Appendix

Definitions

To have a productive conversation, we must first agree on terminology. Below are a list of key terms employed within the context and scope of the Fugue Foundation, and how we understand them.

Application Programming Interface (API) - An interface specific to an application allowing third parties to access certain data resources. It abstracts the underlying implementation (such as a dataset) and exposes objects or actions that a developer may need.

Blockchain - A public, decentralized, permission-ledger distributed across a peer-to-peer network and validated by a consensus algorithm. The Fugue Foundation develops on the Ethereum blockchain.

Charity Assessment - The process of analysis of the “goodness” of a nonprofit organization in financial terms. Historically, charity evaluators have focused on the question of how much of contributed funds are used for the purpose(s) claimed by the charity, while more recently some evaluators have placed an emphasis on the cost effectiveness (or impact) of charities. The Fugue Foundation is presently following those assessments that utilize effective altruism criteria.

Cryptocurrency - A digital asset designed as a medium of exchange using blockchain technology. Although there are hundreds of such currencies, as of this writing the Fugue Foundation is primarily interested in Ether (ETH), ERC-20 stable coins such as DAI and USDC, and Bitcoin (BTC).

Decentralized Application (dApp) - An internet-based application (frontend) that interfaces with a blockchain (backend) and is capable of generating valid transactions to make state changes.

Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) - An organization represented by rules encoded within a smart contract and controlled by shareholders of a digital asset (token) and not influenced by a central authority.

Effective Altruism - The act of considering evidence and analysis to determine how we can effectively use resources to help others the most.

Ethereum - A global, open-source platform for decentralized applications. Ether (ETH) is the native token or cryptocurrency for the Ethereum network.

Fugue - From the latin for fleeing, to take flight. A style of classical music composition where melodic subjects and counter-subjects interact with one another according to certain rules. Best advice, listen to Johann Sebastian Bach.

Non-fungible Token - Based off the ERC721 specification, it is a crytographically unique, mutually non-interchangeable token.

Smart contract - A collection of code and data with a specific purpose or capability that resides at an address on a blockchain. The Fugue Foundation develops smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain.

Stable coins - A cryptocurrency that is pegged to another more stable asset, like gold or the U.S. dollar. DAI and USDC are examples of a stable coin.

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