# ICM: The Fractal + Respect (ZAO governance)

The Fractal is The ZAO's governance process; Respect is its on-chain contribution currency. This is how The ZAO makes decisions and rewards contribution.

## Respect (the currency)
- A soulbound OG ERC-20 plus a ZOR ERC-1155, both on Optimism. Soulbound = non-transferable; it measures contribution, not capital.
- Verified on-chain (2026-10-22): 168 unique Respect holders (122 OG + 67 ZOR, 21 hold both), read from Optimism via the Blockscout token-holders API (OG 0x34cE89baA7E4a4B00E17F7E4C0cb97105C216957, ZOR 0x9885CCeEf7E8371Bf8d6f2413723D25917E7445c). OG has had no new mints since 2025-12-20; its distribution Gini is roughly 0.73 (measured 2026-07-05).

## The Respect Game (weekly)
- A weekly meeting where contributors rank each other's contributions; rewards follow a Fibonacci curve. 100+ weeks, meeting weekly since 30 July 2024 (116 calendar weeks to 2026-10-22); results have settled on-chain in 72 distinct weeks as of 2026-10-12. No unbroken streak is claimed: the on-chain award ledger has no mints for periods 71, 72 and 103. Periods 71 and 72 were played and scored off-chain; period 103 has no record either way (fractal whitepaper draft, ch08).

## OREC (execution)
- OREC = Optimistic Respect Execution Contract - on-chain proposal execution with a 72-hour voting window plus a 72-hour veto window. Respect-weighted, optimistic (passes unless vetoed).

## Why it matters
- This is the mechanism behind "return profit, data, and IP to artists" - contribution, not speculation, drives governance and rewards. It is the heart of The ZAO as an impact network.

## Find it
- thezao.xyz/papers (whitepaper + technical whitepaper describe the Fractal + Respect)

## Related boxes
- The ZAO (thezao)
- Zaal (bettercallzaal)