Fairness as a First-Order Variable

The team is proud of Metronome’s technical, governing, and “tokenomics” attributes. At the root of all of this, however, there is one principle that guides our decisions both philosophical and technological: fairness.

A Fair Cryptocurrency through Equal Access to Auction Opportunities

“Cryptocurrency should be more egalitarian.” This statement, lifted right from Metronome’s Owner’s Manual, is not a hollow phrase. It is a guiding principle in building this cryptocurrency. Fairness steers design and engineering decisions — it’s a first-order variable for the team.

It’s also an issue with a unique whitespace in the cryptocurrency ecosystem since, frankly, the Metronome team shares the view of many in the community that the current cryptocurrency space is not all that fair. Many other cryptocurrencies and token offerings have closed-door sales that heavily skew the distribution of the tokens to just a few hands, or exclude large portions of the public from participating on a level playing field. To that end, the Metronome team decided that ensuring equal and public access to all auction opportunities was non-negotiable. While it cannot control purchasing power, the Metronome team can put mechanisms in place to ensure equal opportunity.

Therefore, Metronome has no presale, no private sales, no whitelists, no registrations, and no purchase caps (because these would require registration to track purchases, hindering equal access, and acting against Metronome’s ethos). The team cannot possibly over-emphasize how important this principle is for them. To ensure equal, public access to all auction opportunities, the first time anyone will be able to purchase Metronome will be during the Initial Supply Auction.

Without access to presales, whitelisting, private sales, and so forth, everyone has to operate within the same rules when participating in the initial supply auction or daily supply lots: purchase at a given price, or wait for the price to descend. There are no bonuses for buying before others and no closed sales denied to the public. Whether an average cryptocurrency enthusiast, a whale, or a pool of purchasers everyone has to follow the same rules.

The Same Rules for All

The Metronome team has intentionally developed the descending price auction structure with the specific goal of a distributing Metronome at the price that each purchaser deems fair and that the market discovers. The team believes the descending price structure is an effective means by which to discourage whales and other large players from soaking up disproportionate amounts of supply. This is because to get a “higher place in line,” where there is greater supply requires simply purchasing at a higher (potentially above market-) price. Further, ongoing mintage dilutes any potential disproportionate amounts of Metronome purchased.

As far as “gas wars,” the descending price auction requires paying a higher price to get a better “place in line.” It virtually eliminates the economic incentive for gas wars. There is no need to pay a higher gas fee when a purchaser could just pay a higher price and normal gas fee instead. Only when people are vying for the same price does a higher fee matter. This is why the team believes it’s good that the descending price auction reduces price every 60 seconds, making the chance everyone will fight over the same price incredibly low.

Conclusion: The Same Rules in Practice

The Metronome team worked hard to develop a structure it believes is as fair as possible, focused on ensuring no individuals or groups are excluded or privileged. No pre-sales, private sales, registrations, or whitelists mean that everyone has as equal an opportunity as possible for the initial supply auction. The team believes the application of the same rules to all potential and actual auction participants means that no one has an unfair advantage. It discourages purchasing disproportionate amounts of supply, since purchasers would need to purchase above discovered market price and ongoing mintage would dilute potential disproportionate amounts purchased. It also negates the economic incentive for a gas war, since it would make more sense to purchase at a higher rate with a normal fee at a “better place in line” than it would to spend more gas at a lower place in line with lower amounts of supply.

Put simply, everyone has the same rules in the Initial Supply Auction and Daily Supply Lots: purchase or wait.

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More to come,

-The Metronome Team