The Builders
If the ecosystem is not owned by a company, then who creates value within it?
The answer is straightforward.
- Participants.
- Builders.
- Entrepreneurs.
- Developers.
- Businesses.
- Merchants.
- Consumers.
- Liquidity providers.
- Infrastructure providers.
- Community members.
The ecosystem exists because these participants choose to participate.
- Some build applications.
- Some create infrastructure.
- Some provide liquidity.
- Some integrate merchant networks.
- Some recruit businesses.
- Some develop software.
- Some educate communities.
- Some simply use the ecosystem.
Each participant contributes in different ways.
No central authority directs these efforts.
No organization dictates what must be built.
Innovation emerges organically.
Participants pursue opportunities they believe are valuable.
The ecosystem evolves through the cumulative effect of these independent decisions.
This is one of the defining characteristics of decentralization.
- Control becomes distributed.
- Creativity becomes distributed.
- Innovation becomes distributed.
- Risk becomes distributed.
- Resilience becomes distributed.
Independent Companies
Many companies have chosen to build products, services and infrastructure that interact with the VOW Ecosystem.
This has created another common misconception.
People sometimes assume these businesses are owned by VOW.
They are not.
People sometimes assume they are owned by the VOW Ecosystem Foundation.
They are not.
People sometimes assume the ecosystem controls them.
It does not.
These businesses remain independent commercial entities.
They have their own shareholders.
Their own management teams.
Their own directors.
Their own objectives.
Some were founded specifically because their founders believed in the long-term vision of decentralized purchasing power.
Others became involved because they saw commercial opportunities.
Both motivations are valuable.
The ecosystem benefits from both.
A decentralized movement does not require ideological purity.
It requires participation.
The ecosystem grows stronger every time an entrepreneur chooses to build something useful.
Regardless of why they choose to do so.