Module 1: Existential Bedding
The Project
1. Base - amount
The program starts by providing a monthly Base-amount to each member. In essence, a monthly Base amount is an existential shift — away from the survival mode that imprisons so many in the world. This is not about charity; It’s about restoring human dignity and unlocking potential. Breaking down the mental wall that prevents people from looking ahead and forces them to live from day to day, with no room for growth or development.
The consequences of the lack of certainty
Without the certainty of a Base amount, people live in permanent financial stress. Life becomes a struggle. Every day starts with the fear of whether there is enough for a meal. This survival mode has devastating consequences:
- Mental exhaustion: Constant stress undermines the ability to think clearly, make decisions, and maintain perspective.
- Limited choices: The focus on immediate survival leaves no room for education, learning new skills, or starting a business.
- Disrupted communities: Poverty undermines trust and social cohesion, as the emphasis is on individual survival rather than collective growth.
- No investments in the future: Without financial security, saving or investing in health, education, or family is virtually impossible.
The transformation of societies
With the introduction of a basic amount, the dynamics change immediately. Life no longer becomes a struggle for survival, but an opportunity to live. The basic amount acts as a catalyst for local change:
- Strengthened communities: With basic needs covered, space is created for cooperation, neighborly help, local initiatives, and resilient networks.
- Economic Revitalization: The basic amount circulates locally, allowing small entrepreneurs and community economies to flourish.
- Increased well-being: The disappearance of constant stress promotes physical and mental health. People are becoming more productive and participating more actively in society.
The dynamics of inequality
In societies with large income differences, a universal Base amount can fundamentally change the dynamics. It creates a shared bottom — a security that is the same for everyone, regardless of economic status or profession. This narrows the gap between the rich and the poor and restores a sense of justice. It affirms that every human being has the right to thrive.
A Base amount is more than a payout. It is an investment in human capital of a society. It recognizes that the societal costs of poverty and inequality far outweigh the costs of removing survival mode. It is a powerful statement about who we want to be as a community. The case has been settled: a Base amount is a necessary step towards a fairer and more resilient society.
Composition of the basic amount
- Food security and water: Sufficient resources for a daily nutritious meal and access to clean water.
- Safe housing: A contribution to a stable living space — rent, maintenance, or basic facilities.
- Basic health care: A buffer for medical costs: consultations, medicines, hygiene products.
- Education and development: Access to primary education for children and personal development for adults.
- Transport and social participation: Means to participate in society: transport to work, school, family, and community.
Determination of the amount
Based on the above guidance, the monthly Base amount has been set at Int$500.00 PPP (purchasing power parity). The International Dollar (Int$) is a hypothetical currency with the same purchasing power as the US dollar in the US. In local implementation, we use the IMF standard of implicit PPP conversion rate: national currency per international dollar [1].
Members receive this amount in Community Tokens (CT), with each local CT pegged 1:1 to the local fiat currency. For Indonesia, this means a monthly allocation of 2,360,000 CT.
[1] https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/PPPEX@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD/DA/IDN
Regional adjustment and purchasing power parity
Economic stagnation, inflation, or crises can disrupt the norm. That is why we use a basket of goods as an indicator of purchasing power parity. This basket includes:
- Food: Cost of a nutritious local diet
- Water and utilities: clean drinking water, electricity
- Housing: rental of a basic house
- Education: school supplies, school fees
- Healthcare: medicines, consultations
- Transport: transport to work, school, market
- Clothing and basic needs: hygiene, communication
- Reserve: buffer for unexpected expenses
This basket can be supplemented regionally with locally relevant elements. Crucially, purchasing power parity is protected for all members, regardless of their location within the CWP network.
This Base amount is not the program itself; It is the starting point. Without this amount, we cannot strive for equal opportunities for our members, because everyone has a different starting point. The strength of the Community Welfare Program lies in the subsequent process, for which we have developed a three-pillar system.
2. The Three Pillars of the Program
The program rests on three pillars that together form a rhythmic foundation for livelihoods, collective investment power, and future-oriented autonomy.
Pillar 1 — Personal: Rhythm of Security (Financial Safety Net)
- Goal: To strengthen purchasing power through the basic amount as security.
- Features:
- Monthly Base amount in Community Tokens (CT).
- Free use within the Internal Project Economy (IPE) or via offboarding.
- No restrictions, but accountability.
- Long-term function: Personal safety net that supports financial stability and self-determination.
Pillar 2 — Communal: Rate of Investment (Passive Income)
- Goal: To support local entrepreneurs through profit/loss sharing, supported by the community.
- Process:
- The Business Development Fund evaluates applications.
- Micro-communities vote on allotment.
- Members decide individually whether to participate.
- Long-term function: Collective risk diversification, leading to partial ownership in project-based enterprises, offers a structural alternative to labor-dependent income.
Pillar 3 — Future: Rhythm of Outlook (Long-Term Certainty)
- Purpose: To save and invest for extraordinary expenses such as retirement, health care, or higher education.
- Restriction: Withdrawals above 2/3 of the accrued capital will result in termination of membership.
- Long-term function: Reducing social pressure on future generations and strengthening economic autonomy.
Explanation Pillar 1 – Personal
From the start of participation, each member receives the Base amount in CT every month. Membership requires only an age of 18 years or older. The monthly base amount is guaranteed by either spending CT within the IPE or by offboarding via borrowing Utility Tokens (UT).
Conditions for UT loans:
- At least 1/12th of the loan amount is repaid monthly.
- Membership is demonstrated through verified identity, and CT is allocated.
The use of CT as collateral has two functions:
- Responsibility: The member allocates CT and temporarily loses purchasing power within the IPE. Failure to comply with agreements leads to loss of reputation.
- System stability: It prevents CT sprawl within the IPE and monitors circulation.
After each installment payment, pro-rata new CTs are minted for the member. The member retains purchasing power, trust is confirmed, and the borrowing mechanism remains frictionless. It is not a punitive system, but a balance shift — between members’ fiat bank accounts and CT wallets. Further technical details will follow in later chapters.
Explanation Pillar 2 – Communal
This pillar allows members to generate passive income by making capital available to local entrepreneurs. MSMEs (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises) in particular often lack access to capital and therefore get stuck in the initial phase — when they can be the engine of a thriving community economy.
Initially, the organization provides the capital. Members vote on whether an entrepreneur is granted access, based on reputation and social cohesion within the micro-community. Capital is provided through a profit/loss-sharing methodology. Once a member’s Pillar-2 wallet shows a balance equal to ten times the base amount, members can start deploying their own capital.
Future expansion:
- Members can acquire partial ownership in project-owned companies.
- This gives voting rights and dividend rights.
- The system is shifting from labor to property as a source of income.
Explanation of Pillar 3 – Future
Saving and investing are not self-evident for everyone. This pillar helps members build a financial buffer for times when independent income is no longer possible — physically, mentally, or socially.
Members decide for themselves:
- Or they want to save/invest.
- How much they reserve.
- How they spend the accumulated capital.
Education and support help in making choices. Each member is given a personal risk profile. Voluntary transfers from Pillar 1 to Pillar 3 are rewarded – reputation-based. The more people save voluntarily, the higher the reward.
Earnings from procurement, grants, or subsidies that do not contribute directly to the IPE can be directed to Pillar 2 or 3. This is announced in advance, so members can choose whether they want to participate. Earnings that go directly to Pillar 3 are not eligible for additional savings bonuses – they are a bonus in themselves.
Withdrawal and reflection
If more than 2/3 of the accrued capital gets withdrawn from pillar 3, the membership will be terminated. Each withdrawal request will be accompanied by a moment of reflection:
- The member will receive a report with possible consequences.
- There is a 5-business-day cooling-off period:
- 3 days of passive reflection
- 2 days active cancellation option
- The member may cancel the withdrawal during this period without any consequences.
Together, the three pillars form the foundation of individual livelihoods, collective investment power, and future-oriented autonomy. But a system only really lives when it is supported — not by structures alone, but by people in relationship. That is why our attention is now shifting from the pillars to the micro-communities: the living tissues in which trust, reputation, and decision-making come together. This is not just infrastructure, but bedding. Not just participation, but resonance.
3. Micro-communities
This project is not a monolith. It has several goals: poverty reduction, equal opportunities, and economic protection. It fulfils several roles: basic security, income generation, and safety. It touches on several domains: social, economic, and technological.
But where everything comes together, where the system begins to breathe, is in community. Without community, there is no bedding, no rhythm, no carrying capacity. In the micro-communities, the system becomes tangible, livable, and legitimate.
Admission through community
No one arrives alone. Membership is offered to existing communities — neighborhood, work, education, faith, or sports.
Two rules:
- You enter through a community with which you are connected.
- You are at least 18 years old.
We consciously choose community as an entrance. You join with recognition, support, and shared experience. No intake, but ritual of arrival. Not as a stranger, but an embedded participant.
Building Blocks and Cement
The basis is formed by “non-spontaneous” micro-communities: existing structures with carrying capacity. They are the building blocks of the Virtual Fortress Economy (VFE). But a fortress cannot consist of stones alone.
That is why we make room for “spontaneous” micro-communities:
- Shared interests
- Rhythmic affinity
- Friction as a binding agent
They form the cement between the building blocks.
Spontaneous Micro-Communities – Self-Formation and Admission
Spontaneous micro-communities do not arise by invitation, but by initiative. Anyone — existing members or newcomers — can create a micro-community.
Condition:
- Minimum 25, maximum 150 members
- A clear common goal
- Substantiated rationale: why this community is a legitimate addition
Each application is presented to the existing micro-communities within a VFE. They vote on admission. Sponsorship by existing members is encouraged — not as a guarantee, but as a rhythmic bridge.
Composition:
- Maximum 50% existing members
- At least 50% new members
- Everyone receives the basic amount in CT
Spontaneous micro-communities can include:
- Physical: members live nearby, can manage a community node
- Online: members are spread out, with no local footprint
Physical communities can participate in full-node hubs. Contribution to hub management is mandatory. If no local hub is available, server space can be rented. Costs can be paid for through Sustainable Funding Units (SFUs) from the Stability Fund.
Rhythm of Scaling
Each micro-community has 25 to 150 members.
Dunbar nods. We listen.
- Less than 25: too little capacity
- More than 150: risk of cliques forming
This scale is not a limitation, but a rhythmic buffer.
Rhythm of care: Gotong Royong
In Indonesia, it is called Gotong Royong. Elsewhere, it is called neighborly help, solidarity, and spontaneous cooperation. But everywhere it is the same gesture:
- You help because you are present.
- You carry because you are connected.
- You work together, not because you have to, but because it’s right.
Gotong Royong is the infrastructure before the infrastructure. It’s what happens when people repair a roof, clean a road, organize a party, or solve a problem. No contract. No reward. No hierarchy. Only rhythm, proximity, and shared care. In this project, Gotong Royong is not an extra. It is the bedding of the micro-community. It is what makes the system live, move, correct, and carry.
Micro-communities are not departments. They are living nodes of Gotong Royong. They carry the system, correct it, feed it. Building blocks give shape. Cement provides protection. Rhythm gives life.
Density Field: Ritual of Arrival
A system only comes alive when it is worn.
Not by structures alone, but by people in relationship.
Joining this program is not an administrative act. It is a ritual of arrival. Not an intake, but a landing. Not onboarding, but bedding.
Everyone enters through a community. But also within that community, there is a moment of recognition, slowing down, and resonance. A ritual in which the member is not only informed, but feels like a carrier. In which not only rights are explained, but rhythms are shared.
The ritual of arrival can take several forms:
- A conversation with cloak holders
- A shared meal
- A moment of silence or reflection
- A choreography of mutual recognition
What counts is not the form, but the intention:
- You are not only welcome. You are now a co-carrier.
- You are not just a participant. You are now bedding for others.
- You are not just a receiver. You are now a rhythmic actor.
Without this ritual, extraction occurs. With this ritual, reciprocity arises.
Certainty starts with rhythm. Rhythm starts with bedding.
Bedding starts with arrival. Arrival begins with intercourse.