What is CyberConnect

Project Background

The use of social media has become deeply ingrained in our lifestyles, serving as a major channel for market sales and information flow. In Web2, mainstream social platforms like Twitter and YouTube have seen massive growth, giving rise to concepts like content creators and the creative economy. The influence of an individual’s online identity has become a social characteristic, pivotal for personal value and economic generation.

The distinction of Web3 social lies in blockchain technology, which allows users to control their data and content, deciding how to share them without relying on centralized platforms. Additionally, creators can redefine their interactions through tokens and NFTs. A recent example is Friend.Tech - an interaction economy system between fans and KOLs, which became a hot project even in a bear market. Within two weeks of launch, it exceeded transactions of 25,633 ETH and received seed funding from Paradigm. The project saw exponential growth in Total Value Locked (TVL) upon launch. It even achieved some mainstream appeal, attracting YouTubers, OnlyFans managers, authors, internet industry professionals, and VCs to join Friend.Tech.

In short, the current creator economy, driven by centralized and inefficient markets, could eventually evolve into a Web3 creator economy centered around the actual participants - the creators and consumers.

Project Information

CyberConnect, founded in 2021, is led by Wilson, a graduate of the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Wilson served as the President of the Berkeley Chinese Entrepreneurs Association (ACE) and founded the tech company Lino Network. He also held positions as the President of Dlive and the General Manager of Interactive Entertainment at BitTorrent. The team is primarily based in Shanghai and San Francisco, consisting mainly of Chinese or Chinese-American members.

The project has completed three rounds of funding, totaling $30.4 million. In November 2021, it raised $10 million in a seed round; in May 2022, it secured $15 million in a Series A round. In 2023, it raised $5.4 million through a public offering on Coinlist, with the public sale price at $1.80, unlocking 25% at TGE.

CyberConnect aims to create a social network that allows users to create chain-agnostic accounts. It focuses on a Web2-like user experience and participant-driven creative economy, enabling seamless identity movement across different platforms and fostering a community economy centered on content. Developers can access all these data to build a thriving ecosystem.

In August last year, the product launched its V2 version, deploying a hybrid (EVM + Arweave) extension architecture for Web3 social applications. This attracted over 1.6 million profile registrations and more than 1.3 million unique wallets, performing over 14.7 million on-chain transactions on the CyberConnect protocol.

Product Mechanism

The core components of the CyberConnect product include CyberAccount, the hub of all interactions; CyberGraph, representing the connections of each entity; and CyberNetwork, a data solution and communication architecture.

CyberAccount

CyberAccount is a set of smart contracts representing a user’s autonomous digital identity, linking it with their content and social contacts. This Web3 account infrastructure consists of four key components, each with a distinct purpose.

Image source: https://docs.cyberconnect.me/core-concepts/cyberaccount

Each CyberAccount is controlled and managed by one or more cryptographic key pairs, clearly distinguishing a user’s account from their Web3 wallet. Through collaboration with ZeroDev and compatibility with ERC-4337, complexities in network exchanges and Gas payments for users are eliminated. In conjunction with StackUp and Pimlico, internal bundlers and Paymaster solutions have been deployed to improve the cumbersome user experience of Web3 wallets and implement third-party-designed mechanisms to pay for user transactions. Such transactions can also be referred to as gasless transactions.

CyberGraph

CyberGraph is a set of smart contracts that link user identities (CyberAccounts) with their content and social relationships and can record rich social data onto multiple EVM-compatible blockchains. Through CyberGraph’s customizable middleware design, unit-value social data of users are stored on blockchain databases.

Every user with a CyberAccount has creator capabilities, able to publish profit-generating content. When posts, images, or videos are first created on a dApp within the CyberConnect protocol, they are uploaded to decentralized storage systems like IPFS or Arweave, after which links between the content URL and creator’s URL are established and recorded in the CyberGraph smart contracts.

Image source: https://docs.cyberconnect.me/core-concepts/cyberaccount

This decentralized link from account to content ensures true user ownership and eliminates centralized control of any platform.

CyberNetwork

CyberNetwork is a decentralized and transparent system designed for recording and verifying information. Currently, storing data on the blockchain is expensive. Despite the benefits of representing social data on the blockchain for programmability and interoperability, high Gas costs are a challenging bottleneck for expanding Web3 social networks to a billion users.

In the past 11 months, CyberConnect V2 alone saw over 1.3 million users paying more than $2 million in Gas fees. Users need a better alternative that can scale significantly without compromising data ownership. In the future, the team will continually upgrade the CyberConnect social network to make all social interactions/transactions more affordable.

Token Model

The total supply of CYBER tokens is 100,000,000, distributed as follows:

• Team and Advisors: 15%, locked for 15 months post-launch, then linear quarterly unlocking over 3 years
• Private Sale: 25.12%, locked for 12 months post-launch, then linear quarterly unlocking over 3 years
• Community Treasury: 10.88%, 10% unlocked at launch, remaining 90% linearly unlocked monthly over 5 years
• Community Rewards: 12%, 20% distributed to early users post-launch, remaining 80% for future community rewards
• CoinList Public Offering: 3%, 25% unlocked post-launch, remaining 75% linearly unlocked monthly over 6 months
• Ecosystem Development: 34%.

Image source: https://medium.com/fourpillars/cyberconnect-the-experience-hub-for-web3-adoption-8a8ebf926475

CyberDAO is used for the governance construction of the protocol, with CYBER as its governance token. CYBER is used to protect and manage the DAO, which will control the use of future funds and all core upgrades of the protocol infrastructure. CYBER will provide the following utilities for the CyberConnect protocol:

• Governance: CYBER token holders will vote on proposals to drive the sustainable long-term development and improvement of the CyberConnect protocol. Proposals may include activation of paid transactions through the protocol, changes in service fee rates, modifications of acceptable tokens for payment, expansion of the protocol to new blockchains, budget allocations for developer funding programs and community contributor programs, and funding for offline and online community events for ecosystem development.
• Payment for CyberProfile Mint: CyberProfile is the entry point for developers and users into the CyberConnect ecosystem. CYBER will be used as a Gas token when purchasing a premium username for CyberProfile.
• Payment of Gas for CyberWallet: CyberWallet is the smart contract wallet solution of CyberConnect, providing users with a seamless transaction experience without the need for mnemonics and native blockchain tokens as Gas for different chains. CYBER will be used as a price table and Gas fee payment method for all transactions across EVM-compatible chains within CyberWallet. The wallet, still in development, will be applicable to Ethereum, Optimism, Arbitrum, BNB Chain, Base, and Polygon networks.

Ecosystem Data

Currently, there are approximately 1.26 million CyberConnect Profiles, with about 300 daily active users and around 10,000 weekly active users, a 76% decrease from the previous month. This reduction indicates a fluctuation in user demand for CyberConnect, particularly following the Binance announcement of token listing on Launchpool, which led to short-term on-chain interactions in anticipation of airdrops, followed by a continuous decrease in active users on the platform. The current daily active user count has significantly dropped compared to the beginning of the year.

Image source: https://dune.com/cyberconnecthq/cyberconnect-link3-metrics

Link 3 is a Web3 social network Dapp developed by the CyberConnect team and is currently the main product of CyberConnect. Its positioning is in the Web 3 verifiable identity field, integrating users’ on-chain and off-chain data, ensuring user authenticity and trustworthiness. It allows users to customize different modules on their personal homepage, such as official links, recommended content, personal and organizational information, on-chain proofs (GAL and Poap), NFT albums, etc., enabling users to share personal or organizational information simply and quickly.

The user experience of Link3 is similar to a decentralized version of Twitter. After linking their official wallet, users can create their own Profile (similar to a Twitter homepage) and follow the progress of various Web 3 projects.

Most Web3 projects already have official accounts on Link3, where users can view project introductions, recent developments, community activities, etc., by clicking on their Profile pages.

Link3, by integrating on-chain and off-chain data, establishes a trustworthy network and meaningful connections between users and organizations. For users, Link3 aggregates more verifiable dimensions into their profiles, allowing them to present a comprehensive and trustworthy identity. User profiles can display social, asset, and other recorded information. Additionally, Link3 organization profiles are verified and trusted, protecting users from scams and fake links prevalent on Twitter and Discord. Link3 verifies organizations through their existing official accounts (like Twitter) and can issue verifiable credentials or SBTs to reward core community contributors.

As of now, Link3 has amassed about 1.25 million Profiles, with users spending 378 ETH and 702 BNB tokens on minting Profiles on Ethereum and BNB, respectively.

The primary active phase for users minting Profiles was earlier this year and during the airdrop event in June. Currently, daily Mint activities are only around 400, indicating low activity levels.

Since its launch, the platform has generated 1.9 million community events and 13 community activities, distributing 126 unique collectibles (Count). However, recent data shows a decline in activity on Link3 compared to previous high points (around 10,000 daily increases), now down to around 1,000. Although CyberConnect has built a relatively impressive product experience, the product demand and operations still require more innovative points from the team to maintain stable user growth.

Future Developments

Despite the deployment of Cyber​​Connect V2 on the Ethereum mainnet, BNB Chain, and Polygon, switching between blockchain networks remains complex for users due to the risk of fragmented user identities. To address these issues, the team aims to introduce Cyber​​Connect to multiple chains and decouple different functions of “user identity” to maintain a cohesive identity. Cyber​​Connect V2 encapsulates users’ information in an all-encompassing, non-transferable “Cyber​​Profile.” While holders of Cyber​​Profile can alter public information like personal details and avatars in their profiles, they cannot change their identity verification methods (EOA wallets) or usernames post-acquisition.

The Multichain Future of Web3 Social: Cyber​​Connect V3, comprising a series of upgrades to the Cyber​​Connect social network, aims to usher in a new era of multichain Web3 social. This upgrade will power the next phase of scalability for Web3 social dApps and offer users a social networking experience akin to Web2. V3 features three core components: Cyber​​Account, an identity infrastructure compatible with ERC-4337; Cyber​​Graph, a censorship-resistant database for recording user content and social connections; and Cyber​​Network, an efficient and scalable network designed to globally expand Cyber​​Connect.

Competitive Landscape

In the current social race, mainstream projects include Lens Protocol, Farcaster, and DeSo. Like Cyber​​Connect, these social projects revolve around decentralized, multichain aggregation of user information, including off-chain data integration, to build a decentralized social ecosystem. They then combine their unique product features to develop social applications for different use cases. For example, Lens Protocol, developed by the Aave team, is a social graph protocol offering multiple functional modules. Developers can create various types of social applications like social media and forums based on this protocol. Lens Protocol uses NFTs to store users’ social data, granting users true ownership and control over their personal data. Additionally, its NFT-based social graph allows users to seamlessly migrate their social connections across different applications in the Lens Protocol ecosystem.

DeSo is a blockchain customized for expanding decentralized social applications, built on BitClout’s underlying technology, aiming to create a decentralized version of Twitter. Compared to other blockchains, DeSo boasts greater scale and throughput, with extensive custom storage and indexing logic, supporting complex social media data like posts, user profiles, followers, and predictions. Farcaster, supporting numerous clients, is an open protocol similar to email. Users can freely migrate their social identities between applications, and developers can freely build new-functionality applications on this network. On Farcaster, users can broadcast short text messages linked to their Ethereum addresses, enabling features like displaying NFTs and using verified NFTs as avatars upon verifying address ownership.

In comparison to these competitors, only Cyber​​Connect has implemented account abstraction through ERC4337, allowing for seamless multichain user experiences. Thus, Cyber​​Connect currently supports multiple EVM-compatible chains like Polygon, Linea, Arbitrum, and Base, while Lens and Farcaster still rely on single-chain development. In terms of data storage, Cyber​​Connect and Farcaster are similar, combining on-chain (including decentralized storage solutions) and off-chain storage. Cyber​​Connect stores identities and primary interaction data on-chain, with other interaction data off-chain. Conversely, Farcaster attempts to store as little data as possible on-chain, utilizing off-chain solutions for the rest. Other protocols default to storing all data on-chain. Lens opts to store some data, other than identity, on decentralized solutions like Arweave or IPFS, rather than entirely on the base chain.

Product Positioning

Lens Protocol and Cyber Connect are both foundational protocols, offering limited functionality like storing social graphs and information aggregation. Compared to other projects, the social application attributes of the Lens Protocol and Cyber Connect protocols themselves are not strong; they lean more towards serving as underlying products and tools for developers to build various social applications. This narrative perspective is also more multifaceted. In contrast, DeSo and Farcaster build applications more akin to Web2 projects (like Twitter), where users, in addition to decentralizing their social graphs, lean towards building decentralized network social interactions (chatting, posting, etc.).

In terms of business operations, Cyber Connect has already incubated and collaborated with over 30 projects across social, NFT, and decentralized identity sectors. Due to early whitelist restrictions, Lens has fewer users on the platform currently, and the data is somewhat one-sided. In terms of applications, Lens has only incubated a few simple applications so far.

Conclusion

Web2 social is about chatting, sharing, information browsing – communication and information dissemination, sharing, including video streaming content reception, advertising promotion, entertainment, etc. Web3 social revolves around user information ownership rights, employing various mechanisms to achieve decentralized management, allowing users to control their social graph data, and transfer this data across different applications using NFTs, wallets, etc. Compared to Web2, which builds social graphs on a vast user base and then applies them elsewhere, Web3 projects first establish decentralized social graphs, return data ownership to users, and then build applications on this basis. However, if Web3 Social overly focuses on user data ownership and neglects the social application attributes of the protocol, it faces the issue of insufficient practicality. Even if the protocol builds a decentralized data storage system for users, it still may not attract users due to application demand.

Despite the risks of centralization and data leakage in Web2, including government and legal regulation, user demand remains the primary consideration. The pure decentralization of Web3 social only forms its foundation; the derived applications are key to attracting users. The recent surge in Friend.Tech may have highlighted one aspect: the financial attribute is key to Web3 social. Overall, the advantages of projects like Cyber Connect are not very apparent in the race. Many users enter the market with the mindset of receiving airdrops, and the applications are still far from real-world use. However, as Web3 is a rapidly developing field, decentralized social graphs can still serve as a foundational Web3 user data architecture, potentially finding rich application scenarios and demands in future GameFi, DeFi, and other areas.

How to Acquire CYB Tokens?

To obtain CYB, you can purchase them through centralized cryptocurrency exchanges. For instance, you can buy them on the reputable exchange Gate.io, which supports CYB trading. First, create an account; then, verify the account and deposit the tokens you wish to purchase. After setting up the account, you can follow the prompts to complete the purchase and acquire CYB. Remember to research and compare prices across different exchanges before buying, and ensure the purchased tokens are stored in a secure and reliable wallet.

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