# My SocialFi Experiment (3 Years Too Early)

*I didn’t invent SocialFi. But I prototyped it before the term existed.*

By [Eric's Blog](https://paragraph.com/@epr) · 2025-03-28

socialfi, web3design, tokeneconomics

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**In 2020, I launched a token called $TATR**. It was a social currency designed to reward people not for staking capital but for sharing digital art.

We called the mechanism **Social Liquidity Mining (SLM)**.

The idea was simple: reward people who spread value, not hoard it.

At the time, it felt experimental. In hindsight, it looks inevitable.

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What I Built
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$TATR was a token distributed through SLM. It was an early attempt to design tokenized incentives for cultural engagement.

*   You could only earn $TATR by gifting “The People’s Potato” NFT to someone who had never owned one.
    
*   Both sender and receiver were rewarded, but only if it was a first-time interaction.
    
*   The protocol included a reward split, anti-gaming mechanics, and a Social Distribution Score (SDS) model to measure organic behavior.
    

In total, 695,000 tokens were distributed.

A provisional patent was filed, then later abandoned in favor of an open-source, protocol-first ethos.

The contract was later renounced. 90% of supply burned.

* * *

What I Got Right
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![](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/emoji-datasource-apple/img/apple/64/2611-fe0f.png) **Social tokens are better earned than bought**  
$TATR wasn’t just airdropped. They were unlocked through interaction.

![](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/emoji-datasource-apple/img/apple/64/2611-fe0f.png) **Distribution > Scarcity**  
I designed the protocol to incentivize sharing, not hoarding.

![](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/emoji-datasource-apple/img/apple/64/2611-fe0f.png) **NFTs as community bridges**  
Each Potato was a conversation starter, not just a collectible.

![](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/emoji-datasource-apple/img/apple/64/2611-fe0f.png) **Decentralized Patreon was coming**  
Anticipated token-based membership before it hit mainstream Web3.

* * *

What I Got Wrong
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![](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/emoji-datasource-apple/img/apple/64/1f6ab.png) **I underestimated gas friction**  
Airdropping rewards became too expensive to scale on Ethereum at the time. L2s like Base and Optimism eventually solved this, but the timing was off.

![](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/emoji-datasource-apple/img/apple/64/1f6ab.png) **I got claiming wrong**  
I assumed no one would want to bother. But the opposite happened. Claiming became the new like button. A small hit of validation and control.

![](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/emoji-datasource-apple/img/apple/64/1f6ab.png) **I thought protocol-first was enough**  
I believed Social Liquidity Mining could thrive at first without a platform. Technically it did. But in hindsight, **platforms create social gravity**. Protocols still need places to gather.

* * *

Why It Still Matters
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I walked away from $TATR in 2022. Not because the idea was wrong, but because the space wasn’t ready.

In 2021, I filed a provisional patent for Social Liquidity Mining. It was a protocol designed to reward peer-to-peer participation through NFT distribution, token incentives, and anti-gaming mechanics.

Today, that thinking is everywhere.

Every week, I see platforms rolling out features first explored through Social Liquidity Mining. Peer-to-peer distribution. Earned rewards. Social scoring. Cultural tokens with no roadmap but the people holding them. Platforms like [Farcaster](https://farcaster.xyz), [friend.tech](http://friend.tech), and [Stack](https://stack.shape.network/) are exploring patterns I tested in 2020.

The protocol may be dormant, but the ideas are alive. They’ve shaped how I think about engagement, coordination, and what meaningful participation looks like in Web3.

This was not just an experiment. It was a signal.

![](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/emoji-datasource-apple/img/apple/64/1f3db-fe0f.png) [Explore the $TATR archive](https://tatr.social)  
![](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/emoji-datasource-apple/img/apple/64/1f9e0.png) Let’s talk on [X](https://x.com/ericprhodes) or [LinkedIn](https://linkedin.com/in/ericrhodes)

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*Originally published on [Eric's Blog](https://paragraph.com/@epr/my-socialfi-experiment)*