🔗So, what exactly is a cooperative?

The International Cooperative Alliance defines a cooperative as an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically controlled enterprise.

Cooperatives operate under a set of shared principles—voluntary and open membership, democratic member control, economic participation by members, autonomy and independence, education, training, and information, cooperation among cooperatives, and concern for the community. These principles underpin the resilience and effectiveness of cooperatives as governance models.

🔗The ThreeFold Cooperative

In the future, ThreeFold will establish a 100% owned subsidiary of the Cooperative within a chosen jurisdiction to open the doors to innovative mechanisms. Through this subsidiary, the creation of Farming Pools becomes feasible, providing a controlled environment for token transactions aligned with defined governance protocols unique to each Farming Pool.

One crucial aspect is the inclusivity within this cooperative framework. Every farmer contributing resources and every buyer purchasing IT capacity from the network becomes an integral part of this cooperative, fostering a sense of ownership and shared responsibility.

This cooperative structure revolutionizes the way participants interact within a decentralized network. It ensures that governance mechanisms are not only defined but also upheld by all stakeholders, aligning actions with the collective vision.

Embracing a cooperative model introduces a well-established framework for decentralized governance. By leveraging its proven principles and structures, it fosters inclusivity, democratic decision-making, and shared ownership—a recipe for fostering trust, equity, and sustainability within decentralized systems.

As we navigate the complex landscape of decentralized technologies, cooperatives stand as a beacon of collaborative and democratic governance, offering a robust foundation for a truly decentralized future.

In 2023, we had the pleasure of hosting two summits in Zanzibar – one in July and another in November, named the Africa Regenerative Future Summit. These events brought together leading innovators and investors committed to advancing human flourishing, with a specific emphasis on science and technology shaping the trajectory of Africa’s future.

During the inaugural summit in July, Zanzibar’s President, Dr. Hussein Mwinyi, honored us with his presence. In a formal declaration, he publicly expressed the government’s dedication to establishing a digital free zone, a locally-owned Internet infrastructure, and an incubator to support young local innovators – all in collaboration with ThreeFold – and their commitment to the ICT sector as a whole.

The second summit saw the birth of Dunia Yetu (meaning “Our World” in Swahili), a collaborative movement forged in partnership with a cohort of tech developers and innovators from Dar Es Salaam. This initiative is driven by a shared commitment to reshape the digital landscape in Tanzania and Africa. Its goals include empowering coders, fostering economic development, and constructing a sovereign, autonomous digital ecosystem for a more promising digital future.

Looking ahead to 2024, our vision includes a continued series of gatherings focused on OurWorld, ThreeFold, and other projects and individuals prioritizing a planet-first, people-first approach to support Tanzania and the broader African continent.

More information:

• Summit I: Read Zanzibar Seeks to Become a Digital FreeZone (via The Citizen) and Mwinyi Commits to Improvement of Digital Spaces (via Daily News Tanzania) for further details.
• Summit II: Learn more about Dunia Yetu
• Dunia Yetu: Read Sovereign Internet - A game changer for Tanzania (via The Citizen)

🔗Rising Energy Prices

Energy prices have been on steady rise globally because of increasing costs of energy production, high demand, and the depletion of traditional energy sources such as oil and natural gas as primary drivers. However, the Russian-Western standoff due to the invasion of Ukraine has produced an unprecedented increase in energy prices, especially in Europe.

Some statistics:

• UK - Household energy bills increased by 54% in April 2022, and a further increase of 20% is expected in April 2023.
• USA - Consumers paid 14.3% more for electricity last year on average.
• France - As of February 2023, electricity prices may rise by 15%.

These rising energy costs have a significant impact on the economy, affecting inflation and driving up the cost of goods and services.

🔗Reducing Our Bills & Our Impact on the Environment

Given the increasing cost of energy, it is more important than ever to adopt responsible energy use practices. Simple measures like turning off lights and electronics when not in use, using energy-efficient appliances, and properly insulating homes can make a big difference in reducing energy consumption and lowering bills.

By reducing energy waste, individuals and businesses can not only save money, but also help protect the environment and preserve natural resources for future generations. The world’s energy resources are finite, and the increasing demand for energy is putting pressure on the environment. By adopting responsible energy use practices, we can reduce our carbon footprint, decrease our dependence on non-renewable energy sources, and preserve the planet for future generations.

Saving energy is important for the planet as it can have a positive impact on the environment and the economy. Some of the key benefits of energy conservation are:

• Reduces greenhouse gas emissions:
  • By reducing the amount of energy we consume, we also reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced by power plants, which are a major contributor to climate change.
• Saves natural resources:
  • Conserving energy helps to conserve our limited natural resources, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, which are used to generate electricity.
• Lowers energy costs:
  • By using energy more efficiently, we can lower our energy bills, saving money and reducing our overall energy costs.
• Improves energy security:
  • By reducing our dependence on foreign sources of energy, we can improve our energy security and reduce the risks associated with energy shortages and price spikes.
• Creates jobs:
  • The development and implementation of energy-efficient technologies and practices can create jobs in the energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors.

While it has been known for a long time that consuming less energy meant a smaller ecological footprint, most people weren’t very motivated to do so. However, once their wallets started feeling the price increase, people became increasingly aware & careful of their energy consumption. So, in a way, while it is not a great thing for our economies, the rising energy prices are doing a good thing for the planet.

🔗Energy Usage of Nodes

The energy usage of a node in a network depends on various factors such as the type of node, its hardware specifications, and the workload it is handling. Generally, nodes that perform more intensive computations and have more advanced hardware specifications will consume more energy compared to basic nodes.

For example, nodes used in cryptocurrency mining operations are known to consume large amounts of energy due to the intensive computations they perform. On the other hand, simple nodes used for basic network functions such as routing or data storage may consume less energy.

It is important to note that the energy consumption of a node can also be influenced by environmental factors such as temperature, network congestion, and power supply efficiency. By optimizing these factors, it is possible to reduce the energy consumption of a node and minimize its environmental impact.

🔗ThreeFold 3Node Servers

ThreeFold is a decentralized internet infrastructure that utilizes a network of nodes (referred to 3Nodes on our grid) to provide computing resources and data storage. Farmers can farm capacity for the ThreeFold Grid by building their own server and hosting Zero-OS on it, or by buying and running a preconfigured device.

In general, a 3Node cluster is expected to consume less energy compared to traditional server clusters, due to its focus on energy efficiency and sustainability. However, the exact energy usage will depend on the hardware specifications of the nodes, the workload they are handling, and the energy-saving measures implemented. It’s important to note that even a machine with nothing running on top of it consumes energy and brings a cost to farmers.

🔗ThreeFold WOL Feature Comes as Part of Our Farmerbot

Wake-on-LAN (WOL) is a feature in computer hardware that allows a network administrator to power on a computer remotely. The feature works by sending a special “magic packet” to the target computer, which contains the Media Access Control (MAC) address of the network adapter. The network adapter is programmed to recognize the magic packet and use it to initiate the power-on process.

Wake-on-LAN is useful for remotely accessing a computer that is turned off, as it allows the computer to be powered on without physically pressing the power button. This feature is commonly used for remote administration and maintenance tasks, as well as for remotely accessing a computer for work or entertainment purposes.

Wake-on-LAN requires specific hardware and software support, including a network adapter that supports the feature, a motherboard that enables the feature in the BIOS, and an operating system that supports WOL. Additionally, the computer must be connected to a network that supports WOL, and the feature must be enabled in the network adapter’s settings.

The community has been asking for an energy-saving solution for quite a while and we had been looking for one. It took some time, as this was not the only topic that needed our team’s attention, and we had obstacles along the route to designing this solution, including limited funding and needful adjustments.

We had been working on a WOL feature for power-saving set up directly on the chain, but it turned out to be a dead end. Instead of an independent WOL feature, our dev team started from scratch with a new idea! We are now very close to delivering a solution: A Farmerbot that uses WOL to switch nodes on and off when needed!

Farmers will be able to define their configuration in an easy markdown format. The Farmerbot will check which nodes can be turned off or not. Farmers will be able to personalize this feature according to their farm’s own needs and preferences.

🔗Conclusion

Saving energy is crucial for the planet and has numerous positive impacts on the environment, economy, and society. By taking steps to conserve energy, we can help to reduce our environmental impact, lower energy costs, improve energy security, and create jobs in the clean energy sector.

Having a power-saving feature for ThreeFold nodes is one of our priorities. Together with the community, we agree that this is a pressing issue we need to solve. Our main incentive is to respect our engagement to be a sustainable network that puts the planet first. Supporting our farmers to get through difficult times financially is an extra one.

Let’s be honest. There is no other project or technology out there like ThreeFold, no one nearly as far along as we are. Our co-founders have decades of experience (and success) in the Internet and Cloud space. They and the team developed a new Internet infrastructure from the ground up, including a stateless operating system based on the Linux kernel, which is quite a significant accomplishment.

Today, we have the biggest network of decentralized storage, compute, and network on the planet. The technology is in its third generation, functional and ready for utilization, even commercially. The ThreeFold Playground provides a sandbox of limitless opportunities for open-source builders – developers can (and are) now build(ing) and monetize(ing) projects built on the grid.

Hopefully you’ve been following along lately with community calls and all of our updates to see the major progress that was made in 2022. The technology took major strides, the grid nearly doubled, the community got way more active, and there are some partnerships in the works with huge reach where we can make big impact.

Of course the token price is low and this is less than ideal to say the least, especially for farmers who are running hardware and weary of costs – although a power savings feature is coming! But the token is built on strong fundamentals and our efforts are focused on creating a balanced and sustainable token economy for the long-term.

ThreeFold Tomorrow

In the coming days we’ll be announcing a super exciting project (ThreeFold Grid Services) from the ThreeFold team with the following purpose:

To prove that the current state of the ThreeFold Grid is enough on top of which to start an end-user facing commercial business. We will release a suite of grid services with fiat gateways and we will also create content that explains in steps how to use the technical building blocks to put it all together to create your own solution / service.

Within Q1 we also aim to expose one or several partnerships with the potential to impact millions of people in emerging / developing countries.

We have ThreeFold Ventures coming as well, different businesses or arms of ThreeFold including OurPhone that create a holistic ecosystem for a more fair and equal world.

Then there’s the Internet of Internets (Regional Internet) model which will come to life this year, and Digital Twin. And more – this is not comprehensive – but you get the picture.

ThreeFold Beyond

ThreeFold is the foundation for people around the world to live in true digital sovereignty, for people who today do not have affordable access to education, communication, and financial tools to gain access. ThreeFold can impact industries from Internet to banking to education to supply chain and more. The possibilities are really limitless, let your imagine run wild. ThreeFold can change the world.

Our Future Is up to All of Us

I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again (and again) … A decentralized movement is all about decentralized action and participation. And participation comes in all shapes and sizes. Together, we all need to act and push this into the world. Everyone in this community is empowered to help the project succeed though their own initiatives. The team is of course happy to offer support through technical help and even token grants. ThreeFold will be a success if people continue to choose to believe it is important and dedicate their energy towards it.

ThreeFold can and needs to be a complete, end-to-end decentralized ecosystem empowering all its members to build and create. We have everything we need, and if we don’t, let’s solve it. Most importantly, we have each other. Let’s do this.

If you want to get involved, the forum, two-way chat, farmers chat, and library / manual are great places to get started.

• Dive into the ThreeFold Library
• Get a node from the Official ThreeFold webshop
• Build your own node
• Or join us on our two-way chat