An Introduction to Velocity Network

Velocity is intended to be the world’s network for verified and trusted career credentials, designed for the digital age. It’s governed by a nonprofit foundation, set out to put people back in control and build a globally accessible, trustworthy utility layer that will underlie the global labor markets. Participants in the network are all equal, adhering to the same protocols. The network belongs to no one and is run by its members. It’s powered by blockchain, making it trusted, private and effortless for people to take ownership on their verified career credentials, choose whether to share them, decide how that data is used by others, and even sell it and earn income on that sale, creating an economy around the ownership and transfer of valuable career-related data. At the same time, organizations will be able to rely on trusted, immutable and verified applicant, candidate, employee and student data, seamlessly and cost-effectively eliminating hiring risks, boosting productivity, improving employee and student experiences, and achieving regulatory compliance. We call it the “Internet of Careers.”

Verified and Trusted: Credentials are digitally signed by the issuing authority. Self – Sovereign: Users have sole ownership and control over their records and personal data. Secured: built on a blockchain designed with the highest security in mind. Cost-effective: Verified records are shared digitally, eliminating costly manual processes.

Organizations have made significant progress in their ability to manage data regarding students, employees, contractors and alumni, but individuals may divide their time working for two or more employers, take gig assignments and move between jobs more frequently than ever before. There is no one organization that has the holistic career profile of the individual needed to make valuable predictions and drive value through analytics and AI. To add to this complexity, as individuals’ concerns about data privacy grow and new regulations such as GDPR are introduced, it is reasonable to expect that we will gradually face a reality where employees and alumni demand increasing limitations on the processing of their records by employers. In fact, most of the relevant career-related data needed for more effective analytics and AI is generated and held outside the organization, scattered across multiple platforms and service provider databases. However, proprietary restrictions can make accessing such rich data either difficult or prohibitively expensive, and this data is mostly self-reported, which has been widely recognized as untrustworthy. These trends are a fundamental threat to the entire HR Tech industry. If its value proposition to its users is heavily based on intelligent data processing, and this data is mostly locked out of the enterprise, in a broken data-sharing system, there is a real threat to the prevailing vision of smart data collection and processing.

It has been widely recognized that individuals’ resumes, LinkedIn profiles and other self-reported career records, cannot be taken as a trustworthy source of information. According to HireRight’s 2018 employment screening benchmark report, 84% of employers have identified lies or misrepresentations on applicants’ resumes; up dramatically from 2012, when 66% reported finding fabrications^[1]. It’s not only people who lie on their resumes. As early as 2012, Inside Higher Ed magazine estimated that fraud in higher education, selling fake degrees and diplomas, was a $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion business^[2]. A study by Automatic Data Processing (ADP) of some 5.5 million background investigations showed discrepancies in 46% of educational, employment and reference checks^[3]. This explains why 73% of U.S. employers perform employment pre-hire checks and 51% verify education credentials and certifications^[4].

[1] Employment Screening Benchmark Report, HireRight, 2018

[2] Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, Sept. 14, 2012

[3] Annual Screening Index, ADP, 2009

[4] The Employment Screening Service Market to 2025, ResearchAndMarkets.com, February 2018

Recently, people’s concerns about how business are processing their personal data have escalated with the revelations of multiple privacy violations. A recent survey by Pew Research Center showed that 8 of every 10 Americans feel they have little or no control over their data collected by companies^[1]. A disconcerting result from a survey^[2] released at the 2019 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland shows that 70% of business leaders globally say they are “not very confident” that they are using new sources of workplace data in a “highly responsible” way, and as a result 58% of employees said they are unwilling to let employers collect data without their approval. In addition to the privacy issue, career credentials are probably one of the most sought after and valuable assets for people as far as their ability to make a living and fulfill themselves, and people want full ownership and control over this asset as they navigate through the labor market. The same survey mentioned above showed that 73% of people want to own their work-related data and take it with them when they leave. To protect the right for privacy, and allow people control over their career data, it is clear that we need a new data-sharing architecture, centralized around the notion of Self-Sovereign career identity. Now with the emergence of new technologies, interested stakeholders are converging to make it happen.

[1] Americans and Privacy, Pew Research Center, November 2019

[2] Putting Trust to Work, Accenture, 2019

Generally speaking, Self-sovereign identity (SSI) is a model for managing digital identities in which an individual has sole ownership over the ability to control their accounts and personal data. Individuals with self-sovereign identity can store their data to their devices and provide it for verification and transactions without the need to rely upon a central repository of data. With self-sovereign identity, users have complete control over how their personal information is kept and used. Self-sovereign career identity, addresses a subset of the overall identity records, including all records related to the individual’s career history and education.

Velocity will have a major positive impact for both individuals (students, candidates, employees and freelancers) and organizations (academics, employers, service providers) springing from the ability for individuals to maintain and control access to comprehensive, trustworthy records of their education, skills, training and other career-related data, and share it with organizations. By providing potential organizations with access to their data, individuals will be able to turn their skills, training, and experience into genuine value in the labor market, and access better career and development opportunities. In addition, by applying analytics and AI to the data, organizations will be able to match individuals to roles much more effectively and accurately, recommend learning and development activities, and design bespoke talent management and retention activities. In turn, this will provide the much- needed uplift to productivity, which has been below par since 2011 despite huge technological advancements.

The Velocity Network is governed by a collaborative, democratic, nonprofit foundation, with members being diverse labor market stakeholders from HR and Ed tech, nonprofit and multilateral organizations, employers and educational institutions. All members participate in the democratic governance framework. Participants in the network are all equal, adhering to the same protocols. The network belongs to no one and is run by its members. The Velocity Network Foundation is a U.S. based, cooperative, nonprofit corporation, established by Velocity Career Labs to: govern the use of the Velocity Network by all involved parties; continuously build the rulebook, a common framework that ensures operational consistency and legal clarity for every transaction; promote global adoption and support among stakeholders and constituents; guide the development of the decentralized protocols; and support research and development of applications and associated services, fostering a community of open-source developers.

An initial group of fourteen innovative trailblazers, industry global leaders from across HR Tech, Education Tech, gig and contingent workforce platforms, employment marketplaces, background and credential services, assessment and people insights providers, recruitment, development and advisory firms, that came together to define, deploy, and champion the Velocity Network: a globally accessible, trustworthy “Internet of Careers,” serving the diverse constituent groups that engage with the network. Velocity Network Founding Members are Aon Assessment Solutions, Cisive, Cornerstone, HireRight, Korn Ferry, National Student Clearinghouse, Randstad, SAP, SHL, SumTotal, Ultimate Software, Unit4, Upwork, and ZipRecruiter.

Credential issuers are entities that contribute verified career records, such as employers, educational institutions, certification bodies and employee assessment vendors. These authorities earn tokens for each verified record they contribute. In many cases, these entities are also interested in accessing career data and will use these earned tokens as currency when they are requested to pay access fees.

Inspectors are employers, businesses, educational institutions and other interested parties that seek to access the verified credentials. Inspectors must receive explicit permission from the Credential Holders to review their credentials and pay the network access fee in order to access the records. This fee is paid on a per-transaction basis to the Foundation reserve. The specific access rights and duration is determined on a per-case basis by the Inspector and the Credential Holders and has no impact on the price of the service. Most of the Inspectors act also as Credential Issuers and earn tokens for verifying records.

The consensus network consists of the connected labor market data processors. These entities run a validation node and participate in the consensus protocol that verifies records, earning tokens in exchange for their involved in verifying.

The network regulator is the overall authority that audits and governs the use of the network and manages the different certifications required for users to access the network. Within the Velocity Network, this Network Regulator is the Foundation. The Network Regulator is responsible also for collecting access fees and rewarding Consensus Network Members and Credential Issuers for their contribution.

Velocity will introduce a utility token, which will also act as a proprietary payment currency within the new ecosystem. The Velocity token is the essential element that powers the Velocity Network ecosystem. The key objectives we want to achieve with the Velocity token mechanics are:

• Reward Data Processors, for the computational power they contribute and for validating transactions while maintaining network integrity
• Incentivize Credential Issuers to participate and issue credentials
• Incentivize Users to utilize and allow controlled access to their personal data in various use cases
• Reward early adopters for their contribution to building the value of the network

Over the course of the upcoming months, the Foundation will be working to develop and test the technical platform and to grow the Velocity ecosystem. If you are an organization interested in joining the Foundation, please click on the “Become a Member” button on the right-hand side of the upper menu bar and fill in your application. If you are a developer, an open-source testnet and SDKs (an early version of the Velocity Network) will available soon. Stay tuned!

Individuals connect with Credential Issuers to claim their career credentials. Credential Issuers manage, issue and revoke credentials based on pre-defined events in the employee or student journey. The credentials are signed and anchored to the Blockchain Network, making them verifiable and trusted. Individual Credential Holders Take control of their career credentials, choose whether to share them and decide how that data is used by others. Verifying Organization verifies student, candidate and employee credentials instantly and cost-effectively, eliminating hiring risks, boosting productively and achieving regulatory compliance.

To apply for membership please click on the “Become a Member” button on the right-hand side of the upper menu bar and fill in your application. We will respond to you within three business days with the full membership information package.

The Velocity Network is governed by a collaborative, democratic, nonprofit foundation, with members being diverse labor market stakeholders from HR and Ed-tech, nonprofit and multilateral organizations, employers and educational institutions. All members participate in the democratic governance framework. Participants in the network are all equal, adhering to the same protocols. The network belongs to no one and is run by its members. The Velocity Network Foundation is a global, cooperative, nonprofit organization established to: govern the use of the Velocity Network by all involved parties; continuously build the rulebook, a common framework that ensures operational consistency and legal clarity for every transaction; promote global adoption and support among stakeholders and constituents; guide the development of the decentralized protocols; and support research and development of applications and associated services, fostering a community of open-source developers.

An initial group of fourteen innovative trailblazers, industry global leaders from across HR Tech, Education Tech, gig and contingent workforce platforms, employment marketplaces, background and credential services, assessment and people insights providers, recruitment, development and advisory firms, that came together to define, deploy, and champion the Velocity Network: a globally accessible, trustworthy “Internet of Careers,” serving the diverse constituent groups that engage with the network.

The Foundation is governed by the elected Board of Directors. The board is chartered directly by the Charter and Bylaws of the Velocity Network Foundation as a non-profit organization. The Velocity Network Foundation board is comprised of individual delegates from Member organizations, elected to serve in governance by the general membership. Elections are held annually. Each member organization elected sends one delegate to the serve as board member. Board members have the obligation to represent the interests of all the different constituents of the Velocity Network, govern the use of the network by all involved parties, and continuously build the rulebook, a common framework that ensures operational consistency and legal clarity for every transaction. The board also charters and nominates the Foundation’s executive team: CEO, Secretary and CFO. Until end of 2021, the board is composed of individual delegates that come from Founding Member organizations and VCL.

Velocity Network Foundation invites labor market stakeholders from across: HR Tech, Education Tech, gig and freelance platforms, contingency workforce, job search platforms, employment marketplaces, background screening services, credentialing and assessment providers, recruitment and staffing firms, workforce development and advisory firms, nonprofit and multilateral organizations, employers and educational institutions, to join us as we move to change the world of work!

Being a member of the Velocity Network Foundation will allow you to:

• Vote to elect the Foundation’s board members
• Create, chair and participate in work committees, special interest groups and task forces
• Early access to plans and decisions
• Use the Velocity Network Foundation name and logo in website, promotional materials and press releases
• Receive invitations to all member meetings
• Receive discounts on Foundation event sponsorships

Being a member of the Velocity Network Foundation will allow you to:

• Vote to elect the Foundation’s board members
• Create, chair and participate in work committees, special interest groups and task forces
• Early access to plans and decisions
• Use the Velocity Network Foundation name and logo in website, promotional materials and press releases
• Receive invitations to all member meetings
• Receive discounts on Foundation event sponsorships

Being a member of the Velocity Network Foundation will allow you to:

• Vote to elect the Foundation’s board members
• Create, chair and participate in work committees, special interest groups and task forces
• Early access to plans and decisions
• Use the Velocity Network Foundation name and logo in website, promotional materials and press releases
• Receive invitations to all member meetings
• Receive discounts on Foundation event sponsorships

Being a member of the Velocity Network Foundation will allow you to:

• Vote to elect the Foundation’s board members
• Create, chair and participate in work committees, special interest groups and task forces
• Early access to plans and decisions
• Use the Velocity Network Foundation name and logo in website, promotional materials and press releases
• Receive invitations to all member meetings
• Receive discounts on Foundation event sponsorships

Being a member of the Velocity Network Foundation will allow you to:

• Vote to elect the Foundation’s board members
• Create, chair and participate in work committees, special interest groups and task forces
• Early access to plans and decisions
• Use the Velocity Network Foundation name and logo in website, promotional materials and press releases
• Receive invitations to all member meetings
• Receive discounts on Foundation event sponsorships

Being a member of the Velocity Network Foundation will allow you to:

• Vote to elect the Foundation’s board members
• Create, chair and participate in work committees, special interest groups and task forces
• Early access to plans and decisions
• Use the Velocity Network Foundation name and logo in website, promotional materials and press releases
• Receive invitations to all member meetings
• Receive discounts on Foundation event sponsorships

Early adopters will be first to launch services built on top of Velocity Network, staking a leadership position in their respective market and opening new possibilities for competitive advantages. Joining early will also allow participants to claim their market share in the new multi-billion-dollar market of network rewards to Credential Issuers and Data Processors.

To apply for membership please click on the “Become a Member” button on the right-hand side of the upper menu bar and fill in your application. We will respond to you within three business days with the full membership information package.

he Velocity Network Foundation offers 3 membership types: CLASS A – Tech vendors and data processors to labor market and education constituents (e.g. HR Tech, Ed Tech, gig and employment marketplace platforms.) Class A members join the network by running a validator node and serving in governance. CLASS B – Credential Issuers (e.g. employers or educational institutions). Class B members also serve in governance of the Foundation. CLASS C – Nonprofits (e.g. regulatory agencies, NGOs, academic institutions.)

Participating will allow HR Tech / Ed Tech vendors to offer their constituents the ability to issue, share and verify student, applicant, candidate and employee digital career credentials using blockchain, and develop new added-value, innovative applications.

Participating will allow freelance / labor market platforms to offer their constituents the ability to issue, share and verify student, candidate and employee digital career credentials using blockchain, and develop new added-value, innovative applications.

Participating will allow staffing / recruiting vendors to validate individual’s credentials digitally and cost effectively, using blockchain, and develop new added-value, innovative applications to match individuals to roles much more effectively and accurately.

Participating will allow employers to rely on a trusted, immutable and verified holistic picture of career data for their applicants and employees – minimizing hiring risks and achieving regulatory compliance. The ability to have a continuously updated picture of their candidates’ and employees’ verified career records provides broader context and trends over time. Data could be used in a richer and more meaningful ways, guiding people as they develop and manage their careers: validate candidate career credentials instantly and cost-effectively, match individuals to roles much more effectively and accurately, recommend learning and development activities, and design bespoke talent management and retention activities. And finally, participating employers will be able to accommodate their constituents demand for portable, self-sovereign work-related credentials, and allow them access to better career and development opportunities.

Participating will allow education vendors to validate applicant credentials digitally and cost-effectively, using blockchain. In addition, it will allow them to issue portable, self-sovereign education-related credentials, to allow their students and alumni access to better career and development opportunities, while recovering their associated costs through the economic model driving the network.

Participating will allow career / labor market related service providers to offer their constituents the ability to issue, share and verify student, candidate and employee digital career credentials using blockchain, and develop new added-value, innovative applications.

Safety and security are our highest priorities. Security is built into the very design of the Velocity Network to prevent malicious activity. You can read more about security in the articles posted on our blog.

Privacy by Design was embedded as a high priority non-functional requirement for the Velocity Network right from the start. The network is designed to comply with GDPR and other prominent privacy regulations. Compliance to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and international employment laws are also constantly validated.

Compliance of Blockchain implementations with prominent privacy regulations including GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act, is not a trivial discussion. These regulations emerged in a world of traditional, centralized data models and certainly did not anticipate an innovation like distributed ledgers. The GDPR, for example, assumes a tri-party data model, whereas Blockchain sets out a fundamentally different data model that is flat, decentralized, and peer-to-peer. Nevertheless, we would claim that Blockchain and Self-Sovereign Identity are the ultimate GDPR compliance tool. It is useful to remember that data protection regulations operate in a wider context. GDPR, for example, promotes two objectives: data protection and free movement of data. This second objective is concerned with stimulating economic growth by creating the trust that will allow the digital economy to develop. Blockchain shares similar goals to GDPR. Privacy regulators already collaborate with the industry in defining standards and finding solutions that will allow for the adoption of blockchain and other Distributed Ledger Technologies. Discussions on blockchain’s compliance with privacy regulations tend to focus on the technical details about the implementation of specific features or functionality in the network, often losing sight of the bigger picture, in which Velocity Network is completely aligned with the regulator goals, adhering to its regulations core principles of: lawfulness, fairness, and transparency, purpose limitation, data minimization, accuracy, storage limitation, integrity and confidentiality and accountability.

The Velocity Network comes embedded with an elaborated incentives system and an economic model that fuel the ecosystem and drive global adoption. Velocity Network Foundation will introduce a utility token that will act as a proprietary payment currency within the Velocity ecosystem. The earners (supply side) are:

• Data Processors / SAS Vendors for the computational power they contribute and for validating transactions while maintaining complete network integrity Credential Issuers for their participation and credentials issued to their constituents
• These actors receive VLC tokens per each transaction and exchange the tokens with real world money when they sell tokens to the demand side the internal exchange market.

Compliance with financial, KYC, AML and other related regulations are Velocity’s highest priority, and is built into the very design of the network to prevent malicious activity. Velocity token is legal and can be used in all countries where the use of crypto tokens is permitted.

No, an ICO is not applicable to the utility token model of the Velocity Network.

Token mechanics were designed to comply with global financial regulations and contribute to a sustainable, thriving ecosystem: It will not be offered in an ICO under the promise to build a business or operation but rather be used as an internal currency to pay for services within a fully operational network. Tokens can be purchased in exchange for Fiat only to be immediately spent on access to network services. Token price is set only by the market in accordance with the value of the services that can be acquired in exchange for the token. There are no participants external to the ecosystem that can trade speculatively and affect the token price. Tokens can be earned by contributing to the network or purchased to access services. The token is available in increments that correlate with a consumptive intent versus an investment or speculative purpose, and the network services can only be acquired using the token. The token is not transferable outside the network and the demand comes only from inspectors as they wish to pay for network services. Transfers of the Tokens may only be made by and among users of the platform.

The crypto network and decentralized applications named Velocity Network are developed under an open source framework and will be licensed to be freely used, modified, and shared by the Foundation and its members. The open source framework will foster a thriving ecosystem of contributors to adapt and build on top of it. This reinforces the ecosystem’s growth in addition to benefitting from diverse viewpoints to the project. Open source SDKs will enable tech vendors to connect their applications to offer their constituents a whole new world of functional capabilities. The open source framework is also key to enhance trust and let interested parties audit the code to assure privacy and security are kept and the protocol can be trusted.

The architecture of Velocity Network separates the utility layer of the blockchain network with its basic elements and token mechanics from the different Distributed Apps that interact with the blockchain. These will be proprietary to the developers and will allow building new and innovative products and services that allow Foundation Members to offer their constituents new competitive use cases and contribute to a sustainable, thriving ecosystem. As an open source, public utility layer, Velocity Network would welcome and encourage new functional use cases that utilize the blockchain layer and drive stronger network effects.

Velocity will be implemented as a public permissioned blockchain network to manage a distributed ledger that is shared, replicated and synchronized among the members of a decentralized network (nodes). It will serve as a public service utility enabling self-sovereign career identity on the Internet, allowing individuals to collect, hold, and choose which verified career credentials – jobs, gigs, education, skills, performance, etc. – they share with interested parties. Every record in the network has a timestamp and unique cryptographic signature; thus, making the ledger an auditable, immutable history of a user’s career. The nodes communicate with each other to gain consensus on the contents of the ledger and do not require a central authority to coordinate and validate transactions. Consensus algorithms ensure that the shared ledgers are exact copies and lower the risk of fraudulent transactions. The decentralized peer-to-peer network prevents any single participant or group of participants from controlling the underlying infrastructure or undermining the entire system. Participants in the network are all equal, adhering to the same protocols. The network belongs to no one and is run by its members.

Velocity will be implemented as a public permissioned blockchain network. It’s a public utility for individuals that allows them to collect, hold, and choose which verified career credentials – jobs, gigs, education, skills, performance, etc. – they share with interested parties. On the other hand, to maintain compliance and trust, organizations that wish to engage as Credential Issuers, Inspectors, Data Processors or Application Developers, must join the Foundation and be permissioned to participate.

We are monitoring closely the work done by W3C and DIF on standards and interoperability for distributed identity networks, and we adhere to the developed standards for Verified Credentials and DIDs. Nevertheless, distributed trust networks (i.e. Blockchain) are more than technical solutions. They involve complicated governance, commercial, monetary and compliance aspects and in that sense are more like small economies, and interoperability will have to cover these elements as well. We will have to wait and see how this space will evolve and work with other vendors to create the infrastructure for real interoperability.

Velocity Network implements a self-sovereign identity solution in which the individual is in complete control of their records. Personal data and credentials are stored on the individual’s device(s) and their elected cloud storage services. In both cases the individual has sole ownership and control over their data. The Blockchain will not be used to store any personal data but only the proofs required for supporting verifiable credentials. It will also be used for handling credentials that end up being revoked. Additionally, issuers and inspectors’ profiles will be stored on-chain, as well as all Velocity Token transactions. Finally, the smart contracts that govern the network will be on-chain.

The blockchain will not store any personal data but only the verifiable proofs of the credentials. The blockchain will also store issuers and inspectors’ profiles, as well as their Velocity token transactions and the smart contract that governs the use of the network.

Velocity will initially implement a Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) protocol – IBFT 2.0. BFT consensus protocols are used when participants are known to each other and there is a level of trust between them but at the same time is able to tolerate a small number of malicious or infected nodes – which is the case with Velocity Network permissioned consortium network. In IBFT 2.0 networks, transactions and blocks are validated by approved accounts, known as validators. Validators take turns creating the next block. IBFT 2.0 has immediate finality. When using IBFT 2.0, there are no forks and all valid blocks are included in the main chain. In general, BFT consensus algorithms enable distributed consensus in an innovative, efficient way while still being fair and secure. It allows Velocity constituents to achieve fast, low-latency transactions with guaranteed finality in seconds or less. Velocity Network will also embed a staking mechanism to incentivize participants to adhere to network policies. The objective is to ensure that participants will be issuing real credentials to real people. In case of fraudulent behavior, the node will lose all its tokens.

Velocity Network is essentially a multi-sided network. The main characteristic of a multi-sided network is that there are two different classes of users: supply-side and demand-side users. They each come to the network for different reasons, and they produce complementary value for the other side. Velocity shows multi-sided network effects as increased usage of the utility layer by all parties leads to a direct increase in its value to its users. As more Credential Issuers such as employers, academic institutions, certification bodies participate, each user’s Velocity account will be increasingly complete and valuable to any Inspector. On the other side, as more Inspectors (e.g., employers, academic institutions, certification providers) require applicants to provide access to their validated career records as part of any application process, users will be prone to utilize their Velocity accounts. This is a clear case of a network effect that needs to kick in for the network to provide value to its constituents and a classic chicken and egg question: Credential Issuers will be slow to join until there is enough demand from Holders. Holders will be slow to join until there are enough Issuers and demand from Inspectors, and Inspectors will be slow to join until there is enough value for them with number of Holders and the completeness of their individual profiles. A key question to the success of the Velocity Network is how do we start rotating the adoption flywheel?

An initial group of innovative trailblazers, industry global leaders from across: HR Tech, Education Tech, gig and contingent workforce platforms, employment marketplaces, background and credential services, assessment and people insights providers, recruitment, development and advisory firms, came together to define, deploy, and champion the Velocity Network. Combined, these Founding Members have career-related data for more than 600 million individuals and Billions of credentials in their systems today, including professional and student credentials and assessments, as well as employment and contract work records spanning job information, pay histories, skills, competencies and more. This massive day one coverage will enable immediate value to all constituents and kickstart the adoption flywheel as many more participants will follow.

The answer lies in its key characteristics: ‘vendor-neutral’, ‘open-source’, ‘nonprofit’ and ‘democratic’. Velocity Network is an open source, vendor neutral platform, governed by a collaborative, democratic, nonprofit foundation. Participants in the network are all equal, adhering to the same protocols. The network belongs to no one and is run by its members. The democratic, nonprofit nature of the network is built to foster a broad, inclusive, innovative and vibrant eco-system of applications and use cases. This framework is very appealing to all participants, competitors and collaborators.

Velocity Network will leverage what we call Proxy Distribution. For the career data processors that make up the Consensus Network and power the protocol, the main driver to join the Foundation is to provide their constituents the enhanced value proposition that comes with the interoperability of validated career records. It is in their interest to drive awareness and adoption within their user community, thus promoting the network to tens of thousands of employers, organizations and educational institutions as well as hundreds of millions of students, employees and self-employed professionals.

The following mechanisms will be put in place to reward participants who join the network at early stages: First, participation tokens per transaction will decrease 10% for each of the first 6 years. This means that Consensus Network Members and Credential Issuers will earn 5 times the number of tokens per transaction in the first year compared to the 9th year. Second, in steady state, a maximum of 50% of the access fee is payable in earned tokens; the remainder requires purchasing new tokens on the internal exchange. To engage early adopter Inspectors when users’ profiles will still be incomplete and less valuable, during the first year the access fee can be paid 100% in earned tokens, dropping to 75% during the second year and reaching the 50% level on the third year and thereafter.

Velocity Career Labs (VCL) is the company developing the crypto network and decentralized applications named Velocity Network. VCL played a key role in the creation of the Velocity Foundation. The company employs an open source framework to the development of the code that will be licensed to be freely used, modified, and shared by the Foundation and its members.

No. VCL played a key role in the creation of the Velocity Foundation, but it does not control the Foundation. VCL is a Founding Member of Velocity Network Foundation with equal vote and influence as any other Founding Member.

No. VCL is committed to developing the utility and the technology behind it, but code is developed under an open source framework and is controlled by the project technical committee. Members are invited to participate and contribute.

When we embarked on this journey, it was clear to us that the Velocity Network must be controlled and governed by a democratic, nonprofit foundation with members representing the entire labor market eco-system. It was also clear to us that for this to happen, we needed to address the enormous issue of funding. Developing and deploying the network requires massive funding, estimated at above 100M USD. Asking for member funding at this scale seemed unrealistic; going for a public Token ICO, as most blockchain projects did, seemed not to be in line with the type of organizations that came together to lead this; so, our solution was to create a for-profit entity with a compelling business case that will be able to source funding from professional investors in exchange for equity share. Velocity Career Labs (VCL), the for-profit entity, drive the lion’s share of contribution to the development and launch the network. VCL employs an open source framework and intends to pass the control over the code and the network to the Velocity Network Foundation. As is the case with most of the crypto networks, VCL will keep in its reserve a portion of the tokens that will be minted to fuel the token economy that drives the Velocity ecosystem. As the network and its utility grows, there will be real monetary value to the tokens. One that will compensate the company and its investors for its early investment in the development and deployment of the network. Another element in VCLs business model is based on operating a validation node and collecting node operator fees.