m0nTap https://paragraph.com/@m0ntap Ex @IguVerse mod / Alpha Hunter / Researcher Founder: https://t.me/landcrypt0 Mon, 01 Jun 2026 04:24:44 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html https://github.com/jpmonette/feed en m0nTap https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/84bd2beb8905b372174ffa8b0c3755416a0ae468ac3f96a741c044061d334003.jpg https://paragraph.com/@m0ntap All rights reserved <![CDATA[An NFT Spring 🌱]]> https://paragraph.com/@m0ntap/an-nft-spring bQGD3zHxn3wjTeJR4LjK Sat, 27 Jan 2024 23:40:01 GMT The NFT ecosystem is entering a new spring.

All around us, creativity and opportunity are blooming. There are new collections, games, tools, airdrops, and beyond sprouting in every direction.

That said, try making a list of 3-5 things from this week’s news roundup that interest you most and then go explore them deeper in the coming days. My list looks like so right now:

  • Explore the Nifty Island open beta

  • Set up my Bountycaster account

  • Check out Gallery’s new features

  • Try Party’s new group chats

  • Update my Ronin wallet

Make this process a routine, each week put some time into learning about and trying new things around NFTs to level up your experience and opportunities. Sow the seeds now for the harvests to come!

What’s your list look like, what’re you exploring this week? Let me know! In the meantime, let’s catch you up with the latest Metaversal roundup ✌️

-WMP

This week in NFTs…

📰 General news

🎨 Cryptoart & music

🏆 Digital collectibles

📱 Onchain social

🎮 Decentralized gaming

🪙 NFTfi

🌐 Virtual worlds

Thanks for reading this week’s roundup! For more catching up:

]]> m0ntap@newsletter.paragraph.com (m0nTap) <![CDATA[Mind Network campaign Testnet Tutorial]]> https://paragraph.com/@m0ntap/mind-network-campaign-testnet-tutorial T9vxuIi5U7JkVselB0k2 Sat, 27 Jan 2024 20:09:45 GMT Mind Network and Testnet

Mind Network Testnet link: dapptest.mindnetwork.xyz​

Task on Testnet: Polygon Mumbai.

Supported Test Environment: Desktop

For an optimal experience, we recommend not attempting this task on mobile phones. Currently, this feature is optimized for desktop use only. Using a desktop ensures smoother navigation and access to all supported functionalities.

Preparation: Before Starting the Task

Add Polygon Mumbai Testnet to MetaMask

  1. 1.

    Through the Mind Network dApp:

Upon registration, if not already connected, you'll be prompted to switch to Polygon Mumbai. Upon approval, it will automatically be added to MetaMask.

  1. 2.

    Add Mumbai Testnet manually:

To configure Polygon Mumbai in your wallet, apply the following RPC settings.

  1. 3.

    Other tools for integrating effortlessly Polygon Mumbai into your MetaMask: Chainlist​

Obtain Matic Test Tokens

Visit faucet.polygon.technology and follow the instruction to obtain test tokens.

Note: Before starting the tasks, make sure you have Matic test tokens in your wallet for making transactions.

Video Tutorial

The Task

Task Part-1: Register on Mind Network

Note: Registration is currently supported only on the Mumbai chain, and this registration applies to all chains.

  • Choose the Mumbai chain for registration

  • Click the 'Register' button to finalize the registration process.

  • Sign the message in your wallet.

  • Confirm the transaction in your wallet.

Register

After completing the registration, you will find yourself on the Overview page. You don't need to click on the 'Scan' button if no funds have been sent to your connected wallet account yet.

When registration is completed

​

Task Part-2: Make a stealth transfer to another wallet account.

Note: Please ensure that the recipient's wallet account is registered on Mind Network; otherwise, the transfer will not go through.

Navigate to the Transfer page and fill in the required details in the provided spaces.

  • To: Enter the recipient's wallet account.

  • Amount: Enter the amount or choose the maximum.

  • Token: Choose Matic

  • Click the 'Transfer' button to submit the transaction.

  • Click the 'Confirm' button to confirm the transaction.

  • Confirm the transaction in your wallet.

Wait a few seconds for the transaction to be processed successfully.

Enter the recipient's wallet account and enter the amount.

Confirm the transaction

When the transaction has succeeded.

To access the history: Clicking on the 'History' button on the Transfer page allows you to view the detailed transfer history, which is also available for download.

History of Transfer

Attention:

When the recipient's wallet account is not yet registered on Mind Network, a reminder will appear, and you can then share the invitation link with another user by clicking on 'Share link to invite'.

When the recipient's wallet account is not yet registered on Mind Network

​

]]> m0ntap@newsletter.paragraph.com (m0nTap) <![CDATA[Mind Network Testnet Tutorial]]> https://paragraph.com/@m0ntap/mind-network-testnet-tutorial AtiZlfhSEt27CijRL5p7 Sat, 27 Jan 2024 20:08:15 GMT Mind Network Testnet Tutorial

This tutorial is designed to guide you through our Testnet step by step. You've got this!

Overview

Mind Network Testnet link: dapptest.mindnetwork.xyz​

Supported Test Environment: Desktop

For an optimal experience, we recommend not attempting this task on mobile phones. Currently, this feature is optimized for desktop use only. Using a desktop ensures smoother navigation and access to all supported functionalities.

If your sole purpose is to send stealth transactions (transfer/bridge), please follow:

​**Guide: Operate from my Wallet Account**​

For receiving a stealth transaction (transfer/bridge) and using the funds from the stealth address for privacy protection, please follow:

​**Guide: Operate on my Stealth Address (SA)**​

​

Preparation: Before Starting the Test

How to Acquire Test Tokens

Testnets and Faucets

Testnets supported: Ethereum Sepolia, Polygon Mumbai.

Please make sure you have test tokens in your wallet account for registration and making transactions.

Test Token Faucet Links:

​

​

​

​

Step by Step Guide

​Guide: Operate from my Wallet Account​

Connect Wallet

Enter dApp and click 'Connect Wallet' button, choose one available wallet (MetaMask e.g.) to complete the connection.

​

​

​

Register

Note: Registration is currently supported only on the Mumbai chain but this registration applies to all chains.

  • Choose the Mumbai chain for registration

  • Click the 'Register' button to finalize the registration process.

  • Sign the message in your wallet.

  • Confirm the transaction in your wallet.

​

​

After completing the registration, you will find yourself on the Overview page. You don't need to click on the 'Scan' button if no funds have been sent to your connected wallet account yet.

​

​

Transfer

Navigate to the Transfer page and fill in the required details in the provided spaces (You can change or choose the network at any time by clicking the network button).

  • To: Enter the recipient's wallet account.

  • Amount: Enter the amount or choose the maximum.

  • Token: Choose Matic

  • Click the 'Transfer' button to submit the transaction.

  • Click the 'Confirm' button to confirm the transaction.

  • Confirm the transaction in your wallet.

Note: Please ensure that the recipient's wallet account is registered on Mind Network; otherwise, the transfer will not go through.

Wait a few seconds for the transaction to be processed successfully. The transaction link can be shared by clicking the corresponding button.

To access the Transaction History:

  • Click the 'History' button to enter the transaction history page to view the details.

  • You can also download the history by clicking the 'Download' button.

  • Click 'Back to previous page' to leave the page.

​

​

​

​

​

​

Attention:

When the recipient's wallet account is not yet registered on Mind Network, a reminder will appear, and you can then share the invitation link with another user by clicking on 'Share link to invite.'

​

​

Bridge

To start, please choose or switch the network to Sepolia.

Note: currently on testnets, we support bridging only from Ethereum Sepolia to Polygon Mumbai.

  1. 1.

    Choose Bridge Protocol**:**

  • Currently, we only support bridging from a public chain to another public chain using CCIP Bridge. (In the near future, we will also support bridging from a private chain to a public chain and from a CBDC chain to a public chain.)

  1. 2.

    Bridge From and To**:**

  • Choose the source chain Sepolia and the destination chain Mumbai.

  • From: the connected wallet account.

  • To: enter the recipient's wallet account.

  • Amount: enter the amount or choose the maximum.

  • Receive: shows the token and amount that will be received on the destination chain.

  1. 3.

    Submit and Confirm:

  • Click the 'Bridge' button to submit the transaction.

  • Click the 'Confirm' button to confirm the transaction.

​

​

​

  1. 4.

    Wait a few seconds for the transaction to be processed successfully:

  • The transaction link on the source chain can be shared by clicking the corresponding button.

Note: Due to CCIP's velocity, it takes approximately 20 minutes to receive the transaction on the destination chain.

  1. 5.

    To access the Transaction History:

  • Click the 'History' button to enter the transaction history page to view the bridge history.

  • You can also download the history by clicking the 'Download' button.

  • Click 'Back to the previous page' to leave the page.

​

​

​

Attention:

When the recipient's wallet account is not yet registered on Mind Network, a reminder will appear, and you can then share the invitation link with another user by clicking on 'Share link to invite.'

​

​

​

​Guide: Operate on my Stealth Address (SA).​

Connect Wallet

Enter dApp and click 'Connect Wallet' button, choose one available wallet (MetaMask e.g.) to complete the connection.

​

​

​

Register

Note: Registration is currently supported only on the Mumbai chain but this registration applies to all chains.

  • Choose the Mumbai chain for registration

  • Click the 'Register' button to finalize the registration process.

  • Sign the message in your wallet.

  • Confirm the transaction in your wallet.

​

​

After completing the registration, you will find yourself on the Overview page.

Overview

To find the funds sent to you:

  • Click the 'Scan' button to search for funds you have received.

  • Sign the message in your wallet.

After scanning, a list of stealth addresses will be presented.

  • Click the 'Scan' icon to refresh the list if a new stealth transaction has been sent to your wallet account.

  • Click to share the 'Invitation Link' with another user.

  • Choose an action for a specific stealth address by clicking the 'Action' button: Transfer or Bridge.

  • Furthermore, you can download the list of stealth addresses along with their details by clicking the 'Download' button.

​

​

​

Transfer

There are two transfer scenarios: a stealth transfer via a stealth address or a standard transfer without creating a new stealth address.

​

Scenario A: Stealth Transfer

  • From: By default, it's the stealth address chosen on the Overview page. Alternatively, select another stealth address.

    Note: All stealth addresses will be marked with "(SA)."

  • To: Enter the recipient's wallet account.

  • Amount: Enter the amount or choose the maximum.

  • Token: Choose one of the supported tokens.

  • Click the 'Transfer' button to submit the transaction.

  • Click the 'Confirm' button to confirm the transaction.

​

​

​

Scenario B: Standard Transfer

  • From: By default, it's the stealth address chosen on the Overview page. Alternatively, select another stealth address.

    Note: All stealth addresses will be marked with "(SA)."

  • To: Enter the recipient's wallet account.

  • Select Standard Transfer by checking the box.

    Note: Please carefully consider how to protect your privacy by choosing the appropriate wallet account for receiving your transaction.

  • Amount: Enter the amount or choose the maximum.

  • Token: Choose one of the supported tokens.

  • Click the 'Transfer' button to submit the transaction.

  • Click the 'Confirm' button to confirm the transaction.

​

​

​

Check the Transaction Status:

  • The transaction link can be shared by clicking the corresponding button.

View the Transaction History:

  • Click the 'History' button to enter the transaction history page to view the details.

  • You can also download the history by clicking the 'Download' button.

  • Click 'Back to previous page' to leave the page.

Note: You can change or choose the network at any time by clicking the network button.

Bridge

There are two bridge scenarios: a stealth bridge via a stealth address or a standard one without creating a new stealth address.

To start, please choose or switch the network to Ethereum Sepolia.

Note: currently on testnets, we support bridging only from Ethereum Sepolia to Polygon Mumbai.

​

Scenario A: Stealth Bridge

  1. 1.

    Choose Bridge Protocol:

  • Currently, we only support bridging from a public chain to another public chain using CCIP. (In the near future, we will also support bridging from a private chain to a public chain and from a CBDC chain to a public chain.)

  1. 2.

    Bridge From and To:

  • Choose the source chain (Sepolia) and the destination chain (Mumbai).

  • From: By default, it's the stealth address chosen on the Overview page. Alternatively, select another stealth address.

    Note: All stealth addresses will be marked with "(SA)."

  • To: enter the recipient's wallet account.

  • Amount: enter the amount or choose the maximum.

  • Receive: shows the token and amount that will be received on the destination chain.

  1. 3.

    Submit and Confirm:

  • Click the 'Bridge' button to submit the transaction.

  • Click the 'Confirm' button to confirm the transaction.

[Screenshot to be updated]

​

Scenario B: Standard Bridge

  1. 1.

    Choose Bridge Protocol:

  • Currently, we only support bridging from a public chain to another public chain using CCIP. (In the near future, we will also support bridging from a private chain to a public chain and from a CBDC chain to a public chain.)

  1. 2.

    Bridge From and To:

  • Choose the source chain (Sepolia) and the destination chain (Mumbai).

  • From: By default, it's the stealth address chosen on the Overview page. Alternatively, select another stealth address.

    Note: All stealth addresses will be marked with "(SA)."

  • To: enter the recipient's wallet account.

  • Select Standard Transfer by checking the box.

    Note: Please carefully consider how to protect your privacy by choosing the appropriate wallet account for receiving your transaction.

  • Amount: enter the amount or choose the maximum.

  • Receive: shows the token and amount that will be received on the destination chain.

  1. 3.

    Submit and Confirm:

  • Click the 'Bridge' button to submit the transaction.

  • Click the 'Confirm' button to confirm the transaction.

[Screenshot to be updated]

​

  1. 4.

    Wait a few seconds for the transaction to be processed successfully:

  • The transaction link on the source chain can be shared by clicking the corresponding button.

Note: Due to CCIP's velocity, it takes approximately 20 minutes to receive the transaction on the destination chain.

  1. 5.

    To access the Transaction History:

  • Click the 'History' button to enter the transaction history page to view the bridge history.

  • You can also download the history by clicking the 'Download' button.

  • Click 'Back to the previous page' to leave the page.

​

​

​

]]> m0ntap@newsletter.paragraph.com (m0nTap) <![CDATA[Why Zero Trust in Web3?]]> https://paragraph.com/@m0ntap/why-zero-trust-in-web3 J0bAZjfKx6SRZi7cuNI6 Sat, 27 Jan 2024 20:05:21 GMT What Is Zero Trust Security?

Zero trust is a modern security strategy based on the never trust, always verify principle. Instead of assuming everything behind the application, database, or AI model is safe, the Zero Trust framework assumes a breach (has happened already or will happen soon) and verifies each request as though it originates from an open network.

Zero Trust Principles

  • Verify Explicitly

    Always authenticate and authorize based on all available data points, including user identity, location, device health, service or workload, data classification, and anomalies.

  • Use Least-Privilege Access

    Limit user access with just-in-time and just-enough access (JIT/JEA), risk-based adaptive polices, and data protection to help secure data and productivity.

  • Assume Breach

    Minimize blast radius and segment access. Verify end-to-end encryption and use analytics to gain visibility, drive threat detection, and improve defenses.

Security Challenges in Web3

  • Data Privacy and Ownership: Data privacy is a fundamental right. According to Articles 12 and 17 in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 4th and 5th Amendments of the United States Constitution, Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and Article 8 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, privacy is essential to ensure human dignity, freedom of speech, and freedom of association. Web3 aims to shift the power and control of data from centralized entities to individuals. Users should have control over their sensitive information (such as personal data, financial transactions, and user interactions), which should be fully encrypted with strict access control, but it is barely supported in existing SocialFi/UGC dapps and middleware solutions.

  • On-Chain Data Protection: Blockchain transactions are not anonymous, but pseudonymous, meaning exposing wallet addresses and interactions with smart contracts could still cause unnecessary security threats or unwanted front-run trades (MEV), causing millions of dollars in losses and enormous reputation damage to the field.

  • Decentralized Storage Risks: Decentralized storage systems often involve data replication across multiple nodes in the network. Ensuring the confidentiality of sensitive data becomes challenging when untrusted node operators have access to the replicated data during data storage and computation.

  • Trust and Reliability: Web3 aims to create a trustless environment by reducing the reliance on intermediaries and central authorities. In many scenarios, strict protection during computation and status updates is a must (such as trading signal generation, random selection, anonymous voting, private exchange, etc.) Situations that lack such protection may cause serious financial losses (such as the FTX scandal). The protection of the trustless environment requires the fulfillment of a series of data security measures (including encryption, access controls, and data integrity checks) that are trustworthy and have not been tampered with or compromised.

  • Compliance with Regulations: Web3 applications and data intelligence processes often involve handling data subject to various regulations, such as data privacy laws (e.g., GDPR) and industry-specific regulations (e.g., HIPAA for healthcare data). Adhering to data security practices ensures compliance with these regulations, preventing legal and financial liabilities that may arise from data breaches or mishandling of sensitive data.

  • Data Federation: Data silos limit developers’ creativity. Similar to what occurred in Web2, L1/L2 chains and their ecosystems started creating silos for user footprints, products, and money flow. It is an ongoing challenge to bridge data silos without leaking user information.

  • AI Security: As the world shifts to AI solutions, mitigating the risk of unauthorized manipulation of input data, model prompts, and parameters is critical. If the AI of a home-service robot or trading models of hedges is hacked, unpredictable damage could befall financial markets and human users.

]]> m0ntap@newsletter.paragraph.com (m0nTap) <![CDATA[Linea Voyage Waypoint]]> https://paragraph.com/@m0ntap/linea-voyage-waypoint 7ZHIkXvviIHW11xWj98q Sat, 27 Jan 2024 20:03:49 GMT If you haven’t heard the buzz yet, the Ethereum Dencun Upgrade is coming up, and that’s HUGE news for Linea and the L2 landscape. But why? You might ask. EIP-4844. That’s why!

Linea gas fees are about to drop dramatically.

What is EIP-4844? TL;DR

Linea and other L2s are secure because they post their data and the ZK validity proof back to Ethereum, enabling data availability. However, posting this data back makes Linea (and every other L2) subject to expensive operating costs in the form of data storage and gas fees on Ethereum — exactly what we were trying to avoid by creating L2 scaling solutions in the first place. EIP-4844 changes this present reality.

In short, EIP-4844 introduces a new way to store data on Ethereum that significantly reduces storage costs. Eliminating that storage cost reduces Linea’s gas costs, and this is a big win that affects all L2s, dapps and teams that build on them.

You’ll want to check out this article from Consensys’ Ethereum Evolved series on EIP-4844 and look out for a video explainer series Consensys will drop in late February, featuring Ethereum Foundation core devs, to learn more about the Dencun fork and EIP-4844.

So, what’s the Linea Voyage Waypoint: Road to Dencun?

L2s are cheap, sure, but they’re still not cheap enough. Dencun is the first major milestone towards removing one of the major blockers to web3 adoption — gas fees — and that’s an event worth celebrating!

The Road to Dencun is a series of Voyage Waypoints from January to March — IRL meetups in 21 cities around the world hosted by local community leads, bringing Linea community members both new and old to celebrate what Dencun means to Linea and Ethereum at large.

We hosted our mainnet launch party at ETHCC in Paris, but recognize that both Linea and Ethereum are so much bigger than just one city — we’re global communities. So, this time around, we want to celebrate this next chapter with you, regardless of where you are! We’ll be hosting Voyage Waypoints in:

  • Lahore, Pakistan

  • Bangalore, India

  • Jakarta, Indonesia

  • Singapore

  • San Francisco, USA

  • Vancouver, Canada

  • London, UK

  • Hanoi, Vietnam

  • Shanghai, China

  • Hong Kong

  • Dubai, UAE

  • Kyiv, Ukraine

  • Warsaw, Poland

  • Sao Paulo, Brazil

  • Dhaka, Bangladesh

  • Paris, France

  • Munich, Germany

  • Istanbul, Turkey

  • Bangkok, Thailand

  • Lagos, Nigeria

  • Seoul, Korea

Event dates and registration links will be posted over time. Keep an eye out on Linea’s Twitter and the Linea activations page for updates and more information! Additionally, follow Linea’s Youtube account to learn more about each of our community leads and what Web3 culture looks like around the world.

IMPORTANT: In order to receive your NFT ticket and accumulate Voyage XP into the wallet of your choice, please make sure to sign in on the Blocklive registration page by connecting your wallet, or linking the wallet of your choice to your email account as these are non-transferable. Voyage XP will only be issued to attendees who scan their QR codes IRL at the event.

Further reading

Before attending a Voyage Waypoint, brush up on your knowledge of Dencun! You can get the full rundown in this Dencun Upgrade series that all covers all 8 EIPs within the fork:

We’re so excited to learn about and celebrate building out the next phase of Ethereum scalability with you!

]]> m0ntap@newsletter.paragraph.com (m0nTap) <![CDATA[Crypto Needs its Captcha Moment]]> https://paragraph.com/@m0ntap/crypto-needs-its-captcha-moment kOajk8sRSOdHz6lyYhRu Sat, 27 Jan 2024 20:02:25 GMT Ever been stopped by a website and asked to prove you're not a robot? You know, those little tests where you're asked to pick out all the buses or decipher squiggly letters.

There's something much deeper to these "Captcha moments" than meets the eye. It's a simple task, but a game-changer when you realize what's happening behind the veil.

A (pretty accepted) urban legend out there says that whenever you correctly identify a bus or a fire hydrant, you're helping train models like DALL-E and Stable Diffusion. You're giving them the data to recognize patterns and differentiate between a bus and "not-a-bus." And you're doing it without realizing it.

Regardless of whether this urban legend is actually true or not, what Google does with character and image recognition models through reCAPTCHA is nothing short of a masterclass in the power that lies behind a million simple actions. These data-collection moments make a real difference when it comes to getting any product market-ready.

I wonder if there’s some sort of public and tamper-proof database out there, somewhere, anyone could pull from and use to give it their own twist…

What’s a Captcha Moment? What I call Captcha Moments aren’t limited to just this approach, though. You can find these kinds of interactions everywhere online. The positioning of banners on a website, the headline text on clickbait articles, even commercially available AI models make use of captcha moments to compound their optimization efforts. That’s why GPT4 blew us all away when compared to GPT3. We make these systems perfect by using them.

So, I’ve defined Captcha Moments as such:

  1. It’s seamless to the core experience. It should take at most 30 seconds of someone's time.

  2. Isn't the core experience. These kinds of moments are meant to run behind the scenes. Had OpenAI asked us to "help train the next generation of LLMs," they'd never have gotten GPT to master human-like conversation.

  3. Captures the underlying behavior tied to it. Something as simple as basic math, reading, or looking at pictures of cats comes as second nature to us, but not so much to the bots.

The Obligatory LLM comparison. Grounding all of this in the most recent example I’ve found, and one that was sorely needed: You are helping AI understand language better by using ChatGPT. Your generated threads, emails, and blog posts are helping these models not only understand what it takes to sound human but how to do so in any language as well. I could see a world where endangered languages live on through LLMs, even dead ones coming back from the grave through their closest descendants.

AI models have often been criticized for their skewed and Anglo-centric bias due to the datasets they were trained on. That being the case, we need to realize how AI is only as good as the data it's fed. If all the data you provide them is one flavor, you'll end up with a pretty bland AI. And there’s just no way we’re gathering enough of it to make AI more equitable through conventional methods.

Our big challenge for the coming decade will be distributing access to these valuable models while snowballing that mass adoption into their better, more empathetic versions. This is where ChatGPT is making a difference. By providing a clear source of value and using viral tactics (like your aforementioned Twitter threads), it's helping bridge the gap for LLMs in languages worldwide without posing any friction to the core user experience.

Now, how could we bring the aggregate data Ethereum (and chains in general) provides, and use it to help perfect us the same way our ML counterparts have so masterfully done?

What Does Onchain Behavior tell us? The complexity of crypto makes it challenging to find a seamless way to integrate it into everyday transactions in a way that helps us make sense of the underlying behavior. It's not as simple as identifying a fire hydrant. It's about security, privacy, and identity—and finding a seamless way to blend these elements into your online experience is a tall order.

It’s no mystery that onchain data is the biggest untapped goldmine we’re currently sitting on. And we carry the heavy burden of being responsible with its usage while we search for ways to sensemake with it while respecting the individual’s privacy.

While looking for possible interactions that fit my definition of a Captcha Moment, some momentous launches have pushed this idea without realizing it. But I have honestly struggled to find one that both fits the bill and is the responsible approach while we build the required safeguards.

Decentralized Financial Operations While crypto's original use case for decentralized financial transactions has all the potential in the world, I don't believe it's going to take us there just yet, for one simple reason:

Most people in this world don't have money; they want it, but their circumstances make it extremely challenging, even downright close to impossible, for them to get it. As such, most people harbor an unspoken resentment toward wealth and the people who enjoy it. You don't want to change the world on the shoulders of accidental millionaires because everyday people will never relate to or trust them.

We need a simple, unintrusive interaction that can solve many problems and usher in a new era, but we need it to be something everyone can understand and use without ever thinking of what's under the trunk.

Permissionless Identity and Proof of Personhood Immutable identity sounds like something straight out of a sci-fi movie. Carrying a universal identifier bears the promise of expediting so much of our everyday interactions. Stuff like lines in the airport and visits to the DMV will become a thing of the past if this tech reaches the mainstream.

But, when you look a bit deeper into it, you realize that a few crucial issues need to be addressed before that happens.

The recent Worldcoin launch showed us that a globalized identity protocol could get Orwellian very quickly. Plus, there are still a couple of bits and bobs to tweak before these solutions are ready to hit the streets. With multiple blockchains operating independently and lacking communication, basing your identity solution on the wrong ecosystem introduces significant security vulnerabilities, for example. No wonder most identity solutions are still struggling with the sybil problem.

Zero-knowledge networks have been pushing for a way to prove identity without giving away sensitive information for a couple of years now—an identity that could open doors at airports, banks, and online platforms without revealing your identifying data.

But what happens when your government or bank decides your credentials are "undesirable"? If it's all meant to run under the same system, it's a thin line to walk down when we conflate identity with credentialing, especially when the tech is meant to be hands-off and tamper-proof.

We’d end up exactly back where we started: a biased and bureaucratic mess that’s built to limit your access and keep you in line. Only this time, it’d be programmatic.

Finding Crypto's CAPTCHA Moment All of the previous use cases will change the world in due time, but they’re not the ones that will get us there. There's still one big hope for finding our mass adoption holy grail.

To no one's surprise, I believe web3 social and content creation might be the closest type of interaction to unlocking crypto's potential to the masses.

We have explored what DAOs and collectives can achieve, and NFTs have spent their time in the spotlight, but let's not stop there. I sniff the potential for earth-shattering experiences built on web3 social rails.

Just like how identifying buses and fire hydrants in a Captcha test helped train AI models, everyday interactions on decentralized social platforms could be the key to unlocking not only the essentials like collects, comments, and shares; but endless other types of participation that can be measured, understood, and improved upon beyond the confines of content.

Friendtech serves as an unexpected example of how this will happen. Sure, it was built by crypto natives for crypto natives, with shady financial undertones and an extractive premise from the get-go. But the second people started getting creative with it, we saw the magic.

Not only did we get the Onlyfans crowd rushing in at the mention of extra cash through gated experiences, but we also got people finding exciting ways to build on top of FT’s “primitives.” It’s only been two weeks or so, but there are already governance experiments, curated feeds, BTS access, and even RPGs running on top of the engagement Friendtech provided.

This example may make a bunch of you roll your eyes at me. But it is true. There’s no hype wave without its silver lining. And FT’s has been that a small cohort of people didn’t like the initial concept of monetizing their friendships and decided to make something useful out of it.

Social and application layers built on top of crypto have some definite advantages against the more established use cases (like financial and identity) in being crypto's CAPTCHA moment:

Seamless Adoption: Decentralized social platform interactions are a universal way for people to experience content, just as intuitive and unobtrusive as the original CAPTCHA test. Turning the feeds, we’re all used to into onchain transactions adds value without adding friction.

Clear Function and Value: Your likes, follows, shares, and comments generate data to be openly tokenized and distributed. Protocolized and composable distribution means there’s an easy way for people to join their favorite creators without making it all about crypto if they prefer not to (and plenty of ways to ride the speculative wave if they’re so inclined). People are free to pick their favorite way to experience you.

Underlying Behavior: Decentralized social platforms help creators share work, engage with audiences, and make a living. You don't need to remember your wallet address; your account is abstracted by default.

We've dug ourselves into a deep hole regarding crypto's potential to change the world by looking at these incredible new primitives without thinking about everyday people. And while social media (and other types of media, for that matter) are the most apparent path to help our ecosystem reach its full impact, there are possibly hundreds of other CAPTCHA moments out there, ripe for the taking to anyone creative and passionate enough.

People care about other people, who care about their established routines. Only by finding our way into these routines will we finally find that crypto consumer moment everyone’s been screeching about and beyond.

The tech itself holds so much potential, but it’s about time we start using it to build experiences that actually matter.

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