The Power of Social Composability in Onchain Organizations

In the rapidly evolving landscape of Web3, two intertwined concepts are reshaping how we interact, collaborate, and build communities online: social composability and onchain organizations. At Common Ground, we're not just observing these changes; we're actively shaping them. Our mission is to create a future where digital identities are rich, portable, and under individual control, enabling unprecedented forms of cooperation and governance.

The Rise of Onchain Organizations: A New Paradigm

Onchain organizations represent a fundamental shift in how groups coordinate and make decisions. Unlike traditional centralized structures, these entities leverage blockchain technology to create transparent, efficient, and often decentralized systems of governance and operation. The landscape of onchain organizations is diverse, encompassing a wide range of structures and purposes:

A recent paper is shedding new light on the various kinds of onchain organizations we see emerging:

Autonomous Entities

These organizations aim to minimize human intervention, relying heavily on smart contracts to execute core functions. Examples include decentralized exchanges and automated market makers. These entities operate with a high degree of automation, facilitated by smart contracts, ensuring that all participants are aware of the rules of engagement and corresponding limitations.

Operational DAOs

While utilizing blockchain for governance, these groups still require significant human input for decision-making and execution. This category includes many product development DAOs, service guilds, and media organizations. For instance, Juicebox focuses on building fundraising tools, while Raid Guild specializes in governance solutions. Service guilds like dOrg and BD3 complete work for other teams, often for cash, token, or equity compensation.

Capital Allocation DAOs

Focused on distributing pooled resources, these can range from investment DAOs to grant-giving entities and even NFT collector groups. For example, Vita concentrates on longevity science funding, while MoonDAO supports software and space exploration initiatives. Collector DAOs, like those focused on NFTs and artwork, often use token-based voting for decision-making.

Interest Groups and Social DAOs

These organizations bring together individuals around shared interests, causes, or cultural artifacts. Examples include Assange DAO, which raised funds to support Julian Assange's legal fees, and broader communities like Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), which includes anyone holding their specific NFT.

Geographically-Oriented DAOs

This category includes ambitious projects like "network states" as well as more localized efforts like City DAOs and University DAOs. City DAOs, such as DC DAO and BuZhi DAO, often organize major events like EthDC and Taipei Blockchain Week. University DAOs may manage funds, run accelerators, host events, or build products within academic settings.

Social Composability: The Building Blocks of Digital Identity

At its core, social composability refers to the ability to create modular, interoperable elements of social identity and reputation. In the context of Web3, this often takes the form of verifiable credentials - digital proofs of skills, experiences, or attributes that can be shared across platforms.

Some of these ideas were discussed by our co-founder and lead designer Dominic at Devcon VI:

The Multi-Dimensional Nature of Capital

To truly understand the power of social composability, we must expand our conception of "capital" beyond mere financial assets. Drawing on the work of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, we can identify multiple forms of capital that shape our standing and influence:

1. Economic Capital: Traditional financial resources and assets, such as cryptocurrency holdings or valuable NFTs.

2. Social Capital: The strength and breadth of one's network and connections. In the Web3 world, this might be represented by the number of followers on social media platforms or membership in exclusive DAOs.

3. Cultural Capital: Knowledge, skills, and cultural fluency. This could be demonstrated through participation in governance processes or expertise in specific blockchain technologies.

4. Symbolic Capital: Prestige, recognition, and honor within a community. For instance, being a founder of a successful DAO or a respected voice in the crypto community.

In the world of onchain organizations and social composability, all of these forms of capital can be represented, quantified, and made portable through verifiable credentials.

The Promise of Verifiable Credentials

Imagine a world where your contributions to a DAO, your governance participation, or your expertise in a particular domain could be cryptographically verified and seamlessly shared across platforms. This is the promise of verifiable credentials in a socially composable ecosystem.

Use Case: Streamlined Recruitment

Verifiable credentials could revolutionize the recruitment process for onchain organizations. Instead of relying on traditional resumes and time-consuming interviews, orgs could set specific credential requirements for open positions. For example, a DAO looking for a senior designer might require:

• Designer Level 3 credential

• Verified "Good Communicator" badge

• Proof of humanity verification

Job seekers could simply toggle their availability and auto-submit their credentials to matching DAOs anonymously. This system would drastically reduce the time and resources spent on recruitment while ensuring a better match between candidates and positions.

Use Case: Dynamic Access Control

Verifiable credentials can be used to create more nuanced and flexible access control systems within online spaces. Imagine a Discord-like platform where access to different areas is dynamically granted based on a user's credentials. For example:

• A DAO could create separate spaces for each working group, accessible only to members with the relevant credentials.

• As users build reputation and earn new credentials, they could automatically unlock access to new areas without manual intervention.

• This system would reduce cognitive overload by only showing users the spaces relevant to their skills and roles.

Use Case: Targeted Governance Participation

Verifiable credentials can enhance the quality of decision-making in DAOs by ensuring that only relevant stakeholders participate in specific votes. For instance:

• A proposal about improving Devcon swag distribution could be restricted to voters who have a credential proving they attended previous Devcon events.

• This targeted approach ensures that decisions are made by those with firsthand experience and relevant knowledge, potentially leading to better outcomes.

Implementing Social Composability: Technical Considerations

While the potential of these systems is immense, their development and implementation require careful consideration of numerous technical factors:

Interoperability

Ensuring that credentials and reputation systems can communicate across different platforms and blockchains is crucial. Projects like the Gitcoin Passport and Disco.xyz are working on creating unified identity solutions that can work across various Web3 ecosystems.

Privacy and Security

Implementing zero-knowledge proofs and other cryptographic techniques to allow selective disclosure of information is essential. Users should be able to prove they meet certain criteria without revealing all their personal data.

Sybil Resistance

To maintain the integrity of these systems, it's crucial to implement measures that prevent individuals from creating multiple identities to game the system. Solutions like "reverse Turing tests" and privacy-preserving decentralized identities (DIDs) are being developed to address this challenge.

The Road Ahead: Opportunities and Challenges

As we stand on the brink of this socially composable future, it's crucial to recognize both its transformative potential and the challenges we must navigate:

Opportunities

1. Meritocratic Collaboration: Enabling more fluid and effective team formation based on verified skills and contributions.

2. Nuanced Governance: Moving beyond simple token-weighted voting to more sophisticated decision-making processes.

3. Reduced Information Asymmetry: Creating more transparent and efficient markets for talent and resources.

4. Global, Borderless Coordination: Facilitating collaboration across traditional geographic and institutional boundaries.

Challenges

1. Bootstrapping the System: Developing methods for initial credential issuance and verification, especially for established professionals transitioning to Web3.

2. Reputation Portability: Ensuring that reputation and credentials earned in one system can be meaningfully translated and recognized in others.

3. Balancing Privacy and Transparency: Finding the right equilibrium between the benefits of portable identity and the need for individual privacy.

4. Evolving Standards: Developing and maintaining standards for credential issuance and verification across diverse platforms and use cases.

Shaping the Future of Digital Society

The convergence of onchain organizations and social composability represents a pivotal moment in the evolution of the internet and digital society. At Common Ground, we're committed to building the tools and infrastructure that will enable this new paradigm of digital interaction and collaboration.

By thoughtfully designing and implementing these systems, we have the opportunity to create a more collaborative, meritocratic, and empowering online ecosystem. The future of work, governance, and social interaction is being written in code and smart contracts. Join us in this journey of discovery and creation as we build the foundations of tomorrow's digital society.