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Standards

Focus on qualifying and quantifying standards that transform the world for the better.

Standards are a magical thing, cutting across both atoms and bits.

Mantra

The greatest potential value of blockchain to humanity is an immutable single source of truth

Definition​

Protocols and standards are closely related but distinct concepts.

  • Protocols are specific sets of rules for making progress in specific field
  • Standards are formally recognized and widely adopted protocols or specifications

Evolution​

Science discovers what is possible, technology converts that knowledge into know-how while standards set expectations for quality control.

  • The Lindy Effect (Time) and Metcalfe's Law (Adoption)
  • Successful protocols often become standards through industry adoption and formal recognition
  • Standards organizations (e.g., ISO, IEEE, IETF) play a crucial role in formalizing and maintaining protocols as standards
  • Standards ensure interoperability, consistency, and quality across different implementations
  • The standardization process involves rigorous review, testing, and consensus-building among experts and stakeholders

Opportunity​

How can we use Crypto Incentives to drive open permissionless competition to Improve Protocols that form Decentralized OS?

Application​

Standards enable composability and interoperability to enable open innovation at the edges.

Unixification​

Unixification of the Phygital World

  • Principle: "Think unixification - small, purposeful, essentially immutable and then compose more complex solutions from there"
  • The Problem: Attempting to test complex systems all at once leads to unpredictable failures and unclear root causes.
  • The Solution: Break systems into smallest provable units, validate incrementally, compose proven foundations.

Unix Philosophy Applied:

  1. Do one thing well: Each unit tests ONE atomic capability
  2. Composable: Units build on each other (dependency chain)
  3. Immutable: Pure functions with deterministic outputs
  4. Small: ~50 lines per unit test
  5. Provable value: Each unit provides concrete proof

When to Use:

  • Complex generators with multiple responsibilities
  • Systems with dynamic runtime behavior
  • Anything that adapts to unseen inputs
  • Code where "just run the full test" has failed

Red Flags (signals you need unixification):

  • "Let me test the whole thing at once"
  • "I'll run the full test suite"
  • "This should just work"
  • Jumping to integration before proving atoms
  • Unpredictable failures in complex systems

Green Flags (proper unixification thinking):

  • "What's the smallest thing I can prove?"
  • "Can I run this in isolation?"
  • "Does this compose with what I just proved?"
  • "Will this work for input I haven't seen yet?"

Decision Framework: When to Unixify​

Complexity Threshold:

Lines of Code × Branching Factor × Dependencies = Complexity Score

IF Complexity Score > 50
  THEN Apply unixification
  THEN Break into Unit 1→2→3→4→Master

ELSE
  THEN Simple test acceptable

Examples:

  • Generator with dynamic FK analysis: 400 lines, 3 branches, 5 dependencies = 6000 → UNIXIFY
  • Simple utility function: 20 lines, 1 branch, 0 dependencies = 20 → Simple test OK

Time Investment Guideline:

  • Setup cost: ~30 minutes to create 4 unit tests + master
  • Payoff threshold: System complexity where debugging time > 30 minutes
  • ROI calculation: Debug time saved / Setup time = ROI multiplier

When NOT to Unixify:

  • Pure utility functions with single responsibility
  • Code with zero branching logic
  • Systems with no external dependencies
  • Already proven atoms being reused

Scalability​

Standards enable scalability by driving consistency, without consistency improvement is guesswork.

  1. Stable
  2. Consistent
  3. Composable
  4. Interoperable
  5. Reliable

The HTTP standard for example catapulted the internet to ubiquity by creating a uniform way to exchange information.

ISO Standards​

ISO standards are agreed internationally by experts in their field. Some of the most popular standards cover:

  • Innovation: ISO-69315
  • Quality Management: ISO-9001
  • Energy management standards to help cut energy consumption.
  • Environmental management standards to help reduce environmental impacts, reduce waste and be more sustainable.
  • Food safety standards to help prevent food from being contaminated.
  • Health and safety standards to help reduce accidents in the workplace
  • IT Security: IT security standards to help keep sensitive information secure.
  • ISO 9001 Checklist

Crypto Standards​

Regulation happens when good standards fail to evolve.

Newer protocols have an opportunity to establish better standards from inception, while older protocols may need pressure to adapt. Engineer to do more with less, by providing verifiable proof that crypto provides greater capital efficiency through better standards and transparency.

Self-Regulatory Proposals​

Need consensus acrosss protocols ecosytem to drive investor confidence through self-regulatory organization.

  • Industry equivalent to FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority)
  • Self-regulatory efforts could give the industry "a seat at the table" with regulators
  • Voluntary adoption of public company-like disclosure practices by protocols
tip

Eat your own dog food

Financial Reporting Standards​

  • Need for crypto-specific "GAAP accounting" principles
  • Standardized definitions for revenue, costs, and token issuance
  • Regular financial reporting cadence similar to public companies

Investor Protection Standards​

  • Suggestion for crypto equivalent of 10b5-1 plans for scheduled token sales
  • Need for standardized disclosure of conflicts of interest
  • Recommendation for protocols to have dedicated investor relations personnel

Emerging Protocol Practices​

  • Newer protocols beginning to implement standardized disclosures
  • Disclosure of team wallets and allocations
  • Quarterly financial reporting and growth metrics

Related

Financial Standards​

ISO predicts that ISO-20022 will support 80 percent of transaction volumes and 87 percent of transaction value worldwide by 2025.

  • Impact of ISO-20022
  • CESR A periodic rate that measures the average annualized yield awarded to all eligible validators staking ether on the Ethereum blockchain. CESR is derived from new staking rewards emitted from the Ethereum proof of stake blockchain and transaction fees accrued over a one-day observation period.

Web Standards​