A CYPHER TANK APPLICATION · NON-PROFIT TRACK

The Satoshiof live music

It's not for profit today. But a lot of people will profit if you give me this runway.

I'm Edwin Kestler, the developer of Open2Artist (O2A), the open Artist ID protocol live music has never had: a passport the artist owns, stamped by the people they actually work with. I'm asking for a grant for about six months of full-time runway to get it really started and moving, in public, with artists at the table. No token. No equity. No owner.

See the ask ↓Start at block 0

BLOCK 0 · GENESIS OF LIVE MUSIC
prev_hash: 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
timestamp: --
coinbase: "15/Apr/2026 · Jury finds concert giant ran an illegal monopoly"
merkle_root: artist_key · venue_stamp · promoter_stamp · fan_proof
license: MIT OR Apache-2.0
token: none · equity: none · owner: none
signed_by: Edwin Kestler (name handed to everyone)

Stylized "genesis block" art. The message paraphrases the April 15, 2026 verdict and is not a quote.

▼ TUNE IN ▼

Episode 01 · Origin

My friends made the art.
Somebody else made the money.

I have a lot of musician friends. They were never programmers, and they were never entrepreneurs. They did the one thing that matters most: they made the art.

When we started out, there was no real scene. There were basements, borrowed amps and a handful of people who cared. A scene grew around them, and some of my friends became real, working professional musicians. They play big rooms now. And they are broke.

To be fair, they had their chance. We told them about Bitcoin. They didn't listen. (We still love them.)

But their bank balance isn't only their fault. The scene got captured. What used to be a web of small promoters and independent rooms has become one big machine.

ThenNo scene. Basements, borrowed amps, a few believers.

LaterA real scene grows. Friends go pro and play big rooms.

AlsoWe tell them about Bitcoin. They laugh. 🙃

NowCaptured, monolithic, and my friends are broke.

Episode 02 · The market

One company.
Every gate.

This isn't a feeling. It's the public record. Every number below links to its source.

Keep scrolling to knock it over.

GuiltyApr 15, 2026

A New York federal jury found that Live Nation and Ticketmaster illegally monopolized major-venue concert ticketing and amphitheaters, and found fans were overcharged $1.72 per ticket. The Justice Department settled early in the trial; 33 states plus DC kept going and won. Live Nation has asked the judge to overturn the verdict or order a new trial, and as of this writing no penalties have been set.

Sources: AP News · Reuters · Crowell & Moring · TicketNews, Aug 2026

~80%of big-venue ticketing

The government's May 2024 complaint says Ticketmaster controls roughly 80% or more of major concert venues' primary ticketing. It also says Live Nation directly manages 400+ artists, controls about 60% of concert promotion at major venues, and owns or controls 265+ venues in North America.

Source: US DOJ complaint, filed May 23, 2024, ¶3

27%average fees

US government auditors found that primary ticket sellers added fees averaging 27% of a ticket's face value, ranging from 13% to 58%. Separately, the FTC alleges $16.4 billion in mandatory Ticketmaster fees from 2019 to 2024, in a case that is still pending.

Sources: US GAO, GAO-18-347 · FTC, Sept 18, 2025

3.5Bsystem requests

The Taylor Swift Eras Tour presale in November 2022 hit Ticketmaster with 3.5 billion system requests, four times its previous peak, by the company's own account. The public sale was cancelled.

Sources: Ticketmaster statement · Reuters

125small rooms lost

Small rooms are where artists are born. In the UK, the number of grassroots music venues fell by 125 in 2023, from 960 to 835.

Source: Music Venue Trust, Annual Report 2023

Episode 03 · Why we have to build it

We know everyone.
We trust no platform.

Forkashi and I know the people who make live music work. We have developer friends who build ticketing systems. We have promoter friends. We have friends who own venues.

When an artist asks us, "Which platform should I use?", we don't feel comfortable recommending any of them. Every option either rents the artist's identity back to them, locks their fans and history inside one company's database, or takes a cut in the middle of every transaction.

So we stopped waiting. We have to build it ourselves, and it has to belong to nobody.

Episode 04 · The vision

An open standard
for live music.

We want to walk out of Cypher Tank as the start of the decentralized competition to Live Nation. Not a new company that becomes the next gatekeeper, but an open standard that anyone can build on.

ARTIST"I want to go on tour."

FANSWe'll fund it. ⚡

ARTIST"I want to record an album."

FANSWe'll be there, and we'll prove it. ✅

ARTISTAnd my name, my stamps and my history stay mine, as do yours, fandom! 🔑

That's the whole idea. Fans can make things happen: fund the idea, show up to the shows, and prove they were there. The artist keeps what matters most, their identity and their track record, because O2A puts both in the artist's own wallet.

O2A core

🔑

Artist passport

A dedicated key in your own Bitcoin wallet becomes your identity. No platform can delete it or rent it back to you.

O2A core

✅

Venue & promoter stamps

Venues, promoters and labels sign statements like "we hosted this show." Your history travels with you.

O2A proposal

📝

Permission slips in sats

Someone wants to use your name on a tour card? You sign a permission slip and get paid over Lightning. An optional USDt swap is planned for later.

Later gate

🎟️

GatePass

O2A's planned ticketing module, on its own gate after the identity layer.

Later gate

⚡

SplitNight

O2A's planned module for splitting event revenue between artist, venue and promoter.

Honest status: O2A is a public design draft. No production network is running, and six months won't finish it. This grant is a start, not a finish: lay the foundation in public, get a working demo into people's hands, bring the first artists, venues and promoters to the table, and let the ecosystem decide together what comes next.

Episode 05 · The ask

A runway.
Not a raise.

It's not for profit today. But a lot of people will profit if you give me this runway.

We're applying in the Non-Profit track. No equity, no token. The grant gives me about six months of full-time runway at a fair senior-developer rate, plus the publicity that makes musicians, venues and developers actually hear about it. It isn't a deadline to finish the protocol. It's the time to get it moving while funders, judges and the ecosystem agree on what comes next. Drag the slider: the split is a placeholder we're happy to tune with the judges.

[Grant amount TBD]6 months · full time

Development 50%

Six months of full-time runway driving the identity protocol forward, at a fair senior-developer rate. Amount: [TBD]

Publicity 50%

Explainer videos, FedUp TV episodes, developer walkthroughs and community appearances across platforms. Amount: [TBD]

Development share (placeholder)

the other ask

📡

Lend us your reach

To the judges and the backers behind Cypher Tank: when you share something, musicians listen and developers show up. We're asking for your voice, not just your sats.

brought by FedUp

🎬

Our own pipeline

FedUp TV and Forkashi bring their own network of creators and personalities, ready to amplify the launch. Names shared privately, with consent.

runway source TBD

🏔️

Where the runway comes from

Cypher Tank's prizes are services (incubation, acceleration or relocation), not cash. We'd use them for [TBD, e.g., a neutral non-profit steward or a spec security review]. The runway itself could come from judges and backers funding it directly as a grant, or from open-source grant funders. No equity or token attached either way.

Episode 06 · Who profits

Not for profit today.
Profit for everyone tomorrow.

No token, no equity, and nobody is promised a return. The profit belongs to the ecosystem, and the list of people in it is long.

🎤

Artists

Own their identity and track record, and get paid directly in sats for permission to use their name.

🏟️

Venues & promoters

Direct relationships with fans and a way out of the fee stack. No single company in the middle.

🙋

Fans

Make shows happen, prove they were there, and see where the money went.

🛠️

Builders

An open standard for wallets, ticketing apps, shows and tools. No permission needed.

🚩

First backers

At the front of the decentralized competitor to Live Nation, with their names on it from day one.

Episode 07 · Six months of runway

A runway,
not a finish line.

The goal is momentum: real work shipped in public, real people at the table, and a clear answer to "who funds and leads the next phase?" The stages build on O2A's own published gates. Dates are placeholders.

MONTHS 1–2 · [DATES TBD]

Foundation in public

The foundation spec is written openly, where anyone can follow and comment, and a first working identity demo runs on a private Bitcoin test network.

MONTHS 3–4 · [DATES TBD]

First stamps

The first artists, venues and promoters come on board as design partners and issue their first test stamps. FedUp TV shoots a pilot episode.

MONTHS 5–6 · [DATES TBD]

Show it, hand it on

A working prototype is shown in public, plus an open call for who funds and leads the next phase: a roundtable of backers, builders, artists and venues.

What this runway doesn't try to do: ship a production network, payments, GatePass, SplitNight or rights contracts. Those come later, on O2A's own gates, once the people who care agree on how to get there. Every month the work is shown in public.

Episode 08 · On the record

Planting
the flag.

I'm giving everyone a heads-up. I built this, and the idea is mine. I'm presenting it here, in a public forum, to the people who have backed projects like this, so nobody can ever deny that the idea existed and was presented on this stage, on this date.

That's not a threat. It's how open source protects itself: public, timestamped prior art. An open standard only stays open if its origin is on the record.

PRIOR ART RECORD
idea: artist-owned identity for live music (O2A)
author: Edwin Kestler
venue: Cypher Tank, Non-Profit track
presented: [DATE TBD]
sha256(proposal): [TBD at submission]
bitcoin_anchor: suggested via OpenTimestamps, not yet done

Episode 09 · First live application

Showcase:
FedUp TV.

A protocol needs a first stage. FedUp TV (Forkashi Entertainment Television) will be the first live application built on O2A. It's one use case, not the ask. The standard is open, so anyone can build the second, third and hundredth.

EP · LIVEMain Stage

Concerts as episodes

Each show becomes an episode, and the artist's O2A passport collects a stamp from the venue and promoter.

EP · TOURFund it

Fans fund the tour

The artist says "I want to go on tour." Fans chip in, then show up and prove they were there.

EP · FINALESettlement

Settlement Night

At the end of the night the ledger goes on screen: every sat in, every sat out.

● SETTLEMENT NIGHT · ON-SCREEN LEDGERExample · not real data

Fans who funded the tour stop	0
Attendance proofs issued	0
Gross take	0
🎤 Artist	0
🏟️ Venue	0
📣 Promoter	0
Hidden fees	0 sats

Every figure in this ledger is invented for illustration example. Automatic splits depend on O2A's later payment and SplitNight gates, which are outside this grant.

Episode 10 · Immaculate origin

A decentralized protocol
needs a clean birth.

If one company owns the origin, it owns the future. That's why this has to be grant-funded and nothing else.

✓

Grant-funded

Paid for by a grant, not by investors expecting a return.

✓

Open source

MIT OR Apache-2.0 code. Conformance test vectors released as CC0.

✓

No token

No coin, no presale, no airdrop. It runs on Bitcoin.

✓

No equity grab

Nobody gets a piece of the standard. Not me, not FedUp, not a fund.

✓

No platform owner

Anyone can build a wallet, a ticketing app or a TV show on it.

Final block · Signed

Satoshi gave us Bitcoin and then disappeared. Nobody knows who they were, and that's part of the magic. Now live music gets that magic, out in the open: somebody who stands on stage, surrenders his name, and hands the protocol to everyone.

I am Edwin Kestler.
This stage is block 0.

From here on, the Satoshi of live music isn't me. It's everyone here who funds it, builds on it, stamps it, or shows up.

We are
the Satoshi of live music. 😉

— Edwin Kestler

Signed with my name, now everyone's pseudonym. (Key fingerprint: [TBD])