# Nothing at stake

`kaal:entity:nothing-at-stake`

**Status.** derived

This node is assembled mechanically from the 5 claims that carry the concept tag `nothing-at-stake`. It is a roster of what the corpus says under this term. It is **not** an adjudicated definition: no single statement here has been ruled canonical, and no first-appearance call has been made. Read the claims and judge for yourself.

## Every claim under this term

5 claims across 4 works, 2018 to 2024.

**2018**

- [3125822-013](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3125822-013) [failure/asserted] *(failure mode)* -- The tragedy of the commons arises in any system lacking a well designed incentive structure; in blockchain proof of stake design this is the nothing at stake problem, where unregulated systems lead pseudonymous users to abuse the system.
  > Similarly, the tragedy of the commons occurs in any system which does not have well designed incentive structure. This is called the "nothing at stake" problem in blockchain proof of stake design, where unregulated systems lead pseudonymous users to abuse the system.
  Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Vlad Andrei, Blockchain Infrastructure for Measuring Domain Specific Reputation in Autonomous Decentralized and A (2018). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3125822
- [3125822-014](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3125822-014) [empirical/evidenced] *(failure mode)* -- Reddit's upvote system imposes insignificant punishment for voting randomly, and this lack of cost compromises the informational value of an upvote, which is the failure mode a staked validation pool is designed to avoid.
  > As a second example, Reddit's upvote system currently has insignificant punishment for voting randomly, which compromises the value of the meaning of an upvote
  Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Vlad Andrei, Blockchain Infrastructure for Measuring Domain Specific Reputation in Autonomous Decentralized and A (2018). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3125822
- [3125827-006](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3125827-006) [condition/asserted] -- Staking tokens with the potential for slashing is necessary to avoid the tragedy of the commons in a validation pool. Voting without something at risk does not produce honest evaluation of contributions.
  > The staking of tokens, with its potential for slashing, is necessary to avoid the tragedy of the commons.
  Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Secure Proof of Stake Protocol (2018). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3125827

**2021**

- [3782210-014](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3782210-014) [mechanism/argued] -- Reputation must be staked and risked on votes over work evidence, because otherwise the system suffers the Tragedy of the Commons nothing-at-stake problem; staking ensures every expert is motivated to police every reputation-staked action in order to protect the value of their own investment.
  > To avoid the Tragedy of the Commons (the nothing-at- stake problem, "skin in the game"), reputation must be staked and risked with votes on work evidence. This ensures all experts are motivated to police every reputation- staked action, to protect the value of their investment.
  Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, The Importance of Reputation for the Evolution of Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782210

**2024**

- [4685567-028](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/4685567-028) [failure/asserted] *(failure mode)* -- The existing fund allocation model is afflicted by uninformed voters, sockpuppets and other gamesmanship, by voting with nothing at stake, and by voting with other people's money, and the crowd wisdom of WEB3 communities in the impact certificate model upgrades that model.
  > the wisdom of the crowd in the respective WEB3 communities of the impact certificate model upgrades the existing fund allocation model which was afflicted by uninformed voters, sockpuppets, and other gamesmanship, voting with nothing at stake, voting with other people's money.
  Wulf A. Kaal, Impact Investing Innovation - From Impact 1.0 to 3.0 (2024). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4685567

## Verify

Every claim above resolves to a record carrying a verbatim source quote, the sha256 of the source PDF, and a preformatted citation. Nothing here asks to be taken on trust.

    curl -s https://wulfkaal.github.io/entities/nothing-at-stake.md | sha256sum

**Canonical form.** This markdown file is the canonical hashed representation of this entity node. Its sha256 is the content hash.