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

It’s obvious: too much infrastructure and too few applications.

Infrastructure construction is like building a shopping mall. No matter how complete the hardware is, if the investment (application) does not capture the points of interest of users, it will still be deserted.

The popularity of TON ecosystem mini-games this summer appears to be a user-driven response to the “grand narrative”: regardless of market cycles, users consistently prioritize enhanced participation and more tangible benefits.

However, in today’s fragmented attention economy, being seen by more people is itself a rare ability. The simplicity of TON mini-games doesn’t mean the underlying operational logic is simple. As the total user base of BANANA, a casual game in the TON ecosystem, surpassed 10 million with over 1.1 million daily active users (DAU), we’ve noticed the unsung hero behind this success: CARV.

According to reports, BANANA attracted a large number of seed users through precise advertising and KOL promotion on the CARV platform. It then achieved organic growth through referral mechanisms and UGC/sharing activities. Currently, over 90% of users come from organic growth channels, with the total number of accounts associated with CARV ID exceeding 1.3 million.

This conversion growth is undoubtedly attractive and compelling enough to encourage more people to learn about CARV:

As a modular identity data layer designed for games and AI services, CARV on one hand motivates user participation by promoting data sovereignty return to users, data privacy protection, data tokenization, and value release. On the other hand, it uses data as a bridge to form efficient matching between users and games/AI products, bringing data benefits to users while promoting the development and innovation of games and AI.

In fact, by distributing real benefits to users, CARV has sparked widespread participation due to its innovative data value distribution. Success stories like BANANA are happening one after another: currently, CARV’s ecosystem has over 900+ cooperative projects, with over a million users earning substantial rewards by sharing data, participating in social activities, game streaming, AMA meetings, beta testing, etc. Meanwhile, projects obtain high-quality data and traffic for healthy development.

How exactly is this achieved? Is this model sustainable? With the project’s TGE (Token Generation Event) approaching, is now a good time to participate in CARV? And specifically, how should one participate?

This article aims to take a closer look at CARV and explore the operating logic and driving factors behind its outstanding achievements.

Impressive Background: $50 Million in Funding, 900+ Ecosystem Partnerships, and Nearly 10 Million Users

Let’s first look at the fundamentals of CARV.

First is its funding performance. We can see that CARV’s financing performance is very impressive, regardless of the amount or lineup.

According to current disclosures, CARV has completed multiple rounds of funding and attracted a total of more than $50 million US dollars in funding. This amount is considered substantial in any Web3 sector.

Beyond the amount, CARV’s investor lineup is even more impressive. It has not only attracted support from numerous crypto VCs including Tribe Capital, IOSG, ConsenSys (Metamask), and HashKey Capital, but also gained favor from Web2 giants such as Alibaba. Additionally, we can see several gaming giants among the investors, such as doublejump.tokyo (developer of Japan’s largest chain, Oasys), Animoca Brands, MarbleX (NetMarble), IntellaX, and The Sandbox, further demonstrating CARV’s recognition in the gaming sector.

It’s worth noting that CARV also attracted lead investment from Vertex Ventures, a venture capital firm under Temasek. As an investment company 100% owned by Singapore’s Ministry of Finance, Temasek’s investment in CARV to some extent demonstrates the Singapore government’s attention to the project.

Overall, CARV’s narrative logic and future development have not only gained recognition from numerous institutions, but the stronger financial and resource backing also 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 aspect, we also see CARV’s impressive coverage in Web3 gaming and AI sectors.

According to official statistics, CARV’s ecosystem currently cooperates with over 900+ games and AI projects. This not only surpasses many popular new public chains in terms of richness (according to SolanaProject data, the Solana ecosystem currently has 405 projects), but also includes many well-known Web2/Web3 companies in terms of partnership quality.

In the gaming sector, according to statistics, CARV has launched in-depth cooperation with hundreds of the world’s top game studios, including but not limited to South Korean mobile game developer Netmarble’s blockchain subsidiary MarbleX, South Korean Web3 mobile game developer IntellaX, and blockchain games like Illuvium, Apeiron, Splinterlands, Genopets, Delysium, Drawshop Kingdom, Big Time, and Ultiverse.

In the AI sector, besides CARV’s own generative AI assistant Cara, CARV’s ecosystem AI projects are equally star-studded. We can see cooperation with Google AI, and crypto-native projects including Aethir, Inferium AI, UneMeta, and Coinbase’s crypto AI SDK. As a data identity middleware, CARV will explore building a new era of data value together with AI projects within the ecosystem.

At a time when Web3 is struggling to attract new users, gaming and AI, as two sectors closer to users, are inherently attractive. The diverse ecosystem choices further demonstrate CARV’s strong competitiveness, rivaling the scale of traditional Web2 internet products.

On one hand, CARV has a massive user base:

According to official data, CARV serves 10 million registered players. As CARV’s multi-chain identity solution aggregating Web2 and Web3, CARV ID has over 3.1 million mints on opBNB. The total number of users for the CARV protocol is 3.3 million, while another flagship product built on the CARV protocol, CARV Play, has 2.5 million users, with 1.3 million mobile app downloads.

On the other hand, CARV ecosystem users have shown unusual activity:

Statistics show that CARV has achieved 240 million on-chain transactions across opBNB, Ronin, Linea, and over 40 other chains. This impressive data has propelled CARV Play to the position of “currently the largest Web3 game distribution and social platform”.

Since the beginning of the year, CARV’s revenue has reached $6 million, coming from CARV ID minting and .play name service on opBNB, as well as profits from games integrating CARV Play, Infinite Play, CARV, and the BANANA mini-game.

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

Additionally, in a recent airdrop activity jointly held by CARV and Binance Web3 Wallet, over 500,000 users participated within 48 hours of the event launch, ultimately attracting over 1.4 million users to participate enthusiastically.

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

Based on the reasons behind the achievements, let us explore the driving force behind CARV’s outstanding achievements through dimensions such as the track where the project is located, the narrative logic of the project, and the specific implementation path of the project.

Harvard Elite Entrepreneurship: Focus on Gaming and AI to Innovate Data Value Distribution

A common saying in Web3 is: “The essence of investment is investing in people.”

The same applies to CARV. Behind the impressive funding, CARV’s strong team configuration also plays an important role.

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

CARV’s CTO has extensive experience in the crypto field. In 2017, he worked on the blockchain video streaming product LINO (later acquired by TRON), was responsible for development work in the Cosmos project, and subsequently joined Coinbase to handle private key work. He was also deeply involved in the research and implementation of the L2 Base.

CARV’s CGO is mainly responsible for growth and operations. He has rich operational experience and resource accumulation in the gaming field, having worked for core business segments at renowned gaming companies such as Tencent Games, Garena Games, and Electronic Arts. The 3A and mini-games he operated have achieved over 1 billion downloads.

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

According to the Internet Data Center, the global data volume will reach 175 ZB by 2025. As the Internet penetrates into more life scenes, human behavior is recorded in the form of data. Nearly 90% of the world’s data is generated by independent individuals.

In the flood of information, users generate data, and users should be the owners and beneficiaries of the data. However, as the Internet deeply penetrates into more life scenes, human behavior is recorded in the form of data, and centralized companies control massive user data and make a lot of money from it. The true data creators not only suffer privacy leaks but also cannot benefit from their own data.

In 2021, when Victor was still studying at Harvard Business School, he keenly captured this pain point and began working on building a set of solutions. On one hand, it promotes the return of data sovereignty to users, and on the other hand, it helps users say “no” to a world of surveillance and infringement, achieving data sharing under the premise of privacy protection, and obtaining the value generated in the circulation of data.

This idea quickly received responses from many early core members, including CTO and CGO, and the prototype of CARV began to take shape.

In the process of mining the value of data, CARV once again discovered the huge demand for data in games and AI.

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

On the other hand, the high demand for data in games and AI also gives data greater value. As games and AI mature, the demand for data in these two fields is constantly growing. This data-driven model further makes data an extremely valuable asset.

After gaining insight into the mutual needs and achievements between data, games, and AI, CARV’s solution for returning data sovereignty and innovating the distribution of data value has become clearer, namely:

As an innovative data layer solution, CARV is committed to building an efficient matching platform between games, AI applications and users:

For users: CARV gives users complete control over their personal data, enabling them to decide how their data is used and shared under the premise of privacy protection, and to obtain economic benefits through data sharing and transactions. User’s data is no longer a passive resource, but an asset that can be actively managed, from which users can obtain tangible returns.

For games and AI applications: CARV provides a way to obtain high-quality data. Developers can 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 healthy and sustainable development of applications.

From this point on, a safe, transparent, and efficient data ecosystem has gradually unfolded.

So, now that a beautiful blueprint has been drawn, how does CARV turn its 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 other fields. To achieve data self-sovereignty for large-scale users and empower game projects and AI development through data intelligence, CARV has three main pillars to drive a positive cycle of users and data.

• CARV Protocol: Modular identity and data layer
• CARV application: an ecological flagship product built on the CARV protocol.
• CARV Labs: Achieving ecosystem prosperity through incentive initiatives, further promoting a positive cycle of user and data growth

As a modular Identity and Data Layer (IDL), the CARV protocol adopts a modular design. Through five modules including identity layer, storage layer, computation and training layer, execution layer, and verification layer, it completes processes such as data verification, identity authentication, storage, processing, model training, and value distribution, 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 login, automatic creation of AA wallets and other functions, CARV further lowers the user threshold and creates a smoother and seamless ecosystem entry experience for users.

After joining the CARV ecosystem, users will be guided to create an on-chain identity, CARV ID: It is worth mentioning that CARV ID is designed using ERC-7231, a standard proposed by the CARV team and approved by the Ethereum Foundation, which highlights its advantages It relies on verifiability, multi-bit aggregation and composability, supporting multiple Web2 platforms and more than 40 networks of Web3. Users’ ownership, role behavior, social relationships, past experiences, etc. can be authorized, verified and generated into digital identities and In the certificate, this design realizes the aggregation of Web2 multi-platform and Web3 multi-chain data, allowing users to seamlessly switch between different platforms and further improving data mobility and usage efficiency.

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

The computation and training layer is responsible for ensuring that user data is securely processed in privacy-enhancing technologies. In CARV, data processing is handled by a decentralized cluster of TEE nodes, then the results are published on the blockchain, accompanied by TEE proofs, timestamps, and random numbers to prevent double attacks.

The verification layer is responsible for validating 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 self-built new consensus layer and data storage layer, and use on-chain decentralized nodes as decentralized sequencers and storage validators to promote cross-chain information verification and ensure secure data processing.

Based on the CARV protocol, CARV will build multiple flagship products. These products will not only efficiently match data with demands in specific scenarios but also provide concrete examples of how data can empower product development, generate tangible profits, and distribute them to users in a transparent manner.

CARV Play, launched as the first flagship application, is a vivid example of this approach. As a platform for gamer profiling and game distribution, CARV Play has already listed over 900 products and boasts 2.5 million players. Every day, a massive number of users explore diverse game combinations and exclusive events through the platform. While “having fun,” they also receive various rewards, physical gifts, or ecosystem benefits. Meanwhile, game developers can understand player needs through user participation data, efficiently showcase their games, and disseminate information, thereby building their gaming communities.

In addition, the success of the recently popular TON ecological mini-game BANANA is also inseparable from the support of CARV: by fully leveraging the advantages of CARV Play, CARV Protocol and the CARV mobile application with over 3 million registered users, BANANA achieved success in a short period of time It accurately reached the target audience and achieved viral expansion through recommendation mechanism and UGC/sharing activities. Within 4 weeks of its launch, BANANA reached 10 million monthly active users.

In addition to games, CARV has also launched corresponding products in the AI ​​sector: Cara is a generative AI assistant built based on the CARV protocol. Under the premise of comprehensive privacy protection, user data can be used for artificial intelligence (AI) training. In the process of sharing data and participating in AI training, users can receive corresponding rewards, and at the same time, they can have an AI service experience customized according to their unique needs and preferences.

In addition, developers play a key role in ecological competition, and effective ecological incentives around developers are necessary measures to promote the explosion and prosperity of ecosystem innovation.

Based on this, CARV Labs this week launched an ecological accelerator program worth up to US$50 million to further promote user and data growth by providing abundant resources and financial support for ecological high-quality projects. The initiative is backed by top blockchain venture funds such as HashKey Capital and Consensys.

CARV Labs’ most recent investment is in leading gaming studio Telgather. Telgather is committed to innovating the game participation experience and bringing more revenue through innovative methods such as Pay&Play to Earn and Social to Earn, which perfectly aligns with the future vision of decentralized and player-centered games pursued by CARV. By integrating the CARV ID and Personalized Ads SDK, Telgather will further provide players with true game ownership, a seamless cross-game experience, and the opportunity to monetize and earn revenue from game data.

The combination of the two is not only another example of CARV as a modular identity data layer that empowers the development of games. In the future, it will also be committed to creating a new era of Telegram games and building a strong and vibrant ecosystem.

In addition, CARV Labs will also guide developers to explore more business model innovations, the most anticipated of which is the TG Advertising Network: This product is designed to connect advertisers and publishers. Relying on the CARV Protocol, users can share on-chain and off-chain data. Cash incentives will be received (with full privacy protection) to enable the CARV advertising network to provide advertisers with precise user acquisition and targeting services.

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

Many Milestones Achieved, Token Generation Event (TGE) Imminent

Of course, community members are more concerned about future expectations than looking back on past achievements.

What is the potential for CARV to continue to develop well in the future?

We can get a glimpse of it from the updated roadmap on its official website.

Technical aspect: In Q3 2024, the CARV protocol Beta version will be released, including open SDK/API access, support for multi-chain interoperability, integration of ZKP, etc. By Q4 2024, the team will be dedicated to building a specialized modular blockchain supporting storage and execution layers.

In terms of ecosystem, apart from actively seeking cooperation to continuously expand the ecosystem of games and AI, another important milestone for CARV is the token TGE, which will take place in the second half of 2024.

For any project, Token TGE is an important event related to the long-term development of the project, and how to better give back to the community is the highlight of Token TGE.

So, in the face of the upcoming token TGE, should we actively participate?

The overwhelming response from the community already provides the answer.

The reasons can be divided into three parts:

Firstly, CARV tokens have real application scenarios as value support.

As the native token of the CARV ecosystem, the total supply of CARV tokens is 1 billion, serving as a medium of exchange within the platform. It is not only an important carrier for incentivizing users, but users can also use it for multi-chain Gas fee payments and game asset purchases within the ecosystem, or stake it to convert to veCARV, and participate in community decision-making 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 CARV token supply is equally distributed to the community and nodes; on the other hand, in the previous node sale, CARV even launched a 6-month 100% treasury buyback plan for the buyers of its first node sale. Any qualified active node operators can choose to apply for 80% ETH or 100% CARV token buyback within 7 days at the end of the 6th month, once again fully demonstrating the project’s consideration and protection of community interests.

More importantly, in CARV’s public airdrop, CARV encourages users to bind accounts to achieve data aggregation, while ensuring that rewards are distributed to real users. Binding more accounts will result in higher points, which also means more substantial airdrop rewards.

Additionally, CARV has introduced various measures to promote fair distribution: on one hand, CARV has introduced a Sybil confession mechanism, encouraging multi-account Sybil users to voluntarily report their behavior and receive 15% of the originally allocated tokens, while those who fail to report within the deadline will lose all token allocation eligibility; on the other hand, CARV has established cooperation with Gitcoin to further promote token airdrop distribution to those who truly contribute to network development and sustainability through analysis of on-chain Sybil behavior.

Under the premise of good expected returns and low participation threshold, actively participating in accumulating airdrop chips has become the current 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 obtain SOUL rewards by signing in, minting CARV IDs, binding accounts, inviting friends, completing game tasks, etc. SOUL can be exchanged for CARV tokens in the future. In other words, the more SOUL currently accumulated, the higher the future income expectations.

However, with the advent of snapshots, there is not enough time left for users to complete tasks and accumulate SOUL. The community is focusing more on the nodes to obtain CARV token income.

Anyone can become an independent node operator by participating in node sales. 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 (i.e., 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 investor and team tokens, which fully demonstrates CARV’s maximum sincerity in sharing benefits with users through the node sales model.

Beyond the token TGE, the CARV ecosystem is not short of various reward activities to encourage active 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 more generous returns; they can earn Vote to Earn rewards by participating in governance voting; and they can also earn Play to Earn rewards by accumulating experience points through completing different game tasks, truly experiencing the charm of data sovereignty and decentralized autonomous communities while enjoying the fun of gaming.

It’s worth mentioning that previously, CARV joined forces with several quality projects within the ecosystem, including Revolving Games, InfiniGods & Valhalla Foundation, XPLA, OVERTAKE, and Aethir, to launch the Ecodrop pt 1 additional airdrop activity, which received widespread support from the community, with $2 million worth of rewards distributed to actively participating users.

According to the official website blog, CARV Ecodrop pt 2 activity is coming soon. This time, CARV has partnered with six high-quality game projects in the ecosystem, including Space Mavericks, Lazy Games, Super Champs, Goat Gaming, Terminal, and BeraSig. Participants can share $500,000 worth of additional rewards by actively engaging in game interactions and completing related tasks. Besides the token TGE, participating in CARV Ecodrop pt 2 is also a good way to deeply explore the ecosystem and win more rewards.

In conclusion, in today’s digital wave sweeping the globe, data is an eternal business. Under the premise of increasingly acute contradictions of privacy leaks and giant monopolies in Web2, Web3 solutions aimed at returning data ownership to users’ hands, protecting user privacy, and promoting fairer distribution of data value will inevitably stand out.

From the perspective of the project itself, CARV’s fundamentals are very solid. Not only is the team configuration and financing lineup very strong, but the games and AI tracks targeted by the project are also sufficiently in line with the development needs and user preferences of its modular identity and data layer. In addition, The narrative appeal of the project cannot be underestimated. By innovating the way data value is distributed and providing real money benefits, it will undoubtedly attract more users’ attention and participation.

Currently, the project has accumulated considerable popularity in the community, which has laid a good foundation for its future development. Especially driven by the success of the BANANA project, the CARV Protocol has attracted more attention. With the arrival of the token TGE and the gradual implementation of various milestones, perhaps CARV will usher in its own flywheel effect, promoting the project to achieve rapid development in terms of products, ecosystem, and users.

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