Prototype 1 is the name for the entire current WikiDeal model — the complete set of financial, governance, and legal structures being implemented in the first funding round. The word "prototype" is chosen deliberately: it signals that this is a rigorous first attempt, not a final answer. Prototype 1 exists to prove feasibility, generate data, attract community critique, and fund the Open Call process that will produce Prototypes 2A, 2B, and beyond.

The CHF 1 Million Target

The Prototype 1 funding round targets CHF 1,000,000 — a figure chosen to fit within the FINMA sandbox framework for financial innovation, which exempts small-scale experimental projects from full banking regulation. This allows WikiDeal to test its financial mechanisms in a real-money environment without the regulatory overhead that would make a small community experiment impossible. The FINMA sandbox is time-limited; WikiDeal expects to operate under it for Prototype 1, then transition to full regulatory compliance for subsequent prototypes.

The bonding curve for this CHF 1M starts at ×100 (CHF 0.10 per membership vs CHF 10 face value) and rises to ×30 (CHF 0.33 per membership) when the target is reached. The average across the full curve is approximately ×60, implying approximately 6 million memberships issued to funders. These memberships generate returns as users purchase Credits at face value (CHF 10), with 90% of each face-value purchase distributed to Prototype 1 funders and 10% to early funders.

Two Stages

Stage 1 (CHF 100,000–150,000): The first tranche funds the development of a functional, graphical, secure, and tested prototype Infrastructure. During this stage, funders receive a promise and a account, but the full automated bonding curve machinery is not yet operational. This stage covers: CHF 100,000 to recover preparatory investments made by Théo and the foundation (software development, research, coordination over the past year); CHF 10,000 for the Open Call prize pool; CHF 30,000 for operational coordination (Thanasis Priftis, operational director); and CHF 30,000 for offices, travel, and equipment.

Stage 2 (remaining CHF 850,000+): Once the Stage 1 Infrastructure is operational, the bonding curve activates automatically. Funders in Stage 2 receive a real-time dashboard, interactive and private, showing their exact position on the curve, their Community/Personal allocation, and the current Funding Stabilizer status. The remaining CHF 850,000 can in principle be raised entirely through the automated curve, without active fundraising campaigns — though community outreach and ambassador programmes accelerate the process.

Early Funders

Separate from the main bonding curve, 50 million memberships are allocated to early funders — a group including Théo Bondolfi himself (who receives memberships in exchange for surrendering all intellectual property rights to the foundation), founding team members, historical ambassadors who have supported Ynternet.org for years, and significant contributors to the project's preparatory work. These 50 million memberships operate under the same Community/Cash Credits (no guarantee*) mechanism as standard funder memberships. Their existence is publicly disclosed in aggregate; individual allocations are not disclosed without consent.

Early funders participate in the same 50/50 Cash Credits (no guarantee*) distribution (solidarity + FIFO) as all other Cash Credits (no guarantee*) holders. The 10% early funder share from each user membership sale is what funds this cohort's return. On this basis, the full early funder cohort reaches its nominal return when approximately 50 million users have purchased memberships — a scale that represents significant but not implausible long-term growth for a global platform.

The Babysitting Pilot

WikiDeal's first commercial application is a babysitting app — a domain chosen for its accessibility, its positive social image, and its global deployability. Babysitting requires no complex logistics, no physical Infrastructure, and no specialised professional credentials in most jurisdictions. It involves high-trust personal relationships between families and caregivers — exactly the domain where WikiDeal's contract templates, dispute resolution, and reputation systems add the most value over informal arrangements.

The babysitting pilot will be published directly on the WikiDeal MediaWiki as the first User Group project, providing a fully documented, free-licensed record of how a WikiDeal User Group is launched, operated, and governed. Every decision, every challenge, every iteration will be documented — consistent with WikiDeal's commitment to radical transparency and its role as an R&D programme rather than a commercial rollout.