@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ For the purposes of this discussion, we’re primarily referring to unbooted add
4444
4545Locked vs. Unlocked Addresses –
4646
47−At present, the majority of Urbit address space is locked by smart contracts. When Urbit address space was first registered on the Ethereum blockchain, this unlocking mechanism was put in place to prevent the market from being flooded. A young Urbit network in which all of the address space had been unlocked would be exposed to attacks by bots and spammers. Scarcity, on the other hand, encourages good behavior as it increases the cost to spam.
47+At present, the majority of Urbit address space is locked by smart contracts. When Urbit address space was first registered on the Ethereum blockchain, this unlocking mechanism was put in place to prevent the network from being flooded with users. A young Urbit network in which all of the address space had been unlocked would be exposed to attacks by bots and spammers. Scarcity, on the other hand, encourages good behavior as it increases the cost to spam.
4848
4949A locked star is held in a contract and can neither be booted nor issue planets. The lockup contracts can be examined on [GitHub](https://github.com/urbit/azimuth).
5050
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ These lockups all began to release at varying linear rates in January 2019 (spec
6363The various linear unlocking schedules are grouped as follows:
6464
6565- The urbit.org addresses, and early prize winners unlock linearly from 2019-2021.
66−- Tlon, its founders, employees, and its investors were frozen for a year, and now unlock linearly from 2020-2024.
66+- Tlon, its founders, employees, and most purchasers from Tlon were frozen for a year, and now unlock linearly from 2020-2024.
6767- 2018 private buyers were frozen for a year, and then began to unlock linearly over the course of one or three years, depending on the terms of their respective contracts.
6868- Earlier private buyer addresses—including those in our first two crowdsales—were unlocked right away.
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@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ When we layer the spawning limits over the various lockup contracts, we find tha
8585
8686## Address space distribution
8787
88−Address space has continued to change hands since we put the Urbit on-chain in January 2019. At that time, we had a fairly granular understanding of who owned what. Today we only have precise numbers for the Tlon and urbit.org owned address space. Galaxies change hands quite infrequently, so we know more about that ownership table than stars and planets. We know next to nothing about the distribution of planets.
88+Address space has continued to change hands since we put Urbit on-chain in January 2019. At that time, we had a fairly granular understanding of who owned what. Today we only have precise numbers for the Tlon and urbit.org owned address space. Galaxies change hands quite infrequently, so we know more about that ownership than stars and planets. We know next to nothing about the distribution of planets.
8989
9090We consider the opacity of our understanding about transactions on the network to be a privacy feature rather than a bug. To be specific about the information we can collect here: first, we don’t know anything about users beyond their ETH address, and second, we can’t tell the difference between a transfer of an address, and the re-keying of an address. This means we’re never entirely sure if a transfer has in fact occurred; we only know that the address has changed.
9191
@@ -95,11 +95,11 @@ The chart below is an estimate (as of January 2020) based on our general underst
9595<img class="ba" src="https://media.urbit.org/site/posts/essays/value-of-address-space-pt3-graph4.png">
9696<br>
9797
98−Address space distribution is best understood in terms of galaxies and stars independently, as they’re distinct asset classes. The chart above only illustrates galaxy distribution, but describes Tlon’s “naked” galaxy holdings, which are galaxies empty of their stars. These galaxies are empty because the stars they once contained have been distributed, primarily to Tlon contractors, employees, and to certain private buyers.
98+Address space distribution is best understood in terms of galaxies and stars independently, as they’re distinct assets. The chart above only illustrates galaxy distribution, but describes Tlon’s “naked” galaxy holdings, which are galaxies empty of their stars. These galaxies are empty because the stars they once contained have been distributed, primarily to Tlon contractors, employees, and to certain private buyers.
9999
100−We believe that wide distribution is important to the health of the network and the growth of Urbit as a whole. Our own distribution efforts in conjunction with a robust secondary market, will disburse Urbit address space ownership as broadly as possible.
100+We believe that wide distribution is important to the health of the network and the growth of Urbit as a whole. Our own distribution efforts are focused on disbursing Urbit address space ownership as broadly as possible to those interested in using and developing the network.
101101
102−We intend to further distribute Tlon’s address space over the coming years through private sales, employee compensation, grants, bounties, and gifts. It’s worth noting that the grants and bounties program specifically is set to increase dramatically. We’re very much interested in putting address space in the hands of people interested in helping develop the network; we see grants as the perfect mechanism for doing so.
102+We intend to further distribute Tlon’s address space over the coming years through private sales, employee compensation, grants, bounties, and gifts. It’s worth noting that the grants and bounties program specifically is set to increase in coming years. We’re very much interested in putting address space in the hands of people interested in helping develop the network; we see grants as the perfect mechanism for doing so.
103103
104104## Usage data and composition
105105
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ First, it’s too early. Urbit’s current users are a fanbase of pioneers who a
109109
110110We’re laying the groundwork so that we can, in earnest, invite our friends and communities to a network they will love. That means we’re designing smooth onboarding, an elegant user interface, and increasing the stability of both the system and network. Tlon’s forthcoming hosting services will vastly reduce barriers to entry, and will be our first major push into the public sphere.
111111
112−Second, and perhaps more importantly, capturing data about traction on the network is difficult by design. Due to Urbit's privacy-forward architecture, there’s quite a lot we will never know. Once an Urbit is up and running, we don’t know how often it operates, where it’s hosted, or what it’s doing. This makes capturing usage metrics challenging, but we think this is the right problem to have.
112+Second, and perhaps more importantly, capturing data about traction on the network is difficult by design. Due to Urbit's privacy-forward architecture, there’s quite a lot we will never know. Once an Urbit ID is up and running, we don’t know how often it operates, where it’s hosted, or what it’s doing. This makes capturing usage metrics challenging, but we think this is the right problem to have.
113113
114114The Network Explorer –
115115
@@ -119,12 +119,10 @@ Urbit’s privacy-forward design makes collection of data appropriately impossib
119119
120120Closing –
121121
122−We have long said that Urbit address space had value because it was both useful and scarce. Taking a deeper look, we found that tradeability and network effect also play an important role in the value framework.
123−
124−The market seems to agree with our hypothesis, and price has remained fairly steady even at a time when we’re not promoting Urbit to the public.
122+We have long said that Urbit address space had value because it was both useful and scarce. Taking a deeper look, we found that some limited liquidity, and network effect also play an important role in the value framework.
125123
126124All of the factors that make up our framework are, in turn, impacted by availability of supply and by user growth. In the Urbit ecosystem, supply is effectively gated—as described above—in order to prevent flooding of the network.
127125
128126User growth, on the other hand, is something we simply have not yet pursued in earnest. Instead, our development efforts have been focused on enhancing usability and stability of the platform. Our focus on user growth will begin as we roll out hosting. Once that happens, usage metrics will become both more interesting and more relevant.
129127
130−This concludes the final installment of our series on the value of Urbit address space. Though the explanation was long, the framework is quite simple: value in Urbit is derived from its use, scarcity, tradeability, and network effect. Let us know if you’d like us to dig deeper into any of these elements—we’re always happy to opine about Urbit.
128+This concludes the final installment of our series on the value of Urbit address space. Though the explanation was long, the framework is quite simple: value in Urbit is derived from its use, scarcity, some liquidity, and network effect. Let us know if you’d like us to dig deeper into any of these elements—we’re always happy to opine about Urbit.