The Truth and Challenges of Crypto Assets Applications

Recently, Alex Blania, the founder of World company, revealed the company's latest strategy at an important conference in the crypto circle. While leveraging policy advantages to enter the U.S. market is eye-catching, what is truly remarkable is their rapid penetration into mainstream consumer scenarios. This signifies that Crypto Assets are breaking away from niche labels and truly entering the realm of everyday commerce.

World's move is quite controversial: inviting American citizens to obtain a "real person authentication identifier" through iris scanning is indeed a challenge, and even the promise of privacy protection may not be widely accepted (and the timing may not be ripe). However, they have laid a three-year foundation for this ambitious plan.

Product value first, token incentives support

World initially tried to attract users through token incentives. This path, known as the "Bitcoin success model" and emulated by many projects, actually confuses cause and effect. World encountered problems in its early testing—over-incentivization did attract users, but it also drew criticism from privacy advocates and some developers: "This is not real growth, but rather using profits to cover up issues."

The reason Bitcoin has been able to develop to this day is that it has provided a revolutionary asset logic from the very beginning: decentralization, a fixed total supply, and independence from central bank control. Although miner rewards and the myth of explosive growth attracted early speculators, it later also drew the attention of institutions and nations. However, the true builders who have remained value its potential as a brand new asset and payment system.

Most projects that simply replicated this model have now become history in the Crypto Assets world.

The crypto world also needs to follow the basic principles of economics. Like any startup project, the first step is to develop a practical product, and then use tokens to solve cold start or ecological incentive issues. Otherwise, no matter how complex the economic model is, it will just be empty talk.

Blania raised three real issues this time: the proliferation of robots in social, gaming, and credit fields, making it difficult to distinguish between humans and machines. Therefore, he launched the "real person verification" system of World, explaining why it is worth exchanging an "I am a real person" certificate for an iris scan.

In an era where AI is rapidly penetrating various fields, we will eventually face the need to "verify human identity," and World has just taken the lead.

Addressing the challenges of "infrastructure reversal"

During the early crypto frenzy, we all invested our enthusiasm. When I was designing the Bitcoin experiment at MIT, I sincerely believed that it would completely change the payment and financial systems within two or three years. Ten years have passed, and we have only just begun.

To bring crypto assets to the mainstream market, it is essential to provide an experience that aligns with the habits of traditional users and merchants. This means building a bridge between old systems and new technologies. This bridge may require making some compromises that may not be ideal in the eyes of "crypto purists."

But this stage is unavoidable. You have to go through that awkward period of "coexistence of the old and the new"—known as infrastructure inversion. Imagine this: dial-up internet occupying phone lines, the first car bumping along a gravel road, these scenes don't sound quite perfect.

This "technology transition period" makes it initially difficult for the new system to be widely promoted, and it can only serve as a supplement in specific scenarios, unable to completely replace the existing system. The AI field also faces a similar predicament.

World initially tried to skip this stage by promoting tokens as the core directly. But the new version has completely changed its strategy: accepting the reality of "infrastructure reversal," returning to product practicality, and developing in a more robust and in-depth manner.

Don't fantasize about creating a globally universal wallet that is not compatible with existing systems. Depositing and withdrawing funds must be as convenient as PayPal's innovation in online payments back in the day; otherwise, how can mainstream adoption be achieved?

This is why the new version of the World App integrates mainstream payment systems as soon as it launches. Trust, familiarity, and practicality are achieved all at once. It is precisely because it is willing to "be backward compatible" that it provides traditional finance with the opportunity to observe and experiment, rather than being directly eliminated.

This approach is quietly promoting the application of encryption technology in the field of cross-border payments. In the future, these technologies may become mainstream, but before that, they need to "borrow" through the existing system, improve processes, and reduce friction.

It is worth noting that many encryption mechanisms (including economic models) can only exert their true effectiveness after scaling. However, to achieve scaling, it is first necessary to attract users. If even the basic usage threshold cannot be crossed, no matter how perfect the model is, it cannot be realized.

The future of encryption technology depends on practical applications.

Like all new technologies, the success of encryption technology is not guaranteed. Do not blindly believe the myths of overly optimistic supporters. Specifically, the core concept of "decentralization" in encryption technology, which is also its most disruptive contribution to the market, has never been a guaranteed outcome.

Stablecoin is a good example.

To interface with the traditional financial system, the crypto world has created this tool, which indeed solves some problems. However, it also brings new challenges: the issues of centralized management and closed networks have re-emerged.

I tend to believe that open architecture will ultimately prevail, but don't forget that those vested interests will not easily relinquish the market.

Blania and his team made a significant bet: they bet that users would value the decentralized control of data and that businesses would build better user experiences on this system. Once decentralized identity challenges the existing landscape, it will face tremendous resistance—centralized participants inherently have advantages in user experience and functionality.

Therefore, if World wants to break through, the primary task is to convince users to be willing to provide their biometric data. Practices in the U.S. market will soon show whether they can find a balance between "privacy and convenience."

Of course, taking a more moderate approach might be wiser: for example, issuing a "certification badge" that everyone is familiar with, which can unlock additional features in commonly used apps. There's no need to require people to scan their irises with the device right from the start. The issue is that this method of identity verification might not be secure enough and could be easily abused or circumvented.

Blania's judgment may be correct. In the ongoing game with AI, only highly secure biometric technology can provide truly reliable human identification. However, this does not mean he cannot take a more gentle approach to avoid pushing users toward overly aggressive verification methods right from the start.

In the short term, users striving for airdrop rewards may actively participate, but this incentive effect usually only lasts a few days. Once the subsidies stop, the enthusiasm will quickly decline. Real sustainable growth comes from the realization of daily value, which is where their true opportunity lies.

If World App can attract users through an excellent payment experience, coupled with convenient funding channels globally, then it may truly achieve a breakthrough.

Conclusion

At present, they have staked the entire development pace. Next, there is only one question we need to focus on:

Can the crypto world truly enter the mainstream market?

Regardless of whether the World experiment ultimately succeeds or not, I would prefer to see more crypto projects willing to shift their focus from "token economics" and "price volatility" to developing truly practical everyday products.

Because this transformation, although not so eye-catching and not so lively, is a key step that the entire industry must take to enter the mainstream market.