Matt Liston, former CEO of Augur, a blockchain-supported prediction platform unveiled his blockchain religion, which he calls 0xΩ (“Zero ex omega”? “Zero times omega”?), during an event at the New Museum in New York City. He distributed 40 hard copies of a document he calls 0xΩ’s “flame paper,” the closest thing the religion has to a “holy book,” that reportedly outlines how Liston wants 0xΩ to function.
The fundamental idea is that blockchain could eliminate the need for the faith to have a governing authority. In many of today’s major religions, the beliefs and decisions of the people at the top — the Pope, the Dalai Lama, the Chief Rabbi — trickle down to the rest of the believers. The average follower has very little influence on the religion’s core beliefs. Though Liston is founding the religion, he clearly doesn’t consider himself as its Pope.
It’s a religious framework that could allow for belief sets to update much more quickly and also to democratize the relationship between membership and convergence on what everyone believes in this religion
– Matt Liston
0xΩ could work differently, because users could have a say. Followers might decide they want to change parts of the blockchain religion’s texts (starting with the flame paper) or start using donations to support certain charitable causes. Because it is distributed and difficult to hack, blockchain may provide the perfect platform for followers to voice their opinions on these matters, or give their vote to another member to vote on their behalf. And if followers can’t reach consensus on a topic, 0xΩ could “hard fork” into two separate religions.
