Layer 3 defines how value, resources, and obligations flow inside the community.
Its purpose is to make economic power explicit, bounded, reviewable, and subordinate to governance, preventing hidden accumulation, dependency, or coercion.
5.1 Commons vs Private Resources
5.1.1 All resources within the declared governed scope MUST be explicitly classified as either commons or private.
5.1.2 The community MUST maintain a single, explicit, and versioned registry of governed resources, including at minimum:
- Resource name or unique identifier
- Classification (commons or private)
- Steward or owner (as applicable)
- Access and use rules
- Transfer, sale, or privatization constraints (if any)
5.1.3 Any resource not explicitly classified MUST be treated as unclassified, and the community MUST NOT allocate, encumber, monetize, or transfer it until classification is completed through an authorized decision.
5.1.4 For commons resources, the community MUST explicitly define:
- Stewardship responsibilities
- The authorized decision-making body or role
- Maintenance obligations
- Funding or contribution mechanisms (if any)
5.1.5 For private resources, the community MUST NOT exercise authority beyond what is explicitly declared in the scope, membership agreements, or other governed artifacts.
5.2 Contribution Recognition
5.2.1 The community MUST explicitly define which contribution categories are recognized. These MAY include, but are not limited to:
- Labor
- Care and emotional work
- Knowledge and education
- Stewardship and maintenance
- Administrative or coordination work
5.2.2 The community MUST define a contribution recognition mechanism specifying:
- What qualifies as a contribution
- How contributions are recorded or acknowledged
- Who may record, validate, or contest contributions
- Whether and how contribution recognition affects access to resources, privileges, or obligations
5.2.3 The community MUST NOT structurally depend on unpaid, invisible, or informal labor for system survival without explicitly defining corresponding obligations, recognition, or compensation mechanisms.
5.2.4 If internal economic units are used (e.g. time credits, points, tokens), the Internal Economy Protocol MUST define:
- Issuance rules
- Transferability rules
- Expiration, decay, or cap mechanisms (if any)
- Fraud prevention, dispute handling, and correction mechanisms
- Privacy and transparency rules for balances and transactions
5.2.5 Contribution recognition MUST NOT create implicit decision authority, veto power, or governance influence beyond what is defined in Layer 2.
5.3 Treasury Management
5.3.1 The community MUST explicitly define which resources are held in the shared treasury and how treasury boundaries interface with private resources.
5.3.2 Income sources and any external income interfaces MUST be explicitly defined.
5.3.3 Spending authority MUST be explicitly bounded through:
- Clear authority assignments
- Thresholds by amount and/or category
- Approval and escalation paths
- Mandatory recordkeeping requirements
5.3.4 Transparency MUST be the default for treasury balances, inflows, outflows, obligations, and commitments.
5.3.5 Any exceptions to transparency MUST be explicitly defined, justified, time-bounded, and MUST NOT prevent members from auditing compliance.
5.3.6 The community MUST define reserve, risk, and liability policies, including:
- Limits on debt
- Long-term obligations
- Contingency reserves (if any)
5.4 Accumulation Constraints
5.4.1 Internal economic systems MUST prevent unbounded concentration of internal influence or control through resources, credits, or financial obligations.
5.4.2 If internal units exist, the community MUST define one or more accumulation-limiting mechanisms, which MAY include:
- Caps
- Decay or expiration
- Non-transferability
- Redistribution or taxation mechanisms
- Time-bounded validity
5.4.3 Economic mechanisms MUST NOT allow members to bypass governance authority boundaries defined in Layer 2, including through purchasing influence, creating dependency, or converting economic power into informal decision authority.
5.4.4 The community MUST define reviewable indicators of economic concentration risk and an explicit mechanism to adjust constraints when such risks are detected.
5.5 Artifacts
5.5.1 The following artifacts are mandatory for Layer 3 compliance:
- Internal Economy Protocol
- Treasury Ruleset
5.5.2 Layer 3 artifacts MUST be:
- Explicit and unambiguous
- Versioned
- Accessible to all members (with explicit, bounded exceptions)
- Adopted through an authorized governance process
5.5.3 The Internal Economy Protocol MUST define, at minimum:
- Contribution categories and recognition mechanisms
- Commons vs private boundaries and allocation rules
- Internal units (if any) and accumulation constraints
- External income interfaces (if any)
- Dispute resolution and correction mechanisms for economic records
5.5.4 The Treasury Ruleset MUST define, at minimum:
- Income sources
- Spending authority thresholds and approval paths
- Transparency and reporting requirements (including any bounded exceptions)
- Reserve, risk, and debt constraints
- Conflict-of-interest rules for spending and procurement
5.6 Layer Invariants
5.6.1 Shared resources, flows, and obligations MUST be visible to the community by default, with only limited and explicit exceptions.
5.6.2 Resources declared as commons MUST NOT be privatized through informal, implicit, or unilateral action.
5.6.3 Contribution recognition MUST be explicit such that unpaid or invisible labor is not structurally required for system survival.
5.6.4 Economic mechanisms MUST prevent indefinite concentration of internal influence.
5.7 Explicitness Rules
5.7.1 The following MUST be explicit:
- Commons vs private classifications
- Allocation and access rules for shared resources
- Spending authority limits
- Transparency rules
- External income interfaces
5.7.2 The following MAY be explicit:
- Contribution valuation models
- Internal units (tokens, hours, points)
- Budget categories and internal accounting structures
5.7.3 The following MUST remain optional and out of scope:
- Attitudes toward wealth
- Equal vs differentiated outcomes
- Personal financial choices