The Economy
The Ascension Economy
Automation as a Service
Ascension isn't just a community — it's an ecosystem designed to sustain itself.
The core exchange is simple: we build and maintain trading bots; members rent access to them. You don't need to code, host infrastructure, or babysit servers. You configure a bot to your risk tolerance, pay for access, and let the system trade while you live your life.
Rental fees fund the infrastructure that keeps everything running — AWS, APIs, development, support. What remains flows to the community treasury, governed by those with stake in the realm's success.
This is automation as a service, owned and directed by the people who use it.
The Two-Token System
Ascension's economy runs on two tokens, each serving a distinct purpose.
The Sovereign
The Coin of the Realm
The Sovereign is the foundational currency of Ascension — a medieval gold coin representing your stake in the realm.
How it works:
Minted 1:1 for stablecoin (minus a small fee for the gas pool)
Holding Sovereigns makes you a Sigil Bearer
Sigil Bearers have voting power in governance decisions
Sovereigns are used to pay for bot rentals
The Sovereign is your commitment to Ascension made tangible. Hold it, and you have stake. Spend it on rentals, and you're actively participating in the ecosystem.
The Cipher
The Mark of Participation
The Cipher is proof that you've rented and used the system — cryptographic in theme, representing active participation in the Automation Aristocracy.
How it works:
Issued 1:1 when you pay Sovereigns to rent a bot
Cannot be sold, traded, or transferred — it's a perpetual badge
Grants voting power in governance, potentially weighted higher than Sovereigns alone
Accumulates over time as you continue renting
The Cipher answers a simple question: who has actually used the system?
Holding Sovereigns shows commitment. Holding Ciphers shows participation. Both matter for governance, but those who actively use the bots have earned a stronger voice in how they evolve.
Note: Governance design may include decay mechanics — voting power from Ciphers could diminish over time for inactive renters, rewarding ongoing participation over one-time use.
Bot Rentals
The heart of the Ascension economy is bot access.
What you're renting:
A configured instance of an Ascension trading bot
Running on infrastructure we manage (you don't need servers)
Connected to exchanges via your own API keys (your capital stays yours)
Monitored, logged, and reported through the AI Council
What you control:
Which bot and strategy you deploy
Risk parameters — position sizing, allocation limits, drawdown thresholds
Which markets and assets the bot can touch
Whether to pause, adjust, or stop at any time
What we handle:
Infrastructure — servers, uptime, scaling
Strategy updates — improvements roll out to all renters
Monitoring — system health, error handling, alerts
Transparency — every trade logged, every decision explained
Rentals are priced in Sovereigns. The exact structure — flat fee, tiered by bot type, or usage-based — will be finalized through community input as we approach launch.
Treasury & Transparency
Rental revenue doesn't disappear into a black box. It flows into two separate wallets with distinct purposes.
Infrastructure Wallet
Keeping the realm running.
A portion of rental fees flows directly to the Infrastructure Wallet — operational funding that covers the hard costs of running Ascension:
Cloud infrastructure (AWS)
API subscriptions and data feeds
Website and platform hosting
Development and maintenance
This wallet ensures the project is self-sustaining. Infrastructure costs don't fall on the founder indefinitely, and they don't compete with community priorities for funding. The realm pays for itself.
These costs will be tracked and published — the community can see exactly what it takes to keep everything running.
Community Wallet
Governed by the DAO.
Everything beyond infrastructure costs flows to the Community Wallet — a separate treasury controlled by the DAO.
Likely uses:
Community-traded bot — Capital managed by the system to grow the treasury over time
Development funding — New features, strategies, and expansions voted on by the community
Partnerships and growth — Marketing, integrations, ecosystem building
Member dividends — If the DAO chooses to distribute surplus
The Community Wallet belongs to the community. The DAO decides how it's used.
Governance: The DAO
Ascension is designed to govern itself.
The DAO isn't advisory — it's the operating authority. Day-to-day decisions, treasury allocation, strategy adoption, fee structures, launch timing — these belong to the community. The goal is a system that runs without any single person needing to be present, including the founder.
The Lord Chancellor: Protector, Not Ruler
The project founder holds the title of Lord Chancellor — a position of protective authority, not dominion.
What the Lord Chancellor holds:
Veto authority over decisions that would harm the project's integrity or enable hostile takeover
Infrastructure Wallet management — ensuring operational costs are paid and the system stays online (until this too can be automated)
Emergency intervention — the ability to act if malfeasance or catastrophic decisions threaten the realm
What the Lord Chancellor doesn't hold:
Day-to-day control over community decisions
Unilateral authority to override the DAO on treasury, fees, or ecosystem priorities
The expectation of being present for the system to function
Think of it as a constitutional safeguard. The DAO runs the realm. The Lord Chancellor exists to ensure no one — including themselves — can burn it down.
Note: The Lord Chancellor may request Cipher grants from the DAO as recognition for ongoing contributions — earning voting power through participation, not financial input alone. This keeps incentives aligned with the community.
Who Votes
Sigil Bearers (Sovereign holders) Stake in the project grants a voice. The more Sovereigns you hold, the more weight your vote carries — but with reasonable caps to prevent plutocracy.
Automation Aristocracy (Cipher holders) Active participation grants a voice. Those who rent and use the bots — or who receive Ciphers as recognition for contributions — have proven commitment. Their votes may carry additional weight.
What the DAO Governs
Community Wallet allocation — How surplus funds are used
Fee structures — How rentals are priced
Strategy adoption — Which community-contributed strategies enter the library
Launch timing — When to move from testing to public access
Ecosystem priorities — Partnerships, integrations, growth initiatives
Recognition grants — Cipher awards for contributors
The Principle
The best governance is governance that doesn't need constant attention. Ascension is built so the DAO can operate, the bots can trade, and everyone — including the founder — can step away and come back to a system that kept running.
Automation isn't just for trading. It's for the whole realm.
Why This Model
The Ascension economy is designed around a few core beliefs:
Automation should be accessible. You shouldn't need to be a developer to run a trading bot. Rent access, configure your risk, and let the system work.
Participation should be rewarded. Those who use the system — not just those who hold tokens — should have a voice in how it evolves. The Cipher ensures active users matter.
Transparency builds trust. Published costs, logged trades, explained decisions. If you can't see how it works, you can't trust it. Ascension is legible by design.
Ownership should be real. The DAO isn't a marketing term. It's how the community actually controls the Community Wallet and shapes ecosystem priorities. Stake and participation earn governance power.
Summary
Sovereign
Stake in the ecosystem, used for rentals, grants voting power
Cipher
Proof of participation (or recognized contribution), perpetual badge, grants voting power
Bot Rentals
Access to configured trading bots running on managed infrastructure
Infrastructure Wallet
Covers operational costs (transparent, managed until automated)
Community Wallet
DAO-controlled surplus for community priorities
DAO
The operating authority — governs treasury, fees, strategy, ecosystem priorities
Lord Chancellor
Protective role — veto against malfeasance, infrastructure management, emergency intervention
This is where Ascension is headed. The Roadmap shows how we get there.
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