” Token flowing is where things get really interesting, but first let’s set things straight: we’re not changing the nature of open source. It’s still free. web3 has enabled novel new ways to distribute value, and with our system people who care about the health of the open source ecosystem buy some token and stake it. Periodically, we reward this staking because it is securing our token network. We give a portion of these rewards to the staker and a portion to packages of their choice along with all the dependencies of those packages.”
Sounds like the reason to buy the token is basically charity. It’s donations to open source, just dressed up in a lot of blockchain jargon.
I’m all for compensating open source developers, but why can’t this scheme work with, you know, actual money? It’s definitely possible to get people to donate to creators. My monthly Patreon bill is several hundred dollars. If a better alternative came along that meaningfully improved distribution to deserving projects, I’d be happy to give it a shot. But I’m never going to buy some crypto token for that.