# Welcome to Ergo! Ergo is a type of secure blockchain based on decentralized finance (DeFi) functionalities. Its purpose is to combine the best features of Ethereum with those that Bitcoin has to offer. The project is outfitted with a proof of work (PoW) similar to the consensus protocol that Bitcoin uses to ensure its network is secure and smart contracts are available to accommodate DeFi. The security features were taken from Bitcoin, while the smart contracts and decentralized features came from Ethereum. If you want to mine Ergo tokens, this platform uses a protocol referred to as “Autolykos,” which is a substantially modified version of the Bitcoin mining protocol. # Ergo Basic Principles In this section, we define the main principles that should be followed to create ergonomic money. This might be referred to as “Ergo’s Social Contract”. In case of intentional violation of any of these principles, the resulting protocol should not be called Ergo. Decentralization First Ergo should be as decentralized as possible. Always strive to spread and grow. Any party’s social leaders, software developers, hardware manufacturers, miners, and funds need to avoid central points of failure. All actors whose absence will disrupt the system’s function need to have contingency plans in the event of a disruption. Decentralization is born from education and adoption. The tools we build need documentation; the community must participate and grow actively. Teach others to use and adapt the tools. The internet is a powerful driver of decentralization and can be a powerful tool to teach. Decentralization is born from education, both on the development and user sides. Malicious behavior that may affect the security of the network should be avoided. If any of these parties appear during Ergo’s lifetime, the community should consider ways to decrease their impact level. There will always be those who seek to disrupt, take advantage of, misuse and abuse their power. What is the answer? Education. Educating users to protect themselves, identify malicious actors, avoid them, and work together to minimize their influence. I would encourage all community members to continually seek to learn, adopt tooling, assist and teach in one way or another. A strong community is born through strong cooperation. Open Permissionless and Secure Ergo protocol does not restrict or limit any categories of usage. This is necessary to remain resilient. We can advocate cooperation, trade, and human values; however, we do not enforce them, which would require a central power. Developers are free to implement any logic they want, taking full responsibility for the ethics and legality of their application. All code for the core protocol must remain fully open and transparent. Every line should be fully auditable and transparent, preventing manipulation and building decentralized resiliency. Ergo is fully committed to being open source to remain trusted, and that trust must remain fully verifiable. Anyone can join the network and participate in the protocol without permission. Unlike the traditional financial system, no bailouts, blacklists, or other forms of discrimination should be possible on the core level of Ergo protocol, and insider advantage should be minimized. Ergo is committed to supporting privacy tools for those wishing to use them. This must remain a voluntary choice if a user wants to use mechanisms to disrupt the public availability of their data entirely within the scope of their power. They must take full responsibility for the ethics and legality of these actions. Ergo is committed to best security practices. This is a continual commitment to prevent network attacks, preserve privacy and protect on-chain value. Created for Regular People Ergo is committed to being a tool for Regular People. Ergo is a platform for ordinary people, and their interests should not be infringed upon in favor of big parties. In particular, this means that the centralization of mining should be prevented. Regular people should be able to participate in the protocol by running a full node and mining blocks. Post Autolykos V1 Ergo will work to provide a hash rate distribution of pools. Ergo is committed to building an ecosystem that offers tools designed to assist regular people. Peer-to-peer exchange is continually threatened by peer-to-central power exchange, and Ergo aims to encourage tooling and community education to empower ordinary people. A Platform for Contractual Money Ergo is the base layer to applications built on top of it. It is suitable for several applications, but its main focus is to provide an efficient, secure and easy way to implement financial contracts. Ergo is committed to building a solid foundation network that continually updates and innovates. The goal with contractual money is to create a system that is not overrun by high user costs and fees. For money to be Ergonomic, it must remain cost-competitive. Ergo will assist with frameworks and tooling for people to build and implement to maximize the use and utility or contractual money.