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midipoet - Policy and Regulatory Framework Research

midipoet requested to merge midipoet/ccs-proposals:midipoet into master

#WHO

I am known as midipoet. I have been active in the community for quite a while now.

I have been involved in the Monero Policy Working Group since its inception, contributing directly to all the policy consultations we have done over the last few years - more info here, here, here, and here.

I have also conducted research on Monero, producing a journal paper for a three star academic journal (these are very hard to get into), more info here. According to Research Gate, that paper has received 36 citations. Google Scholar has it at 46.

In my professional life, I have established a credible publications record. More info can be found here.

#WHAT

I propose working on research for/within the Monero Policy Working Group for six-month period at half-time (20 hours).

In the six-months, I propose the following deliverables:

  • D1: a blog posts (easily shareable across social media, reddit, etc) of about 1000 words. The topic will be the current state of cryptocurrency Regulation in Europe, with specific relation to Monero and other privacy coins (delivered end of month 2).

  • D2: a blog post (easily shareable across social media, reddit, etc) of about 1000 words. The topic will be the application (or not) of MiCAR (Market in Crypto-Assets Regulation) to Monero and Haveno. Specific focus will be on determining/proposing applicability or not, based on Recital 22, which is concerned with whether a project is ‘fully decentralised’ (delivered end of month 4).

  • D3: An academic journal paper (5000-10000 words), submitted to a respected academic journal. The topic will be (broadly) on “The state of play of privacy-preserving cryptocurrency and the application of European Legislation to the privacy coin ecosystem” (delivered end of month 6). The paper will account for:

    • Monero delistings.
    • Litigations/criminal charges against Tornado Mixer, Bitcoin Fog, Samurai Wallet, etc.
    • Attempts at compliance from certain projects (e.g., ZCash, Firo) and the impact of that on whether they are ‘fully decentralised’ (see MiCAR Recital 22) or not.
    • Foresight analysis concept of decentralisation in the ecosystem and potential application of relevant or evolving legislation.

#WHY

Q: Why six months? A: Because it allows me some financial certainty to work on a project that I am passionate about. It will also allow me to focus solely on this (i.e., I will quite my day job – at which I work 20 hours a week currently).

Q: Why the topic? A: I think its relevant to Monero currently and might allow the broader ecosystem to understand better how regulatory pressure is impacting privacy and data protection rights.

Q: Why so expensive? A: I feel the per hour charge represents my level of qualifications, my professional background, and my publications record. I also am certain the three deliverables will take this time to produce. Having established quite a bit of experience in writing journal and conference papers, I know how long it takes.

Q: You want the community to allow you to quit your day-job? A: Yes.

Q: Why the upfront payment? A: Because I am quitting my day job – I need some certainty on the first month (basically to be able to pay my mortgage).

Q: Will you be working with other members of the Monero Policy Working Group? A: Potentially. I haven’t formally approached anyone in the group about this CCS, but am open to having people contribute, as I know there is a lot of expertise and domain knowledge there. I am also open to sharing some of the XMR from this CCS with them for their contributions.

Q: The last milestone is submission to a journal, but what happens after? A: Good question. I don’t know. Most submissions from respected journals get rejected. Depending on how much work is required to resubmit, I will either open another CCS for the work required, or do the work for free (probably the latter). Alternative options are to choose less respected journals (easier acceptance), or even a conference venue (to ensure publication and exposure).

Q: What about IP/copyright? A: The blogs will be donated to the community and licenced openly. The journal paper is a little trickier. If we want to publish open access it will cost another ~€3000, depending on the journal. If this is the case, I can add it to this CCS to be paid out when the publishing fee is required, or just CCS it later (once accepted – which might take a few more months).

Q: Will you publish a pre-print on Arxiv.org or similar? A: Yes.

Q: Why the 20% volatility buffer? A: To provide some financial certainty over the timeline. If there isn’t a wild fluctuation in the market during the timeline, I am happy to donate the 20% back to the general fund if people wish for that. Just let me know.

#MILESTONES I propose this payment schedule:

  • M0: 10% upfront payment of total cost (~33 XMR)
  • M1: 20% paid after delivery of D1 [end of month 2] (~66 XMR)
  • M2: 20% paid after deliver of D2 [end of month 4] (~66 XMR)
  • M3: 50% paid on successful submission of D3 [end of month 6) (~167 XMR)

I propose working 20 hours a week on this project, 4 weeks a month.

This equals 480 hours total. I propose a €75 euro an hour rate.

At the current (8th October 2024) market rate of ~€130, this is ~277 XMR.

Plus a 20% volatility buffer (277*1.2) = ~332 XMR

This equals a total cost to the community of: €43,160

So this means the payment schedule is:

  • M0: 33 XMR
  • M1: 66 XMR
  • M2: 66 XMR
  • M3: 167 XMR

Total Amount: 332 XMR.

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