# Glossary {% hint style="warning" %} The documentation is designed for Liker Land and LikeCoin v2. For information on [3ook.com](https://3ook.com/) and LikeCoin v3, please visit [docs.3ook.com](https://docs.3ook.com) and [dao.like.co](https://dao.like.co/). {% endhint %} ## Basic concepts ### LikeCoin DAO *LikeCoin DAO* is a decentralized community in cyberspace among content creators and consumers, who collectively own and govern the community. In blockchain terminology, *LikeCoin DAO* is a decentralized autonomous organization. ### Liker A citizen in *LikeCoin DAO*. Each *Liker* has a unique [*Liker ID*](/general-guides/dapp/liker-id.md) to identify herself. While many *Likers* are writers, photographers, illustrators, editors and curators, *LikeCoin DAO* totally welcomes silent content consumers and offers services for them to involve and contribute without creating contents. ### Civic Liker A *Liker* who delegates at least 5,000 LIKE to the [Civic Liker validator node](https://bigdipper.live/likecoin/validators/likevaloper1jxpfche2386a6m0kvfpj6xq9zlrjtuqwz2rnug), and distribute the corresponding staking reward via the [LikeCoin button](#id-82e1). *Civic Liker* is essentially *the* tax payer in *LikeCoin DAO,* enjoying various benefits while at the same time supporting creators. ### LikeCoin app Reader, passport and wallet all integrated in one single app. [LikeCoin app](https://like.co/in/getapp) is essentially government of the DAO on your palm. Some tech lovers prefer lower level tools such as command line interface and hardware wallet. It requires significant technical know-how and is beyond the scope of this article. ### LikeCoin button The trademarked hands-clapping button attached to stories, images, illustrations and other creative contents, on which a *Liker* claps to show her appreciation. ### LikeCoin token Usually called [*LikeCoin*](https://like.co/) for short, it is the de facto token in *LikeCoin DAO.* *LikeCoin* has 3 major uses: * **Storing and exchanging value**. Used to reward creators, *validators*, and for payments in general. * **Representing the contribution and thus voting power of a \_Liker**\_. The more contribution a *Liker* makes, the more *LikeCoin* she receives and the more influential power she has in *LikeCoin DAO*. * **Bridging with other communities and the traditional world**. *LikeCoin* can be exchanged into and from Bitcoin, Ethereum, TWD, HKD and other traditional and crypto currencies. The ticker of *LikeCoin* is LIKE. Note however that a token trading with the ticker LIKE is not necessarily *LikeCoin*. Special attention has to be paid to avoid scamming. ### LikeCoin chain A distributed ledger of the open government of *LikeCoin DAO*. A sovereign, application specific blockchain designed for content creation and information property management, offering high-speed, low cost and most importantly, independence. Data on *LikeCoin chain* is open and can be visualized on [Ping.pub](/general-guides/wallet/block-explorer/ping.pub.md). The very first beta of *LikeCoin chain*, code-named **KaiTak**, was released on Apr 2019 and was upgraded to **Taipei** on Sept 2019 as the new beta testnet. First public release of *LikeCoin chain*, **SheungWan**, was just launched on Nov 15, signaling the establishment of *LikeCoin DAO*. *LikeCoin chain* **FoTan**, which incorporates advanced features such as International Standard Content Number (*“ISCN”*), is planned in 2020. ### Validator Operates a set of servers 24x7 to validate all transactions of *Likers*, including token transfers, content publishing, voting and etc. A *validator* on *LikeCoin chain* is both a bank and a senator in *LikeCoin DAO*. To start with, *validators* of *LikeCoin chain* include [**National Taipei University of Technology**](https://www.ntut.edu.tw/), [**Taiwan FactCheck Center**](https://tfc-taiwan.org.tw/),[**Forbole**](https://www.forbole.com/), **The** [**Standnews**](https://thestandnews.com/), [**Culture and Media Education Foundation**](https://www.cmef.org.hk/eng), [**Hong Kong Creative Open Technology Association**](https://cota.hk/), [**Matters Lab**](https://matters.news/), [**GLOs**](https://www.glos.world/), [**Enyk Security**](https://enyk.io/), [**UDomain**](https://www.udomain.com/) and [**OurSky**](https://oursky.com/). ![first batch of validators of LikeCoin chain](/files/-M72dJEkQbMYJxOxqs5x) ## Mechanism ### Token issuance When *LikeCoin* was first introduced in 2017, it was an “ERC-20 token” issued on Ethereum blockchain. To distinguish from the new standard used in *LikeCoin DAO*, the legacy token will be stated explicitly as LikeCoin ERC-20 while the new token referred as *LikeCoin token* or simply *LikeCoin*. Following the original *LikeCoin* whitepaper, there will be up to 2bil *LikeCoin* in the long run. The *LikeCoin* is assigned to **Token Sale Pool** (360,538,485), **Ecosystem Development Pool** (439,461,515), **Team Pool** (200mil), and **Creators Pool** (1bil) for their corresponding usages. 1bil *LikeCoin* was minted in Genesis for migration from **Token Sale Pool**, **Ecosystem Development Pool**, **Team Pool**, while **Creators Pool** will be processed in future upgrade. ### **Migration** As *LikeCoin DAO* starts to operate, tentatively set on Dec 2 2019, *LikeCoin* will replace LikeCoin ERC-20 as the official token in *LikeCoin DAO*, which means content creators will be rewarded in *LikeCoin*. The 1bil *LikeCoin* at Genesis was stored in a migration pool and the only way to unlock a certain amount of *LikeCoin* is to migrate the same amount of LikeCoin ERC-20, on a 1:1 basis. A migration page will be provided for *Likers*. When LikeCoin ERC-20 is migrated to *LikeCoin*, the former will be burnt on Ethereum, so that the total number of *LikeCoin plus* LikeCoin ERC-20 in circulation remains unchanged. New *LikeCoin* will be minted at an inflation rate determined by the validators collectively. The inflation rate was set at 1% at the Genesis of *LikeCoin DAO*. The newly minted *LikeCoin* is for rewarding validation of transactions (see **Validating Transaction** below). ### Rewarding creativity. Supporting the commons. With *LikeCoin DAO* being a community of content creators and lovers, appreciation of and rewarding for creativity is a core value. In contrast to Like Button of Facebook and other social media, tapping a *LikeCoin button — clapping —* provides the corresponding creators with tangible rewards. A content can be clapped by a *Liker* 1–5 times to reflect the degree of appreciation. Each clap represents a vote for the content, helping the creator receive part of the **Creators Pool** allocated for that day. A *Civic Liker* enjoys higher weighting for her claps, which other than the **Creators Pool** also distributes all of her own monthly payment to creators on average. *LikeCoin button* is like an assistant to *Likers,* helping them micro reward creativity automatically with claps as a signal of appreciation. ### Validating Transaction In order to reach consensus in a community, some trusted parties have to record all transactions. In traditional world, this is performed by banks which charges various fees. In *LikeCoin DAO*, peer-to-peer transactions in general takes 5 seconds at extremely low cost. Such a system is realized collectively by *validators*, endorsed by *Likers*. Endorsement by *Likers* is reflected by *delegation.* When a *Liker* delegates her *LikeCoin* to a *validator*, she is trusting its technical ability, knowledge and integrity, and is letting it represent her. Similar to saving in banks, delegated *LikeCoin* is still owned by the *Liker*, but it takes 21 days to undelegate and get back the *LikeCoin* to one’s own wallet. The voting power of a particular *validator* equals the total amount of *LikeCoin* delegated to it, since it reflects the level of endorsement it receives from the community. Approximately every 5 seconds, a block is created in *LikeCoin chain* to record all transactions during the period. Every *validator* has to agree and sign the block to confirm. If everyone or more than two third of voting power agrees, the block and thus all transactions within it will be confirmed. In this case, all signing *validators* will be rewarded some newly minted *LikeCoin* according to their voting power. The newly minted *LikeCoin* comes from inflation, which is set at 1% at genesis. The rewards are split 50:50 between the *validator* and the *Likers* who delegated their *LikeCoin*. If, however, a *validator* does not perform its duty or act maliciously, there will be penalty: * **Unavailability**. Offline for more than 95% of times in the previous 10,000 blocks, i.e. the *validator* participated for fewer than 500 blocks in the previously 10,000 blocks. In this case 0.01% of the delegated *LikeCoin* will be slashed and the *validator* be “jailed”, until the *validator* unjail itself after at least 10 minutes. * **Double signing**. Validates 2 conflicting blocks at the same time, which is fatal because it allows an amount to be spent twice. In this case, the *validator* will be permanently removed, and 5% of the delegations will be slashed. In both cases, delegated *LikeCoin* from *Likers* will be slashed at the same ratio. It is important for *Likers* to delegate only to *validators* they can trust. In blockchain jargon, the above mechanism of decentralized consensus is called Byzantine Fault Tolerance (**BFT**), achieved through Delegated Proof of Stake (**DPoS**). ## **Governance** As stated in the very beginning, *LikeCoin DAO* is collectively owned and governed by the community. A [liquid democracy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_democracy) system is designed and deployed upon Genesis to enable the self governance of *LikeCoin DAO* by all *Likers* through *validators*. ### Delegation When a *Liker* delegates *LikeCoin* to a *validator*, not only does the *Liker* help validating transactions for the network and earns rewards, but the *Liker* also endorses the *validator* to raise proposals and vote on behalf of them. A *Liker* as stakeholder may also decide the amount of *LikeCoin* to delegate to reflect the level of endorsement, and may delegate to one or more *validators*. Delegation is like voting in a society under representative democracy but in a more flexible way. After the LikeCoin chain upgraded to FoTan on August 18, 2021, stakeholders can [direct vote](/general-guides/governance/direct-vote.md) for a proposal. ### Raising a proposal Every proposal is a change to the current system. After all, it is not very meaningful to pass a proposal that changes nothing. All *validators* may raise proposals. Some aspects of proposals include: * **Parameter Change proposal**: to change one or more parameters. If accepted, the requested parameter change is updated automatically by the proposal handler upon conclusion of the voting period. * **Community Pool Spend proposal**: to decide the usage of the community pool * **Text proposal**: All the proposals that are not covered by the above two types go under this type, e.g.: about governance principle. Examples in the past: 4th proposal about direct democracy implementation, and the 9th proposal about delegation of ecosystem development fund. By the way, two more proposal types are supported after the FoTan chain upgrade: **Software Upgrade Proposal** and **Cancel Software Upgrade Proposal**. See the [Cosmos SDK documentation](https://docs.cosmos.network/master/modules/gov/01_concepts.html) for details. Any validator can raise a proposal. In order to have a proposal to enter the voting period, 100k *LikeCoin* has to be deposited within 2 weeks. The deposit may come from other *validators* and *Likers.* In case the proposal fails to get 100k *LikeCoin* deposit in 2-week time, the proposal will be abandoned and the deposit will be forfeit and go to the **Community Pool.** The usage of the pool is determined by further proposals. ### Voting Once a proposal reaches 100K LikeCoin, it immediately enters Voting period. All *validators* and stakeholders may then vote during the one week Voting period. There are four options to every proposal: **Yes**, **No**, **Abstain** and **Veto**. Veto is to express a “No” so strong that the *validator* believes the proposal should not be proposed in the first place, and should have its deposit expropriated to **Community Pool**. During the voting period, if a stakeholder does not agree with the option picked by the *validator* representing them, they may transfer their delegated *LikeCoin* to another *validator* or direct vote to overrule. This is another point that liquid democracy outperforms traditional representative democracy. ### Result The proposal would be implemented if it is passed. It happens when: * Quorum: The voting power (delegated LikeCoin) that participated in the Voting period has passed the minimum percentage 40% * Simple majority: Not counting the abstention votes, there are more votes (>50%) in favour than against. * No veto: Less than 30% voting power has voted a veto. If the proposal fails to achieve quorum, or gets more than 1/3 voting power as veto, then the proposal will be turned down and the deposited LikeCoin will be expropriated to the **Community Pool;** else the deposit will be transferred back to the owners. ![](/files/-MDJi3xOk9fcUQvkIrob) --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.v2.like.co/general-guides/dapp/background.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.