialization. The problem is not with the formation of new territory, but rather when it is not followed by deterritorialization. Blockchain must not be fixated in one order, but must continue its “a-parallel evolution” and constant modification. As such, the ICON Republic is structurally composed of lines of articulation segmentarity, strata and territories; but on a movement side that brings changes to these, it was designed to involve lines of flight, movement deterritorialization and destratification. Therefore, the design of the ICON Republic, as stated in the preceding White Paper, lies on Rhizomatic Philosophy." (https://m.icon.foundation/resources/file/ICON_Yellowpaper_ICONstitution_and_Governance_EN_V1.0.pdf?)
Discussion
"Unlike the conventional network environment, where a single trusted entity processes all tasks, the public blockchain network environment needs a way for all participants to agree with mutual understanding given the large number of unspecified participants autonomously conducting their tasks. This situation is not unlike our traditional society composed of people. People establish a singular law and order under which everyone can build a trustworthy society through mutual understanding. Similarly, a decentralized peer-to-peer network can operate with the highest degree of reliability given the ability to conform to the consensus of its participants, thereby allowing participants of free-will to self-govern their network within a given economic structure.
For this reason, the ICON Governance is designed to ensure that numerous heterogeneous communities can reliably connect to each other by a commitment to each community. To this end, the ICON Network allows each heterogeneous community to elect its own representative, allowing representatives to transact within a single network consensus rule on behalf of each community member. Thanks to “the principles of complement and balance” , the ICON Network's rules are fairly operated by representatives who are situated outside each of the heterogeneous communities. This framework enables participants to reach consensus on issues both inside and outside the ICON Network that are difficult to determine through code.
ICON Governance measures the contribution of all ICONists involved in the operation of the ICON Network in accordance with a specified evaluation system and distributes reasonable compensation accordingly.
Through this system, each representative can objectively evaluate one’s contribution to the ICON Network, whether through delegation from other ICONists or one’s own contribution. In the ICON Governance, an ICONist who has made a sufficient contribution to the network is considered credible and is qualified to be the subject of major decisions in the network. This approach makes it possible to prove a variety of contributions to the ICON Network, as opposed to merely proving stake, as in the existing "Delegated Proof of Stake" approach."
Excerpts
6 Principles of Rhizomatic Philosophy
- 1 and 2. Principles of Connection and Heterogeneity
"Any point of a rhizome can be connected to any other and must be. This is very different from the tree or root, which plots a point and fixes an order.
- 3. Principle of Multiplicity
It is only when the multiple is effectively treated as a substantive, “multiplicity”, that it ceases to have any relation to the One as subject or object, natural or spiritual reality, image and world.
- 4. Principle of Asignifying Rupture
Against the oversignifying breaks separating structures or cutting across a single structure. A rhizome may be broken, shattered at a given spot, but it will start up again on one of its old lines, or on new lines.
- 5 and 6. Principles of Cartography and Decalcomania
A rhizome is not amenable to any structural or generative model. It is a stranger to any idea of genetic axis or deep structure…The rhizome is altogether different, a map and not a tracing… It constructs the unconscious. It fosters connections between fields, the removal of blockages on bodies without organs, the maximum opening of bodies without organs onto a plane of consistency. It is itself a part of the rhizome."
The ICONstitution
Article 1 (The Principles of the Constitution)
1. "The ICON Network pursues decentralization, which is the fundamental philosophy of the blockchain paradigm.
2. Each Community has its own autonomy and can freely interconnect with the ICON Network.
3. The ICON Network fairly recognizes the contribution of all participants.
Article 2 (Rights of the ICONist)
1. Each participant who uses the ICON Network shall be called an "ICONist".
2. Each ICONist has the following basic rights:
a. Right to Governance: An ICONist has the right to voluntarily participate in the decision making of the ICON Network through the delegation of authority, of which is based on one’s respective contribution to the ICON Network, or being oneself a delegate.
b. Right to Compensation: All ICONists shall be fairly compensated for their respective contribution to the ICON Network.
c. Right to Access: Each ICONist has the right to freely use the ICON Network.
Article 3 (Duties of the ICONist)
1. All ICONists shall strive to ensure that the ICON Network runs properly.
2. All ICONists shall oppose any transgression against the ICON Network."
Governance
"Governance of the ICON Network embodies the following principles.
1) Decentralization
The ICON Network is implemented as a decentralized blockchain network without a single authority to distribute the power of the network to representatives. Since decentralized networks do not have a single entity controlling the network, no participant can arbitrarily terminate, manipulate or attack the system. A decentralized environment allows for autonomous governance of the ICON Network, creating a situation in which anyone can access and modify the technology, no one entity arbitrarily operates or owns the network, the network is physically distributed, representatives do not have any social relationship, and the economic structure is decentralized.
2) Interchain
The ICON Network is based on interoperability, which enables the sharing of information by connecting communities while still preserving their independent governance structures. Each Community can connect to another Community or individual ICONist through its representative, which is connected to the ICON Network. To this end, the ICON Network focuses on supporting multiple communication channels, decision-making structures, and compensation models as to allow multiple individual networks to organize under a mutual understanding. The ICON Network respects the independence of each blockchain community and does not interfere in their governance structures, but must also ensure the security of the interchain network.
3) Contribution
In order to create trust between various participants in the network, the ICON Network quantifies contribution of participants with an objective methodology. The ICON Incentives Scoring System (IISS), which is embedded in the ICON Network, is used for economic compensation and policy decision making. Each ICONist’s contribution to the health of the ICON Network is evaluated fairly, and such an ICONist holds voting rights in proportion to such contribution." (https://m.icon.foundation/resources/file/ICON_Yellowpaper_ICONstitution_and_Governance_EN_V1.0.pdf?)
Characteristics
Delegated Proof of Contribution
ICON Network:
"The ICON Network not only supports fast, uncompromising agreements through Loop Fault Tolerance (LFT), which is an enhanced BFT (Byzantine Fault Tolerance) algorithm, but also supports faster consensus by creating a group among trusted nodes. Therefore, the ICON Network has a decentralized governance structure based on indirect democracy, in which participants elect representatives and delegate voting rights. This method of ensuring all ICONists to participate (either directly or indirectly) in generating blocks is effective for forming a governance structure that connects countless external communities.
To determine a reliable representative, the ICON Network evaluates all participants according to their contribution to the network and quantifies them. Given a fair assessment of their respective contribution and the corresponding rewards, participants will develop and propagate the ecosystem, ultimately increasing its value. Participants with sufficient contribution can be judged to be credible and may be selected as a representative. In the same vein, reliability can be proven by receiving delegated contributions from other participants. The delegated contribution is an indicator that the participants are trusted.
The central philosophy of the ICON Network reward distribution is fair compensation based on relative contribution. Each participant can demonstrate their contribution through the ICON Network's unique contribution evaluation system. In the end, contribution is the most important value shared within the ICON Network, and therefore will be the sole standard in the network. Delegated Proof of Contribution (DPoC), as described herein, is the sole justification for electing representatives." (https://m.icon.foundation/resources/file/ICON_Yellowpaper_ICONstitution_and_Governance_EN_V1.0.pdf?)
ICON Incentives Scoring System
"For fair and objective operation of the network, a proper contribution evaluation scheme is necessary.
The ICON Network measures and evaluates the contribution of all ICONists’ network activities through the “ICON Incentives Scoring system” (IISS). The IISS is a contribution evaluation system for an individual ICONist calculated with weighted evaluation of several different metrics. Each ICONist is rewarded based on their IISS, and may delegate their IISS to a specific candidate in a representative election vote. The details regarding the evaluation system and standard for proof of contribution can be found in the ICON Incentives Scoring System (IISS) document." (https://m.icon.foundation/resources/file/ICON_Yellowpaper_ICONstitution_and_Governance_EN_V1.0.pdf?)