Public statements regarding Hosting USB

We wanted to share a quick update regarding the below initial statement. We realize there is a disconnect for some people between Holo’s published statement about the Hosting USB project and the advisory role of Arthur Brock. As we mentioned previously, this shows the challenging, sometimes messy reality of building a more distributed world while Holo and members of our team try to cultivate a multitude of new apps and businesses in the ecosystem. Though Holo seeks to support these new projects whenever possible, we aren’t incubating every team as a business and certainly don’t seek to control every decision they make.

The Hosting USB team has removed most of the branding concerns we initially raised and are working with apparent good intentions. As far as we can tell, they are also attempting to honor refunds for those who ask for them. We continue to be in conversation with their team around what a mutual agreement could look like, just as we are with many other projects. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is the next step before a joint statement. We look forward to updating the community when we have something more concrete.

Regarding adding additional hosting in the future, we’re still laser focused on reaching Beta and building a fully functioning Holo network that runs on HoloPorts. We are excited about the possibility of adding–and supporting other hosting devices adding themselves–to the network after the initial launch. As we plan for the future of distributed hosting while supporting the health of the entire ecosystem, we’ll continue to do our best to update the community.

Thanks for your support.

- Art Brock, Mary Camacho, and the Holo Team

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We’ve received several questions from the community regarding the video interview, emails, website, and presale by the “Holo Virtual Machine, LLC'' organization. We needed to take a moment to gather as much information as possible before responding. At a high level what all of this represents is our daily challenge, as both an organization and as individuals, to support our rapidly growing ecosystem as well as the Holo organization. Across Holo many of us are constantly in conversation with people who are interested in creating apps, starting businesses, and otherwise using Holo and Holochain to build a new, more distributed world. We are very excited about community-originated projects and seek to support them whenever possible as they are key to our long-term success. 

In doing that work, there are sometimes miscommunications–most are small, but some are large. In this case, Art has been in conversation with the folks who started this LLC about the possibility of a USB device that could be used with personal computers to create a hosting device that could eventually be used in the Holo network. Those interactions were in the service of being able to quickly create more capacity for the Holo network when it is needed at some point in the future. However, these conversations never reached the next stage of maturity before this group went public with their website, waitlist, marketing video interview, etc.  

The Holo LTD has not signed an MOU nor had we coordinated with the Holo Virtual Machine group to go forward with their presale of usb devices. Neither was permission given to use the Holo or Holochain logo, the HoloPort name, or other Holo branding. Nor was there permission given to use Art’s image and bio on their website. These are all necessary steps for maturing relationships with other organizations because it (among other reasons) allows us to clearly differentiate organizations–and set expectations–with our community regarding the Holo organization’s responsibilities and intentions. As you likely know, we often have people using the Holo and Holochain logos and other brand elements. As a reminder–we do have a trademark policy for Holo and a policy on how to use the Holochain Logo and brand. We want to support our community to both use them within acceptable guardrails but also inform us of their misuse, as they often do. We care deeply about creating clarity and protecting our community from fraud so we are diligent about following up with groups that have not retained a consent from us to use our logos and brand identities. 

Regarding the future, our priority is still reaching Beta and building a fully functioning Holo network that runs on the 3,000+ HoloPorts that our community has already purchased. We look forward to adding other hosting devices into the network after the initial launch. As always, we’re incredibly appreciative and grateful to all current HoloPort owners and our wider community working to build this new world with us.

- The Holo Team