Author: VIP3

In the eyes of most outsiders, Web3 is a somewhat dangerous term, often associated with unpleasant words like fraud, Ponzi schemes, and scams. However, this perception is largely a stereotype.

It is undeniable that the early stages of development are often accompanied by chaos, but as maturity deepens, everything gradually moves towards a more orderly direction.

As Web3 has developed, it has already amassed a considerable user base. However, beyond these hardcore users, there are many more who are kept out of Web3 due to high barriers to entry. Perhaps it is due to complex terminology, perhaps due to obscure technical theories, or perhaps because of the extremely high cost of experience, a large number of users are deterred from Web3. Among these, the most obvious perception for ordinary users is the characteristic of Web3 being "paying at every turn, spending at every step."

In the traditional Web2 world, third-party service providers often adopt a free or potentially paid model for most simple interactions, which is almost imperceptible to users. In contrast, Web3 is almost the opposite; all costs are laid out transparently. Gas fees, transaction fees, wallet fees, storage fees, data analysis service fees, and so on are ever-present, meaning that ordinary users who want to experience Web3 comprehensively must pay at least a five-figure cost. This is likely unacceptable for most people.

At this point, we can't help but wonder: Is there a way to save some costs for Web3 users?

The answer is certainly yes.

In the Web2 world, "aggregation" is a common term. "Aggregated payments, aggregated travel, aggregated content, aggregated rights" have made aggregation platforms increasingly integral to our lives. These aggregation applications often mean a more convenient, friendly, and low-cost user experience. Web3 users undoubtedly have similar needs.

Today, we will introduce a Web3 rights aggregation application that aims to save ecological costs for Web3 users through a membership mechanism, provide benefits, and hopes to establish user stickiness. It is VIP3.

Membership Systems in Web2

VIP3 is a Web3 membership protocol dedicated to bringing more discounts and benefits to Web3 users and directing these users to more Web3 applications.

In the traditional Web2 world, membership systems are a common form of qualification certification, while such models are rare in Web3. Taking Web2 e-commerce as an example, there are generally two types of membership systems:

1. Free Membership System

The free membership system typically includes elements like growth level members and point currency members. Its core is to grant users certain growth values and points based on their behavior, such as activity level, purchase frequency, and spending amount, which often correspond to some benefits. Merchants can use these benefits to increase users' switching costs, thereby enhancing user stickiness.

2. Paid Membership

Paid membership refers to users needing to pay to purchase membership to enjoy corresponding benefits. The payment itself is a barrier, meaning it strictly filters users. For example, Pinduoduo's savings card and JD's PLUS membership.

Some of these paid memberships offer discount coupons to low-value users to increase repurchase rates, while others provide high rebates for high-value users.

At its core, the reason people become members is fundamentally to "take advantage." When the value of benefits > membership cost, users will choose to use membership to seek profit and avoid loss, which is also the key to maintaining the Web2 membership system.

Additionally, in the Web2 membership system, user rights mainly manifest as shopping discounts, consumption offsets, and additional services. Meanwhile, companies' interests mainly reflect in increasing total transaction amounts. Once a certain number of members is reached, it can also generate more premiums and seek cooperation opportunities, which can, to some extent, exchange for more valuable rights.

In summary, we can see that Web2 has already established a mature membership system. The next question is how to borrow this model and bring it into Web3.

When Rights Aggregation Meets Web3

Currently, Web3 still faces many issues that greatly limit the development of membership systems:

1. Various applications are emerging rapidly, meaning there are too many places to spend money. This is one of the main reasons hindering newcomers from entering Web3.

2. Short application lifecycles. "One day in Web3 is like a year in the real world." However, in reality, the lifecycle of most Web3 applications may not even last a year. This means that when users finally become seasoned users of an application after much effort, they may find that their benefits become worthless just a few months later.

3. Fragmentation of application ecosystems. Current Web3 applications resemble isolated islands, where the membership system formed in one application cannot be applied in others. Of course, this is also an inherent problem of Web2.

In response to the above issues, VIP3 has proposed its vision to create a Web3 rights aggregation platform. Through this platform, newcomers entering the Web3 world can avoid the overwhelming array of applications; by entering the rights aggregation platform, they can access mainstream applications.

After identity verification, users will receive corresponding membership levels based on their identities and can directly enjoy discounts, rebates, whitelists, and other benefits from various mainstream applications.

As users accumulate behavior in the Web3 world and their membership levels rise, the benefits they can obtain will also increase.

When an application collapses, or when users simply want to try a product, they can directly enjoy the corresponding benefits.

Compared to the Web2 membership system, the biggest difference of the Web3 rights aggregation platform is that it can be realized based on smart contracts, thus becoming a public protocol and identifying users through methods like SBT. This way, anyone can use this public information to build their own rights platform, directly reaching users and providing services.

In the Web2 era, user information is the most core asset of the platform and has even become a commercial secret. However, this model only fosters the emergence of isolated islands, bringing inconvenience to users.

In contrast, the ultimate form of the Web3 rights aggregation platform should be completely open, equal, and decentralized. The core spirit of Web3 can also be best reflected through this approach.

VIP3: An Ambitious Web3 Rights Aggregation Platform

VIP3 is a standard Web3 membership protocol dedicated to aggregating excellent Web3 application rights to provide them to core Web3 users and high-quality users trying to transition from Web2 to Web3, helping them obtain more rights and lowering the entry barriers to Web3.

VIP3 offers multiple identity verification methods, such as email verification, filtering users from top schools and companies, while also combining on-chain analysis to identify and target the core user groups of leading protocols.

At the same time, VIP3 also adopts the SBT format to issue SBTs to invited or verified users, and addresses holding SBTs can be recognized by rights holders to provide corresponding benefits.

Currently, the VIP3 product is still in the BETA testing phase, and the rights that have been launched mainly include trading fee reductions or rebates from major exchanges, generally around 40%-50% or more, including CEX Binance, OKX, MEXC, and NFT exchange Elements. According to the project team, rights from DEXs like Uniswap will also be launched successively.

Additionally, the rights provided by VIP3 also include discounts on various other products, such as wallet TOKEN POCKET and service discounts for domain .bit.

Considering the security concerns of newcomers entering Web3, VIP3 has also included security-related benefits, such as free access to the security tracking service provided by SlowMist for SBT holders.

It is reported that the founding team of VIP3 has backgrounds in international internet giants, and they aim to quickly integrate more rights in the future, aspiring to create the largest rights aggregation platform in Web3.

Conclusion

Looking back at the membership systems in the Web2 world, we can't help but marvel at their high level of maturity. However, as it has developed, it has actually moved towards a direction more favorable to businesses, gradually eroding the rights of ordinary users in the competition. This is undoubtedly an unsolvable problem for Web2.

But for Web3, it seems to inherently possess the soil to solve such problems; its decentralized, transparent, and traceable characteristics make it possible to safeguard user interests.

Even though Web3 rights aggregation is a strange field for most people, it cannot be denied that it indeed concerns users' vital interests. In the author's view, it may even open up a new track. For this, we might as well wait and see.