Crypto Commons Research Lab

Project Plan 2026

Three coordinated wings driving permissionless protocol design, formal research, and academic legitimacy.

Wing A: Protocol Design Wing B: Trust Formalization Wing C: Academic Research
Overview

Lab Structure

flowchart TB
    subgraph CCRL["CRYPTO COMMONS RESEARCH LAB"]
        direction TB
        subgraph WingA["WING A: Practical Protocol Design"]
            A1[Permissionless Saving Circles]
            A2[Permissionless Brood Funds]
        end
        subgraph WingB["WING B: Trust Distribution Formalization"]
            B1[Theoretical Framework]
            B2[Applied Analysis]
        end
        subgraph WingC["WING C: Academic Research"]
            C1[Bread Co-op Case Study]
            C2[CCRL Website & Affiliation]
        end
    end
    WingA -->|"provides use cases"| WingB
    WingB -->|"provides formal security arguments"| WingA
    WingC -->|"documents outputs"| WingA
    WingC -->|"documents outputs"| WingB
    SS[Summer School - July 2026] -.->|"visibility venue"| CCRL
    CCG[Crypto Commons Gathering - Aug 2026] -.->|"visibility venue"| CCRL
Timeline

Jan – Aug 2026

gantt
    title CCRL Jan-Aug 2026 Project Timeline
    dateFormat YYYY-MM-DD
    section Wing A
    Scope and student proposals    :a1, 2026-01-01, 2M
    Prototype and spec dev         :a2, after a1, 2M
    Implementation and review      :a3, after a2, 2M
    Student-led deployment         :a4, after a3, 2M
    section Wing B
    Theoretical framework          :b1, 2026-01-01, 8M
    Applied analysis               :b2, 2026-04-01, 5M
    section Wing C
    Fellowship decision            :milestone, c0, 2026-02-01, 0d
    Bread Co-op research           :c1, 2026-02-01, 7M
    CCRL website setup             :c2, 2026-02-01, 1M
    Academic article               :c3, 2026-06-01, 3M
    Crypto Commons Gathering       :milestone, ccg1, 2026-08-28, 0d
Team

Team Structure

Wing A: Protocol Design

MemberRole
RonLead, development
GiuseppeAcademic advisor
StudentsIssues, improvements
KinDocumentation

Wing B: Trust Formalization

MemberRole
FedericoPhD researcher
RonUse case provider

Wing C: Academic

MemberRole
KinLead
FedericoSupport
Wing A

Practical Protocol Design

Improve and ship permissionless versions of saving circles and brood funds

Saving Circles (Stacks)

  • Current: Closed trust-based model
  • Target: Permissionless model
  • Lead: Ron
Briefed Dec 27

Brood Funds

  • Current: Asymmetric co-op power
  • Target: Distributed governance
  • Lead: Ron
Needs scoping

Student Contributions

  • Bug fixes & improvements
  • Issues across existing protocols
  • General dev work
Briefed Dec 27
Student Proposals
→
Design Review
→
Prototype
→
Implementation
→
Internal Audit
→
Deployment
Wing B

Trust Distribution Formalization

Formal mathematical models for measuring decentralization, and research into making protocols permissionless

Research Areas

Permissionless Saving Circles / Stacks

  • Transition from closed trust-based to permissionless
  • Formal security & trust guarantees in open participation

Permissionless Brood Funds / Safety Net

  • Permissionless participation while maintaining safety net
  • Governance without co-op gatekeeping

Applied Analysis Targets

flowchart TB
    Framework[Trust Distribution Framework] --> SC[Saving Circles / Stacks]
    Framework --> BF[Brood Funds / Safety Net]
    Framework --> Bread[Bread Protocol]
    SC --> Paper1["Paper"]
    BF --> Paper2["Paper"]
    Bread --> Paper3["Paper"]
Wing C

Academic Research & Documentation

Academic legitimacy, documentation, and branding

Kin's Research Flow

flowchart LR
    I1[Interviews: Core Team] --> A[Analysis]
    I2[Interviews: Community] --> A
    I3[Interviews: Bread Holders] --> A
    D[Documentation Review] --> A
    A --> R[Report/Article]
    R --> C[Conference Presentation]

Team

MemberRole
KinLead
FedericoSupport

Deliverables

  • Bread Co-op case study research
  • CCRL website setup
  • Academic article (Jun–Aug)
  • Conference presentation
Coordination

Dependencies & Coordination

flowchart TB
    A["Wing A: Protocols"] -->|"real-world test cases"| B["Wing B: Formalization"]
    B -->|"formal security arguments"| A
    A -->|"outputs to document"| C["Wing C: Academic"]
    B -->|"papers with affiliation"| C
    C -->|"legitimacy & visibility"| A
    C -->|"legitimacy & visibility"| B
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