Initial contributors are thrilled to announce the release of the Nil Protocol v1 in addition to the Nil DAO inception.

The Nil DAO is a cooperative of hackers & painters looking to collectively establish the decentralized foundations on which the creator economy will thrive.

Initial contributors refused institutional money and all forms of pre-allocation in preference of a completely fair launch, putting the responsibility of the DAO development in the hands of the people.

This paper introduces the DAO inception details in addition to the motivations associated with the $NIL airdrop.

Hackers, Painters, join us. Nil belongs to you.

Nil Contracts are not audited. Initial contributors are not responsible for any issue or consequences of your interactions. Use at your own risk.

$NIL

$NIL is the valueless governance token of the Nil DAO.

• 1 $NIL = 1 vote
• 1 staked $NIL = 1 vote
• There are 300,000 tokens in circulation at inception, held by the DAO treasury.
• The $NIL max total supply is fixed to 100m tokens.

Airdrop

Creators

Creators are the pillars of the Nil DAO. The will to empower them is encoded in the $vNIL initial distribution.

Note that $vNIL is used to denote vested $NIL.  All $vNIL follow a standard 666-day vesting schedule, designed to ensure Nil DAO long term development. More details regarding the vesting are presented below.

In fact, artists will receive the biggest part of the $vNIL at inception with 50% of the airdrop having been allocated to them.

The distribution is composed of heterogeneous creators recognized for their long-term dedication.

Creators who can claim their $vNIL at launch:

• The top 66 artists, in total sales revenues, of Zora, SuperRare, and Foundation
• All ArtBlock creators
• All EthBlockArt creators

Collectors

Nil aligns the Creator Economy’s participant’s interests under a single decentralized cooperative.

Initial contributors are looking to reward engaged collectors who previously supported and amplified groundbreaking digital creations, in addition to public figures who’ve inspired the Nil movement.

Collectors who can claim their $vNILat launch:

• Fidenza, Ringers, and Autoglyphs collectors
• 30 recognized personalities engaged in the creator economy

We expect them to continue their journey in collaboration with the Nil DAO to collectively establish the stack on which human creativity expands.

N holders

The permissionless nature of the_n_project, associated with its completely fair launch, establishes this collection as an unbiased base layer on top of which creators can build, innovate and express their creativity. Initial contributors are looking to unleash the power of n while leveraging the n community as a relay and source of support for creators.

Nil contributors are looking to reward long-term N participants by consciously applying an amplification mechanism.

At launch, each N holder is able to claim a fixed amount of $vNIL.

On top of this, a bonus mechanism is applied to reward active participation from the N holder. The bonus is a multiplier derived from the collector's on-chain behaviour.

The most active n holders are able to increase their multiplier bonus up to a maximum of x3.

N holders who can claim their $vNIL at launch:

• All N holders - snapshot was taken Wednesday, October 13, 2021, at 6 PM  (CEST).

N holders enjoying a multiplicator bonus:

• The N collectors who have minted their N -- x1,15
• The N collectors who have held their n since September 09th. This multiplicator follows an exponential decay returning to 1 on the snapshot date -- x1.75

• The N collectors who have minted n derivatives
  • Minted 1 derivative -- x1,1
  • Minted 2 derivatives -- x1,2
  • Minted 3 derivatives -- x1,3
• The N collectors who have staked on Treasure - x1.15

Anyone is free to use n in any way he wants.

Staking

Nil Protocol V1 is a Community-Curated NFT Marketplace.

At the core of the Protocol Design resides a permissionless curation model using Curation Power (CP) as a value signalling tool.

This Curation Power is generated by staking $NIL and n.

To ensure protocol ignition, we introduce a staking program to incentivize stakers’ activism, distributing extra $NIL rewards to those early curators.

How staking works:

• Stake your n and $NIL to generate Curation Power (CP). CP can be used to support artists.
• Earn $NIL as a Staking Reward.
• Earn up to 20% of the $vNIL generated by the artists you support - not live at launch.

To mitigate shortfall events, a 7-days time lock is applied to staked $NIL and n, meaning that a user can unstake those tokens once this period has ended.

Vesting

Nil DAO is building the foundations of the Creator Economy. The stack developed by the cooperative will serve human creativity expression and financialization for decades. Nil V1 is just the beginning.

To ensure the long-term development of the NIL DAO, airdropped tokens, treasury in addition to those emitted during the Creators Generation Sequences will follow a 666 days vesting schedule starting at token inception.

Vesting is a conscious choice to incentivize deep-rooted contributions from the participants. This mechanism is a standard way for cooperatives to encourage long-term contributions from their initial stakeholders, generally the co-founders, and VCs.

Note that the $NIL Staking Reward, as an ignition mechanism to accelerate the Nil Network growth, are not vested.

Tokens Distribution

Creators

Dedicated to empowering creators and giving them ownership over their production means, 40% of the $NIL max total supply will be held by the creators using the platform.

This is done true Creators Generation Sequences as previously detailed.

At the end of the DAO inception, 66% of the newly minted $NIL will be distributed to creators in the form of $vNIL.

Initial Contributors and Advisors

The Nil Protocol v1 Initial Contributors and Advisors have received 18% of the token max supply under the form of $vNIL. This is a retribution for their contribution to the v1 development which is now leveraged and governed by the Nil DAO.

Deposited in Treasury

The remaining 18.5% $vNIL have been deposited into the Nil DAO Treasury.

Contributors expect those fund to be used for activities to further the DAO development, such as recruitment, marketing, legal expenses, security, and audits.

The DAO multi-sig is currently controlled by NIL’s initial contributors. Ensuring multi-sig decentralization is now a priority of the Nil DAO.

General Note

The Nil DAO governance token - $NIL, has a max total supply of 100 million tokens. Similar to Bitcoin, this supply will not be minted for decades to come. This is to ensure the economic security of the project and that Nil is here to stay.

Starting from now, 66% of newly generated $vNIL will go to artists while 34% will flow to the curators.

The Nil future is bright, and you are part of it.

To conclude

The Nil Protocol v1 associated with the Nil DAO inception will be remembered as crucial steps of the Creator Economy’s development. Those have been consciously designed to start the Nil wheel motion while guaranteeing the long-term prosperity of the decentralization cooperative.

Starting from now, 66% of newly generated $vNIL will go to artists while 34% will flow to the curators.

The fiesta can start for Creator Economy participants, including collectors benefiting now on of a decentralized community-curated NFT marketplace without fee extraction.

The easiest way to generate $NIL is to use the platform as much as a creator, curator, or collector and get active in the DAO. Proactive behaviours will forever be rewarded among the Nil DAO.