Introduction

In recent years, the blockchain industry has seen rapid growth, with exponential increases in users, funds, and services. This growth has also led to a higher demand for communication services across different applications. For example, users on DEX want alerts for asset price changes, and lending product users want timely notifications about account liquidations. The need for real-time interaction between users and Dapps or smart contracts is rising, but the industry lacks effective communication tools. Most interactions still occur on third-party platforms like Twitter and Discord, which aren’t ideal for real-time and convenient communication. As Web3 evolves, the demand for dedicated message push services is becoming more pronounced.

Push notifications are a technology that sends information, notifications, or content to users’ devices over the internet. Usually, push notifications deliver real-time information or alerts via mobile apps, websites, or email, enabling users to receive important updates without actively searching for them. Users can see these notifications on their mobile device’s lock screen or notification bar and can easily click to access the app. For instance, Apple’s APNS (Apple Push Notification Service) sends push notifications to iOS devices like iPhones and iPads. Push Protocol, formerly known as EPNS (Ethereum Push Notification Service), launched its mainnet in July 2021 and went live in early 2022. This product addresses the gap in Web3 push notification middleware. Since its launch, the team has been integrating more projects. This article will explore its features, economic model, and current development status in detail.

What is Push Protocol?

Push Protocol, originally known as EPNS, is a decentralized message push middleware that offers message push services for on-chain smart contracts, DAPPs, and other applications. Service providers can create channels on the Push Protocol platform, and subscribers can receive messages by subscribing to these channels, earning token rewards in the process. The product launched on the mainnet in July 2021 and officially went live on Ethereum in January 2022. It has since been updated to version 2 and was officially renamed Push Protocol in September 2022. The platform has been expanding its multi-chain deployments and integrating with numerous service providers. Currently, Push Protocol supports over 100 DAPPs and service providers, spanning across DeFi, NFTs, gaming, and developer tools.

Source: push

The team members have extensive experience in the computer industry, and the advisory board is notable, including Nischal, the founder of the Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX, and Vivek, the co-founder of Gitcoin. The protocol secured $750,000 in seed funding at the end of 2020 and an additional $660,000 in seed extension funding in March 2021, with over 40 investors, including renowned industry institutions like Binance Labs and IOSG.

Product Features

Push Protocol focuses on providing decentralized message push services. Service providers (such as DAPPs, smart contracts, and traditional services) can create dedicated message push channels on the platform. Subscribers can receive these messages across various front-end products after subscribing to the channels. The protocol also uses a token incentive model to encourage user participation. Its offerings include push notifications, push chat, and push video.

Before creating a channel, service providers must pay an upfront fee, which is used for user notification incentives and penalties. When setting up a channel, service providers can choose from three types: open channels that anyone can join; closed channels that require user invitations; and public channels that require users to submit an application.

Once the channel is created, users can subscribe to receive push notifications and earn token rewards. However, when sending notifications, service providers or their delegates must pay a service fee to the nodes.

Source: push app

Push Protocol offers three front-end options: a DAPP, a mobile app, and a browser extension. Using the DAPP as an example, the platform supports multiple networks, including Ethereum, BNB Chain, Polygon, and Arbitrum. After selecting a network and connecting their wallet, users can access the main page, where they can view notifications, subscribe to channels, or create channels. Most channels are open, so users can simply subscribe to join and start receiving notifications.

Source: push app

For security, Push Protocol collaborates with the ENS project for channel verification. Channels officially created by other projects and verified by ENS will show a verification mark on the right side. To prevent misuse and targeted advertising, Push Protocol has implemented a scoring and throttling mechanism to combat spam. Channels are scored from 0 to 1 based on the time since creation, user growth, and the number of unsubscribes due to spam. Channels with a score above 0.8 will face restrictions.

Technical Framework

Push Protocol integrates its components through service providers to create channels for various projects. Users can subscribe to these channels to receive real-time updates from the service providers. The technical architecture consists of three main layers: the protocol, push nodes, and front-end products.

• Protocol: The Push Protocol consists of Push Core and Push Comn. Push Core is deployed on Ethereum, while Push Comn is designed for other public chains and Layer 2 solutions.
• Push Nodes: Also known as PUSH nodes, these are responsible for monitoring events in the protocol’s smart contracts and sending notifications to the appropriate recipients.
• Front-end Products: The interfaces through which users receive push notifications.

Service providers make up the service layer of Push Protocol and supply data to the data layer. Push Protocol deploys its protocol on the Ethereum chain as the data layer and uses IPFS for decentralized storage. End users interact with the protocol via their wallets to receive notifications from DAPPs or mobile devices.

Source: medium_

Economic Model

The PUSH token is the protocol’s native token, mainly used for governance voting and providing incentives. The total supply is 100 million tokens, with the majority allocated to the community. Specifically, 53% is allocated to the community (including 3% for strategic investment, 2.58% for IDO, 1.55% for contributor rewards, and 5.51% for LP rewards and staking); 20.5% is allocated to investors; 16% to the team; 7% to the foundation; and 3.5% to advisors.

Source: Medium

According to the token unlock plan, 20% of the PUSH tokens allocated to investors will unlock 3 months after the Token Generation Event (TGE), with the remaining tokens released linearly over the following 21 months. For the team, founders’ tokens will have a 12-month lock-up period, followed by a linear release over 48 months. Other team members’ tokens will unlock 9 months after the TGE and then be released linearly over the next 48 months. Tokens allocated to the foundation will be released linearly over a period of 6 to 48 months. Tokens allocated to advisors will have a lock-up period of 6 to 9 months, followed by a linear release over 12 to 36 months.

Source: Medium

The main use cases of the PUSH token include:

• Protocol fees: Service providers must pay fees for each notification, including indirect subscription and penalty fees;
• Governance: Governance voting allows for adjustments to the percentage allocation in the ecosystem development pool;
• Staking and voting: Token holders can stake tokens to vote on creating and moving proposals;
• User incentives: Users can earn token rewards based on their actions within the protocol, such as directly subscribing to channels or indirectly subscribing.

Current Development Status

Push Protocol has updated to version 2 and continues to integrate service providers to launch officially certified channels, such as price notifications on DEXs and liquidation notifications for DeFi protocols.

The product now offers not only push notifications but also expanded features like chat and video notifications. Since its launch, Push Protocol has integrated with over 450 service providers, sent 78 million notifications, and achieved over 200,000 subscription notifications.

Source: push

Looking ahead, the team will focus on business expansion and integrating more projects. According to this year’s roadmap, improvements will be made to the token economic model, data dashboard, and governance model.

Source: push

Conclusion

Push Protocol is building an open communication layer for the Web3 ecosystem, expanding from Ethereum to Layer 2 solutions and other public blockchains. Besides push notifications, it offers social media features like chat and video. With the growth of the blockchain industry, the demand for push notifications is increasing, presenting significant application opportunities and market potential. Push Protocol fills the gap in push notification middleware.