The internal unit of account of the Earthlings people
This document describes the purpose of the unit of account and the rules for handling it. Where they diverge, the Charter applies; where the Charter diverges from the Declaration, the Declaration applies. The procedure for managing common funds is set out in the document Earthlings Treasury and is not repeated here.
This document is not an offer, promises no listing or growth in value, and does not replace legal documents.
Earthlings Coin (EC) is the internal unit of account of the Earthlings people. Its task is narrow and plain: to make a participant's contribution measurable, and internal services and common funds distributable without intermediaries.
EC does not solve the tasks that state money solves and does not try to replace it. It exists inside the people's ecosystem and serves it.
This is the main thing in the design, and everything else follows from it.
Identity - the non-transferable passport. It confirms that a participant is a living human being and that there is only one of them.
The vote - it follows from participant status. One person, one vote.
The economy - the unit of account. It reflects contribution and pays for services.
These three axes are deliberately separated. Identity does not depend on economic contribution. The vote depends neither on identity beyond the fact that it exists, nor on the number of units in an account. Accumulating EC turns neither into control over other people nor into an advantage in taking decisions.
This is the most important section of the document.
It does not buy a vote. Holding any quantity of EC does not increase a participant's weight in decisions. Voting is built on the principle of "one person, one vote", tied to the passport and not to a balance. This is fixed as an unamendable principle in Article 37 of the Charter and is repealed by no majority.
It does not open access to participation. Neither the right to vote, nor the right to submit proposals, nor participation in Cells, nor the resolution of a dispute requires holding EC, locking it, or pledging it. Having no EC restricts a participant in no way.
It is not an investment product. No promises of future value, dividends, a share of income, or guaranteed liquidity are given, and none can be.
It is not credited for entry. Neither entering the people, nor the membership contribution, nor undergoing identity verification creates or credits EC by itself.
It is not wages. The Earthlings people is not an employer, and crediting EC creates no employment relationship. Whether a particular arrangement is recognized as an employment relationship is determined by the legislation of the participant's country, not by this document.
Only for confirmed contribution: work in Cells, development, research, teaching, the creation of materials, and other results recognized by DAO procedures.
The size of a reward is determined by DAO procedures and is tied to the result, not to the time spent. Who received what and for what is recorded publicly.
External capital by itself gives no advantage in receiving EC: participation counts for more than the sum a person arrived with.
Access to ecosystem services - computing resources, storage, analytical and supporting tools.
Reward for work in Cells and projects.
Funding of initiatives from earmarked funds, allocated under the Treasury rules.
Specific tariffs and reward amounts are set by decisions of the DAO and published separately. They are not given in this document: until the total volume of issuance is determined, any tariff figure carries no meaning.
Internal use of EC is not a preparatory stage before an exchange but a self-standing layer of the economy of participation. Even without an external price the unit makes sense, provided real services and real work are created within the people.
Principles that do not change:
Areas of distribution: infrastructure development and security; funds for Cells and initiatives; rewards to participants for contribution; programmes with universities and non-profit and research organizations; maintaining the availability of the unit, if and when it comes into being.
Numerical parameters - the volume of issuance, the shares, the unlock periods - are not determined as of today. They are approved by the DAO Assembly and published before distributions begin. Until then, any figures given on behalf of the project or by anyone else are unreliable.
The parameters of the unit are changed only by decisions of the DAO Assembly, publicly recorded.
Technical safeguards:
Requirements for disclosing information about signatories are determined by the Assembly when they are elected. Wallet addresses and declarations of conflict of interest are published in any event.
The contract is not deployed. The unit of account exists as a design: the economy of participation is kept in internal accounts, there is no issuance, no circulation, and no market price.
There is no trading. The unit is traded nowhere, is listed on no venue, and is not being prepared for listing.
The total volume of issuance is not determined.
Everything described above is the target design, not a state that has been reached. Contract addresses, links for verifying the code, and audit results will be published before any activity with the unit begins.
This question is asked more often than any other, so the answer is stated plainly and in full.
Today there is no trading, and none is contemplated for the foreseeable future: the unit serves internal turnover.
In the future exchange availability is possible, if the ecosystem grows and it is warranted - but it is not promised, not guaranteed, and not an aim of the design. The decision to list is taken by independent venues and regulators, not by the Earthlings people.
If such availability appears, it will mean the possibility of exchanging the unit, not an investment offering and not a sale of governance rights. Votes are not sold and do not depend on a balance under any course of events. Listing is possible only in compliance with the customer-identification and anti-money-laundering requirements applying to the venue concerned; going to market around those requirements is not contemplated.
The people conducts no speculative trading and raises no speculative investment. Growth in value is neither an aim, nor a promise, nor a measure of success. Success is measured by whether the unit helps coordinate real work.
Separately on reserves. The unit of account is not part of the Treasury's reserves and is not backing. The stability of common funds cannot depend on the value of what the people itself issues (see the Treasury, Article 24).
Named here are the risks that are real, not those it is customary to list.
Errors in the code. Vulnerabilities in smart contracts may lead to the loss of funds. Reduced by independent audits before launch, a vulnerability disclosure programme, delays on critical operations, and the possibility of emergency suspension.
Change of regulation. The legal status of digital assets is changing, and in some jurisdictions circulation may be restricted or prohibited. Reduced by the utility purpose of the unit, the absence of investment promises, and legal monitoring.
Absence of liquidity. It may be impossible to exchange the unit for anything outside the ecosystem - including permanently. This is a designed-in property of the current stage, not a failure.
Volatility, if liquidity appears. Sharp price swings in the first months of circulation are usual, and there is no protection against them.
Insufficient growth of the ecosystem. If participants remain few, the usefulness of the unit will be limited regardless of the quality of its design.
Compromise of the multisignature. Seizing a majority of the keys gives control over operations. Reduced by the signatories being public, rotation, delays, and hardware wallets.
User error. Loss of keys and transfers to a wrong address are irreversible.
Tax consequences. Receiving EC may create a tax obligation. This document is not tax advice; the question is settled by the participant themselves under the legislation of their country.
Before public launch: an independent audit of the smart contracts by at least two different teams, publication of the reports and of the remediation plan, a public vulnerability disclosure programme.
Specific auditors have not been chosen and no negotiations have been held: naming them before that would be a promise made at someone else's expense.
On an ongoing basis: monitoring of critical contracts, logging and alerts; multi-level authorization and delays on critical actions; the possibility of temporary suspension solely to protect the system, with a public report and subsequent confirmation by the Assembly.
In the event of an incident: containment and protective measures, public notification, remediation and re-verification, a public analysis of the causes and the conclusions drawn.
The smart-contract code is published under an open licence and can be verified in a blockchain explorer.
Earthlings Coin is designed as a utility unit, not as a security, a means of payment, or a stablecoin: it gives access to services, promises no income, provides for no dividends, and distributes no profit.
Before the contract is deployed, an assessment is made of whether the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA, Regulation (EU) 2023/1114) and other relevant regimes apply; the result is published. Depending on the outcome, restrictions may be introduced for residents of particular jurisdictions - including a complete prohibition where the law or sanctions regimes require it.
Identification and anti-money-laundering. The holders of the unit are confirmed participants of the people who have passed identity verification; the unit does not contemplate anonymous circulation. Records of operations are held in a distributed ledger in pseudonymous form, and identity verification is carried out off-chain by the people's own system, which retains no raw biometric data and no scans of documents - see the Biometric Verification Policy. In any external circulation of the unit, the applicable AML/CFT requirements and customer-identification rules are observed to the extent prescribed by the jurisdiction of the venue concerned.
Before launch there will be published: terms of use, terms for handling the unit, and a personal data processing policy. The rules of governance are contained in the Charter.
The project intends to obtain opinions from qualified lawyers in key jurisdictions before launch. The list of jurisdictions and of those engaged will be named when the arrangements have been made, not in advance.
This text is for information and is not legal, financial, or investment advice.