Suji Yan: There is little significance in creating another underlying blockchain

This article was first published on October 23, 2020, on the Chain Catcher WeChat public account, by Echo.

1. Aiming to Build a Bridge Between Blockchain and the Internet

Chain Catcher: Mask Network is a very interesting and impressive product. What changes do you hope to bring to the internet world by creating it?

Suji: Many people have talked about liberating data sovereignty in the past, but no project has been able to connect the old world and the new world; internet giants will not upgrade themselves. So, we want to build a huge bridge through this project to force traditional internet to enter the new internet, upgrade to Web 3.0, and ultimately hope to lower the barriers to using decentralized products, allowing direct use of Web 3.0 products.

Chain Catcher: Besides information encryption tools, what other interesting tools does Mask Network have to share?

Suji: We have developed a technical framework called DApplet (Decentralized Applet), which can be directly embedded into Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and so on. In simple terms, Mask Network can embed mini-programs into Facebook or Twitter without them knowing; or use our technology to decentralize them, so that social platforms cannot block them. We should be the only team in the industry that has mastered this technical framework and is willing to open-source it.

In the past year, we have developed some "Applets" in Mask Network, including an Ethereum red envelope feature. Through this plugin, users can embed any crypto token into an Ethereum smart contract and publish this red envelope as a Tweet on Twitter. As long as other users also use the Mask Network plugin and follow the correct method, they can claim the red envelope.

Another example of a mini-program is Gitcoin donations. Mask Network will detect all Tweets containing the http://gitcoin.co URL and display a pop-up on the user's social page, allowing users to make donations through this pop-up.

Our latest developed trading mini-plugin can detect whether there are token labels starting with the dollar sign $ on a webpage. If there are, users just need to hover their mouse over this label to see the market trend of this cryptocurrency, which trading pairs it is on, and even if this token has trading pairs on Uniswap, they can trade directly through the built-in "Swap" interface in Mask Network, which is supported by Uniswap. These features are already open to all Mask Network users without the need for additional installation.

Chain Catcher: You refer to products like Mask Network as bridges. How should this be understood?

Suji: Yes, they are customizable and transformable bridges, but not tools; they are middleware. Without us, many projects cannot be used directly on centralized platforms. But unlike other middleware, we are a decentralized project, the code is open-source, and everyone can develop on it.

We regard the internet itself as a data foundation of the blockchain world, viewing the new world as a database. We bridge these two worlds together, but not through cross-chain, rather through cross-internet blockchain.

For example, through cooperation with the Polkadot and Ethereum ecosystems, we have successfully brought Polkadot and Ethereum to Twitter and Facebook. Although so far we have only created some small plugins, the imagination for the future is limitless. It will be a composite of all tracks and the largest entry point into the decentralized world because we are the first bridge that can connect with the centralized world.

Chain Catcher: There are very few teams in the blockchain industry like yours, which have consistently focused on creating crypto plugins or bridges. Can you share your initial thoughts on doing this?

Suji: We know that many projects look cool from the perspective of the traditional internet industry, but they lack an understanding of the new world and Web 3.0. I also know some big names in Web 3.0, like Vitalik, who already understand where the problems lie, but large ships are hard to turn, so they can only fund Dimension to do this.

The Chinese internet is similar to the American internet. If any Chinese internet project tells the industry or VCs that they want to overthrow centralized internet giants, that is just a dream. Similarly, any project claiming to overthrow Ethereum, while it may have some possibility, is quite difficult.

Too many people are working on decentralized underlying blockchains, and creating another one is not very meaningful, so we decided to build a bridge across the internet. Ethereum might be like the internet of the past, cool but with a high barrier to use; while today's internet giants are very user-friendly but extremely closed, they can ban users or mute them at any time. So I was thinking, can we do something more innovative on the internet: directly using DeFi, NFT, DAO, Ethereum, Polkadot, and other decentralized projects on modern internet applications?

Chain Catcher: Tool-based products often find it difficult to monetize. What is your business model?

Suji: The business model in this model is quite straightforward, somewhat similar to the logic of Compound and Uniswap. We are building a huge network that does not require any recognition, and does not need any traditional regulation, which creates a huge profit space. We cooperate with cloud computing vendors, and users need to pay transaction fees or unlock fees, and these fees are captured by Dimension.

However, doing this now is meaningless. We hope to make users realize the importance of data first; data is their asset. We provide users with legal technology to defend their data assets.

Chain Catcher: Can you talk about the specific user numbers and growth trends of the products that have been launched?

Suji: We have two groups of users. One group consists of users who clearly understand what Mask Network is and use every feature; this group has about 30,000 to 40,000 downloads, with around 3,000 daily active users. The other group refers to users who enter through internet portals, and their number has exceeded 800,000. The user growth trend is quite exaggerated; there has been nearly a million growth in a year.

Our goal is to reach 20 million installations in three years. For example, during this year's Spring Festival, our collaboration with Maker on the red envelope activity attracted over 1,000 real users, including Ethereum founder Vitalik.

These people may not be Web 3.0 users and may not use DeFi for more things, but this also proves that the original internet platform is an entry point, and this entry point needs a bridge. Even successful projects like Ethereum and Maker need this bridge.

2. Web 3.0 is About Breaking Through Obstacles and Restrictions

Chain Catcher: Data privacy breaches are very common in today's society, and much of the data is actively collected by companies or governments. Products like Mask Network put internet giants or governments in a comparative position. Since your launch, have you had any confrontations with large companies like Facebook or governments?

Suji: We definitely will, but it's not convenient to disclose that right now. What I can say is that software like Twitter is our ally.

Bitcoin took over a decade to reach a market value of over $100 billion, but it seems that if Zuckerberg and Bezos join forces, they could block the entire industry. It's a simple truth: Facebook targeting us is equivalent to targeting decentralization, targeting Ethereum and IPFS; we are not fighting alone.

So we need to unite with projects like Ethereum and Polkadot, avoid excessive competition among ourselves, and collaborate to truly realize a decentralized world.

Chain Catcher: Your goal is to build a bridge between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0. Can you talk about your understanding of Web 3.0?

Suji: Everyone has a different understanding of Web 3.0. My understanding is that Web 2.0 cannot achieve certain things due to some strange reasons. In the early days of the internet, there were many beautiful dreams, such as cross-border payments, three rights privacy, online governance, permanent storage, open finance, and data belonging to individuals. However, due to various countries and some commercial organizations obstructing these goals for their own purposes, we now refer to this stage as Web 2.0, while the next stage that breaks through these obstacles and restrictions is called Web 3.0.

Chain Catcher: We understand that you are one of the initiators of the anti-996 protocol. Do you think blockchain technology can help empower individuals and improve the 996 work system?

Suji: Vitalik has always believed in and practiced the concept: data as labor. Everyone thinks the 996 movement changes the production relationship, but the essence of the production relationship is merely the relationship between labor and capital. In the digital world, users are labor, while platforms and platform owners are capital. Users' labor is manifested through creating data, and only cryptography can protect data or secure data transfer and transactions, which is what open finance or DeFi is about.

So one thing I am very sure of is: everyone can become a capitalist. These programmers need to have capital, and they need the open-source movement to help them truly own their intellectual property, rather than letting big companies represent them and profit from these intellectual properties. I feel that the 996 movement is the beginning of this vision.

In the traditional world, we need to protect workers' ability to be compensated through laws and regulations; in the digital world, you need to achieve this through Ethereum and smart contracts. If we persist in this approach, centralized platforms will not be a threat.

Chain Catcher: You have many very personalized labels, such as being a female programmer, opposing the 996 movement, and dropping out of college, which carry a sense of rebellion. Can you talk about how this rebellious consciousness was formed? However, from a social perspective, many value judgments are deeply rooted, and the effects of rebellious actions seem limited at present. How do you view this situation?

Suji: It's hard to say; everyone sees and believes different things. For example, if you believe there is no difference in gender, and that the government and monopolistic companies do not affect the pursuit of truth, then you would become a journalist or participate in social movements.

I believe someone needs to do such things. It is not merely a rebellion or deviation from something; it is a reform. This aligns with what we are doing in business. We advocate for users to reclaim their data privacy, which will inevitably force some internet giants to change. This is a revolution on the internet.