candidates

members

proficients

fellows

senior_fellows

experts

senior_experts

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senior_masters

grand_masters

Origin for signaling that the network wishes for some change

wish_for_change

Birdbrain is a proposal to establish a leaderless Krievo-based collective as Kusama's on-chain innovation agency. The collective aims to coordinate the 10M DOT pledged by the Web3 Foundation to drive progress, unite KSM holders, ecosystem stakeholders, and new talent under a banner of bold innovation. Birdbrain addresses Kusama's fragmented efforts, unclear coordination, and erratic funding by uniting talent, coordinating chaos, and creating a cultural symbol. The collective can evolve into a multi-faceted face of the network, including a collective, brand, bounty, agency, bridge, product, template, and platform. Birdbrain is driven by principles of sustainability, regeneration, optimism, leadership, equity, diversity, support, scalability, and experimentation. Membership is based on the submission of original ideas, visuals, concepts, or artifacts as tribute to the network. The objectives of Birdbrain include activating funds, redefining Kusama, and reigniting its potential as a cultural force.

TimedOut

# Wish for Change: Establish Birdbrain as Kusama’s on-chain innovation agency
_(note image uploads to subsquare not working, please check links)._

https://postimg.cc/23WWsc39
## TL;DR

Following the passing of Kusama’s brand evolution ([ref 492](https://kusama.subsquare.io/referenda/492)) and the Web3 Foundation’s commitment to an independent Kusama ([ref 498](https://kusama.subsquare.io/referenda/498)), this proposal seeks a mandate to establish **[Birdbrain](https://postimg.cc/23WWsc39)**, a leaderless Krievo-based collective, as Kusama’s _on-chain innovation agency_. 

Birdbrain aims to coordinate some of the 10M DOT pledged by the W3F to drive tangible progress, uniting KSM holders, ecosystem stakeholders and new talent under a banner of bold innovation underpinned by real commercial impact. 

## Why Birdbrain?

Kusama was born with an experimental, chaotic ethos that first attracted artists, hackers and builders - but it has been hampered by fragmented efforts, unclear coordination and erratic funding. 

Birdbrain addresses this by:

- **Uniting talent:** Bringing together a fluid collective of existing and emerging Kusama contributors to structure development and communications through the [full innovation cycle](https://forum.polkadot.network/t/structuring-support-across-a-full-innovation-cycle/3170), from curiosity-driven experiments, through directed and applied research, into product development and commercialisation.

- **Coordinating chaos:** Unlike Polkadot’s _domain_ specific bounties, Birdbrain offers Kusama a simple, adaptable and always open on-chain agency that nudges diverse talent towards a coherent _direction_. 

## Flipping the Bird

Polkadot targets enterprises with its [Cloud and Hub](https://forum.polkadot.network/t/the-polkadot-cloud/10670) narratives. 

Kusama, through Birdbrain, takes a different approach:

- **A cultural symbol:** Just as Nike’s Swoosh became a universal mark of athletic performance through a decades long relationship with agency [Wieden+Kennedy](https://www.wk.com/), Birdbrain will reforge the Kusama bird into an emblem of hacker ingenuity, attitude and resourcefulness.
- **A creative hub:** With people desperate for alternatives to broken systems, Birdbrain will turn Kusama’s cutting-edge tech into resonant ideas, experiments, and initiatives—bridging crypto and the wider world.

## Birdbrain’s coordinating idea

We’re evolving the passive “expect chaos” into an active call to arms: **[create chaOS.](https://postimg.cc/mtBfHypp)**

Kusama isn’t just a network, it’s an _operating system_ for challenging the status quo. 

With the bird as our badge, Birdbrain will empower creators, hackers and visionaries to challenge conventions through bold, disruptive experiments.

## What Birdbrain can become

Birdbrain will be an emergent experiment that can evolve into a multi-faceted face of the network:

- **Collective**: A [Krievo](https://forum.polkadot.network/t/kusama-2025-private-daos-regional-chains-lip-and-more/11394)-organised entity driving Kusama adoption.

- **Brand**: A unifying voice for Kusama’s diverse ecosystem.

- **Bounty**: Seeded with Kusama's native stablecoin [dUSD](https://taniko.soda.zone/assets/urn:ocn:kusama:1000/50000002) from W3F and/or other sources.

- **Agency**: Setting and executing a clear network strategy.

- **Bridge**: Making Kusama stand apart in crypto and stand out in the _real world_.

- **Product**: Simplifying onboarding for contributors and users.

- **Template**: A replicable model for others to adopt.

- **Platform**: An open-source destination for developers to create experimental decentralised applications, with an emphasis on privacy, freedom and programmable cryptography.

## Principles of Birdbrain

Birdbrain is driven by the following principles and aims. It is…

- **Sustainable**: Generating real income from its endeavours.

- **Regenerative**: It requests funding from the W3F or Kusama treasury not as a grant but as an _advance_ that is repaid to the treasury with yield generated by dUSD ([ref 471](https://kusama.subsquare.io/referenda/471)), incentivising the collective to drive native stablecoin adoption. 

- **Optimistic**: Using lean governance, proposals pass unless opposed, fostering shared responsibility.

- **Leaderless**: Whoever knows the next step leads, relying on collective intelligence over fixed roles.

- **Equitable**: Sharing value transparently among members.

- **Diverse**: Supporting talent and projects across the stack and through the innovation process.

- **Supportive**: Prioritising consistent collaboration over short term projects.

- **Scalable**: When needed Birdbrain will spin out subsidiary organisations that can also do the same in a waterfalling structure, whilst maintaining coherence between entities.  

- **Experimental**: Embracing risk by testing novel ideas, talent and mechanisms on-chain.

## Membership and onboarding

Birdbrain is developing an experimental _initiative based governance structure_, with membership contingent not on reputation or on votes from token holders, but on the submission of original ideas, visuals, concepts or artifacts as tribute to the network.

This _cultural collateral_ is minted as 1 of 1 NFTs and held in a network reserve by the organisation on behalf of Kusama and represents the emerging creative soul of the collective and its contributing members.

The first artifact will be the iconic canary, with the broad church of Kusama token holders taking the first seat in the Krievo collective and receiving 1 vote. 

The second artifact will be the create chaOS idea, which will be submitted by [Decent Partners](https://decent.partners).

If this artifact is accepted by KSM holders, Decent Partners will be added as the second member of the collective, giving the initiative its founding impetus.  

## Objectives

1. **Activate Funds:** Receive some of 10M DOT from the W3F commitment.
2. **Redefine Kusama:** Shift communications from a canary network to a peer network.
3. **Remind the bird how to fly:** (Re)ignite Kusama’s potential as a cultural force.

## Next Steps

If approved, Birdbrain will work with the Web3 Foundation and Kusama community to structure the deployment of some of the 10M DOT, ensuring alignment with the network’s new independent positioning.


Wish for Change: Establish Birdbrain as Kusama’s on-chain innovation agency

The Wish-for-change track is a proposal to request 10 million DOT from the Web3 Foundation to fulfill the commitment of allocating 1% of genesis DOT to Kusama. The proposal has three main points: deploying 10 million DOT for the benefit of Kusama, directing the W3F to use some of this DOT to support advanced technology like ZK technologies, and recognizing that Kusama is no longer just a canary network for Polkadot. The Web3 Foundation seeks to use these DOT tokens to incentivize and remove barriers for builders on Kusama, making it a place for developers to push forward into the future. This includes supporting projects, events, and grants for projects building on Kusama, with a focus on ZK projects. The proposal aims to reignite Kusama's original spirit as an experimental platform for Web3 and accelerate technical innovation.

Executed

<h2>Track: Wish-for-change</h2>
Short description: Request 10 million DOT from Web3 Foundation to fulfill the commitment of allocating 1% of genesis DOT to Kusama, provide support for bleeding-edge building including ZK innovation, and transition Kusama away from being purely Polkadot&rsquo;s canary network.
<h2>Overview</h2>
This referendum seeks community approval for a new vision for Kusama, consisting of three key points
<ol>
<li>
Deploy 10 million DOT from Web3 Foundation for the sole benefit of Kusama, in order to boost the utility and broad value proposition of the Kusama network
</li>
<li>
Direct the W3F to use some of this 10 million DOT in support of advanced technology for Kusama, such as ZK technologies, to build Kusama into a major ZK experimentation bed
</li>
<li>
Recognise that Kusama is no longer merely a canary network and instead should be treated as an experiment-centric peer network of Polkadot
</li>
</ol>
At the launch of Kusama, one percent of genesis DOT tokens (10 million DOT) were promised for use by the Kusama network. With the Polkadot-Kusama bridge now operational, Web3 Foundation seeks to fulfill this commitment and use ten million of its DOT for the support of Kusama.
Kusama was initially conceived and used as a canary network for Polkadot - a network with real economic value that could host new features, runtime upgrades, parameter changes, etc. before they were implemented on Polkadot. As Polkadot has become more mature, this has become less necessary, and it is time for Kusama to evolve.
If this Referendum passes, Web3 Foundation will take it as community approval to move forward with its plan, outlined below.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmSoHbVGo4k&amp;t=191s">Gavin Wood presentation at DOTCon 0.5</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvbsSq1a_8g&amp;t=5522s">Gavin Wood Interview with The Kus (Space Monkeys 121)</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/War1weBu7yU?t=3070s">Polkadot OpenDev Fellowship Call - May 2024</a>
<h2>Vision</h2>
Kusama was conceived as Web3&rsquo;s &ldquo;chaotic&rdquo; testing ground, a &ldquo;canary network&rdquo; to push technological boundaries without the constraints of Polkadot&rsquo;s stability requirements. This proposal seeks to reignite Kusama&rsquo;s experimental ethos while leveraging its maturity to establish it as an experimental testbed for zero-knowledge (ZK) innovation and other cutting-edge use cases.
We seek to reignite Kusama&rsquo;s original spirit as Web3&rsquo;s boldest experimentation platform to empower builders and accelerate technical innovation. We want to revive its foundational ethos as an unshackled Web3 experimental hub. We want to encourage bold building on the bleeding edge.
Therefore, Web3 Foundation seeks to use 10 million DOT to incentivize and remove barriers for builders on Kusama. The exact mechanisms will vary, but will all share a common goal - make Kusama the place for developers who want to push forward into the future.
tl;dr: We would like to return Kusama to its origins, while simultaneously providing the foundation for it to evolve towards the future. No promises. Expect chaos.
<h2>Proposal</h2>
Web3 Foundation proposes to use 10 million DOT tokens from its own Treasury (not the on-chain Polkadot Treasury, Kusama Treasury, or other sources) for the express benefit of the Kusama ecosystem, including the relay chain, system parachains, other parachains, and projects focused on Kusama.
This would not be a one-time transfer of DOT to Kusama but would take place over the course of at least two years.
The DOT may be used for initiatives such as the following. Note that this is meant to be a representative sampling of possible initiatives, and W3F is not limited to the below, nor is this meant to indicate that these specific types of initiatives will occur.
<ul>
<li>Direct transfer of DOT to the on-chain Kusama Treasury</li>
<li>Funding of Kusama-based Bounty programs, collectives, DAOs, and other collective decision-making on Kusama</li>
<li>Support for Kusama-focused projects, events, conferences, workshops, etc.</li>
<li>Prizes for hackathons, competitions, etc. for projects building on Kusama</li>
<li>Grants for projects building on Kusama</li>
<li>Subsidized or free parathread reservation, runtime storage, and other costs for running parachains or other projects on Kusama</li>
</ul>
Among the projects we are interested in supporting is providing support for various ZK projects on Kusama. Some possible examples include:
<ul>
<li>Establishing grants for projects building zk-focused dApps, scalable ZK rollups, and cross-chain ZK proofs, especially for the Kusama Hub</li>
<li>Funding ZK-focused parachains, runtime modules, and developer tooling</li>
<li>Partnering with academic institutions and others to host ZK hackathons and workshops on Kusama</li>
</ul>
Other ideas include, but are not limited to, support for generative and other types of on-chain art, proof of personhood, and social experiments.
All projects, both ZK and otherwise, being built on Kusama using these DOT must be used strictly for legal purposes and in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
Approving this Referendum acknowledges that the Kusama community would like to see Kusama on the path towards being an experiment-centric network in its own right.
Finally, this proposal should not be seen as detailed instructions or steps to be taken, but rather as a vision to be worked toward and a confirmation by the Kusama community that it shares this vision. If it is approved, Web3 Foundation will seek more feedback from the community and provide more details on explicit steps to be taken.

A New Kusama Vision - 10 Million DOT from W3F & Transition Away From Being A Canary Network

- A project called **chaOS** shows how a brand can change and grow, not just by changing a logo but by repositioning the whole project.  
- **Wish For Change (WFC)** is a proposal to get feedback from Kusama holders about evolving the Kusama brand.  
- Web3 Foundation owns the Kusama and Polkadot trademarks and might allow others to use them.  
- If the WFC passes, an official **Request for Proposal (RFP)** will follow to get ideas for the brand's evolution.  
- The RFP is a work in progress, and everyone is encouraged to share ideas and improvements.  
- Kusama wants designers and creative people worldwide to help redesign its brand.  
- This is the first step in giving more control and direction to the Kusama network through OpenGov.

[Wish For Change] Kusama brand evolution inc clarifying licensing / trademarks.

- Brale integration and dUSD stablecoin are now live on Kusama Asset Hub.
- Two proposals were approved: one to recoup integration costs and another to add liquidity to the KSM:dUSD pair.
- Brale and KSM Collective plan to add $300k each to the pair, but the Asset Conversion Pallet only allows one account to add liquidity.
- Three options are being considered: amending the pallet, waiting for smart contracts, or having Brale add liquidity on behalf of KSM Collective.
- Option 3 is likely to be chosen for speed, but it involves off-chain bureaucracy.
- The goal is to get the pair working first and address issues later.

WFC: Update Kusama's asset conversion pallet to enable addition of single sided liquidity

### Summary of Coretime Pricing Issue

- **Current Problem**: The coretime price adapter on Kusama is driving prices down to nearly 0 KSM/month due to low demand, which is unrealistic compared to the actual cost of validating work.
- **Side Effect**: Low prices encourage hoarding of cores, making it inconvenient for new builders who need them.
- **Proposed Solution**: Implement a better pricing system that considers market demand and blockspace usage.
- **Temporary Fix**: Set a minimum price for coretime to prevent it from dropping too low.
- **Suggested Minimum Price**: 10 KSM, which is reasonable for builders and deters excessive hoarding.
- **Implementation**: Changes to the Polkadot SDK and Kusama runtime will be handled by the author or a trusted developer.

Rejected

Minimum coretime price

### Kreivo Proposal Summary

- **Goal**: Decide if Kreivo, the DAO Hub, should become a system parachain on Kusama.
- **Kreivo**: A parachain that helps create and manage DAOs, uses KSM as its native token, and offers a user-friendly experience.
- **System Parachain**: Kreivo could integrate more deeply with Kusama's governance, making DAOs more efficient and benefiting the entire Kusama ecosystem.
- **DAO Alliance**: Kreivo currently has a governance system controlled by a collective of DAOs. If it becomes a system parachain, upgrades would go through Kusama's OpenGov.
- **Benefits**: Kreivo already supports DAO creation with just 1 KSM, uses KSM for transactions, and works well with Kusama's governance.
- **Future**: If approved, Kreivo would change its root origin to Kusama, but still keep some control with the DAO Alliance.
- **Feedback**: The team is looking forward to community feedback and votes on this proposal.

WHO: Virto team and Kusama community.

WHAT: Proposal to determine whether Kreivo, the DAO Hub, should become a system parachain.

PRICE/TIMEFRAME/RESOURCES: Not specified.

Make the DAO Hub Kreivo a system chain

The post is about a request for Parity Technologies (w3f) to fulfill their promise to transfer 10 million DOT tokens into the Kusama treasury. The post provides links to four different YouTube videos from 2019, 2021, 2023, and 2024, where this promise is mentioned or discussed.

Wish for Change. Asking parity/w3f to fulfill the promise to hand over 10M dot into kusama treasury. 

The post is about a request for the Web3 Foundation (W3F) to fulfill a promise made in 2019 to transfer 10 million DOT tokens into the Kusama treasury. The post includes links to videos from 2019, 2021, 2023, and 2024 as evidence of the promise. The user also provides a link to a voting page on Polkassembly for the community to vote on the matter, and asks to vote with the correct preimage for a system remark instead of an event remark.

Wish for Change. Asking parity/w3f to fulfill the promise to hand over 10M dot into kusama treasury.

### Summary of Update 3.9.24

- **Objective**: Develop a new liquidity pool for asset hubs to help early-stage teams bootstrap funding efficiently.
- **Cost Estimate**: $20-40k depending on complexity.
- **Polkadot 1.0**: Focused on parachain onboarding via crowd loans and auctions, with external financing.
- **Polkadot 2.0**: Replaced crowd loans with coretime sales, removing speculative incentives.
- **Asset Conversion Pallet (ACP)**: Simplifies asset swaps but has inefficiencies for new tokens.
- **Liquidity Bootstrapping Pools (LBP)**: A more efficient method for price discovery and token distribution.
- **Proposed Change**: Introduce a bespoke LBP design to Kusama Asset Hub for smoother project launches.
- **Treasury Participation**: Use on-chain governance to support meaningful project adoption.
- **Research Lead**: Daniel from the Virto/Krievo team will lead the research and implementation.

Polkadot proposes to develop a new liquidity pool for asset hub to enable early-stage teams to bootstrap initial funding in a sustainable manner. This would create tighter economic alignment between the treasury, native stablecoin integrations, and next-gen parachain teams. The proposal suggests introducing a bespoke LBP design to Kusama Asset Hub, which would lower barriers to entry for teams wishing to launch on coretime and smooth their path to liquidity in ACP and eventual CEX listings enabled by AH. The estimated cost for this proposal is $20-40k depending on eventual complexity.

WFC: Add a Liquidity Bootstrapping Pool (LBP) pallet to asset hub to enable initial price discovery and funding for next gen parachains.

- The post talks about Kusama, a blockchain network, and its issues with high costs for developers.
- It mentions that the last registration event was 71 days ago, and a deregistration event happened 51 days ago.
- The author questions if the network is being built for the community or just for a few system chains.
- The cost to register a new project on Kusama is $21,645, which is higher than Polkadot's $14,390, despite Kusama having a smaller market cap.
- The author suggests the price should be lower, around $720, based on market cap ratios.
- They call on Kusama holders to pay attention to these issues.
- A YouTube video is linked, hinting at future updates that might not lower costs.
- The post ends with concern that Kusama might lose developers and projects if costs remain high.

The proposal is calling for Parity to reduce the price of registering a new project on Kusama, which is currently 1110 KSM (over $21k), compared to Polkadot's 3300 DOT (around $14k). The author suggests a price reduction to around 120 KSM to attract more developers and projects to Kusama. The proposal also urges KSM holders to take action and prevent Parity from pushing developers towards Polkadot.

Decrease the amount of reserved KSM when register thread id with code/genesis. Warning to all KSM holders and devs!

- OpenGov and treasury help the Kusama community grow by funding projects.
- Kusama wants more parachains to use its system and burn KSM tokens.
- Parachains with more KSM in their accounts should get more rewards from the treasury.
- Example: If 3 parachains have 10K, 70K, and 20K KSM, they get 10%, 70%, and 20% of rewards.
- Rewards can come from treasury funds, monthly collections, or unspent KSM.
- A special tool can automatically check KSM balances and distribute rewards fairly.
- This system encourages real projects and prevents misuse of rewards.
- The goal is to move more KSM to parachains for better development.

OpenGov and treasury is a good thing and we need to use it properly.&nbsp;
We as a kusama community want to see as much as possible use cases on parachains and as much as possible burning of kusama with core time usage.&nbsp;
The best way to turn the table and create good vibe around kusama is to incentivise parachains from treasury depends how many KSM coins are on sovereign accounts of that parachains. This is only one metric that can't be abused.&nbsp;
For examle there are 3 chains on kusama: A, B, C chain. (during period of 28 days)a
A contains on severign account 10K ksm
B contains on severign account 70K ksm
C contains on severign account 20K ksm
So in total 100K KSM bridged from Kusama relay chain to rollups. Each of them will be rewarded proportionally on the sovereign accounts.
10% to A, 70% to B, 20% to C.
KSM for insentivice is from treasury and could be any what KUSAMA open gov will decide. for example
&mdash; % from all KSM in treasury.
&mdash; % from KSM collected during month,
&mdash; % from KSM that suppose to be burned as not spended.
The distribution to parachain/rollups could/should be done automaticly depends how many KSM on sovereign account was each block during the some period.
It could be done via extra pallet that check balances on sovereigns accounts each block and distribute KSM incentives to that accounts proportionally for total KSM during spending period duration.
&nbsp;
This is the best and the fastest way to drive development activity and real product on kusama. 
As open gov we still can try to fund some pallet developments, marketing but at the end of final use case for relay chain native currency is bridging as much as possible KSM to parachain/rollups.&nbsp; To not let abuse the system of insentivise and not drive up only LSD via parachain/sovereign account &mdash; could be good to just apply some formula to that balance of sovereign parachain account that pull down total share of such LSD parachain use cases.

Kusama community proposes incentivizing parachains from treasury based on the amount of KSM coins on sovereign accounts. The distribution of KSM incentives to parachain/rollups will be automatic and proportional to the total KSM during the spending period. The proposal aims to drive development activity and real product on Kusama. The cost and timeframe for the proposal are not specified.

Wish for Change. Make Kusama Great Again.

This proposal is about changing the burn mechanism in the Kusama and Polkadot protocols. The current system burns 2% of the treasury's funds if they are not spent within a certain time. The proposal suggests allowing OpenGov to change the parameters of the burn mechanism, making it more flexible and easier to control. This would help avoid running up a large balance and encourage spending. The proposal also mentions redirecting 10% of the burn to the Kappa Sigma Mu society account.

Kusama proposes to allow OpenGov to change the parameters of the burn mechanism, which currently burns 2% of treasury funds if not spent. This will enable tokenholders to control the protocol and avoid unnecessary burns. The proposal suggests that it should be quite trivial to make the BurnDestination configurable on runtime/governance as part of the new inflation pallet.

WFC: Allow OpenGov to change the parameters of the burn redirect if not currently possible with upcoming inflation pallet

- Kusama is considering a $30 million deal with ABO Digital for stablecoin financing over 3-5 years.
- Stablecoins help reduce payment volatility and support growth in the Kusama/Polkadot ecosystem.
- Benefits include low risk, automation, and no middlemen.
- Downsides are slow acquisition, fixed terms, and lack of flexibility.
- The deal allows Kusama to draw funds as needed, with no obligation to use the full amount.
- ABO Digital gets a 10% discount on KSM tokens, aligning their profits with Kusama's success.
- The deal is higher risk but could lead to better strategic planning and lower costs over time.
- Kusama will also integrate Brale for native stablecoin minting, keeping yields within the ecosystem.

Kusama is negotiating a $30m financing deal with ABO Digital to acquire stablecoins for the treasury, allowing for more active strategic planning and budgeting. ABO Digital would receive a 10% discount on the spot price EM7/14/30 etc, and there is a structuring fee for the deal. The deal is a convertible note structure, meaning the Kusama treasury receives stablecoins immediately while ABO has 12 months to sell down their received KSM. The size of each call on the facility is up to the Kusama community, and there is no obligation to draw down from the funding. The stablecoins from this deal can be natively minted in Kusama AH, with the yield remaining within the ecosystem.

WFC: Negotiate a $30m structured financing deal between Kusama and ABO Digital to acquire stablecoins for the AH treasury via a series of strategic draw downs over the next 3-5 years.

- Polkadot has a new Foundation in the Cayman Islands to help the community with legal protections, but it doesn’t include Kusama.
- Kusama might need its own similar Foundation in the future.
- The team is working with legal experts to make this happen faster and cheaper.
- A British Virgin Islands (BVI) entity might work better for Kusama’s needs.
- The team has already worked with legal partners for Polkadot’s Foundation.
- If the proposal passes, they will ask for funding to start the legal work.
- If it doesn’t pass, they will find another way to help Kusama.

Polkadot proposes to establish a Foundation to serve only DOT holders initially, with a separate foundation to serve KSM holders later. The proposal aims to fast track the process in a cost-efficient manner with existing legal partners. The proposal includes submitting a funding proposal for legal research and structuring, with an initial £10,000 retainer with Walkers.

WFC: Establish a legal entity or entities to provide limited liability, contractual assurances and commercial interests specific to the Kusama collective

Wish for change: Place ongoing spend to Kappa Sigma Mu Society pot under direct governance oversight by exposing the burn and related parameters to OpenGov.

[2] Origin: WishForChange