Wolfram Reimagining DeFi as RealFi

Research & Workshops to redesign DeFi for real-economy (not speculation) that protects our natural environment and supports human dignity.

Our team lead, Leanne Ussher PhD, is a published academic and has taught finance and monetary theory at tertiary institutions for over 17 years. She has publications and research in alternative currencies and is developing new systems for ecosystem accounting and governance.

[IMPACT]

By reframing the purpose of DeFi as RealFi Cardano community members can imagine a better world and then design a financial side to service their ideal real world ecosystem. 

Impact Key Points

1. Three research publications by our lead economist that reimagine the purpose of DeFi

2. Workshops on each research publication from our lead economist

3. Community engagements about this specific research because the power of these ideas does not live inside a research paper but in the culture of the entire community

4. Building off this research, your ideas can turn into new and unique financial projects that use token economics and the Wolfram toolbox. 

Link to Supplemental Information (Text & Visuals): https://wolfr.am/Reimagining-DeFi

Introduction

This project offers workshops that teaches how to design blockchain monetary regimes that promote real economic investment, social justice and environmental protection. 

DeFi holds the promise of access to finance and the creation of prosperity in a distributed manner. One challenge in designing DeFi is to avoid recentralization or reintermediation in order to maintain democratic access and promote participatory governance. Another challenge is to repurpose blockchain based finance (which includes insurance, credit, investment, money, payment and settlement) to become the handmaiden of commerce, in servitude to real economic outcomes through facilitating exchange, investing in productive capital, producing and distributing real goods and services promote innovation, in ways that minimize risk, improve social relations, and are environmentally friendly. 

The proposed workshops offer a reframing of DeFi's economic and social purpose, support Cardano communities in coming up with fresh and compelling token designs and showcase Wolfram Language computational tools that can visualize design models and monitor token ecosystems for better management.

The previous Fund challenge (Boosting Cardano’s Defi – Fund 7), for which this solution was originally proposed, asked the community to provide solutions for “trustless on-demand access to financial services for global users.” We reiterate this proposal in the Misc. Challenge section because there continues to be a lack of imagination around the potential of DeFi when it comes to solving real world problems. 

DeFi is currently focused on creating zero-sum outcomes through speculative gain. But we need to move to financing positive sum initiatives that create real wealth for a global user base, with DeFi solving real world problems. 

Our path forwards takes three parts:

1. Research – topics listed below
2. Workshops – Case study lectures with Q&A
3. Community engagements – empowering the community with the same tools that our lead economist uses

To reimagine DeFi, we offer data visualization, modeling tools and alternative methods for blockchain financial services that re-frame its purpose and support real-side economic activity. By learning about different bespoke monetary regimes that promote social justice and environmental protection, Cardano community members can better design their own token systems. 

Three areas have been chosen as case studies that reframe monetary design and leverage the research team's expertise and Wolfram Language computational tools:

1. Special Purpose Currencies for Matching and Clearing

2. Smart Accounting Systems with Self-Sovereign Data Models

3. Universal Basic Income for New Economic Relations

For details on these case studies see the links below.

Our hardest task will be in engaging the community in a two-way conversation. One of the most important outcomes of this proposal is to empower the community with a new perspective and computational tools for reimagining DeFi.  

Getting community participation in using Wolfram Language modeling tools takes time. While our aim is to make the research here as accessible as possible, those who want to take their expertise to a certification level can earn a Wolfram U – Level 1 Blockchain Certificate. Wolfram computational tools and methods. Hence participants can just watch and follow, they don’t need to implement Wolfram Language tools, keeping the workshop open to everyone who simply wants to see things from a different vantage point.

[FEASIBILITY]

12 month timeline for the execution of all items in the plan, assuming a start on Monday, May 16, 2022.

For each of the three workshops there would be approximately 4 months of set up consisting of 4 phases:

• Recruitment Phase: Community Recruitment for Workshop
• Modeling Phase: Modeling and Coding of Agent-Based Simulations in the Wolfram Language
• Research Phase 3: Write-up of the Agent-Based Simulation in the form of Computational Lecture Notes for the Workshop. These lecture notes will form the basis of the publishable Research papers.
• Workshop Phase : Workshop and Community Engagement within a two month period.

These four phases are repeated 3 times, approximately every four months. More details on this timeline are provided in the links below.

Research presentation at academic conferences and publication of three research papers, based on workshop lecture notes, in academic journals will begin in the last six months. The publications will showcase Cardano blockchain and Cardano community ideas for alternative DeFi design.

More details on the research timeline are provided in the links below.

Team Costs - $38,000 USD (writing, programing, modeling, teaching)

Supplies / Technical Expenses - 5,000 USD (hardware, books and other associated costs)

Marketing / Outreach - 2,000 USD (marketing budget to promote events)

Publication / Travel - 5,000 USD (Conference Registration and Publication Costs)

Leanne Ussher (Economist), Jesus Hernandez (Programmer) and Steph Macurdy (Community Outreach) along with other members mentioned in our team info.

1. Workshop leader (Leanne) offering presentations, teaching materials, designing agent-based models
2. Wolfram Language coder for agent-based models, coding management tools (Jesus)
3. Communications lead, Community and Market Outreach (Steph)

[AUDITABILITY]

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

Completion of three workshop study groups, and follow up community engagement

1. Special Purpose Currencies for Matching and Clearing 
2. Smart Real World Accounting Systems and Self-Sovereign Data Model
3. Universal Basic Income for New Economic Relations

• The number of attendees to the study group sessions. Before and After Evaluation by attendee (1 – 5 ranking).
• The number of attendees at Wolfram Community Engagement events for learning Wolfram Language tools for blockchain.
• Number of Workshop participants that create a Wolfram Cloud project page
• Number of publications that highlight Cardano technologies and its application to DeFi for RealFi.
• Number of Workshop participants that earn a Wolfram Technology Level 1 blockchain certificate.
• Number of Workshop participants that learn how to use an agent-based Wolfram Language model.
• Number of Workshop participants that adopt workshop ideas and develop alternative financial services for the real economy.

The success of "Reimagining DeFi" can be evaluated in a few ways:

1.Study groups on our three topics stimulate participation that helps to educate the community about ideas within finance. Promoting a larger discussion that reconceptualization of the purpose of money, tokens, speculation, real side production, real value added, and the distribution of real gains, is needed.

1. Success would be that the number of people attending each workshop increase over time, if the word spreads that these workshops are interesting.

2.Dissemination of blogs, videos, and research papers that help educate the broader academic economics and finance community about (potential) Cardano use cases of novel DeFi proposals. 

1. Blogs by teacher on the Wolfram Community Board of the WL code, highlighting the Cardano connection.
2. Support for Cardano community to post blogs using WL code on the Wolfram Community Board 

3.Break up the ideological silos: most economists do not understand crypto communities; crypto communities don't understand economists devaluation of crypto; much of this is from not having the same language, concepts, or models of the world. Mathematica is a modeling tool that simplifies computational methods based upon math, statistics, network analysis, database manipulation, simulations, etc. into something that is transparent, accessible, manipulatable, and even easy to understand if it is visualized in the WL with relatively few lines of code. This all makes access, playing around with the data, and understanding the data and the mechanisms easier and intuitive, even with very basic coding skills.

4.Stimulating discussions on blockchain finance that leads to innovative ideas can lead to partnership between experts in the field and community members can offer discussion that lead to areas of alignment, and innovation driven by community needs and feedback.

This project was proposed in Fund 7, where it was approved but not funded. As such, it is not a continuation of a previously funded project.