Frequently Asked Questions
Encointer project
What is the state of the project?
We have a Kusama parachain running which will serve as our production platform. A test-flight is currently performed with a few dozen participants on our Testnet Gesell.
When launch?
The first communities will onboard throughout 2022.
When moon?
Don’t expect to get rich with Encointer. Its money supply follows adoption. Encointer aims at a more egalitarian economy and has no intent of rewarding early adopters – apart from the honor of seeing the next big thing first.
But I have no time to attend ceremonies
Then don’t. Ceremonies can be interpreted as a proof of need. If you don’t need the basic income, buy tokens from people who do and enjoy discounts from various businesses. After all, we expect Encointer to become a source of universal basic income for people in underdeveloped regions of our world, where the need might be sufficient to attend ceremonies.
Moreover, some people might attend not because of the basic income but to obtain a self-sovereign identity with proof of personhood.
But poor people have no mobile phone
True, you need a smartphone running the encointer app in order to participate. As GSMA research shows, 5 Bn people had mobile phones in 2017, 3.8 Bn of which had mobile internet. That still leaves out many. We can only go step by step. There are plans to support USSD for people who have no smartphone.
Why do we need a self-sovereign decentralized identity?
According to the World Bank, 1.1 Bn people do not have an ID. This also means they can’t open a bank account. According to the Global Findex Database, 1.7 Bn adults are unbanked, two thirds of which own a mobile phone. It might therefore be easier to obtain a mobile phone than an official ID and a bank account.
But let’s look at the developed world too: The Swiss government decided to leave digital identity systems to the private sector, which is highly concerning for individual privacy and freedom as proposed services like SwissID systematically get more information than they actually need (like who is logging in on which site at what times). Decentralized identity can solve this – if done right.
Ceremonies
Registration
When I try to register, the app tells me “You do not have sufficient funds on this account”.
In order to register for a ceremony, you need a tiny amount of Leu.
You have the following options:
- Ask a community member to endorse you and/or send you a tiny amount of Leu in exchange for a favor.
- Ask a shop that accepts your community currency to sell you a little. In the specific case of our Zurich chapter, you can buy 1 Leu for 1 CHF at Sphères.
Assignment
Why have I not been assigned to a ceremony?
In order to be assigned, you need to have registered before the deadline indicated in the app. The deadline is always two days before the ceremony itself, at midnight GMT.
If you have registered as a newbie, but still haven’t been assigned, this means that the ceremony is overbooked. Leu ceremonies can only grow by 1/3 from one ceremony to the next. This is important because we assume that the majority of ceremony participants are honest and know how it works.
Therefore, we require previous reputation for 2/3 of participants. Please try again next time and register as early as possible to increase your chances to get assigned next time.
If you have registered as a bootstrapper, reputable or endorsee and you have not been assigned, this may be because there are not enough locations defined for your community.
Performing a Ceremony Gathering
We have already started the gathering and voted on the number of people present, but one person can no longer participate for technical or non-technical reasons. What shall we do?
It would be best to restart the gathering and decrease the vote accordingly. If more than 5 people are still present, this is not necessary because the protocol will accept one missing attestation in this case.
I can’t submit my attestations, what to do?
If your internet connection is down or your phone battery went low, you can retry to submit your attestations within 24h after the ceremony took place.
Community-Issued Income Issuance
I have attended a gathering but did not get any income. Why?
It can take up to 48h before income can be claimed.
Currently, one person per gathering must claim the income explicitly. The app tells you that a claim is pending and the first person to claim will trigger issuance for the entire gathering. (This will be automated soon.)
If you still did not receive any income, that must be because your claim violates one of our rules. Likely reasons are:
- you have not attested enough legit attendees
- you have not been attested by enough legit attendees
- you have voted for the wrong amount of attendees
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