Decentralized Social, or DeSo, is a Layer 1 decentralized social network providing users with features akin to traditional Web 2.0 platforms while granting content ownership and enabling monetization opportunities. It allows seamless social data, content, NFTs, and coin migration across DeSo-built applications. Nader Al-Naji is the founder and CEO of DeSo. ^[1]

Overview

Founded in 2021, Decentralized Social, or DeSo, is a Layer 1 blockchain designed to decentralize and expand social applications for billions of users, offering ownership of users' social data stored on-chain. The platform seeks to decentralize social media by leveraging blockchain technology to create a public utility for social content. DeSo aims to change the social media world by using decentralized technology to give users more power and fair earnings, challenging the dominance of traditional platforms and their outdated business models. ^[2]

The DeSo blockchain offers traditional social features like profiles and posts and blockchain-native functionalities such as social tokens, tipping, and NFTs, enabling creators to monetize their content more effectively. By treating social data as a public utility and storing it on a decentralized ledger, DeSo allows users to access content across various independent third-party apps, similar to DeFi applications on Ethereum. ^[3]

Diamond

Launched in November 2022, Diamond, a decentralized social media application on the DeSo blockchain, enables users to retain data ownership and earn income from the outset. Through on-chain storage of posts and social connections, Diamond App empowers users to carry their data across various DeSo Blockchain-based applications, granting them control and ownership over their online identity. This method eliminates the need to manage multiple social media accounts, as all content is automatically transferred to connected apps. ^[4]

Features

Creator Coins

Every profile on DeSo generates a social token called a Creator Coin that is accessible for purchase, fostering a marketplace for social influence. Users can acquire creator coins through profile creation and fluctuating prices based on market dynamics. These coins allow users to engage financially with creators, correlating coin value with individual popularity. Features like premium messages, sponsored posts, and stakeholder meetings allow creators to monetize their content and interact with their audience. Additionally, emergent phenomena like "buy and retweet" offer users financial incentives for supporting creators early on, contributing to an ecosystem of social speculation and engagement. ^[5]

Social NFTs

DeSo's Social NFTs, or Social Non-Fungible Tokens, represent a novel concept within the decentralized social ecosystem. These digital assets merge the functionality of NFTs with social engagement features, fostering interaction and collaboration among users. Unlike traditional NFTs, which focus solely on asset ownership, Social NFTs on DeSo integrate with users' profiles on the platform, enabling them to display their collections, engage with other users' NFTs through likes, comments, and tips, and participate in various social activities. Furthermore, Social NFTs may offer exclusive content or experiences to holders, enhancing their social value within the DeSo community while introducing new avenues for interaction and engagement. ^[6][7]

Social Tipping

Social Tipping on DeSo leverages the platform's native currency to enable users to tip content creators directly. Unlike traditional social networks, DeSo introduces "diamonds" as a core mechanic, allowing users to give variable amounts of money to content they appreciate. These tips are instant, with the recipient receiving DESO in their wallet immediately upon receiving the tip. While users can earn thousands of dollars a week through this feature, the potential for economic growth increases as DeSo expands. ^[8]

Technology

DeSo Identity

To use the Decentralized Social (DeSo) network blockchain, users must establish a "DeSo identity," which functions as a versatile profile enabling interactions across various decentralized social media platforms. This identity consolidates users' funds, content, and personal profiles within the DeSo ecosystem, facilitating seamless interaction. Furthermore, through the DeSo identity mechanism, followers can track the engagements of their preferred influencers and profiles.^[7]

Hypersync

Hypersync, developed by DeSo engineer Piotr Nojszewski, offers a novel approach to blockchain synchronization. This approach is particularly beneficial for infinite-state blockchains like DeSo, which handle extensive data volumes. Unlike traditional methods that involve downloading and reprocessing all historical transactions, Hypersync prioritizes syncing the resulting "balance sheet" or "snapshot" of user balances, streamlining the process significantly. ^[9]

While existing blockchain syncing methods have been effective for finite-state blockchains with up to 100GB of data, they fall short for infinite-state blockchains like DeSo, designed to manage much larger data sets, ranging from tens to hundreds of TBs. Hypersync was developed following months of cryptographic and distributed systems research to tackle these scalability issues, representing a notable advancement over current methods. ^[9]

Conventionally, blockchains sync by downloading blocks and reprocessing historical transactions, a time-consuming and inefficient process. Hypersync improves upon this by syncing state downloading the resultant balance sheet of user balances. This approach proves more efficient as it bypasses the need to reprocess all transactions. Moreover, Hypersync incorporates innovative techniques like EllipticSum and Ancestral Records to optimize efficiency further. ^[9]

EllipticSum

EllipticSum is a newly developed algorithm as part of the Hypersync initiative aimed at addressing the challenge of verifying state integrity in blockchain synchronization processes. Based on advanced Elliptic Curve Cryptography principles, this algorithm offers a solution that significantly improves efficiency. Unlike previous methods like Merkle trees, which necessitated storing substantial redundant data, EllipticSum requires only a single 33-byte number for storage. This streamlined approach enhances performance and enables blockchain systems to scale effectively, even when managing extensive data volumes exceeding terabytes. ^[9]

Ancestral Records

Ancestral Records enhance traditional blockchain state synchronization methods. Unlike conventional approaches, which require redundant copies of the entire balance sheet to serve snapshots, Ancestral Records minimize this overhead by necessitating only the minimal additional data essential for snapshot provision. This innovation draws inspiration from efficient software version control solutions like Git, repurposed for blockchain applications. This approach allows blockchain systems to achieve greater scalability without compromising data integrity or performance. ^[9]

Infinite-State

Infinite-state applications refer to those in which the volume of data to be stored increases continuously based on the actions performed by each user. The Decentralized Social blockchain is tailored to power social apps, employing a structured schema for data organization, resulting in reduced storage costs and instant data querying. Additionally, DeSo offers cheaper storage than other blockchains, potentially decreasing costs over time. While initially designed for social apps, DeSo's infrastructure can be adapted for any infinite-state application with a defined schema, indicating potential disruption across various Web 2.0 sectors. ^[10]

Content Moderation

DeSo adopts a moderate approach to content moderation. Using the moderation principles of the pre-Facebook internet, DeSo aims to address harmful content without impeding innovation. Websites displaying harmful content are legally liable, discouraging the dissemination of such content, a principle also applicable to nodes on the DeSo network. Applications like Diamond, built on DeSo, employ filtering mechanisms to prevent displaying harmful or illegal content, ensuring compliance with legal standards and maintaining user trust and safety. ^[11]

DeSo Nodes

The Decentralized Social (DeSo) network relies on DeSo nodes for its decentralization, serving as the backbone of content collation and distribution within the ecosystem. These nodes access the DeSo firehose upon installation, granting them access to all data on the blockchain and enabling complete control over the streamed content. Each node can customize its front end to cater to specific content themes or combinations, providing users with tailored experiences focused on crypto, sports, cooking, or other subjects. ^[7][12]

In addition to content curation, DeSo nodes offer various revenue streams, including transaction fees from decentralized social media platforms utilizing their content feeds and potential sponsorship opportunities. Despite requiring technical coding expertise, the project aims to simplify the process through step-by-step instructions on the DeSo GitHub page, offering valuable insights for optimizing node operation. ^[7][12]

Revolution PoS

On March 22, 2023, DeSo introduced its Proof of Stake (PoS) system, Revolution, following extensive development. This new system addressed concerns surrounding the Proof of Work (PoW) choice at DeSo's launch in early 2021. By adopting PoS, DeSo sought to enhance scalability and efficiency, drawing from lessons from various protocols launched in the interim. Revolution amalgamated the best elements of previous PoS systems like Tendermint, HotStuff, DiemBFT, and others. ^[13]

The Revolution introduced Revolt, enhancing censorship resistance and addressing issues related to "miner-extractable value." It also brought innovations like table stakes, permissionless participation, fast finality, and decentralization. The Burn-Maximizing Fee Model (BMF) and Sovereign Staking aim to minimize emissions and maximize deflation. Liquid Bonding allows users to lock up coins and earn a yield without the centralization risks of existing liquid staking providers. The protocol is designed for low complexity usage, making it accessible to users with basic computer science knowledge. ^[13]

On July 1st, 2024, DeSo announced a large update for Revolution on their mainnet. The first fork height, expected on July 3rd, allows validator registration, staking, and support for new transaction types. The second fork height, on July 10th, marks the transition from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake to start producing PoS blocks. ^[18]

DESO Coin

DESO is the native cryptocurrency on the Decentralized Social blockchain, a distinctive open-source Layer 1 blockchain tailored to accommodate and expand social media platforms handling substantial data volumes. Like Bitcoin or Ethereum, the DESO coin serves as the primary currency within the DeSo blockchain network. Emphasizing its role as the native asset of the DeSo blockchain, the project distinguishes DESO as a coin while considering any other cryptocurrency utilized within blockchain applications as a token. ^[7]

Tokenomics

DeSo's token supply is capped at 10.8 million tokens, with 20% allocated to the core team, 2% allocated to mining, and the remaining portion distributed through a public sale. ^[14]

Partnerships

MetaMask

In September 2022, DeSo integrated MetaMask, enabling over 30 million Ethereum users to access decentralized social media without gas fees and with an improved Web3 user experience. This integration reflects a step towards greater inclusivity in Web3 and hints at a future of blockchain interoperability. Users with MetaMask can now easily log into DeSo, potentially facilitating cross-chain collaborations with other ecosystems. While expanding DeSo's user base, this development promotes collaboration among blockchain networks. With MetaMask's extensive user base, DeSo anticipates increased user engagement and adoption. ^[15]

Livepeer

On February 21, 2023, DeSo announced a strategic partnership with Livepeer, a project to establish a fully decentralized and highly scalable live video streaming network protocol. This collaboration sought to address the dominance of a few corporations in controlling online content, advocating for a shift towards open-source software with crypto-economic incentives to enhance efficiency and scalability in video streaming applications. ^[16]

Spheron

On September 28, 2023, DeSo announced its collaboration with Spheron, aimed at facilitating the deployment of DeSo nodes and the development of decentralized social media applications more efficiently. This partnership signifies DeSo's commitment to providing developers with a user-friendly platform for building the next wave of DeSo applications. ^[17]