We are on a mission to accelerate online speed chess as an esport. The Checkmate Treasury and the attached prize pool is a dynamic fund that grows with every trade and treasury drop.
Treasury drops can either be web2 in-game assets or web3 collectables.
Players who engage in the Founders sale and trade contribute to the Treasury. In the spirit of sports governance and web3, Checkmate has established a co-governance model for the Community Treasury. Our model is designed to be fair, transparent, and geared towards sustainable growth, with a share of Checkmate revenues allocated to support initiatives and the Checkmate community.
The community treasury has 4 pools:
Event Fund, Marketing and Prize Pool
Scholarships, Sponsorships and bounties
Ai, Anti-cheat, Platform and XR
Admin and integrity team
The Community Treasury receives:
The initial funding of the community treasury will be funded by the Founders First Mint of collectibles released by Checkmate.
Post platform launch the mechanics will be:
The distribution of funds will be as follows:
A Community Investment Charter will be developed in conjunction with the community. In addition to regular updates, a Annual Community report will be made available.
The community treasury pool total and wallet subtotals and any third-party PFP collections held will be available on the checkmate website and onchain.
The thinking behind the community treasury has been driven by the web3 ethos and our previous experience in community fundraising, pay-per-view, sports and esports governance. The beneficiaries and stakeholders, in this case, are the players in our community and the player ecosystem. Not all players have equal access to opportunities and representation, whether due to their gender, resources or where they live. The community treasury seeks to provide a platform for players to level the playing field, increase opportunities to earn, have a say in it's direction and support the development of promising players.
Both Founders and competitive pass holders will be able to participate in community voting.
Participation will be based on published terms of reference and in addition two initial community councils will be put in place:
> Players Council - to provide players with a voice, promote player welfare and development
> Queens Council - to promote female participation and representation in chess
The councils will provide an additional voice for our community and provide input to the Community Investment Charter.
Each council will have representatives voted in by the community as per the terms of reference and representatives appointed by Checkmate to provide independent guidance and support.
Initially, community management for Checkmate will be done through Discord, a popular communication platform for gamers. Post the First Mint, third-party web3 management tools will be used.
Ultimately, the Checkmate platform will offer a fully integrated web2 [chat and video] and web3 community management solution for users, including a range of governance features.
This means that the community will be able to participate in decision-making processes regarding the development of the platform and community initiatives.
Chess is a pure game of skill with universal appeal and is a recognised sport by the International Olympic Committee. To ensure accessibility, we have implemented a Hybrid web2 and web3 infrastructure in order to navigate the different regulatory requirements of international markets to provide greater access to players. In some countries, regulations in regards to advertising, broadcasting, data, crypto, gaming, NFT’s and security measures are not easily achievable with a pure web3 play.
Where we do use web3 tooling and emerging tech:
Where web3 is not used:
We made a conscious decision early in our journey [way back in 2020] not to have a crypto based token attached to the in-game economy. The purchase of in-game cosmetics, cards and skins provided no competitive advantage for competitive players. Checkmate is not a “play-to-earn or play to win” platform, players may earn by winning, trading or being a partnered player, influencer, or team. Checkmate is also chain agnostic so we can work with different communities.
Checkmate intends to issue a participation token [utility similar to BAT] for watching tournament broadcasts on platform and on partner platforms, which can be used to tip players, prizes, or redemption on platform and with advertisers, partners and sponsors. We aim to release further details about jusrtisctions and related drops in November.
By integrating the best of web2 and web3 technology, Checkmate can provide greater access to players, particularly in regions where traditional payment methods may not be available or accessible. Overall, a hybrid web2 and web3 platform can provide the best of both worlds, enabling Checkmate to navigate regulatory requirements and technical constraints. Whilst also leveraging the benefits of decentralized technology to enhance player access and engagement.
Checkmate is a private company doing its own thing, this model has been implemented by Checkmate on a voluntary basis. It does not represent it to be a DAO but an effort to lean in and provide the community with the opportunity for shared decision-making , participation and promote community led-initiatives. At the same time we need to ensure we can complete our mission by managing operational risk:
We maintain a 51% say as our safety value, against insane ideas, eg shipping in 100 tons of ice to build a ice chess set at Burning Man. Whilst that would be pretty cool there may be better ways to spend community funds in the short term... Eg a longer bar tab for founders at the majors or free resources like sponsorship and player contracts approved by the community.
Checkmate reserves the right to amend the terms of reference to ensure sustainability or unforeseen circumstance; eg change in regulations. If required this may include the establishment of a foundation, not-for-profit or formation of sub DAO's.
The formation of a DAO had been considered more than once but we have a number of reservations, agility, legal and regulatory risk and the risk that a concentration of power may occur for web3 users vs web2 users. Only a small percentage of the 700 million people who play chess are familiar with web3 mechanics. The key benefits that First Mint holders will obtain is from the utility attached to Avatars; including competitive passes and future drops.
All terms of reference will be publically available.
We are still very interested in chatting to DAO's participants about their own experience or parties who want to set up teams for potential DAO leagues.
