State of the Logos Network: 2024 Roundup
Your roundup of this year's developments from the Logos ecosystem
Logos
Technical highlights include Codex’s first testnet launch and Waku’s progress stabilising the protocols, which included a new rate-limiting system, RLNv2. On the movement-building front, we hosted the first annual Parallel Society Congress and expanded our community significantly with the launch of Logos Operators – a Bitcoin ordinals collection representing the founding members of our nascent cybernation.
Read on to learn more about Logos’ technical and movement-building achievements in 2024.
Technology development
Technology is core to the Logos mission. The pioneering blockchain communities emerging throughout the crypto sector need robust infrastructure that does not rely on centralised chokepoints if they are to evolve into cyberstates capable of competing with nation-state institutions.
This year, we made great strides in terms of the Logos technology stack’s development. While significant research and development challenges remain, progress on the foundational technologies required for the thriving of post-state governmental systems continues to advance.
Below, we highlight the most significant technical breakthroughs of the last 12 months.
Waku
Waku is the Logos stack’s decentralised messaging layer. It protects sensitive communications, enabling individuals to organise without fear of surveillance or deplatforming. Its modular architecture enables existing blockchain communities to integrate components according to their user needs and is already being used by Status, The Graph, and Railgun.
This year, Waku made significant progress in improving the protocol’s reliability while exploring how to expand the network to work on more devices. A key highlight was the development and integration of an improved rate-limiting system, RLNv2, which increases the network’s resilience against DoS attacks and spam.
Waku also improved the usability of edge nodes (light clients). Reductions in hardware and bandwidth requirements enable the protocols to run more efficiently on resource-restricted devices, like mobile phones. The protocols are integrated within the Status Mobile application, which can now run in “light mode” with significantly less bandwidth overhead than previous versions.
Waku’s blog provides a more detailed roundup of Waku’s 2024.
Codex
Codex is the archiving layer of the Logos technology stack. It exists to safeguard the data of whoever needs durable data storage, including those nascent blockchain communities and the institutions of emerging cyberstates. Without confidence in and access to archival data, a community cannot preserve its most important cultural and administrative records, leading to instability and eventual collapse.
This year, Codex launched its public testnet and released its whitepaper – both major roadmap milestones. This first public, non-incentivised testnet enables anyone to join the Codex network as a node operator, providing the Codex team with valuable insights about the network’s robustness under diverse conditions.
Codex’s blog provides a more detailed roundup of Codex’s 2024.
Nomos
Nomos is the consensus engine of the Logos technology stack. When released, it will provide blockchain infrastructure for those building onchain governmental, financial, and social institutions. The network’s architecture is designed to ensure that communities settling upon it retain maximum sovereignty while benefiting from the security of a network-wide shared validator set.
This year, Nomos made progress in finalising the network’s data availability solution, NomosDA. The three core data availability processes (encoding, verification, and reconstruction) have working implementations with very favourable performance times, and the network's dispersal, replication, and sampling protocols are running well in simulations. The team also designed and implemented Cryptarchia, a consensus protocol enabling the Nomos network to select block leaders using the private proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. Although Cryptarchia is sufficient for a v1 implementation, the team has identified various possible improvements for future prototype iterations.
These developments, plus progress on the Nomos Blendnet (formerly Mixnet), the network’s Coordination Layer, and its Native Zones, have enabled the team to build an early private Nomos testnet for internal testing purposes. In 2025, the focus will be on delivering the full specification of the Nomos network.
Nomos’ blog provides a more detailed roundup of Nomos’ 2024.
Building a movement
Logos is about more than technology. To achieve the radical upgrade to human governance we believe blockchain and related technologies can underpin, we must nurture a core community of mission-committed individuals while building cutting-edge technology.
Events
Events give us an opportunity to spread our technologies and ideas and to connect with those most receptive to our vision of a post-state future.
The highlight of our events calendar was undoubtedly the first Parallel Society Congress – a Logos-hosted gathering in Bangkok that saw thought leaders and pioneers come together, share their work, and forge vital connections with aligned projects.
The efforts of our fellow collaborators, including build_cities, Charter Cities Institute, Kleros, Funding the Commons, ZuVillage Georgia, Shan Hai Woo, RNS.ID, Women in Web3Privacy, DarkFi, and Railgun made PSC a massive success that we aim to recreate annually.
Follow Logos on X to stay up to date with PSC 2025 plans as we reveal them.
In addition to PSC, Logos representatives spoke and delivered workshops at several key crypto conferences. They include:
- Logos and Waku representatives presented at Web3 Privacy Now’s ETHDam side event (12–14 April).
- We cohosted the Dubai edition of Building Network States with build_cities (18 April).
- Logos and Waku representatives spoke at the Web3 Privacy Now Summit in Prague (30 May).
- Several contributors from across Logos and its technology stack presented and held workshops during this year’s EthCC (9–11 June).
- Logos cofounder Jarrad Hope presented on how crypto offers a solution to the problem of illicit financial flows at PoW Summit in Frankfurt (28–29 Sept), HCPP24 in Prague (4–6 Oct), and this year’s Devcon in Bangkok (14 Nov).
- Jarrad also appeared on a privacy-focused panel at PoW Summit.
- Codex hosted the Decentralised Data Summit the day before PSC in Bangkok.
Logos Assemblies
Logos Assemblies are informal pop-up gatherings scattered around the world. We hosted the first Logos Assembly in Athens this April alongside our annual in-person working week.
Since LA 1: Athens, there have been two more Logos Assemblies: LA 2: Belgrade on 3 June and LA 3: Brno on 13 June. The gatherings provide an informal space in which to discuss the ideas and technologies driving the parallel society movement.
We look forward to seeing more Logos Assemblies emerge in 2025.
Operators
In Q2 2024, we announced Logos Operators – a Bitcoin ordinals collection representing the founders of the digital frontier we are colonising.
The Logos Operators’ journey began in May with an onchain statement – inscribing our manifesto in the then-largest Bitcoin block ever mined.
After our record-breaking Bitcoin inscription, Logos Operators launched The Exit – an interactive series of quests, challenges, and tests to determine those deserving of becoming founding members of our movement.
The collection officially launched on 16 December, with all 1,000 ordinals available in the first minting epoch claimed in just 13 minutes. Those holding a Logos Operator can now stake it over at the Logos Operator Dashboard where they will receive XP that will continue to benefit them into the future as new utility for Operators comes online.
For more information about Logos Operators’, check the project’s annual recap and follow the Exit Operator on X.
Logos Cells
The first Logos Cells emerged in 2024. Logos Cells are decentralised groups of Logos Operators dedicated to building and nurturing local networks that advance the Logos mission. They serve as community hubs for education, experimentation, and organisation, and aim to drive social change.
Those wanting to form their own Cell to help grow the Logos movement should express their interest in the Logos Operators section of the Logos Discord.
We look forward to seeing more Logos Cells emerge in 2025 and working with them on their initiatives.
Advancing our thinking
Technology does not operate in isolation. Human beings need to be value-aligned with our technologies if we are to realise the Logos vision.
We are engaged in several ongoing educational initiatives to cultivate appropriate values for maintaining and operating the Logos technology stack. We plan to step up our educational efforts in 2025.
Farewell to Westphalia
In November, Jarrad Hope revealed Farewell to Westphalia: Crypto Sovereignty and Post-Nation-State Governance. Jarrad has been working on the book alongside Peter Ludlow, the editor of the hugely influential anthology Crypto Anarchy, Cyberstates, and Pirate Utopias.
The two argue that the nation-state model, established with the Peace of Westphalia, is a relic of the past, highlighting that governance innovation has stalled in the 380 years since the concept of the nation state emerged. The book’s thesis (and the wider Logos vision) hinges on the assertion that human governance, not finance, will be the single most important and widespread application of blockchain technology.
Together, Jarrad and Peter explore the potential of blockchain and related technologies to serve as a foundational layer for decentralised yet cooperative human activities. They discuss the shortcomings of our current social order, the potential advantages of blockchain-based governance, the technologies (including those comprising the Logos technology stack) needed to realise this radical governance overhaul, and address many of the challenges that will face those iterating on the frontier of post-state governance.
Farewell to Westphalia is expected to be available in the second quarter of 2025 and will serve as a core document of the Logos movement. Readers can expect to learn why a social movement like Logos is a vital component of a cyberstate future, the reasoning behind the Logos technology stack’s composition and architecture, and why the time for such a vision to come to fruition is now.
To stay up to date with its progress, follow Jarrad on X.
Logos Press Engine
Logos Podcast
Logos Podcast is a vehicle to advance the thinking and philosophies behind the parallel society movement. Jarrad continued to host the podcast throughout 2024, with thought-provoking appearances from Peter Ludlow, Tom W. Bell, Patri Friedman, Jameson Lopp, and others.
Head to the Logos Podcast section of Logos Press Engine to explore all the episodes.
Hashing It Out
While Logos Podcast deals with the philosophical, Hashing It Out focuses on more technical matters. Guests from a wide range of niches within the blockchain sector join the team to discuss topics at technology’s bleeding edge.
This year, representatives from Status, the Ethereum Foundation, Dappnode, Railgun, and other organisations joined the team to discuss the projects they are working on and pertinent issues relating to the wider blockchain sector.
Head to the Hashing It Out section of Logos Press Engine to explore all the episodes.
Articles
Logos Press Engine published numerous educational articles this year. Topics range from beginner-friendly introductory pieces on the potential benefits of post-nation-state governance systems to more in-depth writings from Logos contributors and guest authors like Tom W. Bell.
We also published several early versions of chapters from Farewell to Westphalia, including:
Head to the Articles section of Logos Press Engine to explore other educational pieces authored by Logos contributors and guests.
Heading into 2025
Without humans willing and able to leverage it, technology alone cannot realise the Logos vision. As we move into 2025, we plan to double down on our community-building initiatives, including an increased focus on education and IRL interactions.
Alongside ongoing development of the protocols within the Logos technology stack, we plan to increase our efforts to unite those receptive to our mission to develop parallel institutions to those mandated by the nation state. We hope you will continue with us on this journey.
Onward.
Logos
Logos
Bathang
Logos
Logos
Logos
Logos