What Could Blockchain do for Community Networks
| Autor | Panayotis Antoniadis - Jens Martignoni |
| Páginas | 223-248 |
10 What Could Blockchain do for
Community Networks
Panayotis Antoniadis and Jens Martignoni
Abstract
Acknowledgements
The Community Network Manual:
How to Build the Internet Yourself
10.1 Introduction
et al
et al
theirtheir
The following are four different documents released all toward the end of 2017:
docs/20171121/Ammbr_Whitepaper_v2.3_21Nov2017.pdf>,
plan-b-ethereum-innovators-reviving-fight-net-neutrality/>,
iungo-network-whitepaper.pdf>,
improving-global-digital-inclusion-with-tokenized-mesh-networks/>.
exchange circles;
i.e
See .
See for example Amato & Fantacci (2012).
See chapter 9 of this book.
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See Antonopoulos (2014) and Hsieh (2018) for a comprehensive introduction to Blockchain and
Scott (2016) for an insightful critical perspective, while Wüst & Gervais (2017) and Koens and Poll
(2017) provide an analysis with introductory elements of the reasons why (or not) blockchain
might be suitable for different case studies.
The reason is that when the energy demands increase it is only large players can efficiently
“mine” the cryptocurrency
The value of the token tend to increase as the cost of their mining increases, which results in huge
profit margins for the “early adopters”
See, Donati and Klaus (2017), Segú (2017), and Wachsmuth (2018), among others. Also
fairbnb.ca/>.
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et al
et al
10.2 A community network as a participant in a wider
community currency
et al
10.2.1 Services provided by the community network
1.
2.
3.
4.
See Crabu et al. (2017) and Navarro et al. (2018).
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5.
6.
10.2.2 Services consumed by the community networks
10.2.3 Balance of the local economy
See WNDW (2013:349); Crabu et al. (2017) and Navarro et al. (2018).
et al.
10.2.4 Challenges
et al.
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10.3 A community network democratically managing its
own local community currency
1.
2.
3.
4.
10.3.1 Services provided and consumed by the community
network and its members
e.g
e.g.
LETS (Local Exchange and Trading System) founded in the 80s in Canada was one of the first
approaches reinventing the mutual credit scheme after WW-II.
For other more traditional community currencies like LETS, similar arguments would hold.
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10.3.2 Implementation issues
In an interview included in COOK (2015).
i.e.
Juergen Neumann, co-founder of Freifunk and Iris Rabener, member of the board of Förderverein
Freie Netzwerke e. V., Berlin, Germany.
Interview by Jens Martignoni, 29.03.2017.
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e.g
10.3.3 Balance of the local economy
See .
See .
et al.,
See B4RN Business plan at p.22
Business-Plan-v5-2.pdf>.
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10.3.4 Challenges and next steps
The District Currency simulation game (Martignoni, 2018) is an effort to educate people on the
nature of money and the possible alternatives for currencies that help communities to build local
economies that promote the commons.
239
members nevertheless has to be on a high level. If the CN is already
a co-operative, like for example B4RN (Broadband for the Rural
North) then an easier adaptation should be possible.
10.4 A CN implementing a blockchain solution
During the last two years, a very fast and disruptive process of
new cryptocurrency creation has started and it appears that, on
a weekly basis, another white paper goes online describing a new
solution to an old problem, raising millions of EUR through the so-
called Initial Coin Offerings, without any proper evaluation of the
feasibility of the proposed solution.
The increasing hype around the use of blockchain and distributed
ledgers for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and
numerous others has led to more ambitious efforts in this area, and
only recently some specific solutions for networks are appearing also.
10.4.1 The case of Ammbr
Perhaps the most interesting approach for the CN ecosystem is
Ammbr257, whose vision is to build “the world’s largest decentralised,
community-distributed, telecommunications network based on
blockchain technology”. The fact that it is supported by two of
the most important European CNs, guifi.net and ninux.org, and not
supported by many others, will likely generate debates among CN
researchers and activists and play a key role in the development of
blockchain-based solutions for CNs.
Current information on the approach of Ammbr is based on a
white paper.258 The paper was released in the context of an Initial
Coin Offering (ICO), which on the way was cancelled since enough
investments were secured through other means and the offering
was deemed redundant, and since then the company, as explained
by its CEO Derick Smith, “decided to go dark on our development,
primarily because of the tendency for plagiarism by startups keen
on participating in the ICO feeding frenzy”.259
257 See
258 See .
259 See .
10 What could Blockchain do for Community Networks
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See the main document linked in Ammbr’s home page .
See the Ammbr Whitepaper, at p.18.
See the Ammbr Whitepaper, at p.21.
Ammbr is an ERC-20 currency, and was recently listed in the coinsuper exchange, which was
unsuccessful, since according to coinsuper a “total of 40.901389127132ETH was liquidated and
withdrawn to a known Ethereum address.” by a hacker.
R.”
Figure 1:
Share WiFi with the neighbours and the community. Get paid. [...]
Ammbr is designed to extend the Internet, and its benefits, to these people
using viral profit motives.
See e.g., Antoniadis et al. (2003) and Efstathiou et al. (2006).
See .
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which have the
potential to cannibalise the incentives for engagement in the
Community Network activities and needs.
10.4.2 Other cryptocurrencies
Ethereum or its cryptocurrency Ether are widely used as a transfer between newly issued tokens
or small cryptocurrencies and fiat or national currency due to the fact that Ether is worldwide
known, available, accepted and has broad technical abilities but is less speculative and volatile
than Bitcoin.
Freifunk.net has proven that in many cases people are willing to freely share their Internet
connectivity as long as they can protect their own use, which is a form of sharing that does need
any form of accounting and identification.
Browsing the Ammbr’s Telegram group @ammbrICO, one can see very clearly that many of the
participants are engaged more for the prospect of easy profits than for supporting an alternative
way to provide connectivity.
See a recent analysis of different cryptocurrencies by Dean Bubley (AMMBR’s advisor), which
resonates with many of the points we make in this article
ch/2018/01/update-telecom-network-cryptocurrencies.html>.
See
whitepaper.pdf>.
See
See
See Idem.
See
truly-decentralized-internet-sharing-network/>.
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10.5 Conclusion: solving the right problem
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10.6 References
See .
The project is described in chapter 4 and can be explored at .
See .
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International Journal of Community Currency Research
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