Liberland judiciary and smart contracts

[DorianSternVukotic]

Project Abstract

Liberland is a new nation state running as much of its infrastructure on-chain. As part of this grant, we implement an on-chain judiciary and hybrid contracts to handle traditional as well as web3 business cases

Follow-up on Liberland Grant Application

Grant level

• [ x ] Level 2: Up to $30,000, 3 approvals

Application Checklist

• The application template has been copied and aptly renamed (project_name.md).
• I have read the application guidelines.
• Payment details have been provided (Polkadot AssetHub (DOT, USDC & USDT) address in the application and bank details via email, if applicable).
• I understand that 30% of each milestone will be paid in vested DOT, to the Polkadot AssetHub address listed in the application.
• I am aware that, in order to receive a grant, I (and the entity I represent) have to successfully complete a KYC/KYB check.
• The software delivered for this grant will be released under an open-source license specified in the application.
• The initial PR contains only one commit (squash and force-push if needed).
• The grant will only be announced once the first milestone has been accepted (see the announcement guidelines).

[github-actions]

CLA Assistant Lite bot All contributors have signed the CLA ✍️ ✅

[michalptacnik]

I have read and hereby sign the Contributor License Agreement.

[keeganquigley]

Hi @DorianSternVukotic

Are you still intending to make further changes or should we be reviewing it in draft form?

[DorianSternVukotic]

Hi @DorianSternVukotic

Are you still intending to make further changes or should we be reviewing it in draft form?

We will update

[DorianSternVukotic]

@keeganquigley @semuelle

Ready now, not sure what to do with PR label though.

[semuelle]

Could you explain a bit more what you mean by 'comprehensive legal framework' and how this pallet falls short of that?

[DorianSternVukotic]

Added explanation. Basically, the Saas3DAO is dead, and their court only supported 1 use case (sue - get money), while ours is more generic through contracts and can have arbitrary executions, not just transfer of tokens.

Pls resolve if clear.

[semuelle]

In what ways does the judiciary act on behalf of another party? Can you give examples? This sounds like a fairly simple role-based setup akin to AccessControl.

[DorianSternVukotic]

Question, should i answer your questions in comments or update the application to be more clear?

[semuelle]

The best way usually is to add info to the document and then post a summary as a PR comment. Thanks.

[DorianSternVukotic]

I believe its explained in the rest of the proposal. Basically, the contracts define the dispute mode and actions available in dispute mode and the way to trigger them. Sometimes it can be simple proxy/access control, but dispute resolution can be a more complex process.

We will probably make use of some contract library like openbrush. Any reason you specifically suggested pendzl instead of openbrush?

[semuelle]

Any reason you specifically suggested pendzl instead of openbrush?

Pendzl is the successor to OpenBrush, which is not being developed anymore.

[semuelle]

Can you explain what a court looks like, both on-chain and off-chain? The way I understand it, "acting as on-chain oracle" simply refers to discussing a case IRL and then submitting judgements to the chain, correct? Or is there more involved?

[semuelle]

pinging @DorianSternVukotic & @michalptacnik

[DorianSternVukotic]

@semuelle

Thanks.

Everything should be handled, please resolve if its satisfactory.

[semuelle]

Thanks for the updates, @DorianSternVukotic. I still have some questions, but I am going to share your application with the rest of the committee already, so they can comment as well.

[semuelle]

Have you done any work on this yet? Usually, we ask for wireframes or designs at the time of application.

[semuelle]

How many citizens does Liberland have?

[DorianSternVukotic]

978 + about 4000 e-residents

https://liberland.org/

[Noc2]

Thanks for the application and the interest in our grants program. However, I personally won’t approve the application. On the one hand, I’m personally not fully convinced about the project itself. On the other hand, I think the grants program should ideally always only support projects with some initial funding, and after this, ideally projects find other funding sources, like the on-chain treasury or VCs, etc.

[PieWol]

Hey @DorianSternVukotic ,
thank you for the application and the effort you put into it. Sadly I have to agree with @Noc2 here. I will also not approve this application. Even though the idea sounds interesting I fear the reusability of the code produced is just not given within the remaining Polkadot ecosystem. Wishing you all the best going forward.

[DorianSternVukotic]

@PieWol @Noc2 @semuelle

If i understand correctly, this means the grant has been rejected already, or is there still something left to do ?

[semuelle]

There are still some other committee members who might want to comment. I'll try to get some more eyes on it until EOD tomorrow.

[keeganquigley]

Hi @DorianSternVukotic while I'm a fan of the "open-source govt" vision of Liberland, I have to agree with my colleagues that I'm not sure these components will be of value to the greater Polkadot ecosystem. In other words, the smart contracts and the judiciary marketplace front-end seem very specific to your use case. For example, I'm not seeing how others would be able to make use of the insurance contracts.

I'm also not sure that the contract builder deliverable is necessary since there are other projects working on making it easy for non-technical users to create smart contracts. I would love to see an OpenGov-like system used by a country to move diplomatic mechanisms on-chain, (possibly at the runtime-level with no need for Solidity contracts) but I think it could be more appropriately funded by alternative sources as mentioned above.

Therefore I also will not approve the application at this time.

[DorianSternVukotic]

@keeganquigley

For example, I'm not seeing how others would be able to make use of the insurance contracts.

I... dont understand this. If there is a fully functional crypto insurance system, for example health insurance like mentioned in the grant, that works within any country as long as there is a private court to enforce it, then that would definitely be a feature used by many.

The doubt i would raise would be about if we are able to build a real ecosystem around it, not if if would be useful to others if built. Am I understanding it correctly?

there are other projects working on making it easy for non-technical users to create smart contracts.

Yeah, for tokens or dApps, not for traditional business cases. If I missed something and you know of a contract builder that does what we need, I would love to hear it as it would save us time.

[keeganquigley]

Thanks for your response @DorianSternVukotic, to clarify, I was referring to other developers rather than end-users. This led me to realize I should also explain that there have been some changes to the grants program since your last grant was received, in which we are now aiming to focus mainly on Polkadot core tech & tooling. These Solidity contracts, while interesting, aren't super specific to Polkadot and could really be written for any supported EVM chain.

Additionally, you are correct in the sense that our concern lies around the ability to create a robust ecosystem around the product, as we have had many projects in the past become unmaintained or non-starters, especially in the Healthcare arena.

Yeah, for tokens or dApps, not for traditional business cases. If I missed something and you know of a contract builder that does what we need, I would love to hear it as it would save us time.

Fair point here, but I would still argue that you're attempting to cover a lot of ground, and it seems very ambitious. Before building tooling, in my opinion it might be better to focus on just the on-chain judicial system PoC & research, as there has already been a lot conducted in this area in the Ethereum world. For example, Open Law has done some work on creating standardized legal agreements as Solidity contracts. For arbitration, both Aragon Court (now defunct) and Kleros Court have come a long way in development.

Perhaps worth checking to see if its possible to collaborate w/ one of these other projects instead of building from scratch.

[DorianSternVukotic]

These Solidity contracts, while interesting, aren't super specific to Polkadot

Not solidity, we are doing it in ink, our chain is substrate chain.

... focus mainly on Polkadot core tech & tooling ...
in the Ethereum world. For example, Open Law has done some work on creating standardized legal agreements as Solidity contracts

So... doing something like Open Law as substrate pallet or in ink would be covered in what grants are looking for :P ?

have had many projects in the past become unmaintained or non-starters,

Fair point, but Id like to point out that Liberland has existed since 2015, we have people living on the actual land, and also have started a PoC of company and legal ecosystem that is in use already since last month. You can check it for yourself at blockchain.liberland.org if you would like, though it requires a liberland.org account to use for now. You can browse existing companies and contracts, which is what this grants scope ties into

in my opinion it might be better to focus on just the on-chain judicial system PoC

Yeah, thats kinda what we started with, but the grant request took so long because we realized having a PoC judiciary for disputes and judiciary for companies could both be solved by the use of hybrid contracts and courts as oracles... So that original version was adapted to what we have now.

[keeganquigley]

@DorianSternVukotic ah ok thanks for clarifying, I just assumed since I didn't see ink! mentioned in the application. That being said, ink! also happens to be undergoing a transformation currently, which means there may be alternative means of funding in the coming months. In the meantime, I can also recommend the Aleph Zero Ecosystem Funding Program, which can fast-track ink! applications up to $30k.

[takahser]

@DorianSternVukotic thanks for the work you put into this. Unfortunately, the committee decided to not go ahead with this proposal at this time. The reasons are those named above, mainly reusability by other parties as well as the fact that ink! is undergoing a transformation, as mentioned by @keeganquigley.
This doesn't mean that we don't see utility in what you want to develop, but for the reasons named it's currently not a good match. We hope you can secure funding elsewhere and wish you good luck and success for the future of your project.