funpepe.eth

"Consensus Is Temporary" i'm incredibly excited about Opepen V5 - more than i've been for a long time. i think it completes the project beautifully; makes it a true protocol; brings home the gift of a metaphor of it being an internet native museum (🙏 @ArtOnBlockchain). ever since working out how the initial version would work in 2023, one thing was clear to us - it should function as the opposite of Checks. if Checks is a commentary on scarcity, Opepen should be one on abundance. Checks starts with thousand different visuals and ends with one. Opepen starts with one symbol and ends with however many people are interested in making. in the first versions of the protocol we only tangentially hit this principle (there can be an infinite number of set submissions but the collection is capped at 16,000 and that always felt like a missed opportunity to me). at the same time, we have (i think) encountered a negative feedback loop of collectors being very hesitant to opt in to art and artists being discouraged by the high bar / low chances of becoming part of the permanent collection. don't get me wrong; the bar should and will be high, but there shouldn't be economic incentive not to take part in the curative process (and arguably right now there is). V5 will tackle both of these points, and solidify the workings of the protocol long term (we iterated quite a bit on the consensus protocol, and V4 fully solved the opt in / reveal process. we feel confident we can protocolize this - it's tried and tested by now). 1) when V5 goes live, sets can be cleared of their currently exhibited art. all Opepen tokens will become unrevealed and the set slot will be free for the next exhibition. 2) the exact conditions for losing consensus are yet to be defined, but expect them to be much lower than what is required for reaching consensus. 3) when a set submission reaches consensus, it is revealed unto the next free slot (probably; still thinking through a potential alternative approach). it is already clear that Opepen will never reach all 200 sets (some tokens are burned, some are in lost wallets) - but that is besides the point: Checks is complete even without one Black Check in existence. We want Opepen to feel the same way. It is complete when the protocol works; indefinitely. and as mentioned earlier - i think this will create a much more interesting bar for collectors to judge submissions to Opepen and be more welcoming to artists that give their hearts and souls with their contributions. remember no one earns anything from this (nothing monetary at least), neither the artists nor us; and that's how it should be - a celebration of intrinsic motivation and decentralized consensus building while using financialized assets to approximate truth / value. and if we're right; this will work indefinitely - and if built right even past VV's existence. "Exhibited in Opepen; Mar 2026" is a celebration, not a failure. appreciate all of you; with love!