Why IPFi

“Info finance is a discipline in which you (i) start with a fact you want to know and (ii) deliberately design a market to optimally elicit that information from market participants.” — Vitalik Buterin, From Prediction Markets to Info Finance

Today, attention is priced by opaque algorithms rather than by provable demand. If “price discovery” is how capital finds truth in public markets, then “signal discovery” should be how attention finds truth in culture. Record’s approach is deliberately sequential: measure first, market second. R.E.C. converts long‑tail participation into verifiable signals, distinguishing durable contribution from vanity engagement. Only after signal quality crosses defined thresholds are market primitives introduced to price commitment with skin‑in‑the‑game.

This sequencing matters. Markets without signals invite adverse selection and speculative noise; signals without markets struggle to translate into allocation. Staked commitment solves the bridge. It functions as a portable, auditable KPI of future demand—predictive because it embeds cost and time preference; comparable because it is standardized across IPs; and harder to game because it requires capital at risk. As these signals inform production, distribution, and financing decisions ahead of sales data, the system reallocates attention and capital toward proven demand. The result is a tighter feedback loop: participation begets recognition; recognition begets access; access begets production; production begets new participation—each step recorded, priced, and auditable.