If You Create the Value,
You Own the Asset.
The Meritocratic Party builds ownership infrastructure for the intangible economy — so the people who create value share in the wealth their contributions produce.
Founded in Washington State · May 2026
THE PROBLEM
The Largest Pool of Dead Capital in Human History
90%
of S&P 500 market value is intangible assets — ideas, data, expertise, IP — yet most have no liquid market, no standardized valuation, and no tradeable instrument.
Source: Ocean Tomo
92 Million
jobs will be displaced by AI by 2030. Workers' accumulated expertise is extracted to train automated systems — without ownership compensation.
Source: WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025
$74+ Trillion
in global intangible asset value sits as "dead capital" — intellectual property without the ownership infrastructure that stocks gave to the industrial economy.
Source: WIPO
The 20th century built infrastructure to own physical things — deeds for land, titles for cars, stock certificates for corporate shares. The 21st century economy runs on intangible assets, but we have built no equivalent ownership infrastructure for the people who create that value. The Meritocratic Party changes that.
THE SOLUTION
Provenance-Backed Securities
A new class of digital financial instrument that lets creators own, value, and trade the intangible assets they produce.
Provenance Ledger
An immutable record of who created what. Every contribution is documented, verified, and cryptographically secured — establishing clear ownership chains for intangible assets.
Performance Oracle
Real-world performance data — crop yields, streaming revenue, patent citations, clinical outcomes — verified by independent systems. PBS values are anchored to measurable results, not speculation.
Exchange Protocol
Open marketplace infrastructure for listing, pricing, and trading PBS. For the first time, a farmer's seed genetics, an artist's catalog, or a worker's expertise can be traded as liquid securities.
SeedBid — Proof of Concept
The framework isn't theoretical. SeedBid (U.S. Patent Application No. 64/048,095) demonstrates Provenance-Backed Securities in the agricultural genetic IP market — a $77–93 billion sector where 4 companies control roughly two-thirds of the global commercial seed market. SeedBid gives independent breeders a liquid exchange for their genetic innovations.
Invented by Joseph Richard Harmon, Mill Creek, Washington
WASHINGTON STATE
The Delaware of the Intangible Economy
Delaware defined corporate law for the 20th century. Washington can define intangible asset ownership for the 21st.
Innovation Economy
Home to Microsoft, Amazon, Boeing, and thousands of tech companies generating world-leading IP.
Agricultural Powerhouse
$10.6 billion agricultural sector — immediate SeedBid deployment for seed genetics, hops, apples, and wheat.
No Income Tax
PBS transaction fees create a new revenue stream without income taxation — diversifying Washington's tax base.
Research Infrastructure
UW and WSU provide world-class research capacity for performance oracle development and validation.
OUR MISSION
Building Fair, Transparent, Contribution‑Based Systems
Meritocrat.org explores how fairness, contribution, and transparent systems can strengthen institutions in a rapidly changing economy. Our mission is to study and develop frameworks where opportunity is accessible, performance is accountable, and value creation is recognized through clear and impartial mechanisms.
We focus on modern challenges—automation, digital labor, and the rise of intangible assets— and examine how systems can evolve to align effort, expertise, and responsibility with the outcomes they produce. By grounding our work in widely accepted principles of merit, competence, and equal opportunity, we aim to provide research, tools, and insights that help institutions operate with greater clarity, trust, and integrity.
WASHINGTON POLICY PACKAGE
Provenance‑Backed Securities Legislative Framework
A seven‑document legislative package prepared for Washington State, outlining the legal, economic, and technical foundations for contribution‑based ownership in the intangible economy.
DOCUMENT 1 OF 7
Executive Policy Summary — Washington Provenance‑Backed Securities Act
The Executive Policy Summary outlines the core problem facing the modern economy: the overwhelming shift from tangible to intangible value, and the absence of legal and financial infrastructure to recognize, value, and trade intangible contributions. As stated in the document, “intangible assets constitute approximately 92% of S&P 500 market capitalization” and represent “the largest pool of unowned, untradeable, and uncompensated value in human history.”
The Crisis — The Ownership Gap
The Summary describes the “intangible inversion,” where economic value has migrated from physical assets to ideas, data, algorithms, and expertise. Yet no standardized valuation, market mechanism, or ownership infrastructure exists for these assets. This has created what the document calls “dead capital,” extending Hernando de Soto’s framework from real estate to intangible property.
The Solution — Provenance‑Backed Securities
PBS instruments combine verified provenance, measurable performance, and open exchange infrastructure. Unlike cryptocurrencies or NFTs, PBS instruments are grounded in documented creation and real‑world output. The Summary introduces the three‑layer architecture: Provenance Ledger, Performance Oracle, and Exchange Protocol.
Why Washington First
Washington’s innovation economy, agricultural sector, research institutions, and no‑income‑tax structure make it the ideal first‑mover. As the document states, Washington can become “the Delaware of the intangible economy.”
The Meritocratic Principle
The Summary grounds PBS in a simple idea: “Those who create value should own the assets their contributions produce.” PBS is framed as a non‑partisan, market‑based mechanism for recognizing contribution.
DOCUMENT 2 OF 7
Budget & Legal Justification — Washington Provenance‑Backed Securities Act
This document provides the fiscal and legal foundation for the Washington Provenance‑Backed Securities Act. It addresses two core questions: whether the framework is financially self‑sustaining, and whether Washington possesses the constitutional and statutory authority to regulate provenance‑backed securities. As stated in the document, the WPBSC “can achieve revenue self‑sufficiency by Year 3 of operations” and Washington has “well‑established constitutional and statutory authority” to enact this legislation.
Part I — Budget & Fiscal Analysis
The analysis benchmarks against Washington’s Department of Financial Institutions and proposes a lean, phased staffing model for the new Washington Provenance‑Backed Securities Commission (WPBSC). Year 1 implementation costs total $5.64 million, including personnel, technology infrastructure, regulatory sandbox development, legal rulemaking, and university research grants. The document notes that “technology costs decline after the initial capital investment,” while personnel grows modestly as the market matures.
Revenue Projections
Revenue is generated through transaction fees, registration fees, exchange operator licenses, regulatory examinations, and sandbox participation. Under the moderate scenario, 10‑year cumulative revenue reaches $127.4 million. The document emphasizes that Washington’s “unique tax structure… makes transaction‑based PBS revenue an especially attractive avenue for revenue diversification.”
Net Fiscal Impact
The WPBSC becomes self‑funding in Year 3 and net‑positive by Year 4. The document states that the initial deficit “would require startup funding… repaid through fee revenue once the commission reaches self‑sustaining operations.” Secondary fiscal benefits include job creation, exchange headquarters attraction, university research funding, and broader innovation ecosystem growth.
Part II — Legal Justification
The document outlines Washington’s constitutional authority to regulate securities, citing the state’s police power, Article I Section 12, and Article XII Section 22. It notes that RCW 21.20 already provides a broad definition of “security,” including investment contracts, making PBS compatible with existing law. The document states that the Act “operates squarely within reserved powers” under the Tenth Amendment.
Securities Law Analysis
A full Howey Test analysis is provided, evaluating PBS instruments under the traditional four‑prong framework and clarifying how provenance‑backed structures satisfy existing securities law while enabling innovation.
DOCUMENT 3 OF 7
Washington Provenance‑Backed Securities Act — State Bill
This document contains the full legislative text of the Washington Provenance‑Backed Securities Act (WPBSA), drafted for introduction in the 2027 Regular Session. It establishes the legal, regulatory, and institutional framework for provenance‑backed securities in Washington State. As stated in the bill’s findings, intangible assets now constitute “approximately ninety‑two percent of the market capitalization” of S&P 500 companies, yet lack standardized markets or valuation mechanisms.
Chapter 1 — General Provisions
The Act defines its purpose: to create a comprehensive regulatory structure for provenance‑backed securities (PBS). It establishes key definitions including provenance‑backed security, provenance ledger, performance oracle, PBS exchange, human capital provenance portfolio, and AI training royalty. The bill emphasizes Washington’s unique advantages — a world‑leading tech sector, major agricultural output, premier research universities, and a no‑income‑tax environment — as justification for first‑mover legislation.
Chapter 2 — Washington Provenance‑Backed Securities Commission
The Act creates the Washington Provenance‑Backed Securities Commission (WPBSC) as an independent regulatory body. The Commission consists of seven members appointed by the Governor, with expertise spanning securities law, blockchain, agriculture, labor economics, consumer protection, and intellectual property. The Commission is granted rulemaking authority, enforcement powers, oversight of PBS issuers and exchanges, and responsibility for administering the regulatory sandbox.
The bill appropriates $15 million for initial establishment and creates the Provenance‑Backed Securities Regulatory Fund. The Legislature expresses intent that the Commission become self‑sustaining within five years.
Chapter 3 — Registration & Regulation of PBS
This chapter establishes registration requirements for PBS issuers, PBS exchanges, and performance oracles. It mandates detailed provenance documentation, performance data, valuation methodology disclosures, and risk statements. The bill includes anti‑fraud provisions prohibiting falsification of provenance data, oracle manipulation, or deceptive practices.
Investor protection measures include suitability requirements, accreditation standards, and a 72‑hour cooling‑off period for rescission. The Commission is authorized to set fee schedules for registration, examinations, oracle certification, and sandbox participation.
Chapter 4 — Regulatory Sandbox
The Act establishes a Regulatory Sandbox Program enabling controlled testing of PBS innovations under modified regulatory requirements. Sandbox participation is capped at 25 entities (expandable to 50), with a maximum duration of 24 months plus a possible 12‑month extension. Transaction limits, investor caps, and enhanced reporting requirements ensure consumer protection.
As stated in the bill, the sandbox exists to “foster responsible innovation, gather empirical data to inform rulemaking, reduce barriers to entry, and protect consumers and investors throughout the innovation process.”
DOCUMENT 4 OF 7
National Provenance‑Backed Securities Framework Act — Federal Bill
This document contains the full draft of the National Provenance‑Backed Securities Framework Act of 2027, introduced in Congress to establish a unified Federal regulatory structure for provenance‑backed securities (PBS). As the bill states, intangible assets represent “approximately 90 percent of the total market capitalization of the S&P 500” and more than “$74 trillion in global asset value,” yet no Federal framework exists to regulate tokenized, performance‑verified intangible assets.
Title I — Findings, Purposes, and Definitions
Congress identifies the national regulatory gap: existing Federal securities laws do not address tokenized intangible assets with verifiable provenance and performance data. The bill cites workforce displacement — “92 million jobs… displaced globally by artificial intelligence” — and the extraction of worker expertise without compensation as key drivers for Federal action. The Act’s purposes include establishing a national PBS framework, protecting worker ownership rights, coordinating with states, and positioning the U.S. as the global leader in PBS regulation.
Title II — Federal Provenance‑Backed Securities Office (FPBSO)
The Act creates the Federal Provenance‑Backed Securities Office within the Securities and Exchange Commission. The FPBSO becomes the primary Federal regulator for PBS markets, responsible for rulemaking, registration, examinations, enforcement, and coordination with state regulators, the CFTC, and FinCEN. The Director must have “not fewer than 10 years” of relevant regulatory or technical experience.
The bill authorizes appropriations of $50M (2028), $75M (2029), and $100M (2030) to establish the FPBSO, with fee offsets from PBS market participants.
Title III — National PBS Registration & Regulation
PBS are formally recognized as securities under amendments to the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Act establishes Federal registration requirements for PBS exchanges and PBS issuers, including provenance documentation, performance data, valuation methodology, and risk disclosures. The bill mandates quarterly and annual reporting, independent audits, and strict anti‑fraud provisions prohibiting falsified provenance or manipulated oracle data.
Title IV — Worker Expertise Ownership & AI Training Royalties
This title establishes the first Federal ownership rights for workers whose expertise is used to train AI systems. As the bill states, every worker has “a recognized, enforceable ownership interest in their provenance‑documented expertise,” and such rights are non‑waivable. The Act creates a Federal framework for AI training royalties and mandates national standards for human capital provenance portfolios.
Titles V–X — Agriculture, State Coordination, International Standards, R&D, and Enforcement
The remaining titles establish agricultural PBS provisions, define the relationship between Federal and State PBS regulation, create international coordination mechanisms, fund research and development in oracle and provenance systems, and outline enforcement authority and penalties — including enhanced penalties for provenance fraud.
DOCUMENT 5 OF 7
Economic Impact Report — Provenance‑Backed Securities & the Washington Economy
This report analyzes the projected economic impact of the Washington Provenance‑Backed Securities Act across job creation, GDP contribution, sector‑specific growth, and long‑term revenue generation. As stated in the report, intangible assets now represent “approximately 92% of S&P 500 market capitalization,” yet lack liquid markets, valuation standards, or ownership infrastructure. PBS closes this structural gap.
Headline Findings
Global intangible asset value approaches $97.6 trillion. The tokenized real‑world asset market is projected to reach $18.9 trillion by 2033, yet excludes most intangible IP. Under moderate assumptions, PBS could generate $580M–$1.4B in annual GDP contribution by Year 10, create 14,000–22,000 jobs, and produce $120M–$280M in annual state revenue.
Section 1 — Global Intangible Asset Market
The report documents a 50‑year “economic inversion” where value migrated from physical assets to intangible ones. Ocean Tomo’s 2025 study shows intangible assets rising from 17% of S&P 500 value in 1975 to 92% in 2025. The report notes that this shift “occurred within a single human lifespan,” and that intangible value remained stable even during aggressive monetary tightening.
PBS targets the massive gap left by existing tokenization projections, which exclude genetic IP, human expertise, AI training data provenance, and performance‑verified creative works — the very categories where Washington excels.
Section 2 — Washington State Economic Baseline
Washington’s economy — $717.5B GDP, world‑leading tech sector, $14B agricultural output, and premier research universities — provides the ideal foundation for PBS deployment. The report highlights that Washington’s no‑income‑tax structure makes PBS transaction‑based revenue “an especially attractive mechanism for revenue diversification.”
Section 3 — Market Size Projections
Three adoption scenarios (Conservative, Moderate, Aggressive) model 10‑year PBS transaction volume, job creation, and revenue. Under the moderate scenario, cumulative transaction volume reaches $20.2B by Year 10, with 22,000 total jobs created. Aggressive adoption reaches $62.16B in cumulative volume and 34,000 total jobs.
Section 4 — Job Creation
PBS generates high‑wage employment across regulatory, technical, agricultural, creative, and scientific domains. Direct PBS roles average $115,000–$185,000 annually. The report notes that each direct PBS job supports “1.5–2.2 additional indirect and induced positions” due to high wage multipliers.
Section 5 — GDP & Revenue Contribution
By Year 10, PBS contributes $420M–$4.2B annually to Washington’s GDP depending on adoption scenario. State revenue reaches $48M (Conservative), $187M (Moderate), or $420M (Aggressive) annually by Year 10. The report emphasizes that PBS revenue requires “no new taxes or tax rate increases.”
Section 6 — Sector‑by‑Sector Impact
The report analyzes eight PBS domains — agriculture, creative works, patents, personal data, scientific research, manufacturing processes, human capital, and bio/pharma. Washington’s agricultural diversity, tech corridor, and research institutions create outsized opportunity across all domains. For example, SeedBid addresses a seed market where “four firms control 56% of the global commercial seed market,” creating immediate value for independent breeders.
DOCUMENT 6 OF 7
Technical Appendix — Provenance‑Backed Securities Architecture
This appendix provides the full technical architecture for Provenance‑Backed Securities (PBS), detailing the three‑layer system — Provenance Ledger, Performance Oracle, and Exchange Protocol — that enables tokenization, valuation, and exchange of intangible assets. As the document states, PBS is “designed for compliance with existing securities law, not circumvention,” and every technical decision prioritizes auditability and regulatory integrity.
Three‑Layer Architecture
The architecture answers three core questions: Layer 1 — Provenance Ledger: “What is this asset, and who owns it?” Layer 2 — Performance Oracle: “What does this asset do, and how well?” Layer 3 — Exchange Protocol: “What is it worth, and how is it traded?” Each layer outputs quantitative metrics — Pd, Pr, Oy, Oc, Ds, Lm — that feed directly into the PBS valuation function.
Layer 1 — Provenance Ledger
The Provenance Ledger establishes immutable, cryptographically verified records of creation, authorship, contribution, and ownership. The document notes that “without a trustworthy provenance record, the entire premise of merit‑based valuation collapses.” The ledger uses a permissioned‑write, public‑read consortium blockchain model to balance regulatory compliance with public auditability.
Recommended platforms include Hyperledger Besu (preferred), Hyperledger Fabric, and Avalanche Subnets. Deterministic finality via IBFT 2.0 or QBFT is required for securities‑grade settlement. The appendix provides full JSON schemas for asset registration, contribution records, and ownership records.
Layer 2 — Performance Oracle
The Performance Oracle is the empirical engine of PBS, capturing and validating real‑world performance data. As the document states, “only measured, verified data enters the oracle — no projections, estimates, or self‑reported metrics.” Oracle operators must be independent of PBS issuers to avoid conflicts of interest.
The oracle network uses multi‑node aggregation, cross‑source validation, and consensus publication to ensure accuracy. Data flows from raw sources (IoT sensors, APIs, registries) through ingestion, cleaning, validation, and on‑chain publication.
Layer 3 — Exchange Protocol
The Exchange Protocol defines listing, pricing, trading, settlement, and liquidity mechanisms for PBS instruments. It integrates oracle outputs and provenance scores into valuation logic and ensures transparent, auditable market operations. The protocol supports order matching, trade reporting, audit trails, and regulatory oversight.
Identity, KYC, and Compliance
All participants must complete identity verification using W3C Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) and Verifiable Credentials. The appendix outlines three identity tiers — creators, institutional issuers, and exchange/oracle operators — each with escalating requirements. Zero‑knowledge proofs enable privacy‑preserving verification of accreditation, jurisdiction, and credentials.
SeedBid Case Study — Domain Implementation
SeedBid serves as the first domain‑specific implementation of the PBS architecture. The appendix includes a full metadata extension for SEED_GENETIC assets, including parent line references, cross records, selection histories, trait attribution, and trial data linking. This creates a complete bridge between Layer 1 provenance and Layer 2 performance.
THE MERITOCRATIC PARTY
A Movement for Contribution‑Based Ownership
The Meritocratic Party is built on a simple principle: those who create value should own the assets their contributions produce. In the 20th century, society built infrastructure to own physical things—deeds, titles, stock certificates. In the 21st century, the economy runs on intangible assets such as ideas, data, expertise, and intellectual property. Yet the people who create this value lack the ownership infrastructure to participate in it.
Provenance‑Backed Securities (PBS) provide that missing infrastructure—documenting who contributed, measuring how well those contributions perform, and enabling ownership to be traded on regulated exchanges. This is not redistribution. It is recognition. It is not left or right. It is forward.
THE FIVE PILLARS
Values of the Meritocratic Party
1. Contribution Earns Ownership
Provenance documents who contributed. Performance measures how much. Exchange ensures fair compensation.
2. Empiricism Over Ideology
Policy should be driven by measurable outcomes, not partisan identity. Performance oracles measure what works.
3. Infrastructure, Not Redistribution
We build the legal and market infrastructure that lets everyone participate in ownership—just as stock exchanges did for the industrial economy.
4. Technology Serves People
AI and automation should create ownership opportunities for the workers whose expertise they consume—not just profits for the corporations that deploy them.
5. Transparency Is Non‑Negotiable
Provenance is public. Performance is measured. Ownership is verifiable. Meritocracy requires clarity, not opacity.
THE PLATFORM
Twelve Planks for the Intangible Economy
The Meritocratic Party platform consists of twelve planks that together form the foundation for contribution‑based ownership in the intangible economy—from worker expertise ownership and AI training royalties to agricultural IP markets, creative performance securities, data sovereignty, and open research ownership.
These planks are not ideological positions. They are infrastructure proposals—legal, technical, and economic frameworks that allow people to own what they create.
THE PLATFORM
Twelve Planks for the Ownership Economy
Provenance-Backed Securities Act
Pass state and federal legislation creating the legal framework for tokenizing intangible assets.
Worker Expertise Ownership
Every worker owns their provenance-documented expertise — employers cannot require waiver as a condition of employment.
AI Training Royalties
When your expertise trains an AI system, you retain an ownership interest and receive compensation.
The SeedBid Initiative
Launch the first PBS exchange for agricultural genetic IP, breaking monopoly pricing in the seed market.
Creative Ownership Infrastructure
Performance-verified securities for musicians, artists, game developers, and writers.
Data Sovereignty
Your personal data is your property — own, control, and trade it with full provenance transparency.
Open Research Ownership
Scientists retain ownership stakes in publicly funded discoveries.
Manufacturing Expertise Preservation
Factory workers' process knowledge is documented, owned, and compensated.
Regulatory Sandbox Innovation
Controlled testing environments for new financial instruments before full regulation.
Meritocratic Education
Teach financial literacy, IP ownership, and provenance documentation in schools.
Anti-Monopoly in Intangible Markets
PBS exchanges create price discovery and competition against corporate concentration.
International Leadership
The United States sets the global standard for intangible asset ownership.
OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS
Meritocratic Policy Package — Seven Foundational Documents
These documents form the complete legislative, economic, and technical framework for the Washington Provenance‑Backed Securities Act and the Meritocratic Party platform.
1. Executive Policy Summary
High‑level overview of the crisis, solution, and legislative strategy behind the Washington Provenance‑Backed Securities Act.
Download PDF2. Budget & Legal Justification
Fiscal analysis, implementation costs, revenue projections, and constitutional authority supporting the PBS framework.
Download PDF3. Washington State Bill
Full legislative text of the Washington Provenance‑Backed Securities Act for the 2027 session.
Download PDF4. Federal Bill
Model federal legislation establishing a national PBS framework and AI training royalty protections.
Download PDF5. Economic Impact Report
Market projections, job creation analysis, GDP contribution, and sector‑by‑sector impact for Washington.
Download PDF6. Technical Appendix
Full technical architecture for the Provenance Ledger, Performance Oracle, and Exchange Protocol.
Download PDF7. Meritocratic Party Starter Kit
Platform, messaging framework, organizing guide, and branding system for the Meritocratic Party.
Download PDFOUR VALUES
The Five Pillars
Contribution Earns Ownership
If you create the value, you own the asset.
Empiricism Over Ideology
Policy driven by measurable outcomes, not partisan loyalty.
Infrastructure, Not Redistribution
We build the roads and exchanges that let everyone participate in ownership.
Technology Serves People
AI should create owners, not just unemployment.
Transparency Is Non-Negotiable
Provenance is public. Performance is measured. Ownership is verifiable.
ABOUT
Joseph Richard Harmon
Founder, Meritocratic Party · Independent Researcher and Theoretic Economist · Mill Creek, Washington
Joseph Richard Harmon is the author of the white paper "Provenance-Backed Securities: A Framework for Tokenizing Intangible Assets and Redistributing Ownership in the Age of Automation" (http://ssrn.com/abstract=6654979) and the inventor of SeedBid (U.S. Patent Application No. 64/048,095), the first proof-of-concept exchange for agricultural genetic intellectual property. A resident of Mill Creek, Washington, Harmon founded the Meritocratic Party on the principle that those who create value should own the assets their contributions produce.
Join the Movement
The Meritocratic Party is building chapters across Washington State. Whether you're a farmer, artist, tech worker, researcher, or anyone who believes creators should own what they create — there's a place for you.