Understand CARV in Three Minutes: A Game and AI Universal Modular Data Layer

Author: Coolman, Foresight News

With the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, "data" has become the engine of growth. Nowadays, each person generates up to 146 GB of data daily through an average of 30 apps, and in the past two years, nearly 90% of global data has been generated by independent individuals. Although platform AI can analyze data to provide personalized experiences for individuals, the hidden danger behind this convenience is that personal data is long-term controlled by a few internet platforms. Centralized platforms profit immensely from vast amounts of data, while the true data creators have no control or privacy rights, let alone the basic right to benefit from their data.

Despite major platforms intentionally reducing cookie tracking amid criticism, there are very few measures that can truly return data sovereignty to individuals. As the internet boom gradually comes to an end, the emergence of blockchain seems to offer a competitive solution to privacy issues and data sovereignty, but challenges and hopes always coexist—blockchain technology is still some way from widespread adoption, and its complex user experience and high costs of digital asset management can deter newcomers.

Therefore, how to build user-friendly DApps based on blockchain technology, restore personal data sovereignty, and establish a complete economic model and ecosystem around it has become an urgent issue to address. CARV, which has discovered the potential, has quickly acted, transforming from a gaming-focused platform and data protocol centered on player credentials into a modular data layer applicable to both gaming and AI, while the "infrastructure + application" and "C-end + B-end" dual flywheel has already taken shape.

What is CARV

To return data sovereignty to individuals and allow users to enjoy corresponding benefits generated from value sharing in gaming and AI systems, CARV has built its own ecosystem, including the CARV Protocol and two flagship products: CARV Play and CARV AI Agent.

CARV Protocol

CARV Protocol is a modular data layer designed to facilitate data exchange and value distribution in the gaming and AI fields. Through an end-to-end data flow process and a modular design, it consists of five modules: identity layer, storage layer, computation and training layer, execution layer, and verification layer, to carry out processes such as data validation, identity authentication, storage, processing, model training, and value distribution. Through the CARV Protocol, ownership, control, and verification rights of data are returned to users, allowing data to be tokenized for profit. The CARV Protocol ensures that these rights are held by individuals, changing the long-standing methods of data use and sharing.

Additionally, for enterprises, CARV provides high-quality, privacy-assured, and compliant user data access, effectively utilizing and improving project operational levels. In terms of infrastructure, the CARV Protocol supports the entire data lifecycle, ensuring that data monetization and value distribution are conducted in a decentralized, integrated, privacy-focused, and compliant manner.

Currently, the CARV Protocol has provided "data as assets" services to over 780 gaming and AI companies in the Web2 and Web3 fields (such as Electronic Arts, Netmarble, AliCloud, etc.). Furthermore, CARV has proposed a new paradigm of aggregated ID NFTs based on ERC-7231, which has been approved by the Ethereum Foundation. As of now, 900K ID NFTs (ERC-7231) have been minted on opbnb.

CARV Play

CARV Play is the first cross-platform authentication system based on the CARV Protocol and is currently the largest web3 gaming distribution and social platform. Players can explore a rich game portfolio and exclusive events with the community through CARV Play. Developers can also understand player needs through the tools provided by CARV Play and efficiently showcase games and distribute information, thereby building gaming communities.

To date, CARV Play has provided data sharing, credential management, and substantial gaming rewards for 2.5 million registered players across Web2 and Web3 networks. In the past quarter, CARV Play's daily average UAW exceeded 500,000, making it one of the three most active ecosystems on gaming chains like Linea, opBNB, zkSync, and Ronin. Additionally, CARV Play's MRR has surpassed $1 million, integrating and supporting over 780 Web2 & 3 games and ecosystems, such as Illuvium, Off the Grid, Aperion, and Pixelmon, to gain targeted insights into player preferences and optimize user retention.

CARV AI Agent

Cara is a generative AI assistant built on the CARV Protocol, capable of providing personalized AI interaction experiences based on user data, specifically catering to users' own needs. In terms of infrastructure, CARV has formed strategic partnerships with Google Cloud and Aethir to provide strong computing power and infrastructure for AI projects in the Web3 domain. Through the Cara AI application, the CARV Protocol connects upper-level applications with underlying facilities, aiming to become the core middleware for AI projects in the Web3 world.

Financing Situation

• In November 2022, CARV completed a $4 million financing round led by Vertex Ventures, a venture capital firm under Temasek.
• In December 2023, CARV transformed into data sharing and gaming applications, receiving strategic financing from HashKey Capital and a global technology company valued at $100 billion, with specific amounts undisclosed.
• In April 2024, CARV completed a $10 million Series A financing round led by Tribe Capital and IOSG. Other participants included Consensys, OKX Ventures, Fenbushi Capital, No Limit Holdings, Draper Dragon, Arweave, LiquidX, and MARBLEX. This round of financing will be used to build a cross-chain modular data layer and promote innovation in the data economy.

CARV Token Economics Model

Use and Purpose

CARV is the native token of the CARV ecosystem, serving as a medium of exchange within the platform, granting players data ownership, and allowing holders to participate in ecosystem development management.

• Individual users can use CARV for multi-chain gas fee payments and game asset purchases within the ecosystem.
• It serves as an ecological incentive to guide data owners, providers, and consumers to participate in ecosystem activities.
• CARV can be converted to veCARV through a 1:1 stake and can participate in community decision-making and ecosystem activities through veCARV.

Distribution and Ownership

The total supply of CARV is 1 billion tokens, which will be unlocked over four years starting from TGE, with the initial distribution as follows:

Operational Nodes to Earn Additional Income

To enable global users to earn more through the CARV network, CARV has decided to open lightweight node operations to users on May 13. Participants can acquire verification node operation rights through node sales, participate in the operation of a distributed data network, and earn CARV native tokens. Whitelist node sales will begin at 12:00 PM (UTC) on the 24th of this month and will last for four days, with public node sales officially starting on May 28 at 12:00 PM (UTC). It is reported that 25% of the token supply will be gradually allocated to validators, with 50% released in the first year. Additionally, for the CARV network, distributed node operations will independently verify proofs generated by trusted execution environments (TEE), ensuring the credibility of data processing and further enhancing the network's decentralization. Operators need to run programs daily to earn rewards or can choose to delegate node operations to operators for one-click hosting.

Moreover, following community proposals and discussions, CARV has decided to offer a 100% buyback plan from the treasury for six months to the first batch of node sale purchasers, meaning eligible active validators can choose to apply for an 80% ETH or 100% CARV token buyback within a week after the sixth month ends. To ensure a smooth ETH buyback process, CARV will manage collateral through the deployment of smart contracts.