Good morning.
This is mitsui from web3researcher.

Today's article will be an interview with morokitch, the Japanese BD of REVOX.

In fact, REVOX has asked me to be their media partner in Japan, and we have decided to form a cooperative relationship. Therefore, I plan to use this article as a starting point to publish a supporting article in the newsletter once every few months, but I do not intend to write an article just for announcements, and I will update it as content that you can read, learn from, and find interesting as a use case, so please look forward to it! Please look forward to it!

So, let's get down to business. In this interview, we asked for an overview of the REVOX product line, the reasons for the rebranding and the transition, and details of the ongoing Airdrop Program. We also received comments from Neo, the REVOX Founder, at the end of the interview, so please read to the end!

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-What is the overview of -REVOX?

REVOX is a project to build products that combine blockchain and AI. We currently have 4 products and will act as a platform to build AI-based Dapps in the future.

Originally named ReadON DAO, the project was intended as a content platform to earn money by reading, but the entire project was rebranded and renamed REVOX as part of the AI focus.

-What led you to focus on AI?

REVOX was launched by two founders, Neo and Troy. Neo is a serial entrepreneur who has been exposed to crypto since 2012, and after witnessing the huge success of STEPN, he realized the potential of combining what is generally considered a good practice with a token incentive to encourage people to change their behavior, and decided to combine the habit of reading good news with a token incentive. We came up with the idea of combining the habit of reading good news with token incentives.

The other, Troy, is an engineer with a background in AI and natural linguistics from Carnegie Mellon University, where he worked on ad serving algorithms for TikTok and Pinterest and was the product lead. They both worked at the Web2 version of the Read and Earn platform, Today's Toujos, and launched ReadON to expand their successful Web2 experience into the Web3 space.

ReadON was initially developed as a product to realize Read and Earn, but the development team assembled by Troy included many talented people, including former Google engineers, and rich features were incorporated one after another.

For example, AI functions were integrated into ReadON, a content delivery application, using AI's natural language processing capabilities to display a summary of the article at the beginning of every news article and to implement a comprehension quiz at the end of the article.

As a result of these successful AI integration experiences, we felt that more could be done in the AI x web3 domain and decided to rebrand to the name REVOX. revox is focused on the content domain, while developing advanced products in the AI x web3 domain. REVOX is a leading company in the AI x web3 domain, while keeping its focus on the content domain.

-What is your current product line?

Currently, REVOX has four products, which I will explain one by one.

①ReadON DAO

The first is ReadON DAO, which has been in operation for some time; it is a Read and Earn product, and users earn points by reading content. It has been used by users all over the world, including Nigeria, Pakistan, and other emerging countries, where it ranked No. 1 in the Google Plan app rankings.

We have a very large number of users, with the UAW recently surpassing 700,000 users.

Many of you may be familiar with these products, so we would like to explain in detail about the following three products in particular, which were released after the rebranding.

②ShareON

ShareON" is a mini-application of Telegram. It is simple to use and is mainly readable by many areas of Web2 systems.

Users can read a variety of articles and earn ReadON DAO tokens called tReads for reading articles they have not yet read. Users can earn up to five tReads per day simply by clicking on an article to read it, and additional incentives can be earned by asking other users to read the article by clicking the "Share Now" button.

To be honest, it is difficult to offer benefits in Japan, but one of the significance of creating ShareON is that it is widely used in countries where Internet media is still underdeveloped. For example, in one region of the Middle East, we found that when they use the Internet, they use it mainly just to access entertainment, such as downloading free music or accessing TikTok, etc. When we offered ShareON, we received positive reactions that it was very useful. reactions.

In fact, we even received a letter from a user in the Middle East, mentioning such content and thanking us for the possibility.

This shows the value of simply curating and communicating Web2News in areas where the Internet is not yet fully utilized.

While ReadON DAO allows you to read articles in your set language worldwide, ShareON only allows you to read articles localized to your region.

③CONTENT HUB

The CONTENT HUB is an app that works closely with the ReadON DAO app, allowing users to curate their favorite articles.

Each week, the most popular articles of the week are picked up, and while ReadON DAO's popularity is rated based on the number of likes and bookmarks, this one is rated based on the number of times the Curate button is pressed.

ReadON DAO collects articles from dozens of companies such as Cointelegraph, but at the time of its release, it was not possible to automatically index content at the initiative of users. Therefore, the CONTENT HUB was launched with the idea of creating a more decentralized system that allows any web3 user to index content.

Ideally, the content should be indexed in the ReadON DAO content system when curation is complete, but due to some pranks in previous implementations that included irrelevant links, the management now checks the pooled links that look OK before importing them into ReadON DAO after checking the pooled links that seem to be OK. In the future, we would like to introduce AI-based evaluation so that all users can freely index web3 content.

User submissions will appear in the History, and the WEEKLY serves as a timeline and ranking. As an incentive, contributors to the top 55 ranked articles will receive ReadON DAO testnet tokens, which will be airdropped at TGE timing.

④REVOX LENSE

REVOX LENSE" is the area we want to focus on the most.

This product is available in Wallet Connect and will sort your ETH, OKB, etc. based on the ticker database in order of the amount of assets you own. You can then press the Analyze button and the information for that token will be automatically displayed.

Daily credits are required to use this feature, and users can earn 20 daily credits per day; it costs 4 credits to submit one analysis request, allowing for 5 analyses per day.

Until TGE, points are awarded for credits, and others can be earned through cumulative logins and achievements.

For example, Analyze Bitcoin summarizes May insights, news, recent developments, basic information about bitcoin, and price fluctuations, and provides sources for each piece of information. In addition, a mind map organizes and visualizes the analysis results in an easy-to-understand manner.

After analyzing, you can ask questions in an interactive chatbot format, and questions can be asked in Japanese. Answers are provided in 500~600 characters, and if a question is difficult to understand, additional questions will come from the REVOX side. Currently, the service is available only for the cost of gas, but there is a possibility that a fee will be charged in the future.

Analyses are updated daily and cover the hottest topics at the time. Questions can be asked at any time, but you will not be able to ask questions about tokens for which you have not unlocked the Analyze, so you will need to Analyze more than once.

REVOX LENSE" functions as a general-purpose AI in the web3 domain.

-What is your vision for the future of -REVOX?

Yes, here are some key excerpts fromthe REVOX white paper: there are three ways REVOX aims to use AI

1. To allow developers to build Dapps with AI on the REVOX platform.

2. Open integration by providing APIs and developer tools to standardize and share third-party data and logic

3. Provide an interface to connect to web3 through intents and other easy-to-understand tools.

The underlying reason is that on-chain AI inference is underdeveloped as an industry. Currently, the process of AI inference is mainly done off-chain, which deviates from the decentralized philosophy and does not eliminate malicious intent and vulnerabilities on the part of the platform.

REVOX aims to establish technology for AI inference on-chain and to make the project available in a simple form, such as an API. In particular, we plan to strengthen the synergy between web3 and AI, focusing on the lack of intersection between smart contracts and other fundamental technologies and the evolution of AI.

As a component of REVOX, plug-ins acquire external information (including ReadON app content data) and multiple primitive agents specialized for their job functions learn them. These agents combine to implement various functions.

Ask ChatGPT about web3 and you will often get a tacit answer, but REVOX is trained on web3, so the agents are continuously learning and trained on the latest data. Users can access the output of multiple primitive agents through APIs, smart contracts, and REVOX's product interface. For example, it can report on price trend information for tokens obtained from open data sources.

-What are your thoughts on monetization?

I have a few ideas.

For example, "REVOX LENSE" is currently offered for free, but will be paid for in the future. Therefore, usage fees from users will be one of the sources of revenue.

We will also provide APIs to facilitate the development of AI-based Dapps, thereby ensuring a revenue stream for toB.

Finally, since the deployment of AI services requires significant computing power, REVOX is considering a mechanism to have people who can provide outside computing resources calculate the viability of transactions that are being requested.

This is similar to PoS in that REVOX uses outside computing power for on-chain computation. Those who provide the computational resources are required to staking certain tokens and there is also a thrashing risk for fraud. To detect this fraud, REVOX is also researching technologies such as zkML and opML, and eventually these technologies will make it easier to verify external computational resource providers.

-REVOX is the image of a platform, right?

Yes, we are working on a platform that will make it easy to create AI-based Dapps and apps that combine AI agents on REVOX. In addition to chains that specialize in distributing their own content, the platform will be multi-chain compatible so that AI Dapps can be developed across multiple chains.

-I heard that they are currently in an airdrop program.

Yes, you can receive tokens as proof of early contribution to receive token air drops by using all the Dapps introduced today.

Each product has a different name for the points and tokens you receive, but there is only one token issued, so I hope you will use it according to your preference and capability!

-When do you plan to issue the tokens?

It is scheduled for 4Q 2024 or something like that, so it is scheduled for the end of the year. Until then, this program will be held all the time. It may be updated or new products may be added depending on the situation, but basically it will continue in the same way.

-Finally, please let us know again.

Yes, thank you very much for your time today.

We have an airdrop before the end of the year and would love to have you touch a variety of products. We appreciate all of them, but if possible, we would be happy if you could actively touch web3 native products like CONTENT HUB and REVOX LENS.

We also provide careful support for Japanese who are not good at English or do not understand basic operations such as bridge, and we have an open chat on LINE, so please feel free to ask anything if you have any questions!

🟢Join the LINE open chathere

Also, many Japanese people cannot read English, so there is a time lag in information on various projects, but I hope you will be relieved to know that I am the BD of REVOX in Japan and that I am working for the Japanese market. I do my best to ensure that there is no disadvantage in gathering information due to the language barrier.

-REVOX Founder "Neo" commented for this article!

In today's global market, widespread information inequality persists, stemming from inherent language and cultural barriers, centralized Even in developed countries like Japan, updates on the latest technology and global market Even in developed countries like Japan, updates on the latest technology and global market opportunities often lack timeliness or accessible channels. Less developed countries, where users have leapt into the internet age, only to use it for downloading free music and following celebrities on Instagram.

AI and Web3 technologies are rapidly evolving, and we believe the advancement of these technologies will provide users with novel ways to access information, significantly enhancing the efficiency and quality of information acquisition. This has the potential to create immense societal value. AI will serve as a second brain for users, while Web3 technology will ensure this brain operates freely. Our products are dedicated to improving information equity, creating innovative ways to access information.

We envision a day when people in Lagos (Nigeria's largest city with a population exceeding 20 million), Jakarta, Tokyo, and New York can all share in the latest global changes, thoughts, creations, and discussions. This will empower individuals to freely choose and engage in valuable life goals.

These are the interviews about REVOX!

Finally, a few final thoughts on the interview.

Also, there are not many web3 products in the market today that have over 700,000 users on UAW instead of GameFi. Of course there is the boost of the airdrop period, but the fact that it is being used globally even before that and being used in emerging countries such as Nigeria, where the needs of users have been pierced, is an ideal way to grow as a platform.

I think REVOX is a product that can be used on a daily basis by replacing the usual news information gathering and research-related analysis with the REVOX product line, rather than taking any action for a new airdrop.

I myself have an affinity with the activity as a researcher, so I will support it while touching various things! If you are interested, please feel free to use it!

• REVOX HP

• REVOX X

• ReadON DAO

• ShareON

• CONTENTS HUB

• REVOX LENSE

• Japan BD morokitch X

Disclaimer：I carefully examine and write the information that I research, but since it is personally operated and there are many parts with English sources, there may be some paraphrasing or incorrect information. Please understand. Also, there may be introductions of Dapps, NFTs, and tokens in the articles, but there is absolutely no solicitation purpose. Please purchase and use them at your own risk.

About us
A web3 newsletter delivered in five languages around the world. We deliver various articles about web3, including project explanations, news and trend analysis, and industry reports, every day. You can subscribe for $8 per month ($80 per year) and receive research articles that took 100 hours to complete every day.

Author
mitsui
A web3 researcher. Operating the newsletter "web3 Research" delivered in five languages around the world.

Contact
The author is a web3 researcher based in Japan. If you have a project that is interested in expanding to Japan, please contact the following:

• X：@web3researchgl

• Telegram：@mitsui0x

*Please note that this newsletter translates articles that are originally in Japanese. There may be translation mistakes such as mistranslations or paraphrasing, so please understand in advance.

Good morning.
This is mitsui from web3researcher.

Today's article is an interview with Mr. kinjo, an AKINDO Founday. We asked him about the ongoing "WaveHack Global" event.

-First of all, please introduce yourself.

Yes, my name is KINJO. We develop and manage AKINDO, Japan's largest web3hackathon platform.

In nearly a year and a half, I have supported more than 30 hackathons as well as workshops, idea sessions, meetups, parties, and other projects that want to create a builder community. We have been recognized as having the best builder community in Japan and have also supported hackathons for top global projects such as Aptos, ZkSync, Scroll, and XRP Leisure.

We also hold our own hackathon events, and one of the most exciting was the Tokyo web3 Hackathon held in the fall of 2022. Including the preliminary study session, about 800 people entered the event, and more than 100 products were submitted. This event led to the impression that "kinjo is the name of the game when it comes to hackathons," and we have been providing support for the planning of various hackathons.

-Please tell us about your career to date.

I have been in the startup internet area for over 10 years. For example, I was involved in the launch of "BASE", an easy way to create an online store, as the third member of the team and was responsible for the initial growth of the company around 2013.

Before that, I quit the web advertising agency I joined as a new graduate to start my own business, and before joining BASE, I had tried to start my own business.

I started my own company in 2016 and since then I have created and pivoted between various products. It feels like we have created dozens of products.

There was a time when I was devoted to the crypto area during the crypto bubble around 2017. However, the winter of 2018-2019 was tough and I took a break from it and made a video app, a Zoom event hosting app, and an app for Instagram.

However, right now it's hard to grow a product for ToC; it gets rolled up by platformers like TikTok, Insta, etc. In the midst of all this, I was attracted to the concept of web3 data ownership and decentralization, and have been betting full time on the web3/crypto space for about 3 years now. I feel like I've always been a player and a gunslinger.

-Can you give us an overview of AKINDO and the WaveHack Global that you are starting?

As for AKINDO, when I joined web3, I was particularly excited about the context of DAO among the various elements of DeFi, NFT, games, etc., and started digging deeper from there. I found the concept of a new organizational structure and the idea of DAO being open globally and having optunity for everyone interesting.

Initially, we were trying to create something like a crypto version of Indeed, where anyone can easily do the work. In today's terms, it is a service like Galxe or Layer3. However, as we conducted various interviews, we found that engagement with so-called bounty boards was low, and we came to believe that a hackathon would be the best approach instead.

Since that time, large-scale hackathons have been held frequently in the web3 area, and projects in the infrastructure area were spending large amounts of money to increase the developer community. I saw the potential there and steered the hackathon around the summer of 2022.

AKINDO is a one-stop platform for virtual hackathons that provides all the necessary functions for a hackathon, from creating a hackathon LP to accepting entries, communication, submissions, judging, and on-chain transfer of prize money.

However, just creating a platform is a breeze, so to create use cases for the product, we held our own "Tokyo web3 Hackathon" and established a certain position in Japan.

However, in the course of running hackathons, we have noticed that there is a disconnect between the incentives of the organizers and the participants. The organizers want to expand the ecosystem and build engagement with participants over the long term, while the participants see it as a weekend memory-making, activity, and learning opportunity. While demos and MVP-level products are produced, the incentive to continue development afterwards is weak.

That is why we began offering WaveHack.

It is 10 times more efficient than traditional hackathons and grant programs to expand the ecosystem and build stronger engagement. The system automatically distributes grants based on ongoing development updates and works transparently with smart contracts. We call it the "Grant Distribution Protocol."

-For example, if I were to create Dapps at Aptos, would you imagine that I could keep applying for the same product, updating it every week?

That's right. The basic concept is "Progress to Earn", which is a model to evaluate the progress of updates. In an ideal case, let's say mitsui has an existing product on ethereum. If you port that app to the Aptos base and deploy it, you are bringing a new app to the Aptos ecosystem, and it should be highly valued.

Not only that, but regular app development does not immediately result in sales after an update. But if you report updates through WaveHack, you can get an ongoing subsidy for the difference. It is like a basic income where you get paid just for your daily activities. The evaluation period can be two weeks, or three days, or whatever is flexible depending on the project.

-A little detail, for example, if I apply the first time, and the next time I do not apply, but continue to improve the product, and then apply again 3 months later, will my progress from the time of the first application to 3 months later be evaluated?

You are right. If it is several months between one application and the second update, there will be quite a difference. In that case, it would be a very high evaluation target.

To put it more abstractly, the voters will vote based on the judging criteria in terms of which updates will bring the most value to the ecosystem among the products submitted for each Wave. So, in the example of your question, the answer is that it would be rated quite high.

-I see. So you are applying for updates rather than the product itself?

Yes, that is the image. If you have an existing product, optimizing it for recruitment and deploying it to the chain you are recruiting for is one update that will be evaluated.

For example, I think optimizing an existing app to fit the ecosystem would have a huge impact compared to an update that just adds buttons or changes the front design. That kind of thing is greatly appreciated.

So, I personally think that this program is a crazy opportunity for those who have existing products.

-Are there other opportunities outside of development?

Yes, there is. In MTGing with one of the projects, there was talk of putting it out on the subject of documentation and content creation as well.

The project has organized documentation, and WaveHack, which will be evaluated in the form of blog posts and videos explaining it, will be coming out in the future.

WaveHack is so versatile that we believe it is possible to come up with a plan, evaluate it, and set milestones for its realization.

-Do projects like WaveHack exist globally?

I feel that Gitcoin is pretty close in terms of similar philosophy. In terms of hackathon platforms, there are several such as DoraHacks, DevPost, DevFolio, etc., but I don't think there is much differentiation, or that it would be tough to do it here alone, market size-wise.

On the other hand, I see no current work that is working well with something exactly like WaveHack.

-Back to the topic a bit, I think you are right about the challenges of hackathons and grants you mentioned earlier, but why do you think the project side continues to do things the way they are?

Yes, that's exactly what I think is wrong, and to be honest, on an honest basis, hackathons and grant programs are a crazy legacy method. It's a concept that has been around since before bitcoin and crypto and before the internet.

The evaluation process, remittance process, and grant programs are also determined by updating documents and conducting interviews to evaluate each and every one of them in a very geriatric manner. Also, each time, we send the evidence documents for each milestone. It's a huge hassle. I have received grants, but the fact that I still do it is, in my opinion, a "why?" I feel like I'm still doing it. To be honest, I also feel that I am continuing to do it because of inertia.

It may be a bit like being dragged along by the excitement of a physical hackathon such as ETH Global, and doing it virtually with a similar structure.

-I understand that there are global projects participating in this WaveHack Global. I would like to hear the reactions when you talk to those projects, what areas are sticking out to you, and what is the temperature.

After all, when I told this story, it was exactly the kind of grant and hackathon that I didn't think was efficient and tedious to run or participate in. So there are a few projects that come on board with their eyes wide open, as if they have been waiting for something like this. I have a good feeling that if we can get them to understand what we are talking about, it will stick.

However, I have to admit that my English is not good enough, and if I could communicate with more enthusiasm, I would be able to increase the number of projects that stick. But basically, if they understand what I am saying, they will adopt it.

I do feel that there is a communication cost to explain the deposit mechanism, voting every two weeks, etc., compared to a simple hackathon, and to get people other than those in charge to understand the system.

This is the reason why WaveHack Global was held in the first place, but the fact is that it was released and ready for use around November of last year, and I went around to each and every project asking, "I made this, can we use it? I went around to each and every project and asked, "I made something like this, can we use it?

We had started earlier with Aptos and others, but because it was a new tool and there were no case studies, it took time to get the existing hackathon and grant budget allocated here, and in some areas it was troublesome to do something new.

Therefore, we thought it would be easier to get people on board if we built a box and had everyone gather here, as we did at the last Tokyo Web3 Hackathon. We decided on our own theme and decided to do it with gusto. We started planning this event in October and November of last year, and finally we were able to announce WaveHack Global.

It is very easy to get on board when you create these boxes. How we make the first examples is important, and once a certain number of work is done, the projects that did not participate this time should be able to say, "Let's deposit the grants and hackathons to WaveHack for now.

My thought is that the entire budget of any hackathon or grant program should be applied to WaveHack. I believe it should be optimized and the money should be distributed more transparently and more efficiently to the right builders.

-What level of engineering is required to participate in WaveHack Global?

As for the level of engineering, I think the minimum requirement would be to be able to deploy smart contracts to each partner's blockchain. It must be deployed and work properly.

-Is participation by one person or a team acceptable?

Either is fine; you can participate alone or as part of a team.

The point of WaveHack Global is that there are multiple WaveHacks running at the same time, so you can submit at the same time. For example, you can submit to Aptos for the first two weeks, XRP Ledger for the next two weeks, and so on, while replacing the same product on each chain as you participate.

We can also introduce them into middleware and libraries like The Graph and Superfluid as well as chains, and then issue updates at the same time.

So it is a rather rare program that offers an efficient chance to win prize money with a single product.

-I think the application layer will become very important in the web3 industry in the future. I think developers are absolutely necessary in this context. What are your thoughts on developer support through grants and subsidies such as WaveHack? Could you reiterate the importance of the application layer and developer support?

This is exactly where I feel strongly. You often use the word narrative. For example, right now there are trends like EigenLayer and meme coins. But I believe that a much larger mega-narrative is definitely the shift from the infrastructure layer to the application layer.

Until now, the concept of "fat protocols" has been seen as having value in the infrastructure layer, and that is where the money and funding has been gathered. With token listings, VC funding, etc., money is being pooled in the infrastructure layer.

But where the money goes is basically used to increase the number of applications that are built on top of the infrastructure. The most important thing for the infrastructure layer is the app builder. Without app engineers, the land is nothing but blight. You need app builders to build stores and malls there, and the money will be distributed to the app builders.

I feel that the infrastructure layer is already in place to some extent, so the application layer will be responsible for solving the world's problems and promoting mass adoption. In order to reach hundreds of millions of users, it is essential to have products that are actually usable.

We believe that quantity is better than quality for this purpose. We think that the process will be to release a really large number of applications, find the ones that have room to grow, and then invest, acquire, and provide generous support for them.

Warpcast, for an obvious example, represents the killer app of the year, and I think web3social and gamification are definitely coming. However, I don't think app builders have the concept of getting funding from VC's. It's a world where you make 100 apps and win one, so I imagine the money comes from the infrastructure layer rather than from VC's.

I hope that the money for this will flow from the hackathons and grant programs that have been in place and will now flow through WaveHack.

Do you think that SocialFi apps such as Farcaster will spread to non-web3 natives?

Of course it will spread. If it does not spread, it will remain a niche area, and I am sure the players are eager to spread it. However, we are still waiting to see what will stick the most and what elements will trigger the spread of the game among the general public.

I think the gambling factor is what's driving more users now, but I don't think the other factors have been righted yet. To be honest, I also use X more than Warpcast by far, I think the difference between Farcaster and X is that data is not banned or censored, but I still think the network effect, the number of users and the UX are more reasons to use it.

-When you set the theme for WaveHack Global, did you consider areas that will lead to killer apps in the future, or application areas that will be exciting?

That's exactly right. I too am reflecting my current killer app predictions on the three main tracks this time around: the first is the AI Track, the second is the Game+Social Track, and the third is the Utility Track.

Basically, I think that products that combine AI, games, and social, and these three well, will grow. AI will support the initial onboarding, increase the value of social games, and become their own asset. I have an image of those things growing.

I think it is important to have the skills to create web2 products in a normal way.

-How different is web3 product development compared to web2?

To be honest, 80-90% of web3-based products are no different from regular web2 products. In terms of architecture, only the last part of remittance uses smart contracts and blockchain, so it is basically the same as the way we think about creating ordinary products.

It is just enough to use a little bit of the technology that the ecosystem is pushing, such as data storage, value preservation, value exchange, and zero-knowledge proof security technology.

This WavebHack may be appreciated for its robust use of technology, but on the other hand, I think it is also good to think issue first.

-If you are an engineer with knowledge of web2, the cost of learning web3 is not that high.

That's right. I have an acquaintance who was able to create something that worked after studying for an hour a day for a couple of weeks.

There are blockchains that can be written in traditional languages such as Rust and TypeScript, and although Solidity is said to have its own quirks, it is relatively simple to create simple transaction processing and NFT-related tools.

-I see. From what you just said, it sounds like a team will be created to mass produce apps on various protocols, chains, and infrastructure layers in the form of a development studio. That sounds interesting.

I think it is totally possible. For example, a corps that would deliver one every week for Aptos. Then apply for grants and have them evaluated.

However, there may be hurdles like difficulty in making connections with the core team or lack of a pipeline. In that regard, we hope that the WaveHack protocol will work as an interface.

We can get evaluations and comments directly from the core team, and we can have our product used and evaluated by the ecosystem audience, such as the project's community members and token holders. That means that the products we create will get a response.

From the builder's point of view, what is more exciting than money is getting real feedback and users. They get access to the right targeted ecosystem of end users without having to advertise. I feel that would be WaveHack's most significant value proposition.

-I understand that this WaveHack Global will be held for about six months, and you are aiming to continue to have people participate in global projects to spread the WaveHack protocol.

You're right - ideally, once WaveHack Global is done, it should be in a state where other projects are using it on their own.

For example, Optimism and Arbitrum have their own grant programs through WaveHack. Right now, WaveHack is a feature within the AKINDO platform, but in the future we would like to open source it so that it can be white labeled and introduced to other platforms.

I would like to make WaveHack Global a place that will serve as a catalyst for such people.

We also plan to hold workshops and workshops two or three times a week. We would like to make this an opportunity to learn and at the same time, a chance to have our output evaluated and get paid for it.

We strongly hope that this program will be a global showcase of Japan's web3 and blockchain potential.

-I am very interested in the newest and most exciting new products and services.

Yes, WaveHack Global is essentially an acceleration program. Not only do you get a budget for the product you are developing, but you also have the opportunity to get feedback, connect with the ecosystem, and build an audience through demo days and much more.

While the event is still in progress, each Wave will be evaluated on a Wave-by-Wave basis, so there is no problem to join in the middle of the event, and anyone can submit a product for the ecosystem of interest at any time.

We are now also rolling out a check-in WaveHack where you can earn about $50 just for submitting a product, so we recommend that you register there first.

Another key point is that as a Demo Day Partner, we work with large global conferences such as IVS Crypto, ETHCon, and WebX.

What's more, the most highly rated teams at WaveHack Global will get to participate in a demo day at their respective conferences. This is the best opportunity to present in front of an audience of tens of thousands of people.

I know many of you have been to IVS Crypto in the past, but it is an interesting event with tremendous size and heat, and for WaveHack Global, we are having the largest venue at IVS Crypto held for the afternoon of the second day. I hope you can submit your work there.

By the way, you can enter WaveHack Global if you sign up more than once. You can, of course, join in the middle of the program. Once you enter at home, you'll be asked to enter again individually in each WaveHack program.

Team builds can also be done on our Discord channel, so we hope that you will be able to find your friends there as well. We will do our best to support you in building your team.

(Additional interviews after video coverage below and after the program begins.

-How are the applications coming in now that the program has started?

zkSync was amazing. 44 projects were collected and grants were distributed to many products.

The other thing we were evaluating yesterday when we did the AMA with Manta was MapX game products like Pokémon GO. Also, when we did the AMA with MetaMe, we had Machiwabi on the stage. Their products have also received quite a bit of recognition, and some of their products have received grants of nearly $1,000.

-How was the turnout for the event?

The Guess Summit was very exciting. It was with mixed feelings that we had a gaggle of participants without having to work harder to attract more people than at the kick-off event (laughs), but we are thinking of doing a second one somewhere else. Other events such as the ZKP event and the On Chain Summit were particularly interesting.

-Please tell us about your recent Wave Hack efforts.

We are stepping up our global promotions, hosting AMAs and collaborative events, and working with community partners.

-What are the big mountains in your immediate future?

We plan to rent the largest venue at IVS Crypto and develop a demo day event there.

We would also like to broaden our base and create an opportunity for web2engineers to participate by partnering with a domestic company that everyone knows as the main sponsor. We want to make this an opportunity to attract non-sequential participants.

In the future, we hope to be like a crypto version of IVS Launchpad.

"Official Link."

• Click here for WaveHack Global entry

• AKIND

• AKIND X

• kinjo X

Disclaimer：I carefully examine and write the information that I research, but since it is personally operated and there are many parts with English sources, there may be some paraphrasing or incorrect information. Please understand. Also, there may be introductions of Dapps, NFTs, and tokens in the articles, but there is absolutely no solicitation purpose. Please purchase and use them at your own risk.

About us
A web3 newsletter delivered in five languages around the world. We deliver various articles about web3, including project explanations, news and trend analysis, and industry reports, every day. You can subscribe for $8 per month ($80 per year) and receive research articles that took 100 hours to complete every day.

Author
mitsui
A web3 researcher. Operating the newsletter "web3 Research" delivered in five languages around the world.

Contact
The author is a web3 researcher based in Japan. If you have a project that is interested in expanding to Japan, please contact the following:

• X：@web3researchgl

• Telegram：@mitsui0x

*Please note that this newsletter translates articles that are originally in Japanese. There may be translation mistakes such as mistranslations or paraphrasing, so please understand in advance.

Good morning.
This is mitsui from web3researcher.

Today's interview is with Uwaizumi, a Unyte Founder and Rep Holder of the newly established Japan DAO Association, about the "Japan DAO Association" and the Japanese-style "limited liability company-type DAO.

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-First of all, please introduce yourself.

My name is Uwaizumi, and I am currently serving as a member of the DAO Association's Rep Holder Steering Committee.

I'm a kind of geek who is all about DAOs, as I run a tool for people setting up DAOs called Unyte, which recently supports limited liability company-type DAOs. I look forward to working with you today.

-How did you get hooked on -web3 and can you tell us about your career to date?

My earliest encounter with DAO was when I was a college student, so I learned about it during the IC bubble, in 2018, through my college research.

I was in the economics department at the time, and the seminar activity was a seminar where we studied quite a bit about new things. I had the opportunity to study machine learning and blockchain. At first, I was just aware that there was an amazing database, lol.

I didn't get that deep into it for a while from there, but shortly after I entered the workforce in 2021, NFT was very popular again, and I began to study it more deeply.

I became very involved in the process. I was also involved in various DAO activities at the time, but I got the impression that there was no infrastructure to create an infrastructure for DAOs, so we started by creating our own tools for DAOs and supporting existing DAOs.

-Please tell us about DAO associations and limited liability company-type DAOs.

Of course. I am also thinking that there are a lot of complicated parts, and I have been working on putting things together in-house to sort them out, so I will share some illustrations with you as I talk.

The first opportunity came from the LDP's web3 project team, whose recommendations led to the creation of DAOs with a legal personality.

At first, there were many DAOs in Japan and abroad, but they were seen as voluntary associations of volunteers rather than legally recognized organizations.

In a difficult way, it is called "association without rights" or "association without capacity." It is not a company, but an association where people get together to engage in some activity, and there are no specific rules.

On the other hand, there are many DAOs in Japan and around the world, and unless some kind of framework is set up, it is impossible to punish people for wrongdoing when handling money, for example.

Also, since we could not open bank accounts, etc., we did not have a wide range of activities, both good and bad, so it was decided that we should be incorporated as a DAO. We were in a position to make proposals, but the LDP members worked with us in various ways to create a framework, which we then proposed to them.

As a result, the DAO Law was promulgated, and on April 22, it became possible to create a DAO with a legal entity. This DAO with a legal entity is called a limited liability company-type DAO.

-Is the DAO Association positioned as an organization to broaden the scope of DAOs?

You are right. For example, when we wanted to start making rules for other DAOs, the LDP side raised the idea that we needed a group that could make ongoing legal proposals as an industry group, and this group became the recipient of that idea.

-I see. May I ask you more specifically what you have been able to do with a limited liability company-type DAO?

In a nutshell, these are the three.

One is that it is now possible to collect money by selling NFTs for DAO participation rights. The first is that it is now possible to sell NFTs for DAO participation rights, or the right to be an employee of a DAO.

The second restriction is related to the above, but it does not mean that anyone can sell DAO participation tickets to anyone, but there is a position called "DAO business executive employee," which is a difficult term to describe, but it is like the position of a high ranking person in a so-called company, Only these people are allowed to sell participation tickets NFT.

The third is that it is now possible to create this form as a limited liability company type. This amendment to the law is a kind of a mish-mash between a true native DAO and a limited liability company, and allows for DAO-like operations as part of a limited liability company.

Therefore, it is not that a so-called "perfect DAO" is suddenly possible, but the scope of the first amendment to the law is that the way a limited liability company operates can be done like a DAO.

-Can't the participation ticket NFT be FT?

There are many restrictions exactly, but basically NFT is the safest. if you do it with FT, some of the suspicious parts will come out.

-What is the difference between that and, for example, buying CryptoPunks and joining an exclusive community?

The same actions can be taken in the same way as before, such as buying participation tickets NFTs to participate in limited communities, or acquiring price gains through secondary distribution of participation tickets NFTs.

And apart from that, it's possible to receive a portion of the profits of a limited liability company as dividends. Essentially, a company is an organization for making profits, and there is already a mechanism for distributing them. This is called a dividend in both a stock company and a limited liability company, and it has always been possible to distribute a portion of the profits to the shareholders in a stock company or to the employees in a limited liability company.

This is exactly the same in a limited liability company-type DAO, where the holder of a participation ticket NFT in this DAO can receive a portion of the limited liability company's profits as dividends. On the other hand, the current law does not allow NFT holders to receive dividends that exceed the amount of their investment, i.e., the amount they paid when they bought their NFT.

For example, if you pay 100,000 yen to buy an NFT and become an employee, the dividend you get is limited to 100,000 yen. There are some restrictions like this, but one of the things that the DAO law allows us to do is to be able to receive a portion of the profits from our activities.

However, as mentioned earlier, there is no upper limit on dividends for those who are executive members, so we recognize the need to design this area well.

-What is an operating partner?

NFT holders are considered employees because they hold NFT participation tickets, and executive members are those who are responsible for the company, like shareholders or directors in a stock company. These people are treated differently from NFT holders. They are treated as representatives of the company and have their names and addresses on the company's registration.

However, as a representative of the company, the benefits you receive are greater, and you can receive dividends regardless of the amount of your investment.

-Can I also pay them as a regular salary other than -dividend?

You can do that just like a regular company. You can do it for the executive employees and for the employees of the NFT holder. In the end, it depends on the DAO, but you can have a DAO that only pays dividends, or you can have a DAO that pays salaries to employees based on their activities.

Outside of that one category, there is a category of token holders, so those people are treated a little differently than employees.

-Is this token holder referring to another token issued by DAO?

Yes, I will quoteMr. Kanemitsu of bitFlyer's classificationbecause it is very clear and I will explain it to you. These three categories exist, the outermost DAO members are the token holders I mentioned earlier, the employees are the participating ticket NFT holders, and the operating employees are those who take on the roles I mentioned earlier.

Token holders are those who have not invested but are participating; they are like those who participate in Discord but have not bought NFTs. These people are not legally employees, but you can give them tokens based on their activity. We call them reward tokens, but regardless of whether they are employees or not, we can give them tokens based on their activity and they can get some benefit from earning them.

-Can I issue as many employee ID cards NFT as I want?

According to FSA guidelines, if the number of securities is less than 1 million, it does not immediately fall under the category of securities, so basically, the idea is to keep the number of securities under 1 million to be safe. If it exceeds that number, it is treated as securities and requires a license, so basically, it is limited to 1 million pieces.

-Can people from overseas buy participation tickets NFT?

The answer is that the current law is strict. It is not stated that it is not allowed under Japanese law, but we recommend that it is better to keep it within Japan because some of the foreign laws may not allow those that receive dividends.

-But since it's anonymous, you honestly don't know who's buying, do you?

I don't know the conclusion. In case you are wondering, Japanese law requires us to list the names and addresses of our employees. However, by storing this information in a place where it cannot be viewed by the outside world, anonymity is ensured, so in theory, it remains unknown.

Therefore, I think it is necessary for DAO operators to check the box "not a resident of overseas" when asking people to purchase.

-Do you imagine that the executive members are replaced from time to time?

Although it is possible to replace a member, the name and address of the executive members are listed in the articles of incorporation, so registration is required if you want to add or reduce a member.

So, it is possible to set a term of office or to set becoming an executive employee as a reward for reward tokens.

-A nasty question, but are the executive employees obligated to follow the results of the vote by issuing an employee ID card NFT?

This is a difficult one. To be honest, it is difficult for me to give accurate advice, but I believe that there should be a legal obligation. The duty of due care is sometimes referred to as the duty of a good manager, and in general, the duty that exists when a person serves as a director or executive officer of a company also exists for an executive employee.

-Could something like a dismissal happen?

It can happen enough.

Each company must have its own set of rules, called Articles of Incorporation, that set forth the rules of the company, and these rules must be included in the Articles of Incorporation. For example, when appointing an executive director, a general meeting of the members is required, or the consent of 50% of the members is required, etc. These rules must be decided by each company.

-Can something like a deadlock occur due to people buying NFT but not participating in activities?

Yes, it can happen, depending on the setting.

So, basically, there should be a rule that important resolutions should be decided by resolution of the executive members. If the resolution is deadlocked, it will not work in many cases.

-I think it will be a DAO that doesn't work at all unless it is made in consultation with an expert,

Yes, we are making a lot of things in that area while asking our lawyers, and we also support them together.

On the other hand, we recognize that it is also the role of the association to absorb such issues, so we have created guidelines for the articles of incorporation.

-Is there any difference between this and the DAO method in other countries?

To be honest, it is difficult for us to say that there is a big difference between the two, since the DAO laws overseas are also ambiguous in some respects.

Overseas, the framework of legal entities is probably more famous for LLCs than for joint-stock companies and limited liability companies, but the legal entity is in line with the framework in Japan. In addition, I think that overseas DAO laws are positioned to recognize the framework of DAOs, but not the detailed positioning of dividends and the like. Therefore, I think that Japan is the fastest country in the world where a DAO can be operated by creating dividends, etc. in the form of a legal entity.

-I wonder if they can make them now?

Yes, you can create one. You can create a DAO corporation by drawing up articles of incorporation and taking them to the legal affairs bureau.

-Are there any specific use cases that you have already created or plan to establish in the future?

At the time of establishment, we envisioned a case in which we would jointly own the assets or work together on a project of some kind.

To be more specific, in the case of share houses, everyone contributes money to the share house, and the collected capital is used to buy or rent property and generate income. Various other legal entities, such as DAOs for research on generative AI, are beginning to emerge.

I think the word "clean" is the most apt description of what used to be a gray area, but is now easier to operate. Until now, it was not possible to open a corporate account, hold property, or make contracts, and in many cases, the operator had to make a contract with a corporation or other entity and rely on trust.

-What is your vision for the future?

We have been able to revise the law in this first round, but we do not believe it to be complete and would like to make recommendations for legal reform in an agile manner.

Specifically, our most recent ideas are "involving people from overseas" and "limiting dividends". We would like to come up with a proposal with a good idea of the restrictions in this area.

In addition, as an association, we also perform negative checks on DAO tools, etc., and certify them, so we would like to actively engage in activities to certify them as an industry to prevent fraud, etc. from occurring.

-If we want to voice our opinions, should we join Discord or something?

Yes, we are discussing this openly on Discord and opinions are always welcome. We would be happy to work with you to make policy recommendations.

https://discord.com/invite/fer5RGSqY8

-Thank you, I learned a lot. Do you have any final announcements?

Thank you very much.

At Unyte, which we operate, we would like to add more and more functions that are necessary for the establishment and operation of a limited liability company-type DAO.

One of the things we would like to do is to create a package that will allow us to launch a limited liability company-type DAO, and one of the packages is this one called "LLC Unyte". Please allow me to introduce it to you.

Specifically, the NFT sales I mentioned earlier and the writing of the employee list require quite complicated actions, so I have combined them into a single tool.

The first function is that we will support you by issuing new NFTs and setting up a website to sell NFTs. You don't need to own crypto assets or a wallet to participate in DAO as an employee.

You can also create Articles of Incorporation. The package is designed to allow users to input their addresses, and then we can manage the dispersed ownership and administration. Basically, the articles of incorporation need to be rewritten each time, but if you use our tool, we can rewrite them for you.

We will provide the necessary package for the establishment of a limited liability company-type DAO, including the above.

-Thank you so much.

Thank you very much. We are currently making and operating tools for DAOs after they are launched, but from now on we will be able to take care of the sales part, which is the first step in the process.

If you are interested, please send us a DM on X or send us an inquiry on our website, and we will respond with sincerity!

-Thank you very much for your time today! I learned a lot!

Yes, thank you very much!

"Official Link."

• Japan DAO Association

  • home page

  • an unknown

  • Discord

• Mr. Uwaizumi X

• Unyte X

Disclaimer：I carefully examine and write the information that I research, but since it is personally operated and there are many parts with English sources, there may be some paraphrasing or incorrect information. Please understand. Also, there may be introductions of Dapps, NFTs, and tokens in the articles, but there is absolutely no solicitation purpose. Please purchase and use them at your own risk.

About us
A web3 newsletter delivered in five languages around the world. We deliver various articles about web3, including project explanations, news and trend analysis, and industry reports, every day. You can subscribe for $8 per month ($80 per year) and receive research articles that took 100 hours to complete every day.

Author
mitsui
A web3 researcher. Operating the newsletter "web3 Research" delivered in five languages around the world.

Contact
The author is a web3 researcher based in Japan. If you have a project that is interested in expanding to Japan, please contact the following:

• X：@web3researchgl

• Telegram：@mitsui0x

*Please note that this newsletter translates articles that are originally in Japanese. There may be translation mistakes such as mistranslations or paraphrasing, so please understand in advance.

Good morning.
This is mitsui from web3researcher.

Today'sarticle is an interview withYuya Sakai, Co-Founder & CEO of SARAH, agourmet food application that actively utilizes web3.

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-First of all, please introduce yourself.

Yes, my name is Sakai from SARAH. I am the Co-Founder and Director CEO of SARAH Inc. and I am mainly in charge of strategy.I co-founded the company in 2014 with a college senior when I was a student and have been involved in management for 10 years. At the beginning of the company, we were building a web2 gourmet app, but I have personally been interested in web3 since I was a student. It wasn't until around 2017 that I started to get serious about it, and in 2021, the company took the helm to web3.

-You have been involved in gourmet-related services for a long time.

That's right. We have been operating the "SARAH" gourmet food posting application since that time, and the application itself has remained unchanged. We added the web3 elements such as tokens and NFT to it.

How and why did you become interested in -web3?

The professor of the seminar I was enrolled in during my college days was an expert on startups and technology, and had experience investing in Microsoft and other companies in Silicon Valley at the dawn of its history. He had experience investing in Microsoft and other companies in Silicon Valley at the dawn of the Silicon Valley era.

Around 2017, I personally started to get in touch with virtual currency and other such things, and was completely fascinated by the fun of it. On the other hand, our gourmet app "SARAH" is a CGM (Consumer Generated Media) model where users post reviews, and we were also in the business of selling review data collected through this model to food manufacturers, etc. I felt that the business structure of CGM and data sales had a high affinity with web3 elements, and started working in the web3 domain. I felt that the business structure of CGM and data sales had a high affinity with web3 elements, and began working in the web3 domain.

-I see that Dr. K. had a great influence on you. I think it's great that you foresaw the potential of blockchain even back then.

It really is. The professor was talking about the innovation and impact of technology from a time when the word web3 did not exist. I was skeptical at the time, but looking back, I am impressed with his foresight.

-Tell us about your products.

SARAH is a gourmet food application that allows users to post and search for food they have eaten on a menu basis. Other famous gourmet services generally collect reviews of the restaurants themselves. This is useful, for example, when you want to find a good Chinese restaurant in Shinjuku.

On the other hand, "SARAH" is unique in that it collects reviews that focus on individual menu items rather than restaurants. The service aims to respond to more specific needs, such as "I want to eat delicious Neapolitan in Shinjuku.

The impetus for founding the company came from the co-founder's desire to have a good potato salad in Shibuya. Searching for a place to eat potato salad, he could find a few places that had it, but he could not tell if it was good or bad. So, we decided to create a service to collect reviews of each menu item.

Currently, 2 million people use the site each month, and a total of more than 1 million word-of-mouth reviews have been collected from 60 countries in Japan and abroad. If I go to an izakaya and enjoy a delicious potato salad, I photograph and post only that menu item.

There were some individual bloggers who were disseminating information on a menu basis, but I think we were the pioneers as a platform. There are few similar services, not only in Japan but also overseas.

-How did you come to incorporate web3 elements into "SARAH"?

We also operate a BtoB service called "FoodDataBank," which analyzes word-of-mouth data collected by "SARAH" and provides it to food product manufacturers. We thought that a model in which user contributions are sold to companies would have a high affinity with web3-like elements.

Around 2020, when I was thinking about this, I decided to start up Discord as a user community for "SARAH" for now. Most of the users of SARAH had never heard of web3 or Discord, so we started with a closed community of about 100 people. The community was very active. Users started organizing off-line meetings and posting pictures of menu lists of restaurants one after another, and spontaneous activities were born. In just six months, 12,000 new menu items were registered.

Although there were no web3 concepts such as tokens, rolls, or incentive designs, users who shared SARAH's vision of "increasing the number of delicious experiences in the world" voluntarily took action. Therefore, we decided that tokens would be an effective way to further promote this activity, and we launched a new initiative.

Currently, we have introduced a system whereby users are given the token "UME" when they post to "SARAH" and can use it to acquire "NOREN NFT" for each restaurant. The "NOREN" acquired by users with "UME" will be returned to the restaurant as a token of support.

Although web3 has launched some web3-like measures such as issuing NFTs, some users who are not that familiar with web3 may feel that the hurdles are too high.

Therefore, we have taken advantage of Avalanche's subnet to be able to issue tokens and NFTs without the cost of gas. We are also incorporating a mechanism like ERC6551 that allows you to own NFTs without having a wallet, and we are working on ways to make it so that Web2 users can use it without any discomfort.

UME tokens are also currently running off-chain, but we are considering gradually moving them on-chain.

-How are users and stores responding?

Our users are almost exclusively Web2 users, so I don't think they are consciously buying NFT. However, "NOREN NFT" has minted about 100 units in 3 days of release. We feel that the purpose of most of the acquirers is to support their favorite stores and to show that they are contributors to those stores.

Those who hold NFTs have their names listed on the store's page. For example, there are three levels of "NOREN": fan, ambassador, and evangelist, and only those who have visited the store more than 12 times can obtain the NFT of evangelist, which is linked to the results of store visits. So a person with a high level "NOREN" can prove on the blockchain that he/she is a big fan of the store.

In the future, we are considering the use of "UME" tokens by stores to attract customers, etc. Currently, there is a daily limit on the number of "UME" tokens that can be earned, but there are possibilities for stores to distribute "UME" tokens beyond that limit. We are currently exploring the design of an ecosystem that is unique to tokens, rather than mere points.

-Is it necessary for stores to register with SARAH first in order to use the "UME" token to attract customers and use it for marketing?

Currently there is no such flow. The "NOREN NFT" for each store is created by our company on behalf of the store. We intend to return all "UME" tokens used to obtain "NOREN NFT" to the stores, but we think it will be easier for the stores to ask us, "Why don't we do this together? We think it will be easier to ask them to join us.

After that process is complete, we would like to make it possible for stores to receive "UME" tokens and use them for marketing and other purposes once they officially become a member of SARAH. We are aiming for an ecosystem where the more fans a store has, the more "UME" it can use.

-Why did you build the ONIGIRI Chain on the Avalanche subnet?

We did a lot of research about 2 years ago and found Avalanche to be easy to develop, with high customizability and gasless operation. We originally conceived of Avalanche as an infrastructure for issuing tokens and NFTs in the process of converting our own application "SARAH" to web3.

However, we began to think that if we were to build a blockchain, it could provide value not only to our own apps, but to the entire food and healthcare industry. For example, food-related data is distributed across various services, such as gourmet food apps, recipe apps, diet apps, and retail POS data, but we felt that the issue was that the same user data was not being linked.

It often happens that I lose track of which restaurant I bookmarked in Shibuya and which app I used to record it. We have also heard from diet app operators that they want data on dining out. We thought that these issues could be solved by creating a web3 data integration platform.

It would also be a waste to have the data you have collected disappear when the service ends. With a blockchain, data can be preserved semi-permanently. This led us to the concept of the ONIGIRI Chain, a public blockchain specialized for food and healthcare.

-You mentioned that you are separating the public and private chains to handle privacy sensitive data, can you elaborate a bit more on this?

Healthcare data, such as what users eat, medical history, weight, etc., is highly sensitive, so it is difficult to put it on a fully public chain. On the other hand, if you want to grant tokens as an incentive for providing data, a public chain is more suitable.

The data itself is stored on a private chain, and the "ONIGIRI" tokens are issued on the public chain as payment for providing the data. Avalanche Warp Message.

For validators on the private side, we would like to ask business companies in the food domain, such as Seven-Eleven and Ajinomoto. They should have a high need to utilize the data. We already provide a data analysis service called "FoodDataBank," and we are aiming for a model in which they can access data for a fee by becoming validators for the "ONIGIRI Chain" as well.

-Do you envision an increase in services such as SARAH, where users provide data?

Yes, we would like to have the data. Ideally, it would be great if we could get Eat Log and Cookpad to provide data. However, it will take time to make each company's service blockchain-compatible.

Therefore, we are preparing a service that allows anyone to easily issue NFTs. For example, by giving NFTs to people who eat retort curry made by House Foods, we can see who ate the curry on the blockchain and use it for marketing purposes. We hope to first promote the use of the ONIGIRI Chain from this angle.

Even if it is difficult to suddenly convert a web2 service to web3, tokenization through NFT is relatively easy to tackle. That is why we hope that by starting with NFT issuance support, we can become a data hub for the entire industry in the future, even if it is only our own infrastructure now.

-I understand the importance of data linkage, but there seems to be a dilemma on the part of companies that provide data, as they may lose their own competitive advantage. What are your thoughts on this?

I think you are right. Since data is a source of competitive advantage, it would be quite a hurdle to share data with competitors like Eat Log and Cookpad, for example.

However, the situation is different for businesses that provide systems to restaurants as their core business, such as mobile ordering services for restaurants. In fact, they have data in hand in the form of user order history, such as what kind of people are eating what kind of food. However, the business of using that data is not their core business, and they often fail to make good use of it.

I believe that there is a surprisingly large amount of such secondary data that is collected as part of one's core business but not fully utilized. If this data is put on the blockchain, it may be possible to create new value through incentives in the form of token rewards. For companies, this could be a new source of revenue in addition to not having to change their existing behavior. We believe that we can create a model that is beneficial to users as well.

-I see. It certainly seems that a win-win relationship can be established if it does not affect the business of the data provider.

That's right. In discussions about data integration and API integration, data pricing tends to be a vague black box. Neither the data provider nor the user knows what the appropriate price is.

To address this problem, we believe that a mechanism is needed to enable price formation based on market principles. Currently, however, there is no market to determine the price of data.

So we came up with the model of "provide us with data and we will grant you ONIGIRI tokens". If listed on an exchange in the future, a market price for the token will be formed. If the value of the token is linked to the value of the data provided, we believe that the market mechanism will be able to find a fair price for the data.

-For example, do we get ONIGIRI tokens for submitting to "SARAH"?

Currently, ONIGIRI Tokens are designed primarily for businesses. The image is that the information posted by users to "SARAH" is provided to the ONIGIRI Chain by a service called "SARAH", and the token is issued to us, the service operator.

In the future, it would be possible to give back tokens directly to users. However, since "SARAH" issues "UME" as its own in-app token, it may be possible to do the same with other services. In other words, the structure could be that each app token created on the ONIGIRI Chain is backed by the value of the ONIGIRI token.

-I see, so the ONIGIRI token becomes a common value base across various services.

I hope that will be the case. The UME tokens and NOREN NFTs issued by SARAH will circulate on the public side of the ONIGIRI token. It will be possible to visualize who has how many tokens and NFTs, which is a unique advantage of the blockchain.

-Do you envision the FoodDataBank, which is currently operating, being migrated to the blockchain?

Yes, with blockchain, it is possible to store personal dietary data over a span of decades and utilize it in fields such as medicine and drug discovery.

For example, if we could link the eating habits of a person in his/her 30s to his/her health condition when he/she reaches the age of 80, it would be useful for preventive medicine, etc. It may be possible to obtain knowledge such as "a person who eats ramen noodles three times a week is prone to this kind of disease. However, with the current Web2 methodology, it is difficult to continue to manage personal data over a span of 50 or 100 years.

In addition, the value of data increases as its use expands. If a person's dietary data is used only for product development and marketing at a particular time, its value will remain transitory, but if the range of uses can be expanded to include future areas such as medicine, pharmaceuticals, and insurance, the present value of each piece of data will increase even more. In other words, maximize the value of data both in terms of time and usage. We believe it is the power of blockchain that makes this possible.

Right now, FoodDataBank analyzes, visualizes, and sells data collected by "SARAH," but in the future, if everyone becomes a validator of the ONIGIRI Chain, services like FoodDataBank can be created. The democratization of data will lead to a wider range of value return. The value returned to data providers in this way will be used as a source of further investment in the industry. Our goal is to create such a virtuous cycle.

I'm not sure if you can answer this question, but is there a plan for SARAH to be operated as a joint-stock company, with the token issuer being a foundation, etc.?

As for the "SARAH" application, we plan to continue developing it in-house for now. On the other hand, we would like to transfer the "ONIGIRI Chain" to the Foundation as public goods. However, we are still considering the timing and method of doing so, given the fact that we started as a joint-stock company called "SARAH.

In the future, a move to an external public blockchain would have an impact on the current "SARAH" business model. In the extreme, though, data is the individual user's data, and companies are merely collecting it. The future may be an era in which the true value of a company will be tested in terms of how the data was collected and how it was analyzed. Of course, this is not an easy switch to make, but I believe it is necessary to keep such a thought in mind.

-I think one of the interesting things about "SARAH" is that you started with web2 and added web3 elements to it. It is unique in that it is not a token incentive from the beginning.

You are right. I have the impression that many web3 services are forcibly creating use cases with tokens. In contrast, SARAH only uses a web3 solution, and our vision is consistently to "increase the number of delicious experiences in the world". The point is that we encourage user loyalty and active activities, and use NFT to visualize and prove it.

In order to realize this goal, we are reexamining the significance of issuing tokens. The reason why "SARAH" issues "UME" tokens is to quantify values that cannot be measured in legal tender. For example, when users organize an off-line meeting or introduce a good restaurant to each other, they are increasing the number of delicious experiences for someone, but it is difficult to put a price on it. But it is true that the act itself has value. We designed the "UME" token to visualize that value.

The same philosophy applies to the "NOREN NFT. While most NFTs tout "with utilities," "SARAH" doesn't dare to specify utilities. We just prove that we are core fans who have been to the store more than 12 times and paid more than a fixed amount. The store will then voluntarily offer special services to such enthusiastic supporters. Companies can also use this service for targeted marketing.

There are also some interesting features unique to NFT. If you have a NOREN NFT of a popular restaurant, you can be granted privileges such as being able to apply for a reservation slot that is limited to goodwill holders. Then, when the store becomes so popular that reservations cannot be made, the value of the NFT will rise and trading will occur. As a result, more people would become aware of the store's existence and the circle of support would expand. We are considering the use of NFT to create such a virtuous cycle.

-As you mentioned earlier when you set up the Discord community, it was impressive to hear that users seem to share and understand the vision of "SARAH". Do you communicate carefully with users in order to build such relationships?

Yes, that's right. In fact, "SARAH" has been emphasizing dialogue with users since before we started working on web3. We regularly hold user meetups, and we have opportunities to visit not only Tokyo but also Osaka and Fukuoka to meet directly with users. We feel that our vision and thoughts are being conveyed through this communication.

In product development and marketing, we try to listen to our users, don't we? Thanks to this, we are beginning to have enthusiastic core fans. The other day, we received a happy comment from a customer who said, "Since I came to know about good restaurants through SARAH, I feel that my meals taste better now. We are really grateful to hear that much, and I think it shows the quality of the relationship we have with our users.

-I see. So "SARAH" has a solid community and culture to begin with, and then you add the web3 element to it.

That is correct. We have only chosen blockchain and web3 as a means to realize our vision, but the destination itself has not changed since the establishment of the company. The design concept of the service is to handle information not on a per-restaurant basis but on a per-menu basis, thereby promoting the distribution of information not only between restaurants and consumers but also across the entire food-related industry. This may be the difference between our service and other gourmet food services.

-It's true, the heat of the fans seems to be higher on a per-menu basis. Some may walk away with just potato salad.

I think you are right. The value of the platform will be further enhanced by attracting users who want to share the experience of good food with as many people as possible. We are in the process of building a service platform for this purpose, leveraging the power of web3.

-Finally, what is your outlook for the future?

In fact, the "SARAH" app white paper describes several concepts that we would like to work on in the future. Specifically, the amount of "UME" tokens to be awarded varies depending on the content of the postings, the algorithm of the app itself can be decentralized by introducing a ve token mechanism, a validator to ensure the reliability of reviews, and other such ideas are written on a memo basis. We are still in the early stages of both "SARAH" and "ONIGIRI Chain" and would like to add more and more interesting features that only Web3 can offer.

In addition, we have received a great deal of interest in the ONIGIRI Chain not only from the web3 industry, but also from major food manufacturers in the web2 industry. We would like to create a new infrastructure utilizing the blockchain in the fields of food and healthcare, which are Japan's strengths, and through this, provide new value not only to ourselves but also to the industry as a whole.

-Thank you very much! I'll try using SARAH too!

Yes, thank you!

"Official Link."

• SARAH

• WhitePaper

• X

Disclaimer：I carefully examine and write the information that I research, but since it is personally operated and there are many parts with English sources, there may be some paraphrasing or incorrect information. Please understand. Also, there may be introductions of Dapps, NFTs, and tokens in the articles, but there is absolutely no solicitation purpose. Please purchase and use them at your own risk.

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Author
mitsui
A web3 researcher. Operating the newsletter "web3 Research" delivered in five languages around the world.

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The author is a web3 researcher based in Japan. If you have a project that is interested in expanding to Japan, please contact the following:

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*Please note that this newsletter translates articles that are originally in Japanese. There may be translation mistakes such as mistranslations or paraphrasing, so please understand in advance.

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