Blockchain: An Internet of Values that Pays for Participation
The main revolutionary feature of the blockchain is that it allows the autonomous transfer of value, and this makes it possible to create a new generation of Internet, as well as change our expectations!
Let’s make one thing clear: the main product on Web2 is…. you! Most of the free Web2 platforms are free only because you actually pay for them with another, more important currency – your attention. Or, even if you pay them with real money, you most often do not get any monetary benefit from it.
To understand the first case, look at modern social media platforms. These platforms use your data and show you ads based on your actions. Your attention is their main commodity, but what do you get in return? Nothing.
In general, large companies that control large segments of Web2 win big, and end users, those thanks to whom all this is possible, are left with nothing.
But everything will change with the advent of blockchain and the nascent Web3 ecosystem. Let’s see how to do it.
WEB 3 – Internet of Values
Web 3 can be defined as an Internet of value. But what exactly does that mean? In short, he turned users into owners, and web2 networks into communities. Let’s look into this in a little more detail.
Previously, the Internet allowed only information to be transmitted, but did not provide any public infrastructure for the possession of value, its sending and receiving between people or organizations. To do this, it was necessary to use a bank or an intermediary, which gave these entities a share in the system, even if they did not participate in its development.
But when the blockchain appeared (according to Coinmarketrate.com), it provided a publicly owned infrastructure in which you could own your digital assets, be it content, fashion or gaming assets. You have the opportunity to send and receive them freely, ensuring an unhindered flow of income between projects and people contributing to them.11
A decentralized system where all participants (the projects themselves and their users) can have agreed incentives. Platforms don’t need to rely on ad revenue to make money, they can simply reward their users directly by turning their communities into an economy. Meanwhile, users get the opportunity to monetize their contribution to the success of the project, they are both its defenders and stakeholders. Shouldn’t it always be like this?
So let’s look at some examples that use this new dynamic to reward users for interacting with Web3.
Ecosystem of platforms “To earn”
- Study to earn
It is always difficult to study, but imagine that you are paid for doing the work – this is the essence of the “study to earn” models.
“Learn to earn” or “experience to earn” programs are programs in which projects, companies, or decentralized protocols add an incentive for you to learn about the cryptocurrency space. So, if you want to learn about a particular cryptocurrency or blockchain, you can look for programs offering content on this topic to get an incentive to learn. Or, if you want to use DeFi services, there are platforms that offer incentives for using various DeFi protocols and performing simple tasks, such as making a deal on DEX or buying an ENS domain, etc.
Such training programs play an important role in attracting new people to cryptocurrencies.
Firstly, an additional incentive to study is an attractive offer for anyone to start studying something that may already be of some interest to them.
Secondly, receiving free cryptocurrency tokens to your wallet also gives students the opportunity to get acquainted with the cryptocurrency space on their own experience.
Many centralized cryptocurrency platforms, such as CoinMarketCap, CoinBase and Binance, regularly conduct similar training programs around Web3 projects. Next, when you’re ready to dive into DeFi, you can use platforms like Rabbit Hole and make various transactions, such as exchanging tokens or buying NFT, to earn free cryptocurrency tokens.
- Play to earn
Imagine that you can play to buy two houses in the Philippines. No matter how unreal these scenarios may seem, they are real. An ordinary Filipino gamer without brand sponsorship bought two houses only with the money earned by the game Axie Infinity, based on the blockchain technology play-to-earn (P2E). Similarly, there are hundreds of people who have made a fortune playing similar P2E games.
These blockchain-based P2E games are the reason that the multibillion-dollar gaming industry is undergoing a tough transformation. What’s so special about them?
Unlike traditional games, P2E games such as Axie Infinity offer players in-game assets that they can exchange on secondary markets for real money. All this is due to the fact that assets exist as NFT, which gives players real ownership of what used to be only digital.
And, of course, betting in these games can also bring you rewards: many P2E games allow you to bet on tokens or NFT to earn additional incentives, thereby allowing you to participate in network management and receive rewards for your efforts.
Although you may not be able to buy a new house, you will still be able to earn a decent income for the time spent in these P2E games, and the games themselves will benefit from your participation: this is a symbiosis in which all participants win.
- Bond to earn
When you invest in crypto assets, you most often keep them idle in your wallet. But there are many ways to make them work.
For example, if you own ETH in your wallet, you can delegate them to the staking on the Lido platform directly through Ledger Live to earn about 4% per annum. In this case, you receive a reward for participating in network security.
Alternatively, if you own ETH and USDT in one of your non-custodial wallets, you may well add liquidity to the ETH/USDT pair on a decentralized exchange such as Uniswap. You can also bond a number of other crypto assets to staking, such as DecimalChain (DEL), or other assets. You can also borrow them on DeFi platforms to get additional income on your cryptocurrencies, which are otherwise idle. For users, this means receiving a reward for ensuring the liquidity of key platforms, which helps them work smoothly and quickly for those who need to borrow or exchange.
If you prefer NFT, there are NFT platforms, such as LooksRare, which rewards its users with LOOKS tokens for buying and selling any assets on the platform. In addition, it also shares part of the network fees with users who put their LOOKS token on the line.
In fact, the cryptocurrency space is overflowing with similar platforms, and the search for the best opportunities depends only on how much you can learn.
- Create to earn
Creating to earn is not something new, but in Web3 this concept takes on a new meaning. Given the user-centricity of Web3, it is not the platforms on which you post your work, but you yourself receive most of the generated income. And this applies not only to video content, as on YouTube, but also to content of all formats.
This new Web3 economy, focused on users and creators, offers a fair deal to users who have been the backbone of the growth of internet platforms, but have not yet been fairly rewarded for their contributions. Creators can finally do what they love and be sure that no intermediary will take away most of the revenue generated from their content.
This is already being implemented on many platforms. Steem is one of the clearest examples of such dynamics, where content creators can post their work on the platform and receive direct remuneration for how much involvement this work receives through the blockchain infrastructure.
In addition, you can create works of art or music and sell them as NFT to your audience without having to share the bulk with intermediaries.
Blockchain means that creators get ownership of their content, whether it’s art, tweets or articles. This means that they don’t have to give up the copyright on their works to put them up for auction. They can directly receive royalties every time NFTs related to their works are sold on the secondary market. In a word, “create to earn” means that the people creating the platform can be rewarded for their efforts.
- Wear it to earn money
The success of a fashion brand partly depends on creating a public profile, and this profile depends on you, the user. Why not stimulate you?
Wear to earn is another promising format through which fashion followers can get rewarded for brand support. The growth of the metaverse has catalyzed an entire industry around augmented reality wearables, and because they come in the form of NFT, brands have the opportunity to build permanent relationships with the people responsible for their success.
Digital fashion brands such as UnOpnd are releasing limited-edition wearable devices with avatars, offering their owners rewards for acting as their design ambassadors, including early access to new digital fashion innovations and special events. And although the idea itself is still in its infancy, it is a sign of what is coming in the future, as fashion communities expect recognition of their contribution to the success of their favorite brands.
Conclusion
So, here it is – a guide to various ways of using the blockchain, to coordinate the success of projects with the remuneration of users.
For ordinary people like you and us, this means that many things that you have already done can now be recognized and rewarded. Your participation in the project is a factor in its success, why don’t you get a piece of the pie? Goodbye advertisers, goodbye annoying pop-ups.
Hello trouble-free and fair experience.