This is the repository for the Kin Rewards Engine, or "KRE". Here you will find the latest iterations and resources pertaining to the KRE, as well as a place to submit improvement proposals.
To view the historical archive of accepted changes to the KRE, visit the "accepted" directory (accepted).
Please use the improvement-proposals directory (Improvement Proposals). Review the HowToContribute.md guide before opening issues and pull requests.
Proposal submissions are reviewed by the Kin Foundation and accepted, denied, or modified at their own discretion. When a new proposal has been accepted for consideration, it will be merged into the improvement-proposals directory(Improvement Proposals) and a window of time will be specified by the Kin Foundation for comments (via issues) and proposed changes (pull requests) to be reviewed. This process will iterate over time at the discretion of the Kin Foundation.
The digital world has become the hub of daily human experience and interaction. Every day billions of people meet, connect, and share their experiences online through consumer platforms and applications. Unfortunately, while these applications have come to dominate the human experience, the methods by which they maintain and grow their business have become largely unsustainable. Applications that exploit, harvest, and sell user data with no benefit to the user have monopolized developer revenue, while smaller businesses and those that value user privacy and anonymity struggle to compete. Furthermore, the content creators that drive the value of these platforms go mostly unrewarded unless a large cut is taken, with the exchange of value between users being inhibited by fees and a lack of support for microtransactions. These effects have compounded to create an environment in which user data has essentially become the most valuable commodity of the signals the need for a new paradigm in the way that developers monetize, the way in which consumers engage in experiences, and the way in which we think about the creation of value.
Kin is used as money within a digital ecosystem of consumer applications and services. Kin coins enter circulation via an incentive model referred to as the Kin Rewards Engine, or "KRE", which rewards the developers that create compelling user experiences with Kin based on their engagement. This offers a software monetization model that incentivizes the adoption of new use cases and creation of value for a cryptocurrency, as well as encouraging the exchange of value between users, as opposed to harvesting user data and attention at no benefit to users themselves. This new alternative re-aligns users and developers around a shared digital economy in which the content creators and developers that generate value are the focus, not big-data monopolies.
The Kin blockchain operates autonomously via a federated consensus model, currently comprised of 11+ globally distributed validator nodes, in order to maintain fault tolerance while also allowing for little-to-no fees and fast confirmation speeds. The identities of the node operators are currently private in order to maintain operational security, but these are reportedly independent, reputable digital service providers, with a history of reliable availability and maintenance.
The distribution and algorithmic logic of the Kin Rewards Engine is overseen by the Kin Foundation, a non-profit organization based out of Ontario, Canada. Undistributed Kin is held in an institutional-grade treasury that is controlled via a series of vesting periods, inflation guidelines, and fiduciary custody controls that ensure the safe transfer and proper use of funds. Anti-spam and anti-fraud assurances are also provided as a service until such time that the distribution of Kin can be fully automated with those additional safeguards in place. No more than 10 trillion Kin will ever exist by the end of the distribution period, the large supply meant to allow mass adoption by users around the world while still transacting in whole-number denominations, as opposed to decimal places.