As the role of the individual in value creation becomes more commonplace, the next evolutionary step is towards software that is not only built, operated, and funded by individual users—but owned by users too.

the economic interests of the biggest internet platforms are concentrated and often poorly aligned with their most valuable contributors, their users.

Ownership is a powerful motivator for users to contribute to products in deeper ways, be it with ideas, computing resources, code, or community building. This more cooperative economic model helps ensure better alignment with users over time, resulting in platforms that can be larger, more resilient, and more innovative.

The history of protocol adoption fits a pattern: first, early-adopters use new protocols to do things that were impossible before the new technology empowered them to do so.

a winning strategy for founders is to build products that make these new models more accessible to a wider audience.

The protocol innovation of tokens is akin to packets for value, but the disruption is in the way new software platforms can be built and gain adoption.

The idea of user ownership is at the core of the success of Bitcoin and Ethereum, the first user-owned and operated networks at scale.

Rather than a platform’s inner circle of founders and investors taking home the value, users are able to earn the majority of value generated from their collective contributions.

Needless to say, one of the most challenging problems any startup or new technology faces is adoption, especially where network effects are necessary

Now, the opportunity is to follow the pattern, and build more accessible products (and protocols) that bootstrap adoption & participation through better economic alignment with users.