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Mogaokoo Whitepaper

 
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It’s traditional for web3.0 projects to write a good whitepaper. The problem is no one reads word-mouthy and long technical papers, especially those who are unfamiliar with these fancy terms. Therefore, we are making this whitepaper human-readable so that creators like you can easily understand it.

I. Why we are building Mogaokoo

The self-publishing industry has undergone rapid evolution, driven by technological advancements, shifting consumer behaviors, and emerging business models. Today, content creators across various media — from books and audiobooks to music, videos, photography, and graphic design — have the ability to self-publish and distribute their digital creations worldwide. However, the majority of significant self-publishing platforms and digital goods marketplaces are operated by major internet corporations that prioritize maximizing corporate profits over creators' needs.

Monopolization

The creator economy has experienced a seismic shift toward monopolization in recent years. Marketplaces like Audible, Spotify, Getty Images, Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, and others have enabled creators to market all kinds of content globally. However, a trend of consolidation has led to a monopoly of mega-companies with majority control in almost every niche segment.
  • Audible was acquired by Amazon in 2008 in a deal valued at around $300 million and then acquired Whispersync in 2012 for its voice technology.
  • Envato acquired Microlancer, a marketplace for freelancers, and Placeit, an online tool for creating mockups and visual content, in 2013.
  • Spotify acquired Anchor, a podcast creation and distribution platform, in 2019 and Megaphone, a podcast advertising and publishing platform, in 2020.
  • Canva’s design and publishing platform acquired stock media sites Pexels and Pixabay in 2019.
  • Shutterstock has acquired 9 companies in the last 5 years, including Turbo Squid and PicMonkey in 2021, and Pond5 in 2022.
  • In 2021, Getty Images acquired the free image site Unsplash.
  • Adobe announced its intention to acquire the media collaboration tool Figma in September of 2022 but abandoned the $20 billion deal after pressure from European regulators.
As once-revolutionaries turn into monopolizers, the creator experience on centralized platforms has been continually diminishing:
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No one likes monopolization.

High Commission

Centralized platforms take a significant cut from sales, push creators into exclusive contracts, and can raise their fees at their discretion at any time. For example:
  • Authors on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes receive 40% of retail sales under exclusive contracts but only 25% under non-exclusive agreements.
  • Contributors on iStock, Shutterstock, and Adobe Stock earn royalties ranging from 15% to 45% per file license, depending on their sales volume.
  • In 2022, Etsy sellers organized a strike to protest the platform's decision to increase transaction fees.
This trend highlights how centralized platforms prioritize their profits over fair compensation for creators, leaving many feeling undervalued and exploited.
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You should earn more.

Low Transparency

No creator ever has access to complete and auditable transactional data on these marketplaces, even for their own content. In 2021, two publishers sued Amazon over the integrity of Audible's reporting data, claiming they received only 50% to 85% of the royalties they were owed.
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You have the right to know.

Slow Payout

Most platforms withhold payouts through lengthy settlement periods, forcing creators to wait days, if not weeks, to reach the payout threshold and receive their earnings. Additionally, many non-public platforms fail to voluntarily disclose their operations and financial stability. There have been instances of rug-pulling incidents on niche content platforms, where operators have absconded with creators' funds, leaving them with nothing.
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Your fund should be safe and accessible.

Strict Content Policy

All these platforms review and approve creators’ submissions based on their content policies and terms of use. However, they often reject or remove content citing policy violations without providing detailed explanations or giving creators a fair chance to dispute or correct the issue. In some countries, such marketplaces must comply with strict internet supervision and censor a wide range of content upon government requests. As a result, many creators choose to remain anonymous online and avoid platforms that require real identity verification.
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You deserve a free and safe place to thrive.

Lack of Protection for Creators

Creators of niche and taboo content face significant risks due to inadequate protection from platforms. In many regions, content regulation and internet supervision laws target creators whose work is deemed controversial or non-conforming. Platforms often fail to safeguard creators' personal privacy and rights, leaving them vulnerable to legal action, including fines, imprisonment, or other penalties. For instance, creators of politically sensitive, culturally unconventional, or socially provocative content have been targeted by local law enforcement, with platforms providing little to no support in defending their rights. In some cases, platforms have even disclosed creators' personal information to authorities, further endangering their safety and livelihoods.
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Your creative freedom deserves protection.

Zero Ownership

All platforms prioritize the interests of their shareholders by pursuing maximal growth, profitability, and market share—often at the expense of creators. They acquire worldwide, royalty-free rights to any submitted content and pressure creators to accept exclusive terms. These platforms unilaterally determine product offerings and pricing strategies but fail to share their economic growth with their key contributors. For example, in 2023, Shutterstock expanded its partnership with OpenAI, allowing OpenAI to train its AI models on Shutterstock’s stock media library. However, the platform did not disclose how creators would be compensated for this use of their work.
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Your voice should be heard.

II. Our Mission

Our mission is to disrupt the centralized self-publishing industry through decentralization, bringing fairness, transparency, control, trust, and ownership back to all creators. We believe the future creator economy demands a new business model where platform growth doesn’t come at the expense of creators, governance is democratized, and all contributors benefit from its economic success. Ultimately, we aim to transform Mogaokoo into an open-source self-publishing protocol, free from dependence on centralized third parties.

III. Our Advantages

Anonymity

Leveraging web3.0 wallets as accounts, we safeguard the privacy of both creators and fans.

Fairness

We only charge a flat 10% transaction fee.

Transparency

All transactions will be recorded on the blockchain and all licenses will be minted as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). Anyone can access and verify these public and immutable data.

Instant Payout

Creators get paid in GOKOO immediately after the transaction completion and can withdraw their earnings anytime.

Censorship-resistance

Mogaokoo system and all files uploaded by creators are backed up on IPFS storage, which cannot be easily altered or deleted.

Anti-Piracy

We implement Digital Rights Management (DRM) measures to protect the content of Pro Creators from unauthorized downloads and sharing. This applies to various types of streaming content including audio, video, and ebooks.

Ownership

Your content is always yours. Currently, MOKOO points are a centralized system for rewarding contributors. In the future, these points will be converted into decentralized utility tokens, allowing all contributors to share in the platform’s responsibility and economic growth.

VI. Platform Overview

MoGaoKoo is a Web3.0 self-publishing platform that enables content creators to distribute their digital products directly to end users.

Sell anything digital

Content creators can sell their creations in any format, from images and documents to audio and video. Each listing may contain multiple files in various formats, with customizable settings for downloadability, streaming, access (public or gated), and even release schedules. Creators have full control over the listing’s release schedule, pricing, promotion, and supply quantity.
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It’s designed for all kinds of digital goods.

Define your licensing terms

A license is issued with each sale (free or paid) to clearly define the authorized use of the digital assets in the listing. By default, we adopt Creative Commons licenses, and creators can select the right license by answering a few single-choice questions. Creators can also upload their own licensing terms or legal contracts.
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You are in full control.

Split royalty with rights holders

Mogaokoo is the first and only platform to support multiple rights holders. Creators can upload release documents from models, properties, co-authors, and agents for each listing. They can also allocate a percentage of royalties to each rights holder, and the platform will automatically distribute their shares upon each sale.
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Share royalty automatically.

Get tips from your fans

Your fans can tip your listings with real money and you keep all tips.
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Tipping is another way to appreciate your hard work.

Upgrade to sell more

Anyone can register as a creator and start selling for free. The Free Plan includes 1GB of storage space with a maximum file size of 150MB. Upgrading to a Pro Plan provides unlimited storage, allows files up to 500MB in size, and includes Digital Rights Management (DRM) to protect streaming content from piracy.
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Free forever and upgrade if needed.

Produce IP Adaptations

We are committed to expanding the reach of exceptional content by adapting it into various media formats and languages. Our approach involves acquiring IP adaptation rights from creators through a revenue-sharing model. Currently, we are translating popular and niche novels into multiple languages and producing audiobooks and audio shows.
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Pitch your work and partner with us.

V. Tokenomics Design

Tokenomics, short for token economics, is a business model relying on the insurance and usage of crypto tokens in a certain ecosystem. We employ a dual-token model, Gokoo to facilitate transactions and Mokoo to govern the platform. We engineer our decentralized business model to align the interests of the platform and its community.
Tokenomics, short for token economics, is a business model that relies on the issuance and usage of crypto tokens within a specific ecosystem. We employ a dual-token model: GOKOO to facilitate transactions and MOKOO to govern the platform. Our decentralized business model is engineered to align the interests of the platform with those of its community.

GOKOO token

GOKOO is an ERC-20 stablecoin designed specifically for transactions within the Mogaokoo ecosystem. Each GOKOO token maintains a stable value of $0.01, fully backed by a reserve of USDC provided by Mogaokoo. Users mint GOKOO tokens by depositing dollars into Mogaokoo, which are then used for purchasing licenses and upvoting content on the platform. Conversely, GOKOO tokens are burned when users withdraw dollars to their PayPal accounts.
While GOKOO may resemble points on many Web2.0 platforms, it is fundamentally different. Points are managed on ledgers controlled by platforms and hosted on their servers, allowing platforms to issue as many points as they want without justifying their value. In contrast, GOKOO is entirely managed by a smart contract on the blockchain, distinguishing itself in several key aspects:
  • Irreversible and Instant Transfers: Funds are transferred instantly from the buyer’s wallet to the creator’s upon transaction completion.
  • Transparency: All sales data is publicly available and immutable, ensuring verifiability.
  • Security and Liquidity: GOKOO’s value is secured by a multi-signature wallet safeguarding the USDC reserve, ensuring its full value and liquidity.
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GOKOO is our own stablecoin used for all payments on Mogaokoo, maintaining a fixed value of $0.01

MOKOO token

MOKOO is an ERC-20 utility token integral to govern the Mogaokoo ecosystem. Designed as a deflationary token with a fixed supply, MOKOO tokens will be distributed to the community in recognition of their contributions. Key earning scenarios for MOKOO include but are not limited to:
  • Earned by both buyers and sellers following licensing purchases and tipping;
  • Airdropped to new creators;
  • Given to referrers after their referrals complete transactions;
  • Awarded to creators upon upgrading to pro accounts;
  • Earned as interest by staking for voting and crowdfunding.
Similar to Bitcoin’s halving mechanism, the rate at which new MOKOO tokens are awarded decreases over time, rewarding early adopters who make significant contributions to achieving our vision.
MOKOO holders play a crucial role in the governance of the Mogaokoo platform. They can vote on significant policy changes, investments in derivative production projects, crowdfunding initiatives, and other governance activities.
In specific instances, MOKOO staking is mandatory to propose new policies and projects, ensure the integrity of copyrights, and safeguard user rights. Staked MOKOO may be burned as a disciplinary measure against offenders, reinforcing the platform's commitment to its decentralization principles.
The issuance of MOKOO is a crucial step toward the decentralization of the Mogaokoo platform. However, this process is complex and still in preparation. In the meantime, we have introduced pMOKOO points, which follow the same halving mechanism as MOKOO but are centrally managed. Once the conditions are met for the official launch of MOKOO, pMOKOO points will be seamlessly converted into MOKOO tokens, ensuring a smooth transition to a fully decentralized ecosystem.
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MOKOO is the utility token awarded for contributions, empowering the community to govern the platform. pMOKOO points serve as an interim rewards system before full decentralization.

Build the future with us

We are a small group of believers and dreamers, daring to champion our vision. Challenging the status quo and competing with internet giants, who wield millions to billions in resources, is no easy feat. Building a truly decentralized platform in the nascent stages of web3.0 infrastructure poses even greater challenges. As we learn and grow, we're committed to continuous improvement. Our roadmap, product features, and platform policies will evolve as we navigate uncharted territory. Above all, we pledge to adapt democratically to significant changes and steadfastly uphold our commitment to decentralization.