Welcome to the Decentralization Research Center report, a monthly briefing on events and research relevant to decentralization, DAOs and governance.

This Month’s Updates

Key Notes

With the release of the draft market structure bill, the successor to FIT21, the DRC has begun providing comments based on our newly revised report, which focuses on control as the best means of defining decentralization.

We want a future that offers users unprecedented levels of transparency, economic opportunity, and security on decentralized infrastructure; not one where opportunists launch centralized blockchain tokens to bypass securities laws and exploit retail investors.

We reviewed the discussion draft alongside a community of aligned teams, developers, operators, and lawyers. Together, we aggregated a list of constructive issues and recommendations to help strengthen and clarify elements of the draft ahead of formal introduction and any potential markup. We submitted these comments to staff on May 9th.

This is part of a larger effort to gather together experts and allies in a coalition that places decentralization front and centre of blockchain policy. The Coalition for a Decentralized Future aims to educate policymakers and regulators on the importance of decentralization, including its critical potential to mitigate risk and foster positive outcomes in social media, AI, digital identity, co-operatives, antitrust, finance, and so much more. If you care about this issue, reach out and be part of the movement.

The Full Rundown

Other stories and research we’ve been tracking for you:

• Project Liberty Institute and Global Solutions Initiative present their digital infrastructure toolkit for policy makers based on the fundamental belief that people should have a say in how their data is used

• Andreas Fauler looks at different ways of thinking about income and equity in a world where AI and humans work closely together.

• RadicalxChange and OpenMined introduce a pilot program focused on federated data bargaining in the publishing industry as part of their larger efforts to distribute power in the AI economy.

• Saffron Huang and SJ Manning argue that UBI is not the answer to the threat of automation, and that we need capital-based approaches (human, productive, financial capital) to mitigate economic and political power concentration.

• Sheila Warren makes the case for a user-owned internet where data rights are a given, not a luxury, where data is the focus for policymakers, and where users are given a voice, choice, and stake in their digital world

• The Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, Mila, and CIFAR launch Deliberative Approaches to Inclusive Governance, a 7-part essay series exploring how deliberative democratic processes can strengthen AI governance.

• Igor Calzada argues that a counter-reaction against data-opolies is fueling a global movement around Web3 decentralized technologies. “Dominant Big Tech firms known as data-opolies have assumed functions traditionally associated with nation-states, such as surveillance and cartography. This shift has led to the deterritorialization of digital citizenship.”

We sat down with Miles Jennings of a16z and Sarah Brennan of Delphi Ventures to discuss the critical control test for decentralization, including one proposed by Sarah and the DRC.

If you’re working on related research or would like to get involved in our work, please reach out to us via [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you!

Connor Spelliscy
Executive Director
Decentralization Research Center