Welcome to the 24x24 Foundation, subscribe to have future updates sent directly to you. We're currently in early stage nuts and bolts set up - in the meantime below we've reposted the last update showing current thinking:
In my last post I floated the idea that the Cryptopunks IP might be better stewarded by a non-profit foundation than a for-profit company. My rambling thought process might have seemed like I was suggesting Yuga Labs should start a foundation, and that might have been what I was thinking at some point, but that post has led to a number of discussions and I now think the best way forward is the formation of an independent non-profit with a singular mission that everyone could rally behind. A lofty goal I know, but also something I’ve seen play out before and in the conversations that I’m having and seeing, seems like it could be feasible.
For context, in 2009 I co-founded the non-profit community space, Crash Space in Los Angeles which quickly became part of the global hackerspace and maker movement. In 2011 I co-founded Safecast, an environmental non-profit initially focused on building an open repository of radiation data in the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown in Japan. I was awarded a fellowship with the Shuttleworth Foundation in 2014 and over the following years worked with dozens of other non-profit founders as we helped solve each others problems with learnings from our own experience, and co-authored a book about it. I’ve sat on non-profit boards and advised, mentored or unfucked a number of others. All that is just to say this is a familiar topic for me.
The first thing I wanted to do was identify the problem that we’re trying to solve, this is important because if you don’t know the problem then you might end up solving for the wrong thing. This isn’t perfect, but it’s kind of a working problem statement at the moment:
“A single commercial entity controlling the Cryptopunks IP inevitably faces the challenge of trying to satisfy a diverse community with varying ideas and visions for the future. This situation creates an ongoing struggle to balance commercial interests with the wide range of expectations held by individual owners, making it difficult to take any action without upsetting some of the audience, leading to a kind of mission paralysis. While some may suggest that the company simply “do nothing,” this is not an ideal solution either.”
Once you have a problem then you can think of what a solution might look like. Right now, we have this:
“Separating commercial interests from IP stewardship presents a promising path forward. Establishing the foundation as a non-profit entity dedicated to the stewardship of the Cryptopunks IP, with a board of directors focused on preservation, offers a balanced and mutually beneficial solution. This approach ensures that the legacy of Cryptopunks is maintained with integrity, allowing the community, including Yuga Labs, to trust that their assets are being protected and valued by a dedicated group with a singular focus. By focusing on protecting the historical and cultural value of Cryptopunks, we support their enduring significance and value.”
Again, not perfect but it’s a start. Those two statement are related, so as we edit one the other changes as well. They also serve the purpose of helping understand what the point of all this is, which helps get to a mission statement. The mission is important, because it’s the guidepost that we can constantly check back on and be accountable to, ensuring that future efforts are in line with the initial vision. Another tentative bit of text which is starting to take shape:
“The foundation promotes and celebrates the cultural significance of CryptoPunks, the genre-defining cryptographic art project created by Larva Labs in 2017. Our mission is to see that the legacy of CryptoPunks is maintained with integrity, focusing on its historical and artistic value rather than commercial potential and act as guardrail against exploitation. Dedicated to preserving and maintaining access to the cultural and historical legacy of CryptoPunks, we provide a home for the intellectual property and develop educational resources for the public. The foundation strives towards building a secure future for this iconic work. We engage with a variety of supporters who share our vision of protecting and promoting the cultural impact of CryptoPunks.”
So these are shaping up to be some helpful starting points that we’re building conversations around, which so far are interestingly only a little bit about Cryptopunks generally and more specifically about the non-profit/foundation world, governance, process as well as some very high level “what do we see this doing 10 years from now, 20 years from now?” kind of discussions. There’s also a very big “if” that this hinges on around the Cryptopunks IP of course, so we’re also talking about time frames and things the foundation could do that would be helpful to the greater ecosystem even without having the IP in house. I think that’s an important discussion because if everything the foundation wants to do depends on the approval of a separate for profit company, that’s a pretty large weak spot. Conversely, if the foundation can do a lot of things on it’s own, and get real momentum and serve a purpose independent of anything else, that also helps justify things and strengthens the initial ask.
There’s another interesting thing in this specific case – with previous foundations and non-profits I’ve helped get going we’ve often had a clear goal. “What’s the thing we’re trying to do? At some point that thing will be done, so then what?” but thinking of legacy and art on the blockchain, right out of the gate we’re facing the reality that – if done right – all of this will outlive us. At least that’s something I’m thinking about a lot – so in addition to all of the above I’m thinking about the time I’m willing to invest in this, and what kind of future I’m hoping it enables. This is actually part of a larger conversation I’ve been having about (in my view) what kind of actions are beneficial to society (art, creativity, etc) vs what kind of actions are rewarded and encouraged (lots of douchebaggery) and how, with whatever time I have left, I want to try and help make things better. But yeah, that’s a different thing.
If any of this sounds interesting and you’d like to join us in hashing some of this out, let me know and I’ll invite you. I’ll certainly write more about this in the future as we get further along, but I wanted to put this out there now just as a bit of a marker, if only so that months/years from now I can look back and see what I was thinking at this point.
