Owners, Not Mercenaries: Why Working Exclusively for Tokens Is Web3 Privilege (and What to Do About It)
This week, a tweet of mine went viral:
Being able to work exclusively for tokens is a privilege.
It’s the web3 equivalent of rich kids getting ahead because they can take on free internships — opportunities that aren’t viable for less privileged kids who need income.
A liquidity pool isn’t the answer.
Access is.
If you don't know what I'm talking, here's a few bullets to lay out the problem:
Unpaid internships for college students are a problem because it gives kids who don't need income — most likely because their parents support them — a leg up into the workforce.
DAOs in web3 are trying to curb this kind of inequality. They allow anyone willing to put in sweat equity to own a piece of the "company" via cryptocurrency.
Many web3 folks think that this means we've already made headway towards solving the wealth inequality problem.
The good scenario is that a contributor waits until gas prices are low and until the social token appreciates in value before selling. This could take anywhere from weeks to months or years.
The ideal scenario is that the contributor will hold on to the token for the long term, like a Warren Buffett-esque value investment. This way, the contributor becomes a part owner in the organization and can reap outsized, disproportionate rewards in the future.
Here's the problem: contributors who need cold cash will sell their tokens as soon as they get them, whether or not market conditions are favourable.
Folks who live paycheque to paycheque do not have the luxury of time. They might need to cash out their token right away to help pay for real world gas, groceries, and rent. And depending on where the token was minted, the contributor will also need to pay gas fees to get their money out — and these can be prohibitive on Ethereum.
Don’t get me wrong: web3 has made great strides in using tokens to compensate work. Contributors are able to contribute, get paid in tokens, and cash out via Uniswap. But if we stop here, then we've just built another version of the soulsucking gig economy, albeit with more community and fancier technology.
So what's the answer? This is what I have so far:
In the short term, give people the option to be paid in fiat and/or in token
For the long term, educate contributors that ownership is the key to building wealth
If a web3 org really wants to do good, then they have to take care of people's immediate needs. Pay people in USD (or the closest equivalent) and also in token. Make it easy for them to put food on the table, then teach them to hold tokens and behave like owners of the organization.
Getting people to stake tokens isn't some ploy to keep token prices stable. Ownership of property or a commercial is the key to wealth. But most people don't know this. As a result, they don't know any better than to sell off their tokens right away for immediate gains.
This broadens the umbrella for what it means to give people access. Don't just teach them how to create Metamask wallets or to buy and sell tokens and NFTs. Show them why ownership is important and how they can attain that. Teach them that staking tokens is an exercise in compounding and wealth building. Here's a few ideas on how to do this:
Most people don't know any other path to wealth than a job. Give them knowledge that shows them different paths to making money.
Many people who were not born into privilege (and arguably, the people who stand to gain the most from web3) don't have constructive communities around them. Give them access to people who will cheer them on.
Many capable folks will not fit the mould of the ideal contributor. Give them access to opportunities that they might seem unqualified for, then set them up for success.
As a core contributor at Cabin, I'm fortunate to get paid in ₡ABIN and USDC each month. I'm thankful I live with my parents so that the USDC portion is more than enough to cover my expenses. I'm lucky that I can receive the USDC through Newton — a Canadian exchange that converts it to CAD and transfers it my bank account for ~1% (less than the cost of an online credit card transaction).
As I accumulate more ₡ABIN, I've worked to shift my mindset from being an employee to an owner. I fill in gaps wherever I can, even if it's not in my immediate purview. I've stopped measuring my success by employee metrics, like hours in seat, project completion, and hourly rates. Instead, I measure my success by the DAO's success: whether our email list and engagement is growing, how quickly a new contributor gets to their first bounty, how much contributors are enjoying Cabin.
For many reasons I won’t get into here, many people will struggle with this mindset shift from employee to owner. In the coming years, I suspect that this will be one of the biggest points of discussion and differentiation within web3 organizations. And I'll bet my tokens that the DAOs that succeed are the ones whose contributors behave like owners, not mercenaries.
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