Mask Network Web3 Social Grant Round 3 Review

26 min readMay 6, 2023

The third installment of the Mask Network’s Web3 Social Grant round is currently being featured on the Gitcoin Grants Beta Round. Similar to past rounds, Quadratic Funding will be used to award $50,000 in matching funds, with a focus on the number of contributors rather than the amount of contribution. This approach helps address the issue of inefficient financing of public goods in the Ethereum ecosystem and encourages minority voting.

In the previous two rounds, 155 grantees were awarded matching funds of $50,000 each round.

In addition to funding the development of web3 social projects, we’re also interested in projects related to web3 infrastructure layers, information distribution protocols, data storage, and on-chain games.

Here are 40 projects that have been awarded, and grouped into eight broad categories:

Communication/ Messaging
Social Network
Social, Commercial & Collaboration Tools
Identity, Reputation Data Analytics & Applications
Creator Economy
DAO & DAO Tooling
ENS
Web3 Infrastructure Layers

1. Communication/ Messaging

Thunder Chat

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thunderchatapp?s=20

Website: https://thunder.im

Leveraging the ERC-4337 (an Ethereum standard that achieves account abstraction on the protocol without any consensus-layer changes) and paymaster capabilities, Thunder Chat aims to provide a secure messaging platform for users. Besides not having to go through the hassle of securing seed phrases to interact with the blockchain, social recovery of accounts is possible and gasless transactions can be achieved via third parties.

By encrypting messages before storing them on the blockchain with access given only to intended parties, users have complete control over their data and privacy.

Plebbit

Twitter: https://twitter.com/getplebbit?s=20

Website: https://plebbit.com

Plebbit is a protocol and tool for the creation of decentralised forum applications like Reddit, Facebook groups, Discourse, etc. It’s a pure P2P protocol, hence it doesn’t use any central server, databases, public HTTP endpoint, DNS, etc. It uses parts of the IPFS and Ethereum stack:

IPFS for immutable data, like a published comment or a recent subplebbit (an IPNS record updated every 5 minutes, containing the latest post’s CID, pubsub “topic” address etc.) page;
IPNS for mutable data, like replies to a comment, upvote counts, new posts/ comments published on a subplebbit, etc;
IPFS pubsub (messaging middleware for event ingestion and delivery) for authors publishing comments/ votes to a subplebbit and for the captcha challenge exchange between authors and subplebbits;
ENS for usernames, community names, and serving the client in browsers.

Plebbit allows for an unlimited number of subplebbits, users, posts, comments and votes. Users are able to post for free using an identical Reddit interface, while subplebbit owners are able to moderate spam semi-automatically using their own captcha service over peer-to-peer pubsub. Further, Plebbit client developers are able to serve an unlimited number of users, without any server, legal, advertising or moderation infrastructure.

Eppie

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EppieApp?s=20

Website: https://eppie.io

While there are 4B+ email accounts in the world, none actually belong to users since it’s the server that decides if a user is allowed to use their identity during the login, which is a privacy violation by design.

Eppie changes that with an open protocol decentralised email, giving Web3 users full account ownership. Users can create an account simply by accepting the seed phrase.

It is compatible with other DID standards and can send messages within Eppie’s own network or directly to any crypto wallet. The client application is also compatible with SMTP/ IMAP protocols, so users can connect and communicate through Web2 email services, but the emails never land on the server (i.e. going straight to the decentralised network).

Eppie has no servers. It works through a peer-to-peer network, where every device is a client. The application encrypts the data, breaks it to pieces and stores them on random nodes of the network — the other client machines. The address is also a public key. Only the user can retrieve the data using their matching private key. No one else has access to it, including Eppie’s developers.

ComingChat

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ComingChatApp?s=20

Website: https://coming.chat/

ComingChat is an all-in-one social portal built on the Sui Network, aiming to become the lifestyle choice for the next billion Web3 users. By combining ChatGPT, socialisation, and blockchain, ComingChat maximises users’ experience within the Sui ecosystem.

Key features include:

P2P Encrypted Chat using Signal Protocol;
CryptoCurrency Red Packet: users who use ComingChat can directly send their assets as gifts to friends;
Omnichain Wallet: supporting more than 20 chains across multi-ecosystems (e.g. EVM/ WASM/ Bitcoin/ Move-VM/ Terra/ Dogecoin etc.);
Integrating WalletConnect: users can easily send/ receive/ connect wallets by scanning QR codes;
Dmens: an on-chain twitter built on Sui Network available on browser and mobile, where every action (Like/ Share/ Quote) requires a confirmation on chain.
Discover: highlight the most popular products in each ecosystem.

Currently, ComingChat has more than 4 million users in 200+ countries around the world.

Atticc

Twitter: https://twitter.com/atticc_xyz?s=20

Website: https://atticc.xyz

Atticc is a web3 social platform helping NFT communities to launch through membership NFTs, grow and monetise — taking care of the whole process from creating, launching, minting to community building.

On Atticc every NFT collection has their own social space, allowing community members to connect, discuss and create together. Powered by ChatGPT, every community is equipped with an AI moderator, ready to enhance members’ social experience.

Atticc has over 20 NFT community collaborations and minted 5555 Early Adopter Passes across 4695 wallets, of which 5258 passes were free mints from community collaborations. 2% of total $ATT tokens are allocated to reward pass holders who stake their pass.

Its notification features are currently live with web2 logins integrated. Upcoming features include multichain integration, DAO Voting, community raffle, superpower NFTs with revenue sharing, creator tools, developer platform, monetisation, AI training and AI NFT.

2. Social Network

LensTags

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lenstags?s=20

Website: https://lenstags.xyz/

LensTags is a platform that allows Lens users to collect, organise, and share your favourite online resources with a community of people. With LensTags, users are able to:

Explore a community-driven curated feed;
Organise and categorise their collections through the creation of lists;
Add tags to publications and filter posts by tags based on interest;
Be verified curators with a custom ‘Badge’ signifying proof of knowledge and reliability (e.g. advocates, team members of a project etc.);
Create a public link to share their posts with the community;
Utilise LensTags in their preferred browser through a browser extension, thus collecting items with ease.

Thus far, LensTags have garnered positive responses with 5,600 people joining their Alpha waitlist.

Twittens.xyz

Twitter: https://twitter.com/twittensxyz?s=20

Website: https://www.twittens.xyz

Twittens makes it easier to find and connect with new collectors and NFT enthusiasts from their preferred NFT communities. It uses the metadata in ENS, specifically the twitter text record, and information about NFT collection owners to create a list of Twitter users who are members of NFT collections. Users are also able to set their twitter text-record in their ENS domain within a few clicks using set.twittens.xyz website (open-source).

W3Space

Twitter: https://twitter.com/w3space_?s=20

Website: https://test.w3space.co/

Powered by CyberConnect, W3Space is a fully customizable space for communities, with complete ownership and control. With low thresholds but much more possibilities, it’s easy to create and BUIDL 2D pixel metaverses for free.

To create community culture that is strengthened by all members, W3Space has features such as: video and voice chat support for communications and events; NFT imports, drops, and derivative creation; AI-Powered NPC and user interactions; SBT and identity visualisation; and community culture showcase.

W3Space utilises AI in a variety of ways, for instance: AI-Driven characters created by AI following users’ commands; NPCs tailored and trained with communities’ specialised documents; and AI-curated templates based on user prompts for assets and map creators.

Inspired by Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games (MMORPGs), W3Space connects every community via an open world where anyone can explore, socialise, create and have fun.

Pin Save

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PinSav3?s=20

Website: https://evm.pinsave.app

Pin Save is a decentralised image/ video sharing and content aggregation platform that allows users to control the content and the platform itself. With Pin Save, users can leverage the power of decentralised storage, smart contracts, and creator ownership of intellectual property to protect and monetize their content through sponsorships and advertising.

Its decentralised feed provides users with an easy and secure way to discover and share content, which includes NFTs on Canto, Polygon Mumbai and Fantom Chains. With the Feed, users can follow other users’ posts and receive feedback from other users. This feedback can be used to improve content and engage with others in the Pin Save community. The Feed also allows users to explore new and emerging trends.

Smart contracts and decentralised identity (ERC-725) allow users to maintain their anonymity and data protection. Pin Save also provides users with an upgradeable, resilient, and open decentralised storage system via Arweave and IPFS with NFTPort, Estuary and Nft.storage, to ensure their content is always safe.

Bloom Network

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OurBloomNetwork?s=20

Website: https://bloomnetwork.earth

Bloom is a cyber-physical social network that helps people find and participate in grassroots climate actions where they live. There are currently 30,000 people on the ground in 22 local Bloom hubs across 9 countries doing rapid climate repair and adaptation.

Local Bloom hubs connect existing projects in their region. They plant community gardens, teach people to form agroforestry co-ops, and build regional token economies focused on land and water stewardship. Online, they share knowledge P2P as a global community to implement climate repair more quickly and cost-effectively.

On the web3 front since Gitcoin Alpha, Bloom has been pilot planning with Kolektivo’s nature-backed stablecoin with Blooms in Diamante Valley, Costa Rica and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and developing Unlock membership subscription NFT.

In 2023, Bloom aims to welcome 100 new local Bloom hubs, pilot local/ international member fee splits to jumpstart local Blooms, complete their cooperative/DAO formation and implement cooperative patronage token to reward members for doing regenerative actions.

Eden

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EdenPredict?s=20

Website: https://0xeden.vercel.app/

Eden is a web2.9 social platform that invented OpinionNFT, an on-chain social asset that tokenises users’ views into tradable elements of social graphs. Users build unique online identities from collecting OpinionNFT, making event predictions, and mapping existing social contents.

Prediction markets allow participants to buy and sell shares in the outcome of future events, using the prices of the shares to make predictions and gather information.

Eden recently concluded the 1st round of closed Beta with over 200 users, averaging over 17% 7-day retention rate and screen time of over 16 mins/ day.

StarSocial

Twitter: https://twitter.com/_StarSocial?s=20

Website: https://star-social.vercel.app

StarSocial is a web3 social media aggregator app that combines platforms like Farcaster and Lenster, allowing users to view and interact with their social media accounts from a single platform. Thus, reducing the burden of managing multiple social media accounts, and making it easier for users to stay up-to-date with their friends’ latest posts and interactions.

By aggregating web3 socials, StarSocial streamlines the user’s social media experience, saving time and reducing the burden of managing multiple social media accounts. Users can easily switch between different platforms, post updates across all platforms, and customise their feeds. With Next ID relation service, users can search for their friends using their Twitter username, simplifying the process of finding and connecting with friends on web3 social media platforms.

Troop Finance

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TroopFinance?s=20

Website: https://troop.finance

Troop Finance is a social investment platform built on Lens Protocol where DeFi, collaboration, and socialization are bound together by allowing the creation of web3-evolved Investment Clubs and collaborative portfolios, making asset management much more inclusive.

Instead of a single investor earning a fee for managing a fund, this fee gets distributed amongst active members of a community who curate a portfolio. These communities are gathered around specific themes, financial goals and risk appetites, allowing retail investors to pick from a range of portfolios that suit them best. Curators earn reputation based on the quality of their contributions.

Consequently, retail investors get access to automated and diversified strategies that fit their needs without having to give up the custody of their money; scammers are kept at bay through an on-chain verifiable reputation and track-record systems; and community thought leaders and active members can collaborate in a single place while getting compensated for their contributions to the community.

Troop Finance currently has more than 3000 people on their waitlist and partnered with Collab.Land to integrate them in their Discord marketplace.

Nextme

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NextmeOne?s=20

Website: https://nextme.one/

Nextme is committed to bringing data and social life to life，building a rich Web3 social traffic and distribution portal, aiming to become a social portal and user-generated content (UGC) dating community driven by decentralized relationship protocols.

Nextme mainly serves creators and brand owners. With personalized and exquisite templates, one-stop delivery, and instant sharing of your Web3 social portal, you can connect, create, interact, trade, and make profits in the community square, so that social data rights belong to all holders, so that platform traffic advertising and portrait revenue can be fed back to all active individuals through decentralized agreement settlement.

Nextme has been in public beta for more than a month, and the number of wallet users is close to 100,000. Over 87,700 users have created and shared their own portal, and over 30,300 users have claimed official Social3 DID SBT. At the same time, it has also established cooperation or strategic acceleration relationships with 100+ excellent partners such as ENS, Lens, BNB, OKX, Element, Cointime, Rainbow, thirdweb, JpegPalace, BuidlerDAO, SeeDAO, PermaDAO, TokenPocket, CoolWallet, DeBox, bit, etc. In addition, Nextme also attracted the use and word-of-mouth communication of blue-chip Holders such as BAYC, Azuki, Punks, etc. in the early days, in multiple vertical fields (Crypto & Web3, Brand & IP, NFT, photographers, designers, bloggers, developers, Wallet, DAO, Finance, Infra, etc.) have a certain audience and a number of KOLs (1 million + fans) for trial and fission growth.

For more information, see the official portal: https://nextme.one/nextme.eth

Beta Showcase Gallery: https://nextme.one/explore

3. Social, Commercial & Collaboration Tools

POAPin

Twitter: https://twitter.com/glorylaboratory?s=20

Website: https://poap.in

POAPin is a series of tools built on the Proof of Attendance (POAP) ecosystem.

Currently, it is interoperable across Android, iOS, macOS, and a web-based POAP explorer. While the basic function is to organise and share POAPs, the web version also has features for creating custom topics and grouping POAPs together. Additionally, there is also pin.poap.in to create code to embed POAPs in web pages.

Recently, POAP.ooo was introduced allowing users to know when a relevant POAP is minted through email or browser notifications immediately.

Notably as of 18 April, POAP drops will be divided into personal and commercial categories, which will enable the POAP Curation Body to respond more appropriately to the needs of POAP issuers and open new doors for commercial drop opportunities. While POAP will remain free for personal use, preferential pricing will be made available to support issuers through the transition. Rates are anticipated to standardise at $1 per POAP after this initial period.

Lumi

Twitter: https://twitter.com/alonga110?s=20

Website: https://www.lumi.top/

Stemming from the Christian community with more than 1M Christian followers, Lumi aims to better unite people with the same ideals. Leveraging the Proof of Contribution Protocol (POCP), it encourages willing and wealthy people to donate more while those without funds are able to pray and help promote the cause.

Lumi users receive tokens to promote and donate to charity projects when they use Lumi’s dApp to read the bible/ pray. Upon donation to the charity project, they will receive a SBT badge, which allows them to find their community or users with the same badge. The identity of these users are verified by ZK-DID with people having zero knowledge of each other’s identity and behavioural information, while still being able to attest for authenticity so that no fraud is possible.

To date, Lumi has 1800k subscribers who have posted more than 3M prayers and shared more than 4.5M Bible verses in the Lumi community.

Pairwise

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Generalmagicio?s=20

Website: https://pairwise.generalmagic.io/

Pairwise is an open-source, snapshot-style voting dApp based on the big brain algorithm research out of Colony in 2018 that can be used in various contexts, such as community governance or project funding with custom front ends.

It aims to alleviate the woes of current voting mechanisms, which provide poor user experience and require a high cognitive overhead leading to intense voter apathy.

To make it easier for Web3 communities to signal their preferences and make informed decisions, Pairwise is designed to be user-friendly and intuitive, like a dating app. Users are able to choose between pairs of options to signal their preferences as opposed to having to read endless forum posts and vote within a set time period. The system converts these simple subjective inputs into objective, measurable outputs, minimising the cost and cognitive burden of voting. Pairwise could also be used to allocate budgets based on community signalling. It is compatible with all Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains and the development will be fully open source.

Tikki

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tikki_NFT?s=20

Website: https://www.tikki.app

Tikki is an NFT-based Web3 tool dedicated to connecting businesses, NFTs, and users — transforming any NFT into a voucher (membership card, ticket) for use in commerce. It simplifies NFT usage for users, helps businesses enter the metaverse, and leverages Web3 for their operations.

Ultimately, Tikki aims to achieve a Participate-to-Earn model combining web2 and web3.

Boasting a one-stop NFT management platform, Tikki allows businesses to create, distribute NFT, and manage user benefits while authenticating customers’ NFTs efficiently.

Key use cases includes:

Customer Loyalty Programs: by leveraging data-driven insights to identify target audiences and cater to their specific needs;
Events & Sponsorships: streamline ticket issuance and track sales performance with advanced analytics for targeted re-marketing;
Fan Economy: provide fans with one-of-a-kind digital assets and privileged experiences, enhancing their connection with creators and brands.

Fileverse

Twitter: https://twitter.com/fileverse?s=20

Website: https://fileverse.io

Fileverse is a web3 alternative to Google Workspace, Notion, or any centralised collaboration platform. It is fully customizable, private by design, and offers cheaper storage solutions by leveraging the power of IPFS & Arweave.

Fileverse Portal is their latest super dApp, which gives a space for onchain people and communities to collaborate online without the need to touch centralised servers.

The current Beta offers a full suite of collaboration and productivity tools (called Plugins). Users can deploy their Portal smart contract for free within two clicks and:

Create a fully decentralised collaboration space, data room or workspace, all decentralised and e2ee;
Store, encrypt, and share, any multimedia file (3D, images, video, documents);
Experience enhanced file sharing with each file having an in-built private chat space using the powerful p2p database gun.eco:
Create live collaboration documents and whiteboards where anyone can collaborate with their ENS or EVM address;
Token-gate any file or chat room using tokens or NFTs;
Create and airdrop unique access-tokens (NFTs) with custom metadata (name, image, etc.) to any address(es) to token-gate file(s) or chat room(s).

The team has also built two public goods that one can try without the need to own a wallet:

Fileverse Solo: users can upload, encrypt, share files with or without a wallet. A file sharing solution using the power of decentralisation that can be used by non-crypto natives.
Search Engine: a turbo search engine that allows users to index, search and visualise public content stored on the InterPlanetary File System e.g. copy/paste an IPFS hash and directly visualise the content

Moving forward, Fileverse Beta is currently Gasless and will soon transition to become completely Signless as well. Further, they are currently exploring the MetaMask ecosystem to include a custom “Mask Plugin” on Fileverse Beta with upcoming Plugins including an AI assistant usable directly on Portal, and also a direct option to store files permanently.

uSTAKING

Twitter: https://twitter.com/UstakingI?s=20

Website: https://ustaking.io

uSTAKING is a decentralized, transparent, and secure solution that allows any entity/ person to stake crypto assets for a long-term period and create passive income using a staking smart contract.

The uSTAKING smart contract uses a deficit model, issuing new tokens only during staking deposits from users. The smart contract allows stakers to choose between three different staking periods: 6 months, 1 and 3 years.

The uSTAKING Ecosystem is built on top of the Binance Smart Chain Network with the aim to create a real-world utility of decentralized technologies. Run by the uSTK utility token, the ecosystem includes uAcademy, uDEX, uWallet, uChat_AI, uGameFi, uCashBack, uMarketplace, uProperty and other services.

4. Identity, Reputation Data Analytics & Applications

HashKey DID

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HashKeyDID?s=20

Website: https://www.hashkey.id

With the goal of being a user’s Passport in web3, HashKey DID is a multi-chain decentralised identity data aggregator powered by smart contracts, NFT, and privacy protection decentralised protocol to provide identity services to Web3 users. As an essential piece of Web3 infrastructure in the HashKey ecosystem, the fundamental goal of HashKey DID is to build a community-governed HashKey DID DAO together with users.

HashKey DID’s key functionalities include:

Credential: to issue a commemorative badge or NFT for an event, the issuer only needs to contact the official HashKey DID with his address, and obtain the official signature information from HashKey DID. Issuer can invoke DID contract with signature to publish his credentials.
Islands: established to help everyone easily set up a DAO. .key DID will be used as the user’s identity in the DAO. Users will automatically obtain the corresponding identity role in the DAO according to their different identity characteristics with different voting weights assigned to different DID roles;
Space: allow users to display their tokens, showcase their collectibles and the value of their NFTs and show their on-chain reputation;
Credit Score: prove a user’s social reputation through identity credit system.

HashKey DID currently has 1.1M DID users, 3.2M credentials and 29 ecosystem members.

QuarkID

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quark_ID?s=20

Website: https://quarkid.org/

QuarkID is a digital trust protocol that implements a new security framework for the creation and management of digital identities and all their credentials in a decentralised way, using asymmetric cryptography and the immutability of blockchain to create trust in a digital world. It is public, permissionless, open, extensible and multichain making it capable of interoperating with other similar protocols.

Designed for peer-to-peer privacy:

Customers can be requested to reveal only the specific verifiable credential data necessary to complete the transaction;
Exclusive ownership of personal wallet with all credentials in one place;
Peer-to-peer interaction can take place without the existence of a third party verifying the data or its reception.

QuarkID is anchored in the Starknet, Ethereum, Polygon and Rootstock networks. There are currently 2500+ users, across 5 countries and 12 cities.

Gameland

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HelloGameland?s=20

Website: https://dapp.gameland.network

With the launch of a player data trading platform on BNB and Polygon, Gameland is a beacon for game developers to connect players socially.

Through web3 profile reputation, players can establish their personal brand and change their monetization channels, rather than relying solely on traditional game promotion models.

The commercialization of player information allows players to own their data and turn it into a profile NFT. This means that they can share data between games on different chains and even convert it into assets in other games for free trade both inside and outside of the game.

Some of their key features include:

Data Identity & Analytics: the unique digital identity provides a new form of social interaction, ensuring user data privacy and security, and providing a clearer player profile;
Standardized Data Storage and Interoperability: provide reliable data storage, scalability, and security for game developers, and offer players a cross-platform gaming experience;
Pluggability: Automated game data services for developers reduce manual workload, optimise game design and marketing, and increase user retention and revenue. Utilising the player’s NFT, Gameland enables the commercialization of player data and a proof of gamer key. Players can easily access their on-chain data to create a unique digital identity by combining their game ID with other data. This identity can be used to showcase their skills and achievements in the game, as well as to engage in transactions and collaborative activities within the game.

Recently, Gameland released a new feature that allows players to see their interaction graph on their personal homepage.

HashKey Me

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hashkey_me?s=20

Website: https://me.hashkey.com/en

HashKey Me is a web3 wallet based on TSS (Threshold Signature Scheme) and MPC (Multi-Party Computation) in which there is no need to remember complex mnemonic phrases.

HashKey Me provides the complete integrated solution to DID (Decentralised IDentifiers), which is a new type of identifier that enables verifiable, decentralised digital identity. It currently supports major public chains including Bitcoin, Etherum, Arbitrum, Polygon, Avalanche, BNB Chain, Polkadot, Heco, OKX Chain, Conflux, Cosmos and PlatON, with more to follow soon. Users can join the governance of these blockchains, such as voting & staking, and access DeFi & dApps with just one tap. Additionally, users are able to chat with friends, mint NFTs and display all their NFTs, SBTs and Collections in their profile.

Praise

Twitter: https://twitter.com/givepraise?s=20

Website: https://givepraise.xyz

Praise is an open-source community intelligence tool that has been designed to create a more engaging online environment.

Praise can be used to:

Build reputation scores: a built-in feature allowing the creation of reputation scores, which can be used to reward contributors for their efforts thus providing a transparent and verifiable record of community contributions;
Reward contributors: integrated with a variety of token distribution platforms, Praise allows contributors to reward peers for their participation and loyalty with tokens, points, badges, or other virtual reward;.
Build a culture of cooperation, giving and gratitude: by allowing community members to easily give Praise to other peers for their contributions, it creates a positive feedback loop, which motivates people to continue performing well and contributing to the community.

Praise has 1284 active praise givers from 13 active communities (DAO’s). These users have given a total of 34554 praises since the inception of the platform. In addition to the 13 active communities currently using Praise, they also have a waiting list of over 20 communities who have expressed interest in integrating our platform.

Upcoming features include a reputation token minter that could potentially be integrated for governance, AI integration to better understand the community, 1-click self-deployment, upgrade reports exports, and analytics, NFT reputation badge minter, and Praise decentralisation by using Ceramic. Other web3 open source tools that are in the pipeline for integration include Gitcoin Passport, Hypercerts and Superfluid.

5. Creator Economy

dAgora

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DDAOcommunity?s=20

More Information: https://github.com/dAgora-playground

dAgora is a creator service built on Web3 technology and centred around community-generated content. It contains a series of constituent modules, including content collection, subscription, curation, and co-creation.

dAgora’s first module, Cori, enables users to deposit content from digital communities onto the blockchain, with decentralised storage and ownership confirmation. The MVP version of Cori is a Discord-based bot that allows members to curate conversations by adding summaries and tagging. Curated conversations are then stored on a blockchain, including information such as the Discord server ID, channel, author, and curator.

Cori’s content is stored on IPFS, and content rights information is stored on the public chain Crossbell. Any Discord moderator can add Cori to their server, allowing members to save the best content on the chain. In the future, Cori will support more social scenarios beyond Discord.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/theshrxyz?s=20

Website: https://theshr.xyz

Built with Lens Protocol and Polygon Network, Share is a decentralised Web3 publishing platform where authors can publish articles as NFT, and readers can interact with their favourite authors.

Authors can write articles with a block editor and DALLE-2 API for covers and configure how they want to monetize the article. Thereafter, the article is published and shared to the whole Lens ecosystem (Lenster, Lensta, Orb etc.). Revenues can be optimised by automatically investing them on AAVE or a Vault.

Readers can collect articles, up/ down vote, access to token-gated content and embark on Curate to Earn — share the most relevant content while earning passive income.

Splash

Twitter: https://twitter.com/splashdotwatch?s=20

Website: https://splash.watch

Splash addresses the critical issues of fairness in the content creation and distribution model, difficult monetization for creators, and unrewarded time and attention.

By building an SDK for any dApp to integrate videos and setting the earnings rate, users are rewarded for their time and attention by creating and watching videos (per 100 unique views) through interest-bearing tokens. Currently, Splash is working on a special project to launch SplashX with the aim to disrupt the Anime industry by empowering Anime creators and viewers, and lowering the entry barrier to become an Anime creator.

Ensō Collective

Twitter: https://twitter.com/enso_collective?s=20

Website: https://ensocollective.xyz

Ensō Collective uses blockchain transactions and web3 reputation to provide a social commerce experience that values curation over quantity, making it easy for users to discover and purchase the products that truly align with their tastes.

Built on top of Lens Protocol, the platform links brands and designers with their tastemakers, allowing them to earn from onchain attribution.

Key features include:

Save posts: save Publications in a public or private board;
Split collect: multiple parties part of the creation of a publication receive revenue upon its collection;
Affiliate split: original creator with reach and audience is rewarded with a % split of the Collect fee;
Multi-collect shopping: save user’s Collects in a shopping cart;
Address collect: certain publications, upon collection, will lead to a physical product being shipped by a brand;
Public goods: share rewards on profile and feed.

6. DAO and DAO Tooling

Daolize

Twitter: https://twitter.com/daolize?s=20

Website: https://daolize.com

Nestled within the name ‘Daolize’ lies the essence of the platform’s mission. The term ‘Daolize’ is a fusion of “DAO” (Decentralised Autonomous Organization) and the suffix “-lize,” found in words like socialise, decentralise, personalise, and revitalise.

As a Web3 platform tailored to serve NFT communities, it uses NFTs as membership tokens to encourage active participation, and transparent, inclusive and collaborative communication.

The platform enables NFT holders to contribute to a unique, community-specific timeline by posting content, upvoting other members’ contributions, and engaging with their peers. The most popular posts are promoted to community social media accounts, such as Twitter, leveraging their digital presence for increased visibility and growth.

In addition to proposing engaging content, each community member will be identified by one of their NFTs, which further enhances the sense of participation and belonging. This unique approach allows users to showcase their favourite NFTs as their profile pictures (PFPs) within the platform, creating a more personalised and visually appealing environment. Consequently, each user will have a different PFP for each collection they are part of, highlighting the diversity and vibrancy of the NFT communities they engage with.

Lens Club

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lensclubs?s=20

Website: https://lensclubs.xyz

The primitive of a “social multi-sig” started with brands not being able to share access to their Lens Protocol account and expanded with the idea that DAOs and communities shouldn’t only share financial capital, but also other forms of ownership, like social, cultural and intellectual capital.

Starting with Lens Protocol, Lens Clubs aims to allow multiple people to own and manage a web3 social account (profileNFT). Users can add multiple collaborators to the account and set thresholds for approvals before an action (e.g. post, mirror, etc…) is executed. A key feature is the possibility to give very granular permissions to different members/ collaborators.

Moving forward, Lens Club will be launching a new feature that allows the tracking of each member’s reputation on-chain, thus making organisations as transparent as possible for collaborators.

DAOLink

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DAOLink42?s=20

Website: https://daolink.space

DAOLink is a metaverse for DAOs and digital nomads to build their project, acquire new users, grow their community, improve user engagement, and drive up transaction volume. Its goal is to create a better metaverse, allowing everyone to earn crypto assets through online meetings/ missions/ events and browsing ads.

The underlying technology will be constructed using multiple protocols such as “open map editing protocol,” “open component editing protocol,” and “ad revenue sharing protocol” with the COCOS engine (an open-source framework for building 2D & 3D real-time rendering and interactive contents).

DAOLink is a social-ecological metaverse consisting of two fundamental concepts:

DAO will provide various DAO organisations and project parties with a visual, highly interactive, and workflow tool-based organisational space where organisations can customise and extend their space;
Link is a public social space for all users, similar to a large virtual plaza, where individuals can interact with others/ buildings and obtain valuable project information.

HyperCartridge

Twitter: https://twitter.com/recipromancer?s=20

Website: https://ethglobal.com/showcase/hypercartridge-66mhs

HyperCartridge’s goal is to build a mechanism for self-sovereign off-chain applications that inherit a similar control and risk profile to the on-chain assets that spawn them, by encapsulating logic and state into an NFT and using it to bootstrap collaborative client applications.

Instead of dApps relying heavily on web2 infrastructure and services, HyperCartridge allows users to deploy interfaces or simple collaborative applications from an on-chain source of truth without requiring dependence on centralised web2 infrastructure. For instance, collaborative application cartridges can be minted and distributed using NFTs, and served via users’ ENS name.

Each HyperCartridge NFT serves a static web app to users, with an optional sync server that allows multiplayer, collaborative experiences between multiple users running the same HyperCartridge.

7. ENS

eth.limo

Twitter: https://twitter.com/eth_limo?s=20

Website: https://eth.limo

Eth.limo (LIMO) is a privacy-preserving ENS gateway, enabling users to access Ethereum-native dApps and content. LIMO represents a shift in dWeb adoption by providing an alternative means of accessing ENS resolvable domains.

It takes public gateway services a step further by enforcing strong privacy guarantees, for instance, never logging IP addresses or engaging in TCP fingerprinting (a process where a remote site or service gathers little bits of information about a user’s machine and creates a unique profile of the user). It also actively blocks FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts) — a Google developed algorithm that tracks and correlates users based on their browsing history.

LIMO supports every ENS compatible storage layer, allowing users to utilise IPFS, Arweave and Swarm ContentHashes. Further, it also supports CCIP-Read for L2 and off-chain lookups, emoji and unicode domains, fallback record checking and on-demand ENS subdomain certificates.

Moving forward, LIMO will be bolstering accessibility and facilitating developer experience with a suite of modern deployment tools. For instance, hotcaching (dynamically update ENS mapping cache in real-time as records are updated on-chain), reverse lookups (search for ENS names based on the IPFS CID or contenthash) and decentralising the LIMO infrastructure through a community run Content Delivery Network (CDN).

1W3

Twitter: https://twitter.com/1W3io?s=20

Website: https://1W3.eth.limo

1W3 is a one-stop solution for users to design, build and publish a no-code web3 website on IPFS, Arweave for their ENS Domains. Users can easily create professional-grade websites and publish them to decentralized storage platforms like IPFS and Arweave ensuring their content is safe, secure, and easily accessible from anywhere in the world. Users will get an IInterPlanetary Name System (IPNS) key when a Website is published at http://1w3.eth.limo.

Essentially, it’s a user’s personal, censorship-resistant hub to showcase their unique identity and creations.

ENSRedirect

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ensredirect?s=20

Website: https://ensredirect.xyz/

Hosted on ENS and IPFS, ENSRedirect is a tool to help ENS domain holders make the most out of their .eth names. Users can generate and showcase their Web3 profile by seamlessly integrating videos and podcasts from their favourite social platforms, or by easily redirecting their domain to any website for free.

ENSRedirect’s latest feature allows content creators to host their content on their ENS domains by generating their personalised profiles. Embedding videos on a user’s profile allows them to connect with their audience across their social media platforms to their ENS domain all on one page.

Launched in November 2021, ENSRedirect currently has over 500 unique users and continues to foster local engagement in Kenya.

8. Web3 Infrastructure Layers

4EVERLAND

Twitter: https://twitter.com/4everland_org?s=20

Website: https://www.4everland.org/

4EVERLAND is a Web 3.0 cloud computing platform that integrates storage, computing, and network as its core capabilities. It aims to help users make a smooth leap from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0 and become the infrastructure for millions of Web 3.0 developers and applications.

As a one-stop solution for dApps building, it provides:

DWeb Hosting: developers are able to host websites or DApps on multiple protocols such as IPFS, Arweave, etc. Users can deploy websites to Web 3.0 by using Github authorization or a Cli local template build.
Storage: bucket enables users to upload, store, and fetch files from multiple protocols such as IPFS and Arweave in a secure, convenient, and efficient manner. It’s compatible with AWS S3 APIs, interface operations, CLI, and other upload methods;
Decentralized Gateway: 200+ globally distributed gateway nodes available to provide developers with more efficient and faster Web 3.0 access;
Payments on Multiple Chains
Other features such as data analytics, decentralized domains, and underlying computing features.

Empowering users with a distributed, high-efficient, self-incentivized, and low-cost data hosting network — 4EVERLAND currently has 50,000 developers, 99.99% guaranteed uptime and promises 10x performance boost.

4EVERLAND is now live on the ZKSync Era mainnet, allowing users to register their identity on Era and use Era assets to purchase storage resources.

DB3 Network

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Db3Network?s=20

Website: https://db3.network

DB3 Network is a permissionless and decentralised data layer that enables data interoperability for web3 applications.

dApps frequently require the ability to Create, Read, Update and Delete (CRUD) vast amounts of user-generated data, all while maintaining a decentralised architecture. DB3’s robust and secure decentralised database acts as a back-end service for the dApps, replacing the user’s Firebase/ MySQL. Thus, users can effortlessly create data-intensive applications such as decentralised social networking and forum apps, GameFi, information management tools, dynamic NFT and more.

Additionally, users can manage the database created, check the access status of the statistics app, manage their own defined onchain functions and track transaction details.

DB3 supports multichain, utilising existing public chains for token management and fee settlement. For instance, Ethereum, BSC, Solana, Polygon, Arbitrum and Scroll.

DataverseOS

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DataverseOS?s=20

Website: https://dataverse-os.com

DataverseOS is the first web3-native operating system with identity sovereignty and data ownership.

With the core system being the web3 kernel, built for personal cloud OS with app programmability — it exposes SystemCalls to developers and ensures cross-app data security so developers can build web3 dApps without identity and storage backends, thus making it 10x easier.

Developers can build user-centric dApps upon a programmable data layer that allow users to truly control identities, contents, data and even algorithms.

Redefining how users interact with the web, the main user interfaces include:

The web computer to visualise & monetise personal data over dApps, e.g., posts/follows/likes;
The data wallet for identity authentication and dApp programmability, simply “Connect Identity”.

Developers can explore DataverseOS stacks by using create-dataverse-app framework or fork the playground example to learn more primitives. For instance building:

More social components for the dataverse ecosystem, e.g. data models for follows/ comments
Non-social tool applications, e.g. notes/news/music.

US3R

Twitter: https://twitter.com/getus3r?s=20

Website: https://us3r.co

US3R Network, is a development platform and dApps ecosystem that makes it easy for developers to build off-chain decentralised storage with an integrated suite of toolkits including data wallet, data explorer and developer console as well as protocol enhancements.

Their main products include:

U3: a user-centric super app that aggregates everything the average web3 user needs, including daily content, events, social, and popular dApps;
S3: the only open sourced data explorer provider in the Ceramic ecosystem.

Notably, US3R authored ChainAgnostic CAIP for Solana which defines how any asset on Solana could be represented in an interoperable standard.

Overall, US3R aims to create and nurture an ecosystem of decentralised hybrid applications, by building tools and infrastructures for an off-chain programmable, interoperable network of self-certifying data.