Breaking down barriers
Xsauce enables the community to own culture again. It’s about dismantling the power structure which exists between brands and consumers, so that the financial beneficiaries of creativity can be more evenly distributed in the world.
The focus for this week is on inclusivity. We’re going to share our views on why marketplaces should be as inclusive as possible. We don’t make any of these points as idealistic endeavours, but as critical components of truly equitable marketplaces.
Just to recap, the Xchange is a decentralized platform for buying and selling xAssets (more on xAssets here). It doesn’t operate like Ebay or Amazon where users are trying to buy or sell directly to each other (e.g. a two-sided marketplace). A synthetic marketplace is entirely different. All xAssets are tokenized and unlimited in supply. No one owns or has the ability to deny you access to them. Simply put, if the xAsset token is available then you can can get exposure to the cultural asset. With that being said, the marketplace benefits most from a diverse set of actors. This leads to our first point…
- Diverse Actors = Diverse xAssets
Because the Xchange deals in cultural assets, the buyers and sellers must have firsthand knowledge of cultural trends throughout the world. This type of knowledge is highly nuanced, subjective and location specific. Take a streetwear as an example. The vibe in Sao Paolo isn’t the same in Singapore.
For the Xchange to be the global stock market of culture, we need individuals from all corners of the globe to participate and vote to ensure their region’s contribution to global culture is reflected in the xAssets available. This is vital for the health of the protocol and the decentralization of cultural assets.
2. Discoverability of Creators
“Alternative assets” have always been reserved for those in the inner circle (a previous post on this). The market was small, regulated by word-of-mouth and a few key players held the keys to the castle. The high end art world is a great example the intentional secrecy which has created a moat between the artists, admirers and the collectors. Up until now, these inner circles were the sole arbiters of what had cultural value. This gave rise to immense inequality and a lack of representation on a global scale.
Now back to the point. Discoverability is important because it allows emerging creators to be recognized for their contribution to culture. It places the emphasis on talent rather than the co-sign that comes from a global brand. The Xchange is about the mutual transfer of cultural value, discoverability is the only way for creativity to flourish.
3. Open Access
Culture happens fast. Trends go viral. Memes get made. New collabs drop. Traditional investments just cannot keep up; they have a lag time where the “financials” must add up, where investors pretend they have a grasp of what’s going on while they post-rationalise their decisions. At Xsauce, all we know is culture.
Creativity reigns supreme and culture is felt before it can be measured.
Our stance is that an inclusive market cannot be subject to arbitrary restrictions such as fixed trading windows or only offering some products in certain markets. Restriction regarding access will always favour a select few individuals over the group. The Xchange is universally accessible. You can buy a pair of synthetic Yeezys while you’re hungover in bed Sunday morning or buy shares of the Off-White index over lunch.
Conclusion
Inclusivity is about destroying the intermediaries of culture. It’s about freeing the community from the unnecessary bottlenecks which extract the shared value.
Culture is ours.
