Exclusive Interview with CARV Founder: Building the Flywheel Effect Requires Infrastructure and Applications to Advance Together

Author: 1912212.eth, Foresight News

Data has become the new "oil resource" under the wave of AI, playing an extremely important role in the AI arms race among tech giants. However, issues regarding data privacy, usage rights, and revenue rights have long been ignored by users. In the past few decades of internet development, users have been the producers of data but not the true beneficiaries. Moreover, news about large tech companies exploiting big data has become commonplace.

In the decentralized Web3 wave, data sovereignty and revenue rights are slowly becoming possible. Users can also earn revenue through tokens. This is the core mission that CARV is pursuing. It is a modular data layer specifically built for AI and Web3 games. The data volume in the AI and gaming sectors is large and diverse. After ordinary users' data circulates through the application layer, ID layer, storage layer, computation training layer, execution layer, and finally to the verification layer, the high-value data obtained is exactly what the industry needs.

In the last cycle, pioneers like Gala allowed many early participants to earn substantial profits, and the recent performance of Aethir's node sales has also been impressive. In light of this, Foresight News interviewed CARV founder Victor to gain deeper insights into his team, products, nodes, and future plans.

1. The Birth of CARV: Accidental or Inevitable

CARV founder Victor studied at Harvard Business School and has entrepreneurial and investment experience in the Web2 field. After diving into the Web3 space, he explored multiple avenues before finally determining his new entrepreneurial project: a modular data layer for games and AI.

CARV is a homophone of the English word "Carve," which means "to sculpt." Gamers continuously train themselves, which is essentially sculpting their own data, and it also represents CARV's spirit of "sculpting" in product development. Another layer of meaning is that, similar to the aggregation of players' achievements, the sculpted records are stored on-chain.

Foresight News: Many people may have just heard of CARV. Can you introduce yourself and your experience in the crypto field, including your team?

I started my entrepreneurial journey in 2015 and within two years built a company that could be acquired by a Fortune 500 company. My background is mainly in technology; I also worked at McKinsey and later moved into venture capital, focusing on various fields including AI, consumer tech, hard tech, and crypto analysis, where I met our current CTO. During my time at Harvard Business School, I connected with our founding team.

Our CTO has been working in the crypto field since graduating from a U.S. graduate school. In 2017, he developed a blockchain video streaming product and has worked on the Cosmos chain. He later sold his company to Bittorrent and joined Coinbase, where he was responsible for private keys, L2, and other matters. Our head of growth operations previously worked at Tencent and other companies, mainly as a producer in game publishing and operations.

Foresight News: CARV focuses on building a modular data layer for games and AI. Was this direction clear from the start, or was it a result of trial and error?

We initially had a broad direction and explored it extensively before finalizing our focus.

We found that there are many issues in the Web2 space, such as personal data being controlled by centralized data owners, leaving individuals unable to gain data sovereignty. Additionally, the process of using data generates significant revenue, but users, as data providers, do not receive any of that revenue. This is a problem.

This leads to various issues, such as regulations like Europe's GDPR and the U.S. CCPA. While their intent is to protect users' data privacy, the result is that data consumers, such as gaming companies wanting to advertise, find it increasingly difficult to obtain precise user data. Thus, we identified a problem where individuals lack data sovereignty and privacy protection, and they cannot share in the revenue generated from the use of their data. On the other hand, brands, companies, and data users struggle to obtain high-quality user data through legal means.

We believe there is a significant opportunity to act as a bridge between both sides, allowing data to generate more value. On one hand, we protect users' data privacy and enable them to share in the value generated from data usage, allowing for self-control and monetization of personal data. On the other hand, we help data users obtain high-quality personal data through legal and compliant means.

We identified several fields where data value can be maximized, one of which is gaming, as the industry has accumulated vast amounts of data. For gaming companies, acquiring personal user data is crucial for targeted advertising, market analysis, etc., all of which require a substantial amount of user data as a foundation. Our first focus area is gaming, and based on this selection, we developed our flagship product based on CARV, CARV Play, which has been operational for two years with approximately 2.5 million registered users. The other area is AI, where we have seen an increasing demand for personal data usage since the second half of last year.

2. The Modular Data Layer for Gaming + AI is Not Just a Narrative but Real Expertise

In hot sectors, there are always many projects trying to ride the wave. CARV has targeted the two hot sectors of gaming and AI from the beginning, focusing on genuine insights to develop products. Currently, the cross-platform authentication system and Web3 game distribution and social platform CARV Play has been online and operational for two years, receiving real validation and generating revenue. The CARV AI Agent based on the TON ecosystem—CARA Bot—and more products are also in active development.

Foresight News: How do you view the development of the gaming and AI sectors in the crypto field?

Web3 gaming is phased. Many games face skepticism because they lack strong gameplay; a game must first be fun before it can generate additional revenue. However, many games have a strong financial attribute due to Web3.

This can lead to a reversal of priorities, resulting in projects of varying quality. In fact, this year, especially since the start of this bull market, we have seen some upcoming games that have high-quality gameplay even by traditional Web2 standards.

For gaming and AI, I anticipate that in the next cycle—short-term, perhaps a few months to a year, and long-term, possibly around a full cycle—we will see a very good application that can truly bring Web3 to Web2.

Looking back at the past few decades of internet development, it has generally followed a pattern of infrastructure development for a period, followed by a silent phase, and then empowering more applications. When applications rapidly develop, they return to the infrastructure with greater demands. From the beginning, CARV has adopted a method of advancing both the application layer and the underlying infrastructure simultaneously, allowing for independent discourse and rolling the flywheel.

Foresight News: What is the current development status of CARV's products?

Currently, we are focused on building a modular data layer and exploring organic integration with AI, including the following aspects:

Modular data layer: We have established a complete set of data protocols that allow users to have full data sovereignty. Users can authorize, store, verify, and confirm their identity, player profile, and game data through the protocol while also earning revenue from data usage. At this stage, we are focusing on selling CARV verification nodes, enriching and atomizing our verification layer through user-owned nodes and proxy nodes.

AI integration: We have launched the CARV AI Agent—CARA Bot—built on the TON ecosystem. Powered by the GPT large model, it serves as CARV's encyclopedia and intelligent assistant, helping users answer questions about CARV. Our next step will be to provide intelligent recommendations based on users' personalized data and explore D2E tasks and advertising. We are seeking further strategic partnerships with well-known AI companies to generate more data value through AI X Data.

First, the CARV protocol is a modular cross-chain data layer that includes components for authentication, storage, processing, and monetization. Following the recently approved ERC-7231 standard by the Ethereum community, CARV ID aggregates over 1 million users' Web2 and Web3 identities, promoting data self-sovereignty. The CARV Link oracle service handles on-chain data authentication, which is then stored in CARV's decentralized mixed Ethereum storage system. Data is processed before being published to multiple blockchains, simplifying cross-chain management and ensuring secure and efficient monetization in Web3.

At the same time, CARV Play is a cross-platform authentication system and the largest Web3 game distribution and social platform. In the past quarter, its daily active wallet count exceeded 500,000, making it one of the top three ecosystems in terms of on-chain activity alongside Linea, opBNB, zkSync, and Ronin, providing 2.5 million players with an enhanced gaming experience to share data, establish credentials, play games, and earn rewards. Approximately 30% of existing Web3 games are already listed on this platform, ranging from MARBLEX and Shrapnel to Off the Grid, Pixelmon, and Pixels.

Foresight News: Which companies or projects do you consider your most direct competitors? What sets you apart?

In the Web2 space, as a foundational data infrastructure layer, we consider companies like AppLovin (market cap $27 billion) and Liveramp (market cap $2.3 billion) as relevant comparables. However, CARV's difference lies in truly transferring data ownership and monetization rights to users. Any revenue generated from user data will be shared with the data creators.

Additionally, we have created a unified user ID standard (ERC-7231) that connects Web2 and Web3, achieving seamless data portability rather than the isolated solutions available today. This brings a powerful flywheel effect for both users and businesses in industries like gaming and AI.

For our gaming application CARV Play, companies like Taptap (market cap $850 million, a community-driven mobile game discovery and distribution platform) are also comparable. Our key distinction is achieving true cross-platform achievements and identity portability, even across console, mobile, and PC games. Achievements are also verified on-chain, unlocking credential-based game matching and incentivized community voting.

In Web3, some companies only touch on certain aspects, such as gaming platforms (Portal, Forge, GALA, Treasure) or decentralized data (Grass, Masa Network, Ocean Protocol). But CARV combines the comprehensive application layer of gaming, AI agents in the TON ecosystem, and our foundational protocol infrastructure. We have 2.5 million registered users and over 790 integrated gaming and AI company partners.

The key is that our industry expertise allows us to cultivate very high-quality, refined data specifically tailored for gaming studios post-IDFA and AI models that require high-quality first-party and zero-party data. This demand is validated by our monthly revenue exceeding $1 million and over 350 actual business clients.

3. No Pointless Points Games, Community and Node Distribution Take the Lead

More and more projects are using point systems to attract large investors and then retail investors, and the market is growing weary of this endless points activity. So, aside from points, is there another way for a project to share revenue with users and accelerate decentralization? Besides airdrops, CARV's approach is to sell nodes. For players, nodes not only enhance the gaming experience but also promote more game discovery and profitability.

In the token economics, 50% of CARV's total supply is evenly distributed to the community and nodes. This is rare in crypto projects where VC shares dominate.

Foresight News: Many projects have faced controversy over airdrops and point systems. How does CARV view this issue? How is the distribution amount to the community determined?

This is a broad question that can be shared from different points. From the perspective of having no tokens, points can solve the cold start problem of a project. In cases where tokens are involved, there are often high expectations for the community and its revenue. In situations where a project has not launched tokens, innovations like points can emerge.

In the CARV ecosystem, both the community and node operators are indispensable, and we also express gratitude for the contributions of early community members. In CARV's token economics, 25% is allocated to the community and 25% to node operators. The current node sales will not affect the rights of early community contributors, including airdrops.

Foresight News: Let's talk about nodes. Most readers may have only purchased tokens, so what are CARV nodes? What are their functions? Why consider selling nodes?

Validator nodes are lightweight nodes managed by the community. They play a crucial role in maintaining the integrity of the protocol, enhancing its credibility and security. Currently, these nodes mainly check TEE proofs on-chain to verify the reliability of results and whether the process maintains user data privacy.

CARV nodes have always been part of our roadmap because we believe their integration is essential for amplifying the dynamics between players and games. CARV nodes use verifiable mechanisms to ensure secure data processing through consensus, driving the CARV protocol toward a permissionless, decentralized, and more secure ecosystem. This means more high-quality games will join, simplifying the onboarding process and enhancing player community engagement and participation.

For players, a more decentralized and secure network provides greater opportunities for monetization and participation. A community-driven approach not only enhances the gaming experience but also promotes more game discovery and profitability. Looking ahead, this decentralized network will expand to provide additional services such as storage, oracle services, and game L2 solutions. These initiatives aim not only to generate profits but also to give back to the ecosystem, ultimately benefiting players.

The benefits of running CARV nodes mainly include three aspects:

• Reward opportunities: A significant portion of network rewards, with 25% of CARV tokens allocated to node validators.
• Decentralization: Contributing to a truly decentralized data economy that respects user autonomy and privacy.
• Influence: Having a voice in the CARV community, helping shape the network's development and governance.

4. How Ordinary People Can Seize Node Opportunities

In the last bull market cycle, we saw early node users of Gala earn substantial profits. Will history repeat itself in this bull market cycle? This is a question on many investors' minds. Beyond these questions, the essence lies in where CARV's core advantages and competitiveness are reflected. The answer includes technology, incentives, and ecosystem.

Foresight News: We have seen previous node sales from Gala, XAI, and Aethir. What are CARV's differences and advantages?

Overall, it includes multiple aspects: Technologically, CARV has completed the end-to-end flow of data, including authentication, storage, verification, and processing. We have modularized the design, greatly facilitating collaboration with other projects.

The node sales combine the advantages of DPoS (Delegated Proof of Stake) and PoA (Proof of Authority), allowing CARV to achieve a sufficiently decentralized network. This decentralized node network can effectively integrate with the modular data layer established by CARV. The node network currently mainly serves the data processing layer established by CARV, ensuring compliance and privacy protection in data processing. In the future, we will utilize the node network to serve the data storage layer, better supporting CARV's on-chain DA (Data Availability) solutions. CARV will further leverage the node network to serve the identity authentication layer, launching decentralized oracles for gaming and AI.

In terms of incentives, CARV adopts a 6-month reduction model with a 25% release rate, making the emissions more advantageous, with 28% released in the first 6 months and 50% in the first year. Additionally, CARV has a unique reserve buyback contract, allowing users to apply for a 100% buyback after 6 months without making any reward claims during that period.

This means that if a user purchases a node and is dissatisfied with its operation after six months, they can execute a buyback operation, essentially guaranteeing that they will not face significant pressure in our nodes.

We will also provide some users with rewards through testnet incentives during the token TGE, and more projects will airdrop to users. We currently have nearly 400 partner projects and have already announced that multiple projects will provide airdrop rewards to node operators, with more actions to follow.

Foresight News: For ordinary retail investors, what is the specific situation for participating in nodes? What suggestions do you have?

From a technical perspective, users can choose to run nodes with a one-click representation for node operators. We will not make it overly complicated; it is not like traditional block production or verifying every transaction.

Secondly, we want to allow users to participate in the simplest way, even without needing to download any software; they can run nodes directly in their browsers. Specific requirements will include keeping the browser running to help us verify data on the corresponding chain.

We also hope to make it simple enough for users, so they only need to verify for 6 hours a day. As long as they complete the required verification within those 6 hours, they will receive rewards.

For many ordinary users and gamers, they can leave their computers on before going to sleep, allowing the browser to run, which can help them meet their daily goals, benefiting both parties.

We will provide different node solutions tailored to different users' needs. Our suggestion for users is to choose the solution that best suits them to operate the node.

Foresight News: Can you share your recent work focus and future roadmap?

Technologically, our current focus is to better support nodes, making it easier for users to run them and improving the overall purchasing experience. In the near future, based on the node network, we will quickly expand its applications, including data layer verification and oracle implementation. We may also consider running our own network based on our needs.

We are already in discussions with some major projects regarding collaboration on the data layer, such as Avail, which is interested in our data storage solutions.

Next, we will focus on oracles, which are currently a pain point. Many games may require a mechanism for game-specific or more suitable oracles, which will also help us expand the use cases of the verification network.

Our larger vision is to have our own verification network, our own processing, and eventually develop our own data layer, including DA (Data Availability) and storage.

In terms of AI, we have already announced partnerships with Aethir and Google Cloud. Aethir is a decentralized GPU network, which is crucial for AI in terms of computing power. Google Cloud is a top-tier infrastructure provider, including CPU, network, resources, and CDN. Currently, CARV operates as a middle layer concept. We are integrating all AI infrastructure while connecting with Aethir and Google Cloud, thus promising the capability of connecting all infrastructure with GPUs. Our applications include our own AI agent and integrations with some larger projects, including parts of fetch.ai's functionality.

We are integrating all AI infrastructure downward and all AI applications upward. As a middle layer, CARV provides data, which, combined with infrastructure and GPUs, can create limitless possibilities.

For CARV, this may further include GPUs and data, and we also have Google Cloud as a powerful infrastructure provider, along with our applications. Thus, we will focus on building a complete AI ecosystem centered around CARV, which will be a key focus moving forward.

We have consistently followed the direction outlined in our roadmap.

From the perspective of users and games, we aim to create a more complete and seamless UI user experience, allowing users to truly have a lifetime membership with passive income after obtaining their ID. They can use their mobile internet to play the games they want and participate in the protocol, seamlessly accumulating more complete data. This will create greater value for other applications, allowing users to monetize their rightful share, which is an experience we will continuously improve.

Secondly, the team itself has a strong gene in gaming and data or gaming and AI, allowing us to refine the experiences of different types of players. For example, hardcore players can present all their gaming identities and experiences in a very unique way on the CARV application layer. We will continuously improve the social and content aspects.

This is a step on the application layer. From the perspective of PMF (Product Market Fit) or business, we are currently serving over 700 gaming and AI companies, helping them solve customer acquisition, user understanding, and model training pain points through data.

We will also refine our B2B products further, aiming to adopt a Taptap-like monetization model and achieve greater breakthroughs for them. This will also include our SDK to streamline the entire revenue model.