Lesson 1
Building safe and ethical web3 projects
Practicing safety and developing ethics in the wild west of the web
Emergent technologies throughout history have all had their share of shady characters, from Ponzi to Enron, to Nigerian Princes in dire need of money. Web3, the emergent technology, is no different and has already become associated with scams and malicious get-rich-quick promoters. However, the Web3 community has what it takes to shape public sentiment and spread the word that DeFi is a safe and trusted feature of online entrepreneurship and innovation.
Freedom + Responsibility tradeoff
DeFi has been called the Wild West of the internet for a reason. It offers abundant freedom within its trustless ecosystem, enabling both innovation and exploitation. To grow our trustless technology into a trusted industry, we must go above and beyond to build integrity with governments, businesses, and users around the world. But how do we build trust and integrity? Trust and integrity are earned through clarity, honesty, and adherence to positive moral principles.
The first step is adopting some common ethics: maintaining project openness, promoting benevolent behavior, and communicating openly with the community are excellent starting points.
So, what does ethical development look like in the world of Web3?
Project openness and transparency
Developers should make projects open-source, allowing anyone to inspect the code and contribute to its improvement. This level of transparency fosters trust within the development community as well as the general public.
Build with equity in mind
Building with fairness and equity in mind is equally as important as preventing opportunities for exploitation, manipulation, coercion, and fraud. Any lapse in security that allows for malicious exploitation poses a significant threat to a Web3 project. Prioritizing the security, safety and general well-being of users is crucial to building trust and integrity, regardless of the industry.
Communicate everything, always
The beating heart of ethical development is clear, timely and open communication. Ethical developers understand the importance of regular communication regarding their projects’ latest changes, updates, and potential risks. Honest and transparent communication is a surefire way to build trust and integrity with the public.
Public mission statement
A public mission statement lays out your project’s values, goals, and commitments for the world to see. This level of transparency builds trust with the public while dissuading malicious intent. A mission statement also guides decision-making, helping developers find the most beneficial path to navigate complex ethical dilemmas.
Transparent fees
Transparent fee structures are crucial for building trust in any Web3 development project. All users and potential users should have access to documentation that shows how fees are calculated in easily understood terms. This includes thorough explanations of all transaction fees, gas fees, and any other fees related to using the product.
Putting ‘trust’ in trustless
As more developers adopt clear work ethics like the ones mentioned above, Web3 will eventually shed its dubious appearance and become just another place to build and innovate.
However, this won’t happen overnight. The benevolent web3 projects must outshine the shadier characters and their corresponding press. So, let’s code with conscience and build with integrity. Together, we can turn Web3 into a trusted technology for the world’s benefit.