The Future of Work is on Ethereum 👤 Impact of Ethereum Summit - Tina He

So, we move on to another topic, which I find very, very interesting. This is a topic that has certainly been in the news over the past few years as people adapt to new ways of working. In parallel, perhaps somewhat unnoticed, innovations have been happening around the future of work, with people building and operating in a permissionless way on Ethereum. So I wanted to invite Tina from the Station team to talk about the work that is going on both at Station and in the that is going on both at Station and in the broader ecosystem, what is happening in this area, and how Ethereum is impacting it. So, Tina, without further ado, I'd like to welcome you to the stage, turn on the video, turn on the sound, and it would be great if we could get started.

That's it. Hi, Tina, nice to see you here. It's great to see you. Class. So yeah, don't be shy about sharing your screen if you have something to show, I'll give you a seat and I look forward to your presentation.

I'm really looking forward to this. Class. Can you see my screen? Good. Yes, it looks great.

Class. Thank you for inviting me. I am Tina. I am one of the co-founders of Station Labs. We are creating a set of decentralized tools to help DAO participants and members coordinate and collaborate more professionally.

This is a very broad topic, and I use " use " future of work" in quotes because we all know that this phrase has become a buzzword used both in the venture capital space and in the Ethereum ecosystem, and I want to start by asking: "what is the future of work anyway? future of work anyway? " We see that definitions have changed over time. Some believe that the future of work is remote work, it's distributed work. Um, there's this idea of ​​new models of valuation and value distribution in the creator economy, in the gig economy, and we also have an open ecosystem that's extremely close to the foundation and ethos of Ethereum, and the broader crypto ecosystem in general.

Um, I think it's a combination of many of these concepts in one, to be honest. And often when we look at what's happening in Ethereum, with the DAO and this new class of workers, it's sometimes very easy to see everything in isolation, thinking that the breakthrough things are only happening in Ethereum—which is often true, but the same movement is happening outside of it. So I think the purpose of this talk is to provide a broader context, to look at the current global distributed work stack and the infrastructure available to support it, and to try to imagine what opportunities lie ahead. Um, a significant shift in the future of work is the idea that we used to work in offices we used to work in offices , and now we work online. But also that online.

But also that relationships are becoming much more digital: we meet on Twitter, on GitHub, on these digital platforms, and thanks to proof of work, which is both a crypto- work, which is both a crypto- native concept and a concept common on other digital platforms like GitHub, we have confirmation of the work we have done. And through these relationships , you see how the offline , you see how the offline space reflects these online connections, which are also very authentically built on what you've done online. And the reason we're all here at ETH Global right now is because of this distributed network, Ethereum, which brings people together in real life, offline, to discuss the topics that unite us. And really, the only approach I really like to think about is through the lens of urban planning. Um, well, why do we need cities.

Um, I really like this book, "Order Without Design" by Alain Burton. Um, and he's actually saying that cities are essentially labor markets. Um, and one quote that, you know, resonates with me and a lot of other DAO leaders, um, and founders in this space who are really thinking about Ethereum and also DAOs in general as a labor market, as a city. Um, so what does the city need? Um, well city need?

Um, well , we have that a well- functioning labor market brings together people with different but complementary knowledge and skills, these are prerequisites for innovation. Um, and a well- functioning job market also makes all the other city charms possible, like orchestras, museums, and art galleries. So we're already seeing, you know, the first signs of this in the crypto world and in the Ethereum ecosystem. Um, we have protocols like Yearn and Index Coop, which are, you know, very well- organized and cooperative DAOs, with, you know, different functions, just like we have all these different functions in a company. Um, but we're also seeing these urban charms starting to emerge, um, from this central economic activity of people creating valuable protocols, um, generating economic value for the Ethereum ecosystem, which, you know, subsequently increases the value and demand for Ethereum as a participant.

Um, just like, you know, the value of the US or the value of New York, um, increases the demand of people wanting to move to that city and ecosystem. Um, so, you know, in terms of urban appeal, we see, for example, EthIdyllwild, which is, you know, a great social DAO great social DAO that's hosting real-world events in Idyllwild, California, and that, I think, is completely changing the city's perception of crypto. And now I know that they also recently received a $13,000 donation, um, to launch another, um, longer- term initiative, um, locally to, um, bring together more crypto communities and meet in real life in Idlewild, which, when you think about it, has just a crazy impact on the real economy. Um real economy. Um , and then there are, you know, DAOs like Bright Moments, where they have events, exhibitions, um, shows inspired by their NFT collections, and actually their NFTs are amazing and very beautiful.

Um, but it's also quite clear that outside of art, it's much more than just the artwork itself , where, um, these artworks are just a set of identities, where, you know, people who have the same kind of art, um, from the same city could find and discover each other, and then go to these events and actually see each other in person. Um, so if we look at Ethereum we look at Ethereum , um, as this new city, we've already seen to some extent this early glimpse of, you know, we have complementary skills and certain cultural events happening. But as we know, it's still very, very early, um, and you know, a lot of people are complaining that this space is generally not accessible to most people, um, and the activity and the economic engine, um, hasn't really kicked in yet before we can get the majority and more people, um, into this space so they can benefit from this ecosystem. Um, trying to be a little more philosophical and look at the dimensionality of the work here. Um, where, um, do you know what work actually is and what it consists of?

And I would say there are a few dimensions, um, that, um, we want to use as a basis to look at where we are, um, in the digital labor space, and where we are specifically for Ethereum. Um, so for work we have, you know, tasks, we have mobilization, which is a group of people who are doing tasks and working towards a common goal. Um, and when you build these meaningful relationships with the people you work with, you develop this sense of belonging, this sense of identity sense of identity . Um, and you know, as you gradually, you know, discover these places of belonging, you also, you know, self-actualize, um, and really find out what you're called to do. Um, and these are concepts that should be familiar to anyone who has studied urban design or just design in general, um, to understand, you know, these are different, um, some, some like to use a framework like Maslow's hierarchy of needs, um, and others, um, just like to stay a little more abstract.

Um, but if we actually look at the intersections of a lot of these topics, um, we start to see different forms of work, um, that are happening both inside the crypto world and outside of it. Um, so, you know, we see that job boards in the gig job boards in the gig economy are at the intersection of, you know, job mobilization and gig workers. We see the intersection of mobilization and affiliation in corporations, global companies global companies , startups, distributed labor, and of course, we are all familiar with DAOs. At the intersection of belonging and self-realization, we traditionally see nation-states and churches, but now we are witnessing the rise of maxi culture and other communities, belief systems that almost approach religious ones, which are also formed through the creation of tokenized networks. In a certain spectrum, we see, on the one hand, hired labor, which has the character of mercenaries, and on the other, the work of missionaries, who are driven by a common goal, mission, and value created in the process.

These values ​​are less about money and more about your sense of identity, yourself, and understanding what it means to be part of a network. I believe that in the context of Ethereum, this is a more realistic view of where we are now. We have traders, bounty hunters, airdrop farmers, Axie players, and those waiting for tokens that represent labor on the left side of the spectrum—these are more interchangeable tasks and labor. On the right side, we have meaningful work like storytelling and building a movement around the ideas of Bitcoin- around the ideas of Bitcoin- maxi or Ethereum- maxi or Ethereum- maxi, and also larping, which is a higher form of faith where you play the role of a non- play the role of a non- developer or find your new self find your new self on the internet. And in the middle is the real infrastructure that makes this path viable, combining the tasks and skills on the Ethereum network with the content and vision of decentralization and permissionlessness permissionlessness .

I've currently grayed out the two circles in the middle because they are still under construction and are in a very early stage of their formation. What is this ? These are hackers. This is product design. These are community These are community managers, sponsors, educators, and meme creators.

Um, these are the people who are really starting to realize the lack of infrastructure in this area. Um, and how very, very difficult it is to actually sustain your life or have a full-time job purely on this token purely on this token network. And if you take a step back to look at, you know to look at, you know , how the global digital labor infrastructure functions, these are very general features, of course, a little simplified, but still , right? There are several levels here. Um, at a fundamental level we have: we need local laws and compliance compliance to ensure that if I'm an employee, I'm following local labor laws, and I'm also getting paid in my own currency so I can buy local goods.

And then, in the middle, there's the network that allows me to find work in general , and these are tools and marketplaces, like Upwork and, more recently, Braintrust more recently, Braintrust , that are emerging as a kind of leveling of the global labor market, where if we analyze cities as labor markets, we see that we no longer have to live in New York to have access to high-paying jobs. Um, and that's the whole idea of whole idea of Stripe increasing the GDP of the internet as a payment channel. Um, and I think a lot of those messages are also true here, where because of these marketplaces now, if you're anywhere in the world, you can find opportunities that you would n't otherwise find in your local market. Um, and to actually coordinate people from different time zones, we now see productivity tools like GitHub, Notion, Telegram, email, and these are pretty standard tools both in and outside of the cryptosphere that serve as a coordination channel. But if we look at a decentralized digital labor infrastructure versus a centralized global digital labor infrastructure, what is different and what are the opportunities here?

What I think is most interesting to consider when we talk about the future of Ethereum is that right now, in the absence of local laws and regulations, in the absence of a state as an enforcer and enforcement mechanism to ensure the viability, legitimacy, and enforcement of agreements between people, can smart contracts and cryptonative primitives play a role in ensuring accountability and trustlessness between individual nodes and network participants? And if you look at it a little more practically, I think there practically, I think there are generally two approaches to building this base level, crypto rails, payment systems, the one that I think is most clear is the built-in distribution of value when you create some kind of work. So, on a very practical level, it's when you complete a task, complete a job or a bounty, you get paid in cryptocurrency immediately, or when you farm, for example, in a Polygon-based game, you get paid in that token immediately, which can be used later or staked in another protocol. These are very familiar primitives for everyone here, but the most interesting thing, to me, is how we can start to think radically about the compatibility of smart contracts with real-world legislation. And another thing that is very interesting, but extremely difficult, concerns the enforcement of agreements in the absence of a legal infrastructure.

Can we actually ensure certain outcomes and consequences when agreements have been broken? And this is probably the least discussed topic, although there are a few groups like although there are a few groups like lifestyle or worked out that have emerged and are trying to solve this problem, but I think we are still in the very early stages of finding the right legal framework that would work on blockchain, creating a reliable record and a mechanism of trust, but at the same time remain compatible with local laws, if that is what many crypto organizations need, regardless of their attitude towards anonymity or pseudonymity. And the most interesting and fascinating part actually lies in the idea of ​​identity. So, when you work as a contributor on Ethereum and in the Web3 ecosystem, you have a wallet, but what does that even mean? You now have an identity that is completely different from the one that was defined by traditional nation states and laws created in the past.

We no longer have a passport or ID card, so your ID is actually a collection of actions related to your wallet. This presentation was created in the last 48 hours, so it's just a very early reflection on the possibilities that a future centered around wallets could open up. So here we have markets driven by protocols driven by protocols . This means that with services like Uniswap or Sudoswap available, the idea of using a fixed interface on a centralized platform becomes less attractive. In fact, if we were looking at a more liquid labor market, it could be more decentralized, where incentives are determined by protocol and motivated participants help to vet the quality of work and develop a talent network.

Where it's less about the platform itself and more about the people who are actually shaping this talent market, which is a pretty exciting future exciting future . And then the idea of . And then the idea of when you actively participate in the protocol, and you know, when you actively participate in the DAO, how that on-chain action actually gets broadcast to the entire network, and that becomes your reputation, which we've traditionally outsourced to a lot of web platforms like LinkedIn or Upwork. Well, another interesting point is the blurring of boundaries between individuals and groups. So as an individual with a wallet, you can sometimes also represent a DAO.

And the idea of wallet-centricity creates the possibility for one person to create six or seven wallets and represent different represent different selves in different groups, a group identity group identity . Well, if you also have a multi-signature wallet. And, of course, it is absolute ownership of one's work history and its provenance. Which is often not true now. But the possibilities of this are huge, and what it means philosophically is that you actually have true ownership of a lot of the things you've done online.

And the last fragment, which is very interesting: in a traditional corporation, you go through onboarding, you become an employee, an employee of this company. This means you get permissions and access to her toolkit, benefits, and all the implications of someone becoming an employee. But what does it mean when someone becomes a member of many DAOs and many communities? And how that status carries over between different tools as we move towards this multi-platform future where protocol takes center stage. And of course, coordination mechanisms will also look different as the boundaries between organizations start to blur, as we see, for example, the popular concept of "pods," popularized by (protocol) popularized by (protocol) , now known as Metropolis , now known as Metropolis , where we see the idea that your personal identity is represented by a "pod" is represented by a "pod" registered on the network, and that gives you access to a bunch of other tools or information that you wouldn't otherwise have access to.

So, looking at this whole stack, we see a lot of fragmentation throughout this whole stack. So, you know, right now we're seeing some fragmentation of identity, reputation, and knowledge because, um, a lot of the work is still being done on Web2 platforms; so, you know, after you write a great post on Discourse, that post won't be associated with your identity when you move to another platform. Um, and you know, the lack of data interoperability is part of that problem. Um, we see a lack of accountability, which means that if a group of anonymous people work together, there's really no way to enforce anything, and the consequences, you know, are also very difficult to enforce. And even if we have an accountability mechanism, right, like in the event of a dispute dispute , um, Aragon has actually done a lot of innovation here, where they have a dispute resolution court called Kleros, it seems, um, actually Kleros—it's a different project, but, um, they're essentially creating decentralized dispute resolution channels.

But right now, these channels are also not being properly stimulated. So I think there's still a lot to be done here, and we're still very early in this future. But without this basic infrastructure, I think we are still quite far from entering this future. But at the same time , um, some teams and some people are already living in this future. Um, and here we have a few examples.

So, at a basic level, these are examples of escrow examples of escrow contracts, um, and backward compatible contracts , um, that were created by LexDAO. Hmm, they're really cool, I highly recommend checking them out. Um, we have an identity layer, um, that, you know, is being developed by teams like Guild, um, and some of the other teams mentioned here. Um, the idea really is that, you know, once you become part of a DAO, you know that this identity of yours can be carried over, um, to any other applications that you interact with, um, on the Ethereum blockchain. Um, and then we have a level of coordination, um, which is actually about implementing incentives, um, when you do certain work.

Um, and Gitcoin, um, is a great example. Um, there was already a talk about Gitcoin, um, which was incredible, um, where it was about how, um, you know, the vision of Gitcoin is really to build this open grant protocol, um, where, you know, the number of reviewers, you know, grants, scales linearly with the people who apply for grants, who, um, develop grants. Hmm, so there are some very interesting features here. We also have very practical tools like Wonderverse, which creates a task board where you automatically get paid after completing work, with very granular options for both recognition and rewards, and we tie a lot of things together to ultimately tell the story of what we're building at Station. Um, actually, how we think about it is : the protocol is at the center, and we're really thinking about what are the universal data structures that can be used by both us and others to build different types of creative clients to establish trust relationships on the blockchain.

Um, and on the client side, we have a very convenient application that allows anyone to offer collaboration in the field of Web3 to another. So, if I know your ENS address, I can send you a request and say, "Hey, do you want to work on this together?", set up the payout terms, milestones, shares, etc., and then sign it to prove there's a public, verified record in IPFS that can be referenced if the agreement is breached. Um, and when that kind of activity starts to emerge, when people work together, say in the creator economy, like someone wants to engage a community of fans, or in the case of a DAO, where they're looking for sponsorship for 100 developers to build on top of their protocol, while also involving the community in the decision-making process.

We see this network of projects, protocols, contributors, and voters that are participants in this system, which is actually building a more decentralized reputation model that could in the future replace KYC, which the crypto world has a rather ambiguous relationship with. So, that's all relationship with. So, that's all . Um, thank you very much for inviting me. I had a lot of fun discussing the philosophical perspective on the future of work at Ethereum.

Um, we can move on to any questions or ideas. Yes, of course. Perfectly. Thank you. Thank you very much, Tino.

I'm grateful that you went through all of this with us, and yes, it was wonderful. I think you touched on so many different possibilities of where this could all go. And I believe we are still at the very beginning. At the end, you summarized the current work being done in this area; and, frankly, even this work is at a very early stage. I think there is a lot of opportunity for something new to emerge in this field.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to write in the chat, and in the meantime, I'll move on to those that came to my mind during the discussion. In my opinion, with regard to DAO in particular opinion, with regard to DAO in particular , one of the main things I hear inquiries about from DAO is, for lack of a better word, talent. Smart and capable people who join these DAOs and are able to perform tasks on behalf of the organization. You talked a little bit about how we're adding more structure to DAOs, which will also help manage them more efficiently. I think Scott also mentioned this during his presentation earlier today.

In terms of public good, it seems that in the early stages, experiments are focused more on what you depicted in the Venn diagram—on the tasks and the initial stages. What would you advise DAO now would you advise DAO now : what exactly should they change structurally to move higher up the rankings on this chart? That's a great question. I also touched on this very briefly in my talk, where we see “pods” becoming a very popular structure in DAOs as subgroups or working groups. They have different names, but essentially they are a group of people working together within a DAO, who are given the autonomy to make decisions in a more centralized manner without violating the decentralized nature of the entire organization.

That is, there is a certain level of centralization at the local level, but the global level of the organization remains more decentralized to ensure diversity of opinions and views. And so that power is not overly concentrated at the very top. Um, but in terms of day-to-day work, we all know that if everything is truly decentralized, nothing gets done, and not all decisions require consensus. Um, so it's happening a lot more often now. We see very centralized, almost mini-startups operating inside DAOs, which somewhat resemble a structure like a “sweat” or a working group.

Perfectly. Yeah, I definitely noticed that this was a pretty consistent theme, even just through the work I did as an Optimism delegate: we went from everyone looking at all the proposals to now, in this iteration, they have working groups. Um, I know Gitcoin has done a lot of work in this direction. ENS has also done a lot of work here. Um, and yes, it was very exciting to watch.

Um, I have a little suggestion, but I won't force you to talk about it, but I just saw this very interesting tweet this morning. Um, not during the presentation, I swear, I was paying attention. Um, a tweet from Treyus, who helps run Llama, about hundreds of people today, some anonymously, earning a full income working on open source protocols. Um, getting paid in open source money, often gaining ownership of management decisions in these protocols. It's actually wild and underrated.

Um, I think it's also very wild and underrated. I agree with him. Um, here. I won't ask whether you agree or not. I know I'm putting you in an awkward position, but, um, I mean but, um, I mean , I think this is part of the opportunity, this outcome, right, for everyone, where they can participate in this way and access unlicensed money, unlicensed money, unlicensed work, and just be able to be part of this ecosystem.

Um, you can talk about that can talk about that if you want, but if not, my main question was what he said: hundreds of people, whether it's thousands or tens of thousands of people, they need access to resources and things to understand this space much better. What resources come to mind and where should people who are interested in achieving this outcome start? Quite. Um, I remember the analogy with the city. I believe that first, companies should appear in cities that will create the economy and jobs so that people will actually move to cities.

So I think we are still at the very beginning of this journey, because there are not enough profitable protocols that could generate enough value to attract new talent. But beyond that, I think a lot of the things we mentioned in the presentation are still relevant, especially on the basic level, such as financial and legal infrastructure. Well, you know, the financial part is the simplest in crypto. But the legal one is one of the most difficult. The question is how to ensure backward compatibility?

But at the same time, using the power of smart power of smart contracts to automate many of these traditional and very expensive processes that really hinder many emerging markets, to access what the American legal system— legal system— despite its many flaws—still provides, which is a very powerful system for capitalism to thrive, to open up these economic opportunities to other countries as well. Great, very cool. Thank you very much for answering my questions. I didn't see any new questions in the chat new questions in the chat , but I did see a lot of great presentations. It's interesting, you know, I'm excited about it.

So, Tina, thank you so much for joining us and participating in this conversation. And... Yes, if anyone wants to chat with you elsewhere, please leave your Twitter handle or just give it a name so people know where to find you. Forward. Where can we find you?

You can find me on Twitter. I'm FKPSLS, like "fake pixels" but without the vowels pixels" but without the vowels . Perfectly. Class. Okay, great.

Thank you very much, Tino. I really appreciate it, and... thank you. Have a nice day. Goodbye.