Notes

Introduction

20 Filed similar complaints over Apple’s high fees and anticompetitive rules: James Vincent, “EU Says Apple Breached Antitrust Law in Spotify Case, but Final Ruling Yet to Come,” Verge, Feb. 28, 2023, www.theverge.com/2023/2/28/23618264/eu-antitrust-case-apple-music-streaming-spotify-updated-statement-objections; Aditya Kalra, “EXCLUSIVE Tinder-Owner Match Ups Antitrust Pressure on Apple in India with New Case,” Reuters, Aug. 24, 2022, www.reuters.com/technology/exclusive-tinder-owner-match-ups-antitrust-pressure-apple-india-with-new-case-2022-08-24/; Cat Zakrzewski, “Tile Will Accuse Apple of Worsening Tactics It Alleges Are Bullying, a Day After iPhone Giant Unveiled a Competing Product,” Washington Post, April 21, 2021, www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/04/21/tile-will-accuse-apple-tactics-it-alleges-are-bullying-day-after-iphone-giant-unveiled-competing-product/.

1. Why Networks Matter

2. Protocol Networks

3. Corporate Networks

4. Blockchains

17 Annualized energy consumption (TWh) comparison to PoS Ethereum: “Ethereum Energy Consumption,” Ethereum.org, accessed Sept. 23, 2023, ethereum.org/en/energy-consumption/; George Kamiya and Oskar Kvarnström, “Data Centres and Energy—From Global Head to Local Headaches?” International Energy Agency, Dec. 20, 2019, iea.org/commentaries/data-centres-and-energy-from-global-headlines-to-local-headaches; “Cambridge Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index: Comparisons,” Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, accessed July 2023, ccaf.io/cbnsi/cbeci/comparisons; Evan Mills et al., “Toward Greener Gaming: Estimating National Energy Use and Energy Efficiency Potential,” The Computer Games Journal, vol. 8(2), Dec. 1, 2019, researchgate.net/publication/336909520_Toward_Greener_Gaming_Estimating_National_Energy_Use_and_Energy_Efficiency_Potential; “Cambridge Blockchain Network Sustainability Index: Ethereum Network Power Demand,” Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, accessed July 2023, ccaf.io/cbnsi/ethereum/1; “Google Environmental Report 2022,” Google, June 2022, gstatic.com/gumdrop/sustainability/google-2022-environmental-report.pdf; “Netflix Environmental Social Governance Report 2021,” Netflix, March 2022, assets.ctfassets.net/4cd45et68cgf/7B2bKCqkXDfHLadrjrNWD8/e44583e5b288bdf61e8bf3d7f8562884/2021_US_EN_Netflix_EnvironmentalSocialGovernanceReport-2021_Final.pdf; “PayPal Inc. Holdings—Climate Change 2022,” Carbon Disclosure Project, May 2023, s202.q4cdn.com/805890769/files/doc_downloads/global-impact/CDP_Climate_Change_PayPal-(1).pdf; “An Update on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) at Airbnb,” Airbnb, Dec. 2021, s26.q4cdn.com/656283129/files/doc_downloads/governance_doc_updated/Airbnb-ESG-Factsheet-(Final).pdf; “The Merge—Implications on the Electricity Consumption and Carbon Footprint of the Ethereum Network,” Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute, accessed Sept. 2022, carbon-ratings.com/eth-report-2022; Rachel Rybarczyk et al., “On Bitcoin’s Energy Consumption: A Quantitative Approach to a Subjective Question,” Galaxy Digital Mining, May 2021, docsend.com/view/adwmdeeyfvqwecj2.

5. Tokens

6. Blockchain Networks

7. Community-Created Software

8. Take Rates

9. Building Networks with Token Incentives

7 Other projects are using similar methods: C+Charge, “C+Charge Launch Revolutionary Utility Token for EV Charging Station Management and Payments That Help Organize and Earn Carbon Credits for Holders,” press release, April 22, 2022, www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/04/22/2427642/0/en/C-Charge-Launch-Revolutionary-Utility-Token-for-EV-Charging-Station-Management-and-Payments-That-Help-Organize-and-Earn-Carbon-Credits-for-Holders.html; Swarm, “Swarm, Ethereum’s Storage Network, Announces Mainnet Storage Incentives and Web3PC Inception,” Dec. 21, 2022, news.bitcoin.com/swarm-ethereums-storage-network-announces-mainnet-storage-incentives-and-web3pc-inception/; Shashi Raj Pandey, Lam Duc Nguyen, and Petar Popovski, “FedToken: Tokenized Incentives for Data Contribution in Federated Learning,” last modified Nov. 3, 2022, arxiv.org/abs/2209.09775.

10. Tokenomics

11. Network Governance

12. The Computer versus the Casino

4 Focused on the nearest and easiest targets: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, “Kraken to Discontinue Unregistered Offer and Sale of Crypto Asset Staking-as-a-Service Program and Pay $30 Million to Settle SEC Charges,” press release, Feb. 9, 2023, www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-25; Sam Sutton, “Treasury: It’s Time for a Crypto Crackdown,” Politico, Sept. 16, 2022, www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-money/2022/09/16/treasury-its-time-for-a-crypto-crackdown-00057144; Jonathan Yerushalmy and Alex Hern, “SEC Crypto Crackdown: US Regulator Sues Binance and Coinbase,” Guardian, June 6, 2023, www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jun/06/sec-crypto-crackdown-us-regulator-sues-binance-and-coinbase; Sidhartha Shukla, “The Cryptocurrencies Getting Hit Hardest Under the SEC Crackdown,” Bloomberg, June 13, 2023, www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-13/these-are-the-19-cryptocurrencies-are-securities-the-sec-says.

9 They aren’t clear in the middle: “Watch GOP Senator and SEC Chair Spar Over Definition of Bitcoin,” CNET highlights, Sept. 16, 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H19OF3lbnA; Miles Jennings and Brian Quintenz, “It’s Time to Move Crypto from Chaos to Order,” Fortune, July 15, 2023, fortune.com/crypto/2023/07/15/its-time-to-move-crypto-from-chaos-to-order/; Andrew St. Laurent, “Despite Ripple, Crypto Projects Still Face Uncertainty and Risks,” Bloomberg Law, July 31, 2023, news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/despite-ripple-crypto-projects-still-face-uncertainty-and-risks; “Changing Tides or a Ripple in Still Water? Examining the SEC v. Ripple Ruling,” Ropes & Gray, July 25, 2023, www.ropesgray.com/en/newsroom/alerts/2023/07/changing-tides-or-a-ripple-in-still-water-examining-the-sec-v-ripple-ruling; Jack Solowey and Jennifer J. Schulp, “We Need Regulatory Clarity to Keep Crypto Exchanges Onshore and DeFi Permissionless,” Cato Institute, May 10, 2023, www.cato.org/commentary/we-need-regulatory-clarity-keep-crypto-exchanges-onshore-defi-permissionless.