Meet Ampleforth
Ampleforth is a digital asset protocol for creating fair, independent money.
We support F.A. Hayek's vision of competing denationalized currencies, and believe that unchecked central bank inflation perpetuates a cycle of wealth inequality. The Ampleforth protocol issues supply directly to its holders, taking zero profits from inflation.
1. Today's money goes to central banks
Today money is issued to a central authority. Banks inflate for a myriad of stressful reasons, and they get to keep or lend the new money they print. Each cycle of inflation dilutes the balance of every holder.
2. Tomorrow's money goes to the people
Tomorrow's money is issued directly to the people. Ampleforth inflates only in response to demand, and distributes directly and proportionally to holders. The system takes no profits from inflation. This prevents balances from being diluted, and aligns users with the network.
Elastic Supply
The value of any sum of money held, is simply its price per unit multiplied by the quantity of units.
Value = Price * Quantity
Traditionally, people think of price as the component that fluctuates with demand, while quantity remains static.
The Ampleforth protocol inverts this, holding price static while allowing quantity to change according to demand instead. Consider the following examples:
Adam purchases 1 Bitcoin at $1, demand increases and he now has 1 Bitcoin worth $4000.
// 2. The Ampleforth Model
Betty purchases 1 Ample at $1, demand increases and she now has 4000 Amples each worth $1.
This difference may appear subtle, both Adam and Betty end up holding $4000 in tokens—but the second model is strictly better than the first because it preserves the unit of account function of money.
Protocol
Our protocol is simple. When Amples are trading higher
than the price target, the protocol inflates to coin holders proportionally; and when Amples are
trading lower than the price target, the protocol deflates from coin holders proportionally.
Consider the following examples:
>> Adam begins with 1000 Amples.
>> Supply increases by 10%.
>> Adam now has 1100 Amples.
// 2. Deflation Example
>> Betty begins with 1000 Amples.
>> Supply decreases by 10%.
>> Betty now has 900 Amples.
By adjusting supply to coin holders directly, the Ampleforth protocol avoids the devaluing effects of inflation observed in fiat currencies, while re-engaging the supply mechanism that creates near-term price stability.
Benefits
Ampleforth extends upon the progress made by fixed supply assets, introducing the unit of account function of money without compromising store of wealth properties.
1. A Unit of Account |
By maintaining a price target, Amples unlock many of the use cases that our financial infrastructure relies on today. For example:
An employer could not responsibly offer an employee a salary paying
1 BTC per month, but it could offer
4000 Amples per month.
Similarly, a country could not responsibly borrow
100,000 BTC to be paid over the course
of ten years, but it could borrow 400,000,000
Amples to be paid over the course of ten years.
And finally, a merchant could not denominate the price of a widget as
1 BTC, but it could denominate it as
4000 Amples.
2. A Store of Wealth |
In addition to eliminating the negative effects of inflation, Ampleforth's supply
policy naturally aligns with early adopters because even when supply changes,
a given holder's percentage of the network remains fixed.
For example, if Celine purchased 1 Ample at a
market cap of X and the market cap increased to
2X, she would then have
2 Amples.
Similarly, if she purchased 1 Ample at a market cap
of X and the market cap decreased to
0.5X, Celine would then have
0.5 Amples.
Like Bitcoin, gold, and other floating price assets, the system implies a continuum of risk
and reward except the difference is reflected in count, rather than price.
3. An Independent Money |
Early on, Amples are best thought of as a fungible investment asset that can be used for denominating contracts and settling payments. However as market adoption increases, Amples evolve to take on additional functions of money.
Like Bitcoin, with increasing saturation Amples transition from a store of wealth to a store of value.
However, because Amples have included the unit of account function by design, the "end state" is an inflation free digital asset capable of fulfilling all functions of money—rather than a digital silver or digital gold.
Learn More
We believe that the best monetary system is simply the least greedy system capable of fulfilling all functions of money. The Ampleforth protocol:
- Takes no seigniorage.
- Applies no demurrage.
- Adds no transaction fees.
Thanks for taking the time to check us out, we've provided a broad overview of the Ampleforth project above.
If you're curious to learn more please have a look at the about page and whitepaper or feel free to reach out to us through our community channels and email.
Security Audits are now complete and we're currently preparing to launch on testnet.