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  • 🚀DeSo Vision
  • 🪙DeSo Tokenomics
    • No Equity, Just Coins and Code
    • Current DESO Supply
    • Initial DESO Distribution
    • DESO Sinks
    • The BMF: Burn-Maximizing Fee Mechanism
    • Designed for the End-Game
  • 🏛️DeSo Governance
  • ⭐DeSo Tutorial (Build Apps)
  • 🖥️Node Architecture Overview
    • Setup a Node & Frontend Locally
    • Making Your First Changes
  • 📅DeSo Roadmap
  • 🔍DeSo Block Explorer
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  • 💬DeSo Chat Protocol
  • 👽Openfund
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  • 🛠️DeSo Tech Stack
  • 🌐DeSo Applications
  • DeSo Blockchain
    • 1️⃣Bare Metal
    • 2️⃣Scaling Roadmap
    • 3️⃣Content Moderation
    • 4️⃣Infinite-State
    • 5️⃣On-Chain Data
    • 6️⃣Smart Services
    • 7️⃣User Security
  • DeSo Features
    • 1️⃣Associations
    • 2️⃣Creator Coins
    • 3️⃣Feeds & Moderation
    • 4️⃣Social NFTs
    • 5️⃣Social Tipping
  • DeSo Identity
    • 1️⃣Identity: Overview
      • Core Concepts
      • Mobile Integration
    • 2️⃣Identity: iFrame API
      • Overview
      • Endpoints
    • 3️⃣Identity: Window API
      • Overview
      • Endpoints
  • DESO FRONTEND
    • 1️⃣Frontend: Get Started
    • 2️⃣Frontend: React Example
  • DESO BACKEND
    • 1️⃣Backend: Config
      • Onboarding
      • Phone Number Verification
      • Global State
      • Admins
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      • Media
        • Images
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      • Hot Feed
      • Selling $DESO
        • Wyre - Buy with USD
        • Buy with BTC
        • Buy with ETH
      • Analytics
      • Emails
      • Supply Monitoring
    • 2️⃣Construct: API
      • Social Transactions API
      • NFT Transactions API
      • Financial Transactions API
      • Derived Keys Transaction API
      • DeSo Tokens Transactions API
      • Associations Transactions API
      • Access Groups API
    • 3️⃣Data: API
      • Admin Endpoints
      • Associations Endpoints
      • DeSo Tokens Endpoints
      • Media Endpoints
      • Miner Endpoints
      • Notification Endpoints
      • NFT Endpoints
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      • Tutorial Endpoints
      • Meta Data Endpoints
      • Transaction Spending Limits Endpoints
      • User Endpoints
      • Post Endpoints
      • Messages Endpoints
      • Access Group Endpoints
    • 4️⃣Transactions: API
  • DeSo Exchange Listings
    • 1️⃣Exchange Listing: API
  • DeSo Nodes
    • 2️⃣Node: Setup
    • 3️⃣Node: Staying Up-To-Date
    • 4️⃣Node: FAQ
  • DESO VALIDATORS
    • 1️⃣Run a Validator
  • Openfund
    • What is Openfund?
    • Openfund Tokenomics
    • Openfund Governance
    • Algorithmic Trading
      • The DeSo Python SDK
    • The DeSo Python SDK
      • Getting Help from the Community
      • Creating DeSo Testnet Accounts
      • Debugging Tips and Code Walkthrough
      • Write Blockchain Bots with AI
      • Market-Making Bots
      • Social AI Agents
      • AI-Generating Your Code
    • How Do the Advanced AMMs Work?
  • Focus
    • The Crypto Social Network
    • Next-Generation Token Mechanics
      • Launching Your Token
      • How the Order-Book AMMs Work
    • Crypto-Native Monetization
    • Focus Tokenomics
    • The Social Airdrop
    • Decentralizing Social Media
  • Contact And Media
    • ☀️DeSo Website
    • 📑DeSo Blog
    • 💻DeSo Github
    • 💎DeSo Diamond
    • 🐦DeSo Twitter
    • 📺DeSo YouTube
    • 📬Contact US
    • ⚠️Reporting an Account or Post
  • 中文
    • 什么是DeSo? (What is DeSo?)
    • 愿景 (The Vision)
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  1. DeSo Tokenomics

No Equity, Just Coins and Code

PreviousDeSo TokenomicsNextCurrent DESO Supply

Last updated 3 months ago

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The DeSo Blockchain was bootstrapped and self-funded by . In 2019, Nader recognized that special-purpose blockchains could vastly out-perform existing approaches on storage-heavy applications like social use-cases and advanced trading applications. And so he set about building DeSo to address what he felt were the largest opportunities in crypto.

Nader and his team, which we often refer to as the DeSo Core Team, worked on developing the blockchain from 2019 until late 2020 when they officially launched the network, and third-party nodes started running. In addition to developing the DeSo Blockchain, the team also developed the first application, called , which went viral and pioneered a concept now known as "Social Tokens." In early 2021, the DeSo Blockchain code was made , solidifying DeSo as a truly decentralized layer-1 platform.

When they launched the network, the Core Team embedded a bonding curve mechanic that would mint DESO for Bitcoin in a fully-decentralized way. The idea was that users could sacrifice Bitcoin to get DESO in much the same way early Bitcoin users sacrificed CPU power to get Bitcoin. Thus the distribution mechanic could distribute DESO tokens in a fully-decentralized way to anyone, without geographic restrictions (much like Bitcoin mining). The details on the economics of this distribution are described in the section.

Importantly, although DESO could be purchased through this bonding curve mechanism, no equity has ever been issued or sold to finance the DeSo Blockchain's development. There is no "shareholder class" to create a conflict of interest with the token, DeSo is truly just "coins and code." It was Nader's explicit intent to avoid creating a conflict of interest between equity and tokens, as he saw the negative effects it could have, and this is why he self-funded its development for nearly two years and only issued tokens through a decentralized mechanism that was fully open to the public. This means in practice that, if you own DESO, then you own the exact same asset that everyone else owns, from top-tier VCs to ordinary people.

This lies in stark contrast with other major blockchains, such as Solana, which have a for-profit VC-controlled entity behind them that is wholly separate from the token. We've seen with projects like Uniswap and Brave how this can lead to conflicts of interest, where value accrues to equity-holders who are owed a "fiduciary duty," rather than to token-holders, who don't have the same rights. Indeed, any token backed by a for-profit company like Uniswap or Solana could even be sued by equity-holders for distributing too much value to token-holders, rather than maximally milking the network value for equity-holders. These issues tend to be less important in the early days, but play a key role as networks mature and become structurally important. There does not exist, nor will there ever exist, such a problem with DESO.

🪙
Nader Al-Naji
BitClout
100% open-source
Initial Distribution