I highly suggest consuming the full piece here (8 min. read time) 

“As user participation becomes evermore mainstream and complex, the next step is platforms that are not only built, operated, and funded by users—but owned by users too.” — Jesse Walden

“…the economic interests of the biggest internet platforms are concentrated and often poorly aligned with their most valuable contributors, their users. Now, new technologies are shifting work and value distribution to be accessible online, resulting in a new generation of platforms that thrive on contributions from a permissionless and global talent pool.” — Jesse Walden

“Ownership is a powerful motivator for users to contribute to products in deeper ways, be it with ideas, computing resources, code, or community building. This more cooperative economic model helps ensure better alignment with users over time, resulting in platforms that can be larger, more resilient, and more innovative.” — Jesse Walden

“The idea of user ownership is at the core of the success of Bitcoin and Ethereum, the first user-owned and operated networks at scale…Rather than a platform’s inner circle of founders and investors taking home the value, users are able to earn the majority of value generated from their collective contributions.”  — Jesse Walden

“The world increasingly understands that “software is eating the world,” so it’s no surprise that narratives around personal economic empowerment on the internet are resonating now more than ever. Just as the barriers to professional productivity online have fallen dramatically, so too have the hurdles that previously prevented the equitable and secure distribution of economic value.” — Jesse Walden