Returning to Functioning, Decentralized Cryptocurrencies from the Start
When developing Metronome, the team took inventory of the current cryptocurrency landscape. Many different tokens and cryptocurrencies attempt to solve problems in the space. The team wanted to take the best aspects from all of these cryptocurrencies and design Metronome to be the cryptocurrency that one would build with a blank slate.
A cryptocurrency to act like a currency, from the very start
Many new cryptocurrencies today actually are utility tokens that power a captive, native platform–they are not useful outside of that platform. Further, many of these platforms are not fully developed upon the launch of token generation events. The Metronome team wanted to do better.
Firstly, Metronome will be functional on launch. Authors intend on staying active in the community and the wider community is encouraged to keep developing new contracts to support new chains. But again, Metronome will not just be an idea, pitch, or unfinished entity at launch — it will be a functioning cryptocurrency.
Secondly, Metronome has been designed to incorporate the best features and lessons learned from other cryptocurrencies. It is a cryptocurrency, that is its only intended use case — making it easy to use and offering advanced payment solutions is vital to Metronome’s vision.
The team made a cryptocurrency to act like a currency, nothing more or less, and this is an oddly novel departure from the current cryptocurrency scene. Metronome is provably scarce on a daily basis, has ongoing mintage to encourage its use, and is cryptographically secure. Put simply, Metronome is intentionally designed to function as a currency.
No Undue Founder Influence, Only Owners
The current cryptocurrency landscape is not all that decentralized when it comes to continued development. Typically, foundations are set up to create and pay out developer bounties, making the vision and development of the new cryptocurrencies incredibly centralized. The Metronome team believes that cryptocurrencies should not only outlast their creators, but that should be one of the primary goals. Successful cryptocurrencies should be egalitarian, defined by their community and users, not a foundation or a small group.
To that end, the proceeds from the Initial Supply Auction and all subsequent Daily Supply Lots will not fund some distant foundation, but rather go into the Metronome ecosystem directly via the Proceeds contract. The Proceeds contract sends a portion of its contents to the Autonomous Converter Contract on a daily basis, where the Metronome community can sell their Metronome for ETH, or can sell ETH for Metronome. Depending on the performance of the daily auctions, the team expects the majority of the proceeds from the Initial Supply Auction will flow through the contracts over the course of 2–4 years.
But why do this?
The ecosystem’s contract behavior acts as economic maintenance. The team believes this will help incubate Metronome over the course of its first years, without a foundation. Like the lessons learned from Bitcoin and Litecoin, communities cannot really bootstrap decentralized financial products with the assumption that a software company will control all leadership and development (because that would be centralized). The point of Metronome is to have a self-governed cryptocurrency, not create dependencies.
While Metronome authors created this new cryptocurrency, the task of continuing to define it is on its community and owners.
Conclusion
Metronome is a cryptocurrency designed to act as a currency. It will be functional at launch and completely open-sourced. In the interest of keeping Metronome free of centralized dependencies, the Metronome team intentionally chose not to use proceeds to fund a foundation. Rather, these proceeds stay in the ecosystem to maintain its economy and help incubate ongoing, community-driven development.
Keep the conversation going on the Metronome Telegram and its subreddit. Follow the latest news on Twitter.
More to come,
-The Metronome Team
