The Format #052
The structure of culture, airdropping for agents and coins... unlimited coins.
Happy Friday! 🌞
Today we’ll be looking at:
What is the endgame for culture? 😎
Why funding flowing = ecosystems growing 🚿
The economics behind connections 💜
The power of the shared context layer, owned by the users 😍
Anyway let’s jump in…
The Cultural Operating System
When we hear the term ‘hive mind’, most would instantly picture some dystopian sci-fi scene… sadly the media has portrayed the concept of the hive mind in a certain way.
But if we move away from the phrase itself and instead call it a ‘shared memory’ or ‘shared context layer’, it starts to sound much more human and useful.
So what would a world where we (or our agents) could each tap into this shared memory look like? What technology would we need to get there?
These are questions we’ve been deliberating on at Open Format for quite a few months now, questions that are explored in this article, and questions that if answered could allow us to create a Culture OS (or Community OS as we like to call it).
So how do we get there? Well… we think this comes by bringing together blockchain and AI in the right way.
When building on the blockchain something is created that can openly be seen, remembered, referenced, built upon and directly owned.
When building with AI it can generate images, songs, content and software in seconds by pulling from a shared intelligence, but it’s very hard to tell who was actually involved in this creation, and therefore who owns the generated product.
If more things were built and stored onchain, it would become easier and easier to see the threads, the influence and the patterns between the data. To create a shared memory layer. A layer that anyone can built on top of. Additive innovation.
Plus, if you do this with the right structure: an open format (name drop 👀…), the shared context layer that gets built by everyone, would benefit everyone, not just the AI company who built it.
rethinking digital value: micro-economies and community-centric tokens
For quite some time we’ve been discussing how we see communities evolving into the digital economies of the future.
How this is a radically different way to approach how value is exchanged online and how this uniquely captures all the value in the gaps.
That’s what this article is all about.
It beautifully captures why community-centric economies are so important. We’re building the tools to make this future possible.
I’m not even going to try to capture all the incredible insights in this piece, it absolutely should stand for itself. So please read it, it’s a different but very compelling way to look at the future of the economy.
micro-economies built around individual creators and communities offer a radical alternative. in this paradigm:
economic value is directly tied to social value and genuine contribution
community participation becomes an economic act
speculation is balanced with utility
long-term alignment is built into the system's architecture
by creating economies at the community level rather than the platform level, we can create systems that more accurately reflect the genuine value being created and exchanged.
When Money Flows, Builders Thrive
Imagine if builders adding real value to a project, community or ecosystem never had to slam the brakes on their momentum just to scramble for the next grant round.
What if funding dripped in—silently, continuously, fairly—keeping the teams who deserve it, the teams making meaningful contributions, deep in flow.
That’s exactly what this podcast explores: how to replace the two-week “attention-battle-royale” of traditional grants with an always-on money stream—a protocol that moves value as steadily as code commits, value is created and contributions are made.
A one-off grant either congratulates past work or the promise of future work; streaming funds commit to what’s still unfolding, as it does, giving room for wild, low-risk experiments that might otherwise die in the stagnation of fund finding.
Why does this matter? Because the noise of the attention economy has shifted incentives away from value creation. Builders become broadcasters, spending precious cycles marketing instead of making. With continuous funding, builders ship when it’s ready and talk when it helps.
In short, a money stream isn’t just a nicer way to pay people—it’s the missing infrastructure for a healthier and more sustainable builder ecosystem. Turn the tap on, keep it flowing for those who deserve it, and watch what happens when creative momentum never has to stop for gas.
As Dr Nick beautifully puts the current experience in his Factory DAO Telegram Chat:
Going into a system knowing full well you’re the outstanding project in the stack by a clear margin and failing because token holders got scammed by a TikTok. Is.. well it’s DAOs.
If anyone has any connections with chains or projects who have grants programmes and want to improve their capital allocation, then please let us know, we’d love to help them out!
Other articles + videos we’ve found interesting this week…
To Coin or Not to Coin → What happens when everything becomes a token? A question Zora seem to have attempted to answer with the launch of their content coins: every single post, photo or video can be turned into a coin. Some say this is pure over-commodification, but creators are making money. No ads needed.
AI-Forward Doesn’t Mean AI-Fluent → AI has disproportionately accelerated the individuals who have fully embraced it. Many companies have been integrating AI into their products i.e. ‘AI-forward’, but very few are fully leveraging it within their companies operations: ‘AI-fluent’.
This made us realise that we’re still underindexing on AI. Changes needed.
OpenAI is Not God → This documentary provides a deepdive into the DeepSeek phenomenon we saw unfold earlier this year. Showcasing that in the race for AGI scrappy and resourceful can compete with the billions of $$$ being injected by VC’s into the American market.
Build cool shit on open data → Memory and the ‘user context layer’ are becoming increasingly important as the quality of our digital identity has a larger impact on the personalisation of our online experience. If this memory-layer is owned by individual companies, a great experience comes at the cost of complete platform lock in. If the user owns this layer, they have the power (to move).
Cohort Futures → “If communities are spaces for belonging, cohorts are spaces for becoming.”
This piece explores the relationships between the digital cohort and community and the immense power both can provide in a post-social media era. Importantly they both offer a place to form trusted connections, just the meaning and context of these connections differ slightly.
All about Airdrops → Airdrops are an incredibly important mechanism in web3 and incentive design. They offer a flexible way to reward for past actions and incentivise future behaviour. This podcast is a 101 on all things airdrops, including how they might work in the age of agents… very interesting.
What we’ve been up to…
It’s been another action-packed 2 weeks!!
Andy wrote an AWESOME update on the ways we are helping communities with coordination and rewards right now, the key theme: recommendations.
Sarah and Bruce have had a wild few days over in Dubai at TOKEN2049 including an interview which got Sarah on TV!!
I joined Turbo on Xwitter for their 2nd Birthday Party to chat about how we are helping their community. You can check out the highlights here.
We’ve all been hard at work as part of the Outlier Ventures Post Web Accelerator and we’ve made some serious progress on our roadmap and token strategy
Our partnership with Aurora was shared on Rainbow Bridge, exciting
That’s all for this week.
Have a great weekend, Dan and the OPENFORMAT team 👋🏽
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