RSS3 is the Open Information Layer designed to structure a wide range of Open Information, serving as a fundamental for the next Twitter, Google, and OpenAI. It operates as an open and decentralized protocol, ensuring that information is freely accessible and distributed.

Unlike traditional centralized systems, the RSS3 Network is formed by decentralized RSS3 Nodes constantly indexing and interpreting Open Information - similar to Google’s indexing system but decentralized. This democratizes information, making it more readily available for various uses. By leveraging the Network, social media applications can offer richer, more diverse content streams, search engines can provide more comprehensive search results, and AI models can access a vast pool of open data for training and analysis.

RSS3's decentralized nature ensures that information flow remains independent of centralized control. This makes RSS3 a pivotal technology in building the next phase of the Internet - the Open Web.

Open Information Consumption

The RSS3 Network offers abundant Open Information for consumption, enabling developers to create diverse user experiences, including social media platforms, AI models, blockchain explorers, and beyond.

Anyone can obtain an API key from the RSS3 developer portal and use $RSS3 to pay for queries. Whenever an application requests data from the Network, a number of tokens will be transferred and distributed to the Operation Pools ($P_o$) of corresponding Nodes ($N$).

Sublayers and Nodes

The RSS3 Mainnet consists of the RSS3 Data Sublayer (DSL) and the RSS3 Value Sublayer (VSL). Nodes live on both the DSL and VSL. Public Good Nodes ($N_p$) live on the DSL only, and their corresponding Public Good Pool lives on the VSL. Finally, the RSS3 VSL permits the deployment of external dApps.

RSS3 Data Sublayer (DSL)

The RSS3 DSL consists of $N_p$ and parts of $N$.

RSS3 Value Sublayer (VSL)

The RSS3 VSL consists of the Public Good Pool, parts of $N$, and all other smart-contract-based dApps that live upon it.

Node

• Anyone can become a Node Operator and start an RSS3 Node to join the RSS3 Network without permission.
• A Node Operator has the ability to configure its Node's coverage, a setting that directly influences the Node's capability to respond to various types of requests. A broader coverage means more computational resources are required.
• A Node has a corresponding Operator Pool ($P_o$) and corresponding Staking Pool ($P_s$) on the VSL. To start a Node, a deposit of at least 10,000 $RSS3 is required.

Public Good Node

• A Public Good Node does not have a Staking Pool and does not participate in any form of incentivization. Its existence is to serve the public good.
• To start a Public Good Node, no $RSS3 deposit is required.
• A Public Good Node does not live on the VSL and has no 1-to-1 pool.

Public Good Pool

The Public Good Pool ($P_p$) lives on the VSL. While a delegator (see Staking and Trust) cannot stake toward an $N_p$, they can stake to the Public Good Pool and then choose to trust an $N_p$.

dApps

As a Layer 2, the VSL is open to third parties for deploying smart contracts. Developers can deploy dApps freely.

Staking and Trust

A Public Good Node does not have a Staking Pool and does not participate in any form of incentivization.

Anyone who holds $RSS3 can choose to:

① Staking to a Normal Node

• The amount of staked $RSS3 signifies its quality and reliability, and this increases the likelihood of receiving requests for a Normal Node.

• The staked $RSS3 goes to the Staking Pool of the corresponding Node.

• When one stakes $RSS3 to Normal Node $N$, that party will be minting corresponding NFT(s), the RSS3-$N$ Chip ($C_N$), which represents the underlying staked $RSS3:

  $$C_{N_\text{mint}} = \frac{\text{stake} * \max(1, C_{N_\text{total}})}{P_s}$$

• Therefore, the staking amount needs to be an exact multiple of the Chip value, so that $C_{N_\text{mint}} \in \mathbb Z_{> 0}$. Unused $RSS3 will be returned.

• A Chip can be redeemed for its underlying $RSS3. The redemption amount may be different from the original staking amount due to the change of the underlying $P_s$ balance

  $$\text{stake}_{\text{redeem}} = \frac{C_{N_\text{redeem}} * P_s}{\max(1, C_{N_\text{total}})}$$

• A redemption takes 30 epochs or roughly 22.5 days to complete (1 epoch is 32,400 blocks on the RSS3 VSL - about 18 hours).

• A Staking Pool receives Network Rewards as the corresponding Node does its work and plays its part in maintaining the RSS3 Network; hence, its balance generally increases as calculated by $RSS3. However, this grants no promise in its corresponding Ether or stablecoin value of any sort.

• A Staking Pool's tax is calculated and distributed to the Operation Pool at the end of every epoch.

  • The tax applies to the Network Rewards allocated to its Staking Pool, not the staked tokens.
  • The tax rate is set by the Node Operator.
  • The Node Operator receives the taxed amount $T_{N,\epsilon}$ in full if its deposit $D_N$ meets the following conditions: $$D_{N} * 25 \geq T_{N,\epsilon} \quad \text{where} \quad D_{N} \geq 10,000$$
  • Otherwise, the exceeding part of the tax collected will be allocated to the Public Good Pool.
  • 10,000 $RSS3 is the minimal deposit for a Normal Node; otherwise, the tax will be allocated to the Public Good Pool.

② Trusting a Public Good Node

Since a Public Good Node does not participate in the incentivization mechanism, it is not possible to stake to a Public Good Node. However, one can choose to trust a Public Good Node by entrusting $RSS3 to the Public Good Pool.

• The number of entrusted $RSS3 signifies its quality and reliability, and this increases the likelihood of receiving requests for a Public Good Node.

• The entrusted $RSS3 goes to the Public Good Pool, which is a collective pool for all Public Good Nodes.

• When one trusts a Public Good Node $N_p$, that party will be minting corresponding NFT(s), the RSS3-$N_p$ Chip ($C_{N_p}$), which represents the underlying entrusted $RSS3:

  $$C_{{N_p}_\text{mint}} = \frac{\text{trust} * \max(1, C_{{N_p}_\text{total}})}{P_p}$$

• Therefore, the trust amount needs to be an exact multiple of the Chip value, so that $C_{N_\text{mint}} \in \mathbb Z_{> 0}$. Unused $RSS3 will be returned.

• A Chip can be redeemed for its underlying $RSS3. The redemption amount may be different from the original trust amount due to the change of the underlying $P_p$ balance:

  $$\text{trust}_{\text{redeem}} = \frac{C_{{N_p}_\text{redeem}} * P_p}{\max(1, C_{{N_p}_\text{total}})}$$

• A redemption takes 30 epochs or roughly 22.5 days to complete (1 epoch is 32,400 blocks on the RSS3 VSL - about 18 hours).

• The Public Good Pool's tax is calculated and donated to the Open Information Grant at the end of every epoch.

  • The Node Operator does not set a tax rate, nor does it receive the tax.
  • The tax rate is established based on the average rate of all Normal Nodes.

Reward

1. Every year, the Network will distribute Network Rewards equivalent to 3% of the total $RSS3 supply. In the first year, these rewards will be coming from the early incentive pool allocated through previous governance. Subsequently, the Network plans to initiate an annual issuance for these rewards, with the specifics to be determined by future RSS3 Evolution Proposals.

2. Network Rewards consists of three parts: Operation Rewards, Staking Rewards, and Trust Rewards.

   1. Operation Rewards of a Node will be distributed according to its Request Fees collected through serving Open Information requests;
   2. Staking Rewards of a given Node will be distributed according to the amount of staked tokens;
   3. Trust Rewards of any given Public Good Node will be the same according to the total amount of entrusted tokens.

3. As an initial ratio, 20% of the Network Rewards will go to Operation Rewards, while 80% will go to Staking Rewards and Trust Rewards. Such a ratio is subject to future governance proposals.

4. For all reward formulas:

   • $N$: a given Node
   • $\epsilon$: a given epoch
   • $F$: Request Fees
   • $R$: Network Rewards
   • $R_o$: Operation Rewards
   • $R_s$: Staking Rewards
   • $R_t$: Trust Rewards
   • $T$: Operation Tax

5. $W_{N, \epsilon}$ denotes the normalized work distribution for a given Normal Node $N$, at the end of a given epoch $\epsilon$. $G$ is a constant equal to $ln(2) \approx 0.693147$ used to offset the effect of replacing $ln$ with $log_2$, as the former is more costly regarding gas when it comes to on-chain computation.

   $$W_{N, \epsilon} = log_{2}(\frac{F_{N, \epsilon}}{\sum_{x=0}^{\infty} F_{x, \epsilon}} + 1) * G$$

6. $R_{o|N, \epsilon}$ denotes the Operation Rewards for a given Node $N$, at the end of a given epoch $\epsilon$.

   $$R_{o|N, \epsilon} = \frac{W_{N, \epsilon}}{\sum_{x=0}^{\infty} W_{x, \epsilon}} * R_{o, \epsilon}$$

7. $R_{s|N,\epsilon}$ denotes the Staking Rewards for a given Normal Node $N$, at the end of a given epoch $\epsilon$, where $R_s$ is allocated to the Normal Node’s $P_s$ in proportion to the amount of staked tokens in the entire Network during the last $\epsilon$.

   $$R_{s|N,\epsilon}=\frac{P_{s|N,\epsilon}}{\sum_{x=0}^{\infty} P_{s|x, \epsilon}}*R_{s,\epsilon}$$

8. $R_{t|N_p,\epsilon}$ denotes the Trust Rewards for a given Public Good Node $N_p$, at the end of a given epoch $\epsilon$, where $R_t$ is allocated to the Public Good Node’s $P_p$ in proportion to the amount of entrusted tokens in the entire Network during the last $\epsilon$.

   $$R_{t|N_p,\epsilon}=\frac{P_{t|N_p,\epsilon}}{\sum_{x=0}^{\infty} P_{t|x, \epsilon}}*R_{t,\epsilon}$$

9. The tax rate $\tau$ is set by the Node Operator of a Normal Node and is applied to the Network Rewards allocated to its $P_s$. The amount of tax collectible is capped at a maximum of $c$ times the current deposit amount, where the Network sets c.

   $$T_{N,\epsilon}=min(D_{N,\epsilon}*c_\epsilon,(R_{s|N,\epsilon}+R_{o|N,\epsilon})*\tau_{N,\epsilon})$$

10. The tax rate of Public Good Nodes is calculated using the average of tax rates of all Normal Nodes.

    $$T_{N_p,\epsilon}=R_{t|N_p,\epsilon} * \bar{\tau} \text{, where the average rate of all Normal Nodes denoted } \bar{\tau} = \frac{\tau_1 + \tau_2 + \cdots + \tau_n}{n}$$

11. The total amount of tokens allocated to a Normal Node’s $P_o$ for a given epoch $\epsilon$ is therefore

    $$F_{N,\epsilon}+T_{N,\epsilon}$$

12. The total amount of tokens allocated to a Normal Node’s $P_s$ for a given epoch $\epsilon$ is therefore

    $$R_{o|N, \epsilon} + R_{s|N, \epsilon} - T_{N, \epsilon}$$

13. The total amount of tokens allocated to all Public Good Nodes' $P_p$ for a given epoch $\epsilon$ is therefore

    $$R_{t|N_p, \epsilon} - T_{N_p,\epsilon}$$

Settlement

At the end of every epoch, a settlement happens. A settlement includes:

1. Distributing Request Fees to corresponding Operation Pools
2. Distributing Operation Rewards to the corresponding Staking Pools
3. Distributing the tax to corresponding Operation Pools
4. Distributing the after-tax Staking Rewards to each Staking Pool
5. Donating the public good tax
6. Distributing the after-tax Trust Rewards to the Public Good Pool

Slashing

1. A demotion will happen when a Node is confirmed to be reporting inaccurate data or failing to process a request.
2. A slashing is automatically triggered when a Node is demoted the 4th time within an epoch.
3. If a slashing happens, 2% of the Staking Pool and 10% of the Operation Pool will be deducted; the Node’s Reliability Score $\sigma$ will be set to 0 to prevent it from receiving requests during the current epoch.
4. 50% of the slashed tokens will be burnt; 10% will go to the reporter; the remaining slashed tokens will be donated to the Public Good Pool.
5. A slashing can be challenged within 7 epochs. If successful, the tokens are returned.
6. Public Good Nodes are subject to demotion only.

Further Utilities

In the first year following the Mainnet launch, there will be no new token issuance of any kind - the maximum supply remains 1 billion as of the TGE. Occasional slashing penalties are the only mechanism that will trigger $RSS3 inaccessibility, which may change in the future as more utilities are discovered for the $RSS3.

Starting from the second year, the network will introduce an annual issuance rate of 3%, which will be allocated as Network Rewards (Operation Rewards and Staking Rewards).

Additionally, more utility mechanisms are anticipated after the first year. The specifics of these mechanisms will be formulated and implemented through future RSS3 Evolution Proposals.

A Recap on Allocation and Vesting

The allocation and vesting schedule of $RSS3 was first introduced during the Testnet launch. Here is a recap and elaboration.

Total Supply and Allocation

1,000,000,000 $RSS3 tokens were created at genesis on Feb 12th, 2022.

5-Year Circulating Supply

The majority of the $RSS3 tokens are subject to long-term lockups. Details are as follows:

• Seed Investors

  Seed investors are those who backed us from the very beginning. Their purchase price was $0.04 per $RSS3. There will be a 12-month cliff and then a 24-month linear unlock.

• Private Token Sale

  Private token sale participants have purchase prices ranging from $0.06 to $0.15. There will be a 12-month cliff and then an 18-month linear unlock.

• Public Token Sale

  5% are tokens from public sales during the TGE. Tokens are unlocked immediately.

• Early Incentives

  10% are early incentives. 2% were airdropped to existing users in the RSS3 ecosystem 1 month after the TGE. The remaining has a 12-month linear unlock, which will be used as incentives toward various stakeholders (e.g., active users, ecosystem app developers, and Testnet Node Operators).

• Team

  Those existing and future crews of RSS3 are allocated about 15% of all the tokens. These tokens will be unlocked after a 12-month cliff with a 36-month vesting period.

• Natural Selection Labs

  Natural Selection Labs is the equity company that initiated the RSS3 project. It is granted 5% of all the tokens with a vesting period of 24 months after a 12-month cliff.

• Advisors

  There have been lots of people who helped the RSS3 project from its infancy. In total, 1% of all the tokens are granted to those advisors with a 12-month linear vesting period.

• Ecosystem

  2% will be unlocked after LBP, where the initial liquidity pool on Uniswap is coming from afterward. Then, it will be subject to a 12-month cliff before a 48-month linear unlock.

• Foundation

  The foundation is set to support the long-term development of the project. There will be a 12-month cliff followed by a 48-month linear unlock.

Future Evolutions

The RSS3 Network is in a state of continuous evolution, with ongoing upgrades to its tokenomics and technical architecture. As we endeavor to build a foundational information network that lays the groundwork for a new generation of applications, there's much more to accomplish. We encourage everyone to join the discussion and participate in the governance of RSS3 in the community forum.