本文翻译自: https://medium.com/@pstehlik/evaluating-blockchain-projects-with-token-economy-canvas-908bc1bab6
作者: Philip Stehlik
译者：区块链中文字幕组 荆凯
感谢: 本文由币乎社区（http://www.bihu.com）内容支持计划奖励。
译文版权所有，转载请注明
翻译时间：2018-04-01

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Evaluating Blockchain Projects With Token Economy Canvas

使用通证经济画布，评估区块链项目

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A tool to evaluate blockchain projects based on the proposed tokens and their underlying mechanics.

基于通证及其内在机制的方式，评估区块链项目的一个工具．

The evaluation of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) has been in the spotlight this year with cryptocurrencies and blockchain projects being more popular than ever. The question that begs answering is: “Will this ICO and the project prove to be a viable investment?”. There are blog posts like the “7 Ts” which outline thought frameworks for ICO investment decisions. There are companies and websites who exclusively evaluate ICOs for you. There are subreddits purely for ICOs. You, as the investor have to be the judge which advice to trust.

随着加密货币和区块链项目的流行，对首次代币发行 (ICOs)的评估今年成为亮点. 有待回答的问题是: “对某个ICO和项目的投资，是否有价值?”. 有一些文章，如“7 Ts”这一篇，概括了ICO投资决策的成熟框架. 也有一些 公司和网站 积极为你提供ICO评级. (在reddit上)，有专门为(讨论)ICO而设立的子论坛. 作为投资者的你，需要自行判断相信哪种建议．

While some projects rely on an ICO to distribute their tokens and raise funds, an ICO is not a requirement for a blockchain project to be successful. Take Bitcoin as a prime example where tokens (Bitcoin) are created [through mining](https://www.coindesk.com/information/how-bitcoin-mining-works/. There was no initial offering of coins before the project started.

虽然许多项目依赖于ICO分发通证筹集基金，但是对一个区块链项目而言，想要成功并不一定非要ICO．以比特币为例，比特币通过挖矿来创造．在项目开始之前，不存在首次代币分发．

Regardless if ICO or not, the evaluation of a project is a combined evaluation of the team, technology, product maturity, market opportunity, and the functionality of the proposed token. One key aspect of informing the public about a blockchain product or a new coin offering is to publish a white paper. Potential investors and users read the white paper and, combined with other information they can find online, decide if they will invest in the ICO or will invest time and resources into a project. White papers vary in length and style from very short, to pretty and stylish to almost 50 pages long. They describe, in various density and detail, the proposed product, the technological details, the project background, and the proposed new token that will be created.

不论是否进行ICO, 对项目的评估需要综合评价团队，技术，产品成熟程度，市场商机，以及项目中通证的作用. 告知公众区块链项目或者新币发行的一个核心的方式，是发布白皮书．潜在的投资人和用户阅读白皮书，结合从网上能够找到的其他信息，来决定是否参与ICO投资，或者是否要为这一项目投入时间和资源．白皮书多种多样，篇幅和风格不一，有一些篇幅很短,如https://numer.ai/whitepaper.pdf, 也有一些风格漂亮，还有些白皮书篇幅近50页. 在白皮书中，这些项目以不同的信息密度和细节，描述了他们所提议的目标产品技术细节、项目背景以及将要创建的新通证(Token).

The actual coin or token can take many forms. There are tokens purely created as tradable assets. There are tokens that have utilitarian value within the economy of the project. Some tokens allow for distributed governance and voting within the economy, some act as payment or token for future benefits (earn-outs, buy-backs) based on the project’s performance.

实际的代币或通证可能有多种形式。有些通证纯粹是作为可交易资产而创建。有些通证在项目经济体中具有实用价值。一些通证允许在经济中进行分布式治理和投票，另一些通证则是则基于项目的表现，用作未来收益(额外溢价(earn-outs)，回购)的支付方式或凭证。

In all cases, the tokens have some functionality and there are incentives for the owners of tokens to either hold or exchange them. Each project creates their own economy based on their token — that’s what we call a token economy. The token economy is at the heart of a new coin. It defines what this new project promises to do for the participants of the economy. Participants can be involved in many ways. They can be holder or trader of tokens, miners (in the case of Bitcoin) or people offering their services (like in the above-mentioned Gnosis or numer.ai examples).

在所有的项目中，这些通证都会有一些功能作用，并且存在激励，让通证持有者持有或者交易通证．每个项目都基于自己的通证创建他们的经济体——这就是我们所说的“通证经济”。通证经济是一个新代币的核心。它定义了新的项目对经济参与者的承诺。参与者有多种参与方式。他们可以是通证的持有者或交易者, 可以是矿工(在比特币的情况下)或提供服务的人(比如上面提到的Gnosis或numer.ai的例子)。

ICO documents and white papers vary widely in how well they describe their token economies. There is no well-structured way to evaluate the token economies themselves in a consistent way, across ICOs and white papers. That is where Token Economy Canvas comes in. We started developing the canvas this summer when working through white papers and blockchain projects to be able to make sense of them, evaluate their approaches, similarities, and differences.

不同项目的ICO文件和白皮书描述通证经济时，会有很大的不同。不存在一种结构良好的评估方式，能够通过不同项目的ICO和白皮书，对他们的通证机制进行一致的评估。这就是通证经济画布出现的原因。今年夏天，我们研究白皮书和区块链项目来对他们进行了解，评估项目的方案和异同点，在这一过程中，我们开始开发了这一画布。

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Meet Token Economy Canvas 了解通证经济画布

Token Economy Canvas offers a structure to distill the parts of a proposed new coin or token down to its essentials. With the structure of the canvas, you can look at a token economy from all the important angles within a short amount of time.

通证经济画布提供的结构可以对新发代币或者通证的各部分进行提取分解，以见其本质。借助画布的结构，你可以在短时间内对通证经济从所有重要的角度进行分析。

Very much borrowing from the structure of Lean Canvas, Token Economy Canvas consists of nine building blocks that are filled out in a pre-defined order. Answering the questions for each building block helps gain insight into each aspect of a proposed token economy. Combined, the answers allow a holistic view of the token economy. From there you can make your own decision on the viability of a token or how it relates to a possible evaluation of an ICO.

通证经济画布的结构，很大程度上借鉴了精益画布(https://leanstack.com/leancanvas). 画布由九个部分组成, 按照预定义的顺序填写。回答画布上每个块中的问题，有助于深入了解一个项目所提出的通证经济的各个方面。把这些答案结合起来，就对通证经济有了一个整体的视角。之后，你就可以自行判断通证的可行性，或者如何与对ICO的一种可能的评估相关联。

The goal of the tool is to allow anyone to easily evaluate the tokens that are sprouting up around the web. It also helps blockchain startups and developers of new projects to evaluate and develop their own economy in a structured way.

该工具的目标是让任何人都能对网上的通证进行轻松的评估。它也帮助区块链创业公司和开发人员以结构化的方式评估和开发他们自己的经济系统。

The Components Of Token Economy Canvas 通证经济画布的组成部分

Token Economy Canvas is broken down into nine separate blocks. Each block asks a question about an important part of a token economy. Limited space to write out answers forces the distilling of answers to their simplest form.

通证经济画布划分为九个独立的组块．每一块都就通证经济重要组成部分之中的一个方面提出问题．回答空间有限，迫使我们把答案精简到最简单的形式．

To illustrate the use of each building blocks I walk through a simplified example. I apply the canvas’ building blocks on a fictional coin called “Hood Coin” (HDC), developed by a group of developers as an open source project. Hood Coin allows neighborhoods to share their resources. It tracks ownership, usage, current location and allows pooling of funds to make large, communal purchases.

为了演示每个组块的使用方式，我会提供一个简化的示例。我将画布的组块用到一个名为“Hood coin”(HDC)的虚构的代币上，这是一组开发人员的一个开源项目。Hood Coin允许邻居之间分享他们的资源。它对所有权、使用情况、当前位置进行跟踪，并允许集资购买大型的公共采购。

Here are the nine building blocks of the evaluation of a token economy.

如下是通证经济体评估的九个组块．

Problem　问题

This is where you list the top problems that this new token economy proposes to solve. Be specific on which pain points are addressed. If the token doesn’t solve a real problem then it is unlikely that people will buy into the economy.

这里列出了这个新的通证经济体要解决的首要问题。回答要解决什么痛点，要具体。如果通证不能解决真正的问题，那么人们就不太可能买账。

Hood Coin:

Many individual households own the same things that they use infrequently (e.g. shovel, saw, tools, food processor, baking forms,…). Items take up space, are underutilized or depreciate in value. It is impossible to know which neighbor has which item to lend to me.

许多家庭都拥有同样的很少使用的东西(如铲子，锯子，工具，食品加工机，烘焙机器,…)。这些物品占用空间，利用不充分或者贬值。我不知道能够从哪位邻居那里借到什么东西.

Existing Alternatives 现有的替代方案

How are these problems solved today? Are there any current solutions to the listed problems? This helps to get a picture of which existing solutions the token will be compared to and who the incumbents are.

这些问题今天是怎么解决的? 对上面列出的问题，目前有解决方案么? 这一问题，有助于我们了解通证会被拿来与什么现有方案进行比较。

Hood Coin:

• Ask neighbors if they have item X so you can borrow it.
• Put up a list on the neighborhood forum with offers of what is available to lend.
• Co-operate with other neighbors to purchase large/costly items together.

• 询问邻居是否有X，你好借用。
• 在社区论坛上张贴一份名单，提供可借出的物品。
• 与其他邻居合作，一起购买大型/昂贵的物品。

The Economy　经济体

If you tell someone about the token you need a short and clear description of how it works. This is where you write this description. Keep it simple and specific.

如果你告诉某人关于这一通证，你需要能简洁清晰的描述它的机制。这里，就是你描述的地方。要写得简单，具体。

Hood Coin:

Hood Coin allows neighborhoods to share their resources. It tracks ownership, usage, current location and allows pooling of funds to make large, communal purchases.

*Hood Coin允许邻居之间分享他们的资源。它对所有权、使用情况、当前位置进行跟踪，并允许集资购买大型的公共采购。

Why Blockchain?　为什么用区块链?

One of the key questions: Why is using blockchain and creating a token the real solution? Why create a new token instead of value exchange in an existing crypto currency? Which aspects of a blockchain really help with this token? Decentralization, shared ledger, immutability, smart contracts,…? What is really needed? Be honest, could this project be successful without blockchain?

其中一个关键的问题是:为什么使用区块链，为什么创建通证是真正的解决方案? 为什么要创建新的通证，而不是使用现有的加密货币来交换价值?区块链的哪些方面对这一通证真正有用? 去中心化，共享账本，不可篡改，还是智能合同...? 真正需要的是什么？说实话，如果没有区块链这个项目能成功吗?

Hood Coin:

• Decentralize tracking of resources and their usage

• Exchange of HDC for usage of other people’s items

• Public, authentic, immutable reputation system for community-based on individual contributions

• Decentralized building of ownership pools for large items bought collectively

• 对资源和使用进行去中心化的追踪。

• 交易HDC, 来获得其他人物品的使用权。

• 公开、真实、不可篡改的社区声誉系统 - 基于个人贡献来创建。

• 对于共同购买的大型物品，去中心化的构建所有权池。

Participants 参与成员

Who are the participants in the economy? Who holds tokens, who performs actions within the economy that trade/transfer tokens? Are there any service providers and consumers/users? List them out here to be clear who you are building this economy for.

谁是通证经济的参与者? 谁持有令牌，谁在经济体中进行通证的交易和转移? 是否有服务提供者和消费者/用户? 把他们列出来，明确你要为谁建立经济体。

Hood Coin:

• Neighbor — Each neighbor can hold/transfer tokens based on offer/usage of items.
• 邻居 — 每位邻居都可以基于他们对物品的供应或使用，来持有或交易通证.

Incentives for Participation 激励参与

Each participant will have their own motivation for joining and continuously participating in this token economy. List the incentives for the participants.

每个参与者都有自己的加入和持续参与这一通证经济的动机。列出参与者的动机。

Hood Coin:

• Neighbors join to have access to shared resources, offer their items for usage, get paid in HDC
• Neighbors are able to lend items to others who they don’t know personally — escrow and previous transaction info create trust.
• *邻居加入其中，获得共享的资源，提供他们的物品供使用，获得HDC作为报酬。
• *邻居可以向不认识的人提供物品 - 基于托管和之前的交易信息来建立信任。

Governance 治理

Who makes decisions within the economy? Is there one company who issues the coins and controls all associated contracts? Is there a consortium who makes joint decisions? Maybe there is a voting mechanism that allows token holders to make decisions jointly. List the main pieces of the governance structure.

谁在通证经济中做决策? 是否有一方发行代币并控制所有相关的合约? 是否有财团共同决策? 也许有一种投票机制, 让通证持有人共同作出决定。列出治理结构的主要部分。

Hood Coin:

• HDC smart contracts are developed and deployed by a group of individual developers as an open source project.

• Hood Coin allows holders of HDC to vote on larger proposed changes to the project through a majority vote system.

• *HDC智能合约是由一组独立的开发人员开发和部署的，是一个开源项目。

• Hood Coin允许HDC的持有者通过多数投票制度, 就该项目的大型修改提案进行投票表决。

Outside Economy　经济体外部

How does the token economy interact with the outside world? What is needed for it to function? Outside data feeds, actions of outside actors, integration with other systems, trade of token on exchanges?

通证经济如何与外部世界互动? 如果生效，需要什么样的功能? 外部的数据反馈，外部参与者的行为，与其他系统的集成，以及在交易所交易通证?

Hood Coin:

• HDC can be exchanged for other tokens/crypto (it is an ERC-20 token)
• Future could see a situation where HDC holders get discounts for purchases at local shops/businesses when buying items for the HDC economy

• HDC可以兑换成其他的通证或者加密货币 (它是 ERC-20 通证)
• 未来可以见到这一情形，HDC的持有者为HDC经济体采购物品时可以在当地的商铺享受到购买折扣

Usage Of Tokens 通证的使用

How exactly are tokens used within the economy? A simple exchange of value? Are they traded, staked, burned, minted, earned, paid out, …? What are the tokens used for and by whom?

在经济体中，通证是如何使用的?　简单的价值交换? 是否会进行通证交易，抵押，销毁，挖矿，赚取通证，支付…? 通证有什么用处，谁来使用?

Hood Coin:

• HDC is escrowed when neighbors loan each other items. Then paid out based on usage of items and their return to owner.

• HDC marks current location of an item

• HDC owners can create ownership pools to buy large items collectively

• Future HDC earnings of collectively owned items get distributed to ownership pool

• 当邻居们互相借取物品时，会托管HDC。然后根据物品的使用和还给所有者，进行支付*。

• HDC会标记物品的当前所在位置。

• HDC的所有者可以创建所有权池来共同购买大型的物品。

• 将集体所有物品的未来HDC收益分配给所有权池。

Scale & Growth 扩张和增长

List the conditions that need to be met for the economy to grow. What are the required conditions? What are the required actions of participants or outside actors? What kick-starts a network effect?

列出经济增长需要满足的条件。需要的条件是什么? 参与者或外部参与者需要采取什么行动? 网络效应是什么启动的?

Hood Coin:

• A tight-knit neighborhood needs to be enrolled with sufficient neighbors subscribing to the HDC idea to share resources.

• Single communities can operate independently. No need to have country-wide/global user base from the get-go.

• *一个紧密的社区需要有足够的邻居认同HDC的想法, 来共享资源。

• *单个社区可以独立运作。没有必要从一开始就拥有全国/全球的用户群。

Health Indicators 健康指标

What are the key metrics that indicate the health of this token economy? How do you and economy participants know that this is a flourishing environment?

表征这一通证经济健康度的关键指标是什么? 你和经济的参与者如何知道这一环境是繁荣的?

Hood Coin:

• # items shared per week/month

• HDC transferred between neighbors

• 物品每周/月的分享数。

• HDC在邻居之间的流通量。

Token Distribution And Value　通证分发和价值

How do tokens get distributed initially? How does the value of the tokens increase over time? Why would investors buy this token? Why would users buy this token?

通证如何开始分发? 通证价值如何随着时间而增加? 为什么投资者会购买这一通证?　为什么用户会购买这一通证?

Hood Coin:

• Max 10 Billion HDC in circulation

• Every user receives 100 HDC from the pool when signing up and proving their address/location/identity to the HDC developers (later more decentralized).

• Registered non-profit neighborhood organizations receive additional HDC.

• HDC is not aiming to rise in value — it is community focused. A rise in value might occur due to higher usage though.

• *HDC的数量上限为100亿 *。

• • 用户注册并把地址/位置/身份验证信息提交给 HDC 开发者，可以从HDC池中获得 100个HDC(之后会更加去中心化)。*

• 注册的非营利性社区组织会得到额外的HDC.。

• *HDC的目标不是价格升值，而是关注社区。然而，随着使用率的提升，价值可能会上涨。

Final Thoughts 结语

Token Economy Canvas uses a straightforward approach to combine the different aspects that influence a proposed new token economy. When evaluating the viability of a new coin or an ICO there is much more to pay attention to than only the token economy but, in my opinion, the economy itself needs to be sound and well thought out for the whole project to have long-term viability.

通证经济画布使用了一种简单的方法，对影响新提出的一个通证经济体的不同方面相结合。评估一种新代币或一个ICO项目的可行性时，除了通证经济之外，还有更多的东西值得关注，但在我看来，经济本身需要健全，而且要考虑到整个项目的长期可行性。

We are seeing the first steps to consistently evaluate ICOs and make sense of all the new projects coming out. The details of the token economy itself are an important factor. I hope the canvas will create more clarity for entrepreneurs, investors and enthusiasts alike when they look at a new token and evaluate what makes the economy of this token tick.

如何对ICO进行一致评估，弄清所有出现的新项目，我们刚才一起看了第一步。通证经济本身的细节是一个重要因素。创业者、投资人和爱好者审视新的通证，对通证的经济体进行评估时，我希望这一画布工具能对他们有所帮助。

If you have feedback on how to evaluate tokens and their economies or if you have ideas on how to improve Token Economy Canvas, just leave a comment or reach out to me on Twitter at @pstehlik.

如果你对如何评估通证和对应的通证经济这方面有什么反馈，或者就如何改进通证经济画布有什么想法，请给我留言，或者在twitter上联系我(@pstehlik)(https://twitter.com/pstehlik)。

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Thanks to Demian Brener and Markus Ament for the feedback to this post.

感谢 Demian Brener 和 Markus Ament 对这篇文章的反馈.

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