Encointer has innovated community currencies with its secure and decentralized sybil-defense protocol, laying the foundation for a brighter future with basic income. Field-tested with several hundred users, this protocol, known as *Encointer LoCo*, has proven its capabilities in pilot communities like the [Leu community in Zurich](https://leu.zuerich).

With new products, Encointer will not only benefit Kusama as a laboratory for personhood and local community currencies. It will benefit Polkadot directly as well:
* The [faucet](https://forum.polkadot.network/t/a-sybil-resistant-faucet-for-all-tokens-in-the-dotsama-ecosystem/2757) will be useful for new token launches, i.e. on Polimec, but also for highly geo-targeted charity
* The [personhood oracle](https://forum.polkadot.network/t/a-privacy-preserving-proof-of-personhood-certificate/2756) will be useful for privacy-preserving sybil-resilience for projects like KILT, subsocial, jur as well as many others
* [BeeDance](https://encointer.org/introducing-beedance/) will foster community engagement at meetups and events everywhere around the world and could become a massively useful tool for Polkadot ambassadors

So far, expenses have mainly been funded by the KSM treasury. Starting with September 2023, the team proposes to be funded by the Polkadot treasury on the grounds that Polkadot and its parachains benefit from new products to be released in the next few months. See [milestones](#Milestones).

Our [recent proposal passed OpenGov on Kusama](https://kusama.subsquare.io/referenda/referendum/212) and will cover expenses for July and Aug 2023. The controversial discussions surrounding the Treasury proposal have led Encointer to draw some important conclusions:
1. There is a pressing need to focus on the global expansion of Encointer communities, indicating a strong interest in reaching wider audiences.
2. The primary reason for pushback was attributed to the limited funds available in the KSM Treasury as the proposal amounted to roughly 3% of currently available funds.

We understand that launching new communities and navigating the complexities of the protocol can be demanding, slowing down widespread adoption. But fear not! We'd like to propose a viable solution: *BeeDance*.

[BeeDance](https://encointer.org/introducing-beedance/) opens up a world of possibilities for event organizers to create their very own Encointer community, whether it's for a single event or a series of regular meetups. With BeeDance, organizers have the freedom to choose the event location and determine the timing that suits them best. The beauty of BeeDance lies in its simplicity and flexibility, making it far easier to launch compared to Encointer LoCo. While it serves as an excellent onboarding tool for LoCo, it also stands strong as a standalone protocol for proof-of-attendance (PoA). Expect more info on BeeDance to be published before [decoded'23](https://decoded.polkadot.network).

## Common Good

Proof-of-personhood will become such a fundamental primitive of our online lives that we suggest to acknowledge it as a basic human right. Therefore we claim it it is imperative to not let a for-profit entity take care of it ([like i.e. worldcoin as a bad example](https://twitter.com/brenzi5/status/1668224317874745344)).

[Inclusivity in web3](https://polkadot.network/blog/introducing-encointer-making-web3-truly-inclusive), too, is a common good for the entire Dotsam ecosystem as it helps onboarding the long tail of the wealth distribution: A market that should not be underestimated.

As Encointer's offerings are non-excludable and aiming to be non-rivalrous, there can't be a business case here which would offer an ROI to investors (into Encointer). However, the Encointer protocol adds value to the ecosystem as a whole which will inevitably cause buy pressure to DOT/KSM.

## Milestones

* **July '23** deploy [Encointer Faucet](https://forum.polkadot.network/t/a-sybil-resistant-faucet-for-all-tokens-in-the-dotsama-ecosystem/2757), enabling all reputables of Encointer LoCo to drip a tiny amount of KSM (to be followed by any tokens through XCM)
* **Aug '23** deploy the privacy-preserving [Encointer personhood oracle](https://forum.polkadot.network/t/a-privacy-preserving-proof-of-personhood-certificate/2756) for the nostr protocol, showcasing sybil-free social media public channels. To be followed by integrations with KILT and subsocial.
* **Q4'23** PoC demo for [BeeDance](https://encointer.org/introducing-beedance/) on our testnet with a beta mobile app, involving a social event of at least 30 people.

## Treasury Spend

We propose a treasury spend of **423'000 CHF (approx. 469'953 USD) = 99’672 DOT** for Encointer's expenses for 4 months (Sept-Dec 2023)

Please read our [detailed proposal](https://docs.google.com/document/d/14qJE7F4A22-FjdSpFQc9A7oMjP31afRlLaAJzwNHbKY/edit?usp=sharing) which is consistent with our [previous split proposal on Kusama](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lUVpmTjE81_rwBR38H80rSiwYd3eoPZHE6TGykwlsSo/edit#heading=h.9wh3bye3nvqm) 



Encointer Treasury Proposal

In our recent <a href="../referenda/33">referendum 33</a>, DOT holders decided against funding Encointer&rsquo;s current burn rate of 100kCHF/mt (1.5% of current treasury influx). Nevertheless, Encointer is deemed a valuable common good for the Dotsama ecosystem by many reputable individuals and projects in the Dotsama ecosystem.&nbsp;
With this adapted proposal we are budgeting with a 50% lower burn rate and aim to still achieve valuable goals similar to the ones described in the previous proposal on a relaxed timescale.
This proposal to the Polkadot Treasury shall cover our expenses for Sep-Dec 2023 (4mt)
The amount of the proposed spend is CHF 238&rsquo;000 = USD 270&rsquo;606 = 59'895 DOT 
Please read our new&nbsp; <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1685yQrxkce_U3p0umdEMYQR_8dHo2ipp3bKS3tOKemE/edit?usp=sharing">detailed proposal document</a>
<h3>Summary of Planned Actions</h3>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal;">
<li>Rampdown to half budget</li>
<li>Experiment with more scalable approaches within the personhood trilemma design space, leveraging the primitives we already built</li>
<li>Field test the new <a href="https://twitter.com/TheKusamarian/status/1689838297357434881">Encointer Faucet</a> as additional benefit of participation and onramp to KSM</li>
<li>Integrations with KILT, Polkassembly and possibly others</li>
</ol>
<img src="https://ibb.co/4WFn0dH" alt="" width="NaN" height="NaN" /><img src="https://i.ibb.co/b16MGJk/image.png" alt="" width="702" height="417" />
&nbsp;

Encointer Treasury Proposal (budget halving)

Encointer is a platfrom for self-sovereign identity and local community currencies with self-issued universal basic income. 
The fundament of Encointer is its [unique-proof-of-personhood protocol](https://book.encointer.org/protocol.html) which leverages the fact that a human can only be in one place at one time. 
Employing physical concurrent pseudonym key-signing parties, Encointer aims to bring self-sovereign identity with [strong guarantees](https://book.encointer.org/protocol-threat-model.html) to Polkadot.

What Encointer SSI will enable for the Polkadot Ecosystem:
  * one-person-one-vote governance schemes
  * sybil-attack prevention for various use cases (faucets, airdrops, social media)
  * proof-of-location: We can learn in what region people are at the time of Encointer ceremonies because their physical presence is attested by other humans.
  * selective disclosure of verifyable credentials thanks to trusted execution environments (TEEs) (built on SubstraTEE)
  
The current status of Encointer is a functional prototype with two live testnets: Gesell and Cantillon. Our [bot communities are constantly actively testing](https://explorer.encointer.org/). Cantillon development has been funded with a web3 grant which has been delivered in July.

https://book.encointer.org/testnets.html

Moreover, we developed a mobile phone app based on polkawallet.io for the purpose of participating at Encointer Ceremonies and as a wallet for Encointer local currencies. Showcase:

https://youtu.be/tcgpCCYBqko

Encointer is now actively planning pilot projects with NGO's targeting local communities in developing nations where many people have neither a state-issued ID document nor a bank account - but do have a mobile phone. 
We aim at furthering financial inclusion and improving on equal opportunity for all humans. Encointer is a non-profit Swiss association.

Read our primer article: https://medium.com/@funny_mango_mouse_595/towards-a-decentralized-global-universal-basic-income-995651b2ceb6

Encointer requests funding from the Polkadot treasury to:

  1. Integrate testnet Gesell with Rococo as a parachain (local testnet first, then Rococo as soon as it allows new parachains (currently there's a freeze))
  2. Demonstrate SSI authentication on a second parachain (i.e. subsocial) through HRMP (the most simple claim being that certain AccountId has attended the last N subsequent ceremonies and therefore can claim this only for one account). Encointer is the ISSUER of that claim, the other parachain is the VERIFYER in need for sybil-attack prevention, the account holder being the SUBJECT.
  3. Participate in first Kusama slot auction with a Gesell-style parachain (transparent, pure substrate pallets) and set up crowdfunding
  4. Participate in first Polkadot slot auction with a Cantillon-style parachain (SubstraTEE-based, privacy-enhanced and [scalable](https://github.com/w3f/General-Grants-Program/pull/323) with [sharding](https://www.substratee.com/sharding.html)) and set up crowdfunding

This proposal also covers the following maintenance expenditures:
  * infrastructure: servers for validators and other services
  * substrate dependency upgrade to 2.0.0 once released (thereby upgrading [substrate-api-client](https://github.com/scs/substrate-api-client) and [SubstraTEE](https://www.substratee.com) at the same time which are currently on alpha.7)

Assuming the current DOT valuation of ~6$ we would commit to deliver the above for 7000 DOT (bond: 350 DOT)

Disclosure: The "Encointer Testnet Cantillon" web3 grant is currently the associations only capital and is paid in vested DOTs, which means the association lacks 
liquidity to pay developers. We can't access the recent gains on DOT valuation which we will gladly contribute to further development entirely as soon as they become transferrable. 
We are a [non-profit association](https://encointer.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Statuten-encointer-20200229-english-translation.pdf) and will spend all funds on furthering the associations' goals. No risk of overpaying this proposal.

Our submitted proposal: https://polkadot.polkassembly.io/treasury/9

Treasury Proposal: Encointer Self-Sovereign Identity Parachain for Polkadot

please see https://polkadot.polkassembly.io/post/52 for the full description of our proposal

In our recent <a href="33">referendum 33</a>, DOT holders decided against funding Encointer&rsquo;s current burn rate of 100kCHF/mt (1.5% of current treasury influx). Nevertheless, Encointer is deemed a valuable common good for the Dotsama ecosystem by many reputable individuals and projects in the Dotsama ecosystem.&nbsp;
With this adapted proposal we are budgeting with a 50% lower burn rate and aim to still achieve valuable goals similar to the ones described in the previous proposal on a relaxed timescale.
This proposal to the Polkadot Treasury shall cover our expenses for Sep-Dec 2023 (4mt)
The amount of the proposed spend is CHF 238&rsquo;000 = USD 270&rsquo;606 = 59'895 DOT 
Please read our new&nbsp; <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1685yQrxkce_U3p0umdEMYQR_8dHo2ipp3bKS3tOKemE/edit?usp=sharing">detailed proposal document</a>
<h3>Summary of Planned Actions</h3>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal;">
<li>Rampdown to half budget</li>
<li>Experiment with more scalable approaches within the personhood trilemma design space, leveraging the primitives we already built</li>
<li>Field test the new <a href="https://twitter.com/TheKusamarian/status/1689838297357434881">Encointer Faucet</a> as additional benefit of participation and onramp to KSM</li>
<li>Integrations with KILT, Polkassembly and possibly others</li>
</ol>
<img src="https://ibb.co/4WFn0dH" alt="" width="NaN" height="NaN" /><img src="https://i.ibb.co/b16MGJk/image.png" alt="" width="702" height="417" />
AAG appearances for this proposal: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LwK6FyhrGE&amp;t=5237s">AAG59</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEghyN080LE&amp;t=5552s">AAG57</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/TheKusamarian/status/1689838297357434881">AAG55</a>,&nbsp; 
We encourage voters to use encoding of their reasons into the voting amount as proposed&nbsp;<a href="https://forum.polkadot.network/t/how-voters-can-signal-more-than-aye-nay-today/3512">here</a>

Encointer has innovated community currencies with its secure and decentralized sybil-defense protocol, laying the foundation for a brighter future with basic income. Field-tested with several hundred users, this protocol, known as *Encointer LoCo*, has proven its capabilities in pilot communities like the [Leu community in Zurich](https://leu.zuerich).

With new products, Encointer will not only benefit Kusama as a laboratory for personhood and local community currencies. It will benefit Polkadot directly as well:
* The [faucet](https://forum.polkadot.network/t/a-sybil-resistant-faucet-for-all-tokens-in-the-dotsama-ecosystem/2757) will be useful for new token launches, i.e. on Polimec, but also for highly geo-targeted charity
* The [personhood oracle](https://forum.polkadot.network/t/a-privacy-preserving-proof-of-personhood-certificate/2756) will be useful for privacy-preserving sybil-resilience for projects like KILT, frequency/MeWe, subsocial, jur, Saturn as well as many others
* [BeeDance](https://encointer.org/introducing-beedance/) will foster community engagement at meetups and events everywhere around the world and could become a massively useful tool for Polkadot ambassadors

So far, expenses have mainly been funded by the KSM treasury. Starting with September 2023, the team proposes to be funded by the Polkadot treasury on the grounds that Polkadot and its parachains benefit from new products to be released in the next few months. See [milestones](#Milestones).

Our [recent proposal passed OpenGov on Kusama](https://kusama.subsquare.io/referenda/referendum/212) and will cover expenses for July and Aug 2023. The controversial discussions surrounding the Treasury proposal have led Encointer to draw some important conclusions:
1. There is a pressing need to focus on the global expansion of Encointer communities, indicating a strong interest in reaching wider audiences.
2. The primary reason for pushback was attributed to the limited funds available in the KSM Treasury as the proposal amounted to roughly 3% of currently available funds.

We understand that launching new communities and navigating the complexities of the protocol can be demanding, slowing down widespread adoption. But fear not! We'd like to propose a viable solution: *BeeDance*.

[BeeDance](https://encointer.org/introducing-beedance/) opens up a world of possibilities for event organizers to create their very own Encointer community, whether it's for a single event or a series of regular meetups. With BeeDance, organizers have the freedom to choose the event location and determine the timing that suits them best. The beauty of BeeDance lies in its simplicity and flexibility, making it far easier to launch compared to Encointer LoCo. While it serves as an excellent onboarding tool for LoCo, it also stands strong as a standalone protocol for proof-of-attendance (PoA). Expect more info on BeeDance to be published before [decoded'23](https://decoded.polkadot.network).

## Common Good

Proof-of-personhood will become such a fundamental primitive of our online lives that we suggest to acknowledge it as a basic human right. Therefore we claim it it is imperative to not let a for-profit entity take care of it ([like i.e. worldcoin as a bad example](https://twitter.com/brenzi5/status/1668224317874745344)).

[Inclusivity in web3](https://polkadot.network/blog/introducing-encointer-making-web3-truly-inclusive), too, is a common good for the entire Dotsam ecosystem as it helps onboarding the long tail of the wealth distribution: A market that should not be underestimated.

As Encointer's offerings are non-excludable and aiming to be non-rivalrous, there can't be a business case here which would offer an ROI to investors (into Encointer). However, the Encointer protocol adds value to the ecosystem as a whole which will inevitably cause buy pressure to DOT/KSM.

## Milestones

* **July '23** deploy [Encointer Faucet](https://forum.polkadot.network/t/a-sybil-resistant-faucet-for-all-tokens-in-the-dotsama-ecosystem/2757), enabling all reputables of Encointer LoCo to drip a tiny amount of KSM (to be followed by any tokens through XCM)
* **Aug '23** deploy the privacy-preserving [Encointer personhood oracle](https://forum.polkadot.network/t/a-privacy-preserving-proof-of-personhood-certificate/2756) for the nostr protocol, showcasing sybil-free social media public channels. To be followed by integrations with KILT and subsocial.
* **Q4'23** PoC demo for [BeeDance](https://encointer.org/introducing-beedance/) on our testnet with a beta mobile app, involving a social event of at least 30 people.

## Treasury Spend

We propose a treasury spend of **423'000 CHF (approx. 469'953 USD) = 99’672 DOT** for Encointer's expenses for 4 months (Sept-Dec 2023)

Please read our [detailed proposal](https://docs.google.com/document/d/14qJE7F4A22-FjdSpFQc9A7oMjP31afRlLaAJzwNHbKY/edit?usp=sharing) which is consistent with our [previous split proposal on Kusama](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lUVpmTjE81_rwBR38H80rSiwYd3eoPZHE6TGykwlsSo/edit#heading=h.9wh3bye3nvqm) 

