$LODGE. What it is and what it isn't.
$LODGE. What it is and what it isn't.
Steam Collective needs a governance layer. A way for members to hold real stake in the direction of the research, vote on proposals, and carry a durable claim to what the community builds together.
$LODGE is our proposal for that layer. It is not a finished design. It is an opening position, presented here for the community to interrogate, challenge, and improve. Nothing about this architecture is settled. Everything about this architecture is consequential.
The core concept
$LODGE is a scarce, transferable membership token. It represents belonging to Steam Collective at the governance level. Not passive membership in a newsletter or a Discord. Active stake in the direction of a scientific mission and a physical network.
Scarcity is intentional. $LODGE is not designed for mass distribution. It is designed to be held by people who are genuinely invested in the outcome. Scientists who want to shape the research agenda. Practitioners who want their protocol knowledge to inform the evidence base. Community builders who want to govern a physical node. Long-term members who want a durable stake in what Steam Collective becomes.
The token is transferable because governance stake should be able to move to the people most committed to using it. It is scarce because governance without scarcity is noise.
What $LODGE holders govern
Research funding priorities. Which studies get proposed, designed, submitted for community vote, and funded. The scientific agenda is not set by the founding team and handed down. It is shaped by governance.
$BUILD proposals. Which community saunas get built, in which locations, at what specification, with what research mandate. $LODGE holders are the decision layer between a proposed build and deployed capital.
Protocol decisions. How Steam Collective standardises and publishes its data. What the minimum reporting standard looks like. How findings are attributed and shared.
Partner and collaboration approvals. Which research institutions, universities, or commercial partners Steam Collective formally works with. Governance over relationships is governance over integrity.
Treasury allocation. Capital that sits outside the $BUILD mechanism, including research grants, operational funding, and community incentives, is governed by $LODGE holders.
What $LODGE does not do
It does not give holders financial claim to revenue or surplus. It does not function as a speculative asset by design, though we cannot and do not attempt to control secondary markets. It is not a pass to extract value from the community. It is a pass to shape it.
This distinction matters. Steam Collective is a research and infrastructure project. The value it creates is scientific, communal, and cultural. $LODGE represents a stake in that, not a claim on cash flow.
The open questions
How is initial $LODGE distributed? What is the total supply and what logic determines it? Is there a founding team allocation, and if so, what vesting structure makes it legitimate? What quorum is required for a binding vote? How do we prevent governance capture by large holders or coordinated blocs? Should there be a lock-up period between acquisition and voting eligibility?
These are not settled. They are exactly the questions we want this community to work through openly, before any architecture is finalised.
The governance design of Steam Collective will be built in public, with the people who will live inside it.
$LODGE is a stake in the science. Everything else follows from that.