New Rules for Data Value Distribution, How Does CARV Leverage Millions of Users?

Author: Deep Tide TechFlow

In this somewhat special bull market cycle, what kind of market are users facing?

It is clear: too much infrastructure, too few applications.

Infrastructure is like building a shopping mall; no matter how well-equipped the hardware is, if the招商 (applications) do not capture the points of interest for users, it will still be deserted.

The popularity of TON ecosystem mini-games this summer seems to be a counterattack from users against the "grand narrative": regardless of the cycle changes, better participation and more intuitive returns remain the core demands of users.

However, in today's fragmented attention landscape, being seen by more people is itself a rare ability: the simple gameplay of TON mini-games does not mean that the underlying operational logic is simple. With ++TON ecosystem casual game BANANA's total user count surpassing 10 million++**, and DAU (daily active users) exceeding 1.1 million, we also noticed the unsung hero behind this success: ** ++CARV++.

It is understood that BANANA successfully attracted a large number of seed users through precise advertising on the CARV platform and KOL promotion, relying on a recommendation mechanism and UGC/sharing activities to achieve organic growth. Currently, over 90% of users come from organic growth channels, with the total number of accounts associated with CARV ID exceeding 1.3 million.

Such conversion growth is undoubtedly very attractive and is enough to prompt more people to further understand CARV:

As a modular identity data layer specifically for games and AI services, CARV, on one hand, stimulates user participation by promoting data sovereignty returning to users, data privacy protection, data tokenization, and value release. On the other hand, it forms efficient matchmaking between users and games, AI products through data as a bridge, bringing data benefits to users while promoting the development and innovation of games and AI.

In fact, by distributing real monetary benefits to users, CARV has sparked widespread participation due to its innovative data value distribution. Success stories like BANANA are emerging one after another: currently, CARV's ecosystem cooperation projects exceed 900+, and over a million users earn generous rewards through sharing data, participating in social activities, game live streaming, AMA meetings, Beta testing, etc., while projects gain high-quality data and traffic for healthy development.

How is this specifically achieved? Is this model sustainable? With the project TGE approaching, is now a good time to participate in CARV? How exactly should one participate?

This article aims to delve into CARV, exploring the operational logic and driving factors behind its remarkable achievements.

Notable Background: $50 Million Financing, 900+ Ecosystem Collaborations, Nearly 10 Million Users

Let's first take a look at CARV's fundamentals.

First, the financing performance. We can see that CARV's financing performance is very impressive, both in terms of amount and lineup.

According to currently disclosed information, ++CARV has completed multiple rounds of financing,++ ++accumulating over $50 million in funding++, which is a significant amount in any Web3 sector.

Beyond the amount, CARV's financing lineup is even more valuable: it not only attracts support from numerous crypto VCs, including Tribe Capital, IOSG, ConsenSys (Metamask), HashKey Capital, but also gains favor from Web2 giants like Alibaba. Additionally, we can notice that among the many investors, there are several gaming giants, such as doublejump.tokyo (the developer of Japan's largest chain Oasys), Animoca Brands, MarbleX (NetMable), IntellaX, The Sandbox, etc., further highlighting CARV's recognition in the gaming field.

It is worth mentioning that CARV also attracted lead investment from Vertex Ventures, a venture capital company under Temasek. As a 100% state-owned investment company of the Singapore Ministry of Finance, its investment in CARV also reflects the Singapore government's attention to the project.

Overall, CARV's narrative logic and future development have gained recognition from numerous institutions, and the stronger financial/resource backing provides a more solid foundation for CARV's continued positive development in the future.

Beyond institutions, a more important evaluation dimension comes from the ecosystem. In this regard, we also see CARV's astonishing coverage in the Web3 gaming and AI sectors.

According to official statistics, CARV's ecosystem currently collaborates with over 900+ games and AI projects, not only surpassing many popular new public chains in richness (according to SolanaProject data, the Solana ecosystem currently has 405 projects), but also covering well-known enterprises from both Web2 and Web3 in terms of project quality.

In the gaming sector, statistics show that CARV has engaged in deep cooperation with hundreds of top gaming studios worldwide, including but not limited to the blockchain subsidiary MarbleX of South Korean mobile game developer Netmarble, South Korean Web3 mobile game developer IntellaX, as well as blockchain games like Illuvium, Apeiron, Splinterlands, Genopets, Delysium, Drawshop Kingdom, Big Time, Ultiverse, etc.

In the AI sector, besides CARV's own generative AI assistant Cara, the AI projects collaborating with CARV's ecosystem are equally impressive. We can see collaborations with Google AI, and crypto-native projects like Aethir, Inferium AI, UneMeta, Coinbase's crypto AI SDK, etc. CARV, as a data identity intermediary layer, will explore building a new era of data value with AI projects within the ecosystem.

In the current Web3 landscape struggling to attract incremental users, gaming and AI, as two user-friendly sectors, are already enough to draw users in, while the dazzling array of ecosystem choices makes CARV exhibit strong competitiveness comparable to traditional Web2 internet products.

On one hand, CARV has a large user base:

According to official data, CARV serves 10 million registered players, among which, as a multi-chain identity solution that aggregates Web2 and Web3, the minting volume of CARV ID on opBNB exceeds 3.1 million, with the total number of users of the CARV protocol at 3.3 million. Another flagship product built on the CARV protocol, CARV Play, has 2.5 million users, and the app's mobile download volume is 1.3 million.

On the other hand, CARV ecosystem users demonstrate extraordinary activity:

Statistics show that CARV has a total on-chain transaction volume of 240 million across opBNB, Ronin, Linea, and over 40 other chains, with impressive data driving CARV Play to firmly hold the title of "the largest Web3 game distribution and social platform currently."

From the beginning of the year to now, CARV's revenue has reached $6 million, coming from CARV ID minting and .play name services on opBNB, as well as revenue from integrated CARV Play, Infinite Play, CARV games, and the BANANA mini-game.

In the public sale of nodes held in June this year, CARV sold 38,000 nodes in a very short time, ultimately closing with a total value exceeding $36 million.

Additionally, in a recent airdrop event co-hosted by CARV and Binance Web3 Wallet, over 500,000 users participated within 48 hours of the event going live, ultimately attracting more than 1.4 million users to actively participate.

It can be seen that CARV has impressive achievements from the institutional side, application side, and user side.

Based on these achievements, let’s explore the driving forces behind CARV's remarkable performance through dimensions such as the project’s sector, narrative logic, and specific implementation paths.

Harvard Elite Entrepreneurship: Focusing on Gaming and AI, Innovating Data Value Distribution

In Web3, there is a saying: the essence of investment is investing in people.

This is equally applicable to CARV. Behind the impressive financing, CARV's strong team configuration also plays an important role.

CARV co-founder and COO Victor Y. studied at Harvard Business School, previously worked at McKinsey, and is also a serial entrepreneur who founded a company that was acquired by a Fortune 500 company within two years. He has rich experience in venture capital, AI, consumer, hard tech, and the crypto field.

CARV's CTO has extensive experience in the crypto field, having worked on the blockchain video streaming product LINO (later acquired by TRON) in 2017, and was responsible for development work in the Cosmos project. He then joined Coinbase to work on private key-related tasks and was deeply involved in the development and implementation of L2 Base.

CARV's CGO is mainly responsible for growth and operations, with rich operational experience and resource accumulation in the gaming sector, having worked for well-known gaming companies such as Tencent Games, Garena Games, and Electronic Arts, where the 3A and mini-games he operated exceeded 1 billion downloads.

The opportunity for CARV's birth is inseparable from the lack of data ownership and data value in the era of data explosion.

According to predictions from internet data centers, global data volume will reach 175 ZB by 2025. As the internet deeply penetrates more life scenarios, human behavior is recorded in the form of data, with nearly 90% of global data generated by independent individuals.

In the torrent of information, users generate data, and they should be the owners and beneficiaries of that data. However, as the internet continues to penetrate more life scenarios, centralized companies control vast amounts of user data and profit immensely from it, while the true data creators not only suffer from privacy breaches but also cannot benefit from their own data.

In 2021, at that time, Victor was still studying at Harvard Business School. He keenly captured this pain point and began to work on building a solution that would promote data sovereignty returning to users while helping users say "no" to a world of surveillance and infringement, achieving data sharing under the premise of privacy protection and obtaining the value generated during data circulation.

This idea quickly resonated with several early core members, including the CTO and CGO, and the prototype of CARV began to take shape.

In the process of exploring data value, CARV discovered the enormous demand for data from gaming and AI.

On one hand, data is like a lifeline for the rapid development of gaming and AI. In the gaming industry, data analysis of player behavior can greatly enhance game quality and user experience. In the AI field, data is the foundation for training and optimizing AI models.

On the other hand, the high demand for data from gaming and AI also endows data with greater value. As gaming and AI mature, the demand for data in these two fields continues to grow. This data-driven model further makes data a highly valuable asset.

After understanding the interdependent relationship between data, gaming, and AI, CARV's solution to return data sovereignty and innovate data value distribution became clearer:

CARV, as an innovative data layer solution, aims to build an efficient matchmaking platform between gaming, AI applications, and users:

For users: CARV grants users complete control over their personal data, allowing them to decide how their data is used and shared under privacy protection, and they can earn economic benefits through data sharing and trading. Users' data is no longer a passive resource but an actively managed asset from which they can derive tangible returns.

For gaming and AI applications: CARV provides a pathway to acquire high-quality data, enabling developers to access real data authorized by users, which not only helps applications better understand user needs but also achieves precise market positioning and user reach, thereby promoting the healthy and sustainable development of applications.

Thus, a secure, transparent, and efficient data ecosystem is gradually unfolding.

Now that the beautiful blueprint has been drawn, how does CARV specifically turn ideals into reality?

CARV: A Universal Modular Identity Data Layer Focused on Gaming and AI

Specifically, CARV is building a universal modular identity and data layer for gaming, AI, and more other fields. To achieve large-scale user data self-sovereignty and empower gaming projects and AI development through data intelligence, CARV has three main pillars to promote a virtuous cycle of users and data.

• CARV Protocol: Modular identity and data layer

• CARV Application: Ecosystem flagship products built on the CARV protocol.

• CARV Labs: Achieving ecosystem prosperity through incentive measures, further promoting the virtuous cycle of user and data growth.

As a modular identity and data layer (Identity and Data Layer, IDL), the CARV protocol adopts a modular design, completing data verification, identity authentication, storage, processing, model training, and value distribution through five modules: identity layer, storage layer, computation and training layer, execution layer, and verification layer, providing underlying support for the entire CARV ecosystem.

The identity layer is the starting point of the CARV protocol, responsible for user identity verification and authentication.

By supporting Web2 social logins and automatically creating AA wallets, CARV further lowers the user threshold, creating a smoother and seamless ecosystem entry experience.

After joining the CARV ecosystem, users will be guided to create an on-chain identity ++CARV ID++: it is worth mentioning that CARV ID adopts ++ERC - 7231 design++, which was proposed by the CARV team and supported by the Ethereum Foundation. Its highlighted advantages include verifiability, multi-aggregation, and composability, supporting multiple Web2 platforms and over 40 Web3 networks. Users' ownership, role behavior, social relationships, past experiences, etc., can all be authorized, verified, and generated into digital identities and credentials. This design achieves the aggregation of Web2 multi-platform and Web3 multi-chain data, allowing users to switch seamlessly between different platforms, further enhancing data liquidity and usage efficiency.

The storage layer is responsible for aggregating and storing user data. After data verification is completed in the identity layer, the data will be aggregated and visible only to users. CARV supports various data storage solutions to ensure controllable storage costs, data security, and accessibility.

The computation and training layer ensures that user data is securely processed using privacy-enhancing technologies. In CARV, data processing is handled by a decentralized TEE node cluster, which then publishes the results on the blockchain, attaching TEE proofs, timestamps, and random numbers to prevent double-spending attacks.

The verification layer is responsible for verifying results, ++including over 40,000 on-chain decentralized community nodes++, ensuring that user data operates in a decentralized manner, meets user expectations, and ensures privacy.

The execution layer ensures that all data transactions are securely recorded on the blockchain and verifiable, allowing participants to share rewards in a decentralized and transparent manner.

The CARV protocol aims to facilitate data exchange and value distribution in the gaming and AI fields. After the CARV token TGE, it will continue to build the Identity and Data Layer (IDL), including a newly built consensus layer and data storage layer, and utilize on-chain decentralized nodes as decentralized sorters and storage verifiers to promote cross-chain information verification and ensure secure data processing.

Based on the CARV protocol, CARV will build multiple flagship products, demonstrating how data can efficiently match demands in specific scenarios, how data can empower product development, how real monetary benefits can be generated, and how these can be transparently distributed to users.

++CARV Play++ is one of the vivid examples of the first flagship application launched: as a player profiling and game distribution platform, CARV Play has listed over 900+ products and has 2.5 million players. Every day, a large number of users explore a rich combination of games and exclusive activities through the platform, earning various rewards, physical gifts, or ecosystem rights while enjoying the fun of gaming. Meanwhile, game developers can understand player needs through user participation and conduct efficient game showcasing and information distribution, thereby establishing a gaming community.

In addition, the recent success of the TON ecosystem mini-game ++BANANA++ is also inseparable from CARV's support: by fully leveraging the advantages of CARV Play, CARV Protocol, and the CARV mobile application with over 3 million registered users, BANANA achieved precise targeting of its target audience in a short time and realized viral expansion through recommendation mechanisms and UGC/sharing activities. Within 4 weeks of its launch, BANANA reached 10 million monthly active users.

Beyond gaming, CARV has also launched corresponding products in the AI sector: Cara is a generative AI assistant built on the CARV protocol, where user data can be used for AI training under comprehensive privacy protection. Users can earn corresponding rewards while sharing data and participating in AI training, and can enjoy a customized AI service experience based on their unique needs and preferences.

Moreover, a key role in the developer ecosystem is effective ecological incentives centered around developers, which are necessary measures to promote ecological innovation and prosperity.

Based on this, ++CARV Labs launched an ecosystem accelerator program worth up to $50 million this week++, further promoting user and data growth by providing rich resources and financial support to high-quality ecosystem projects. This program has received support from top blockchain venture capital funds such as HashKey Capital and Consensys.

CARV Labs' most recent investment is in the leading gaming studio ++Telgather++. Telgather aims to innovate the gaming participation experience and bring more rewards through innovative methods such as Pay&Play to Earn and Social to Earn, perfectly aligning with CARV's vision for a decentralized, player-centric gaming future. By integrating CARV ID and personalized advertising SDK, Telgather will further provide players with true ownership of gaming achievements, seamless cross-game experiences, and opportunities to monetize game data and earn rewards.

The combination of the two not only exemplifies CARV's empowerment of gaming development as a modular identity data layer but will also strive to create a new era of Telegram gaming, building a strong and vibrant ecosystem.

Additionally, CARV Labs will guide developers to explore more business model innovations, with the highly anticipated TG advertising network being one of them: this product aims to connect advertisers with publishers, relying on the CARV Protocol, where users sharing on-chain and off-chain data (under comprehensive privacy protection) will receive cash incentives, enabling the CARV advertising network to provide precise user acquisition and targeting services for advertisers.

In the foreseeable future, CARV will attract a large number of developers to participate and freely explore various possibilities based on the CARV protocol, injecting more driving force into CARV's ecosystem growth.

Multiple Milestones Achieved, Token TGE Approaching

Of course, compared to reviewing past achievements, community members are more concerned about future expectations.

What is the potential for CARV's continued positive development?

We can glean some insights from its recently updated roadmap on the official website.

In terms of technology: In the third quarter of 2024, the Beta version of the CARV protocol will be released, including open SDK/API access, support for multi-chain interoperability, integration of ZKP, etc.; by the fourth quarter of 2024, the team will focus on building a dedicated modular blockchain supporting the storage layer and execution layer.

In terms of the ecosystem, in addition to actively seeking cooperation to continuously expand the ecosystem of games and AI, another important milestone for CARV is the upcoming token TGE scheduled for the second half of 2024.

For any project, the token TGE is a crucial event concerning the long-term development of the project, and how to better reward the community is a key part of the token TGE.

So, in light of the upcoming token TGE, should one actively participate?

The enthusiastic response from the community has already provided the answer.

The reasons can be divided into three parts:

First, CARV tokens have real application scenarios as their value support.

As the native token of the CARV ecosystem, the total issuance of CARV tokens is 1 billion, serving as a medium of exchange within the platform, acting as an important carrier for incentivizing users. Users can also use it for multi-chain Gas fee payments and game asset purchases within the ecosystem or convert it to veCARV through staking, participating in community decisions and ecosystem activities through veCARV.

Secondly, from past performance, CARV has shown full respect for the community and has been quite generous.

On one hand, 50% of the total supply of CARV tokens is evenly distributed to the community and nodes; on the other hand, in the previous node sale, CARV even launched a 100% buyback plan for the first node sale purchasers for a period of 6 months. Eligible active node operators can choose to apply for an 80% ETH or 100% CARV token buyback within 7 days after the end of the 6-month period, further reflecting the project's consideration and maintenance of community interests.

More importantly, in this clear airdrop from CARV, CARV encourages users to bind accounts to achieve data aggregation while ensuring that rewards are distributed to real users. Binding more accounts will earn higher scores, which means more substantial airdrop rewards.

Additionally, CARV has launched various measures to promote fair distribution: on one hand, ++CARV has introduced a witch self-reporting mechanism++, encouraging multi-account witch users to proactively report their behavior and receive 15% of the originally allocated tokens; those who fail to report on time will lose all token allocation eligibility; on the other hand, ++CARV has established cooperation with Gitcoin++, further promoting token airdrop distribution to those who genuinely contribute to the network's development and sustainability through analyzing on-chain witch behavior.

Under the premise of good expected returns and low participation thresholds, actively participating to accumulate airdrop chips has become the choice of many community members.

So, how can users participate better?

Currently, on the ++CARV airdrop page++, users can switch back and forth between four chains (Ronin, opbnb, zksync era, Linea) and earn SOUL rewards through signing in, minting CARV ID, binding accounts, inviting friends, completing game tasks, etc. SOUL can be exchanged for CARV tokens in the future, meaning that the more SOUL accumulated now, the higher the expected future returns.

However, with the snapshot approaching, the time left for users to complete tasks and accumulate SOUL is limited, and the community's focus on obtaining CARV token returns is more on nodes.

Anyone can become an independent node operator by participating in the node sale. ++Verification nodes++ are an important part of the CARV ecosystem, responsible for verifying TEE proofs to prevent system manipulation and ensure fair distribution of data value, providing a secure decentralized data environment for high-quality games and applications.

At the same time, up to 25% of the CARV token supply will be allocated to node rewards, with 50% released in the first year (which is 12.5% of the total supply), and the token redemption period is 150 days, while the investor unlock time is 6 months, and the team unlock time is 9 months. Node tokens unlock earlier than those of investors and the team, which also fully demonstrates CARV's maximum sincerity in sharing profits with users through the node sale model.

Beyond the token TGE, the CARV ecosystem is not short of various reward activities to encourage user participation. Infinite Play is one of the most comprehensive: users can participate in staking to earn Stake to Earn rewards, with longer staking times yielding greater returns; they can earn Vote to Earn rewards by participating in governance voting; and they can accumulate experience points through completing different game tasks to earn Play to Earn rewards, truly experiencing the charm of data sovereignty and decentralized autonomous communities while enjoying the fun of gaming.

It is worth mentioning that previously, CARV collaborated with several high-quality projects within the ecosystem, such as Revolving Games, InfiniGods & Valhalla Foundation, XPLA, OVERTAKE, Aethir, etc., to conduct the Ecodrop pt 1 additional airdrop activity, which received widespread support from the community, distributing rewards worth $2 million to actively participating users.

Currently, according to the official blog, ++CARV Ecodrop pt 2++ is coming soon. In this activity, CARV has also partnered with six high-quality gaming projects, including Space Mavericks, Lazy Games, Super Champs, Goat Gaming, Terminal, and BeraSig. Participants can share in additional rewards worth $500,000 by actively engaging in game interactions and completing related tasks. Participating in CARV Ecodrop pt 2 is also a great way to explore the ecosystem and earn more rewards beyond the token TGE.

In summary, in today's global digital wave, data is an eternal business. Under the increasingly sharp contradictions of privacy breaches and monopoly by giants in Web2, Web3 solutions aimed at returning data ownership to users, safeguarding user privacy, and promoting fairer distribution of data value are bound to stand out.

From the project's perspective, CARV's fundamentals are very solid. Not only is the team configuration and financing lineup very strong, but the gaming and AI sectors targeted by the project also align well with the development needs and user preferences of its modular identity and data layer. Additionally, the project's narrative appeal should not be underestimated; by innovating data value distribution and providing real monetary benefits, it undoubtedly attracts more user attention and participation.

Currently, the project has accumulated considerable voice within the community, laying a good foundation for its future development. Especially with the successful promotion of the BANANA project, CARV Protocol has attracted more attention. With the arrival of the token TGE and the gradual realization of various milestones, CARV may usher in its flywheel effect, driving rapid development in products, ecosystems, and users.