Vana: AI project with VC three giants gathering together

The market has been in a cycle of "AI not being popular, AI being popular again" for a long time.

Especially with the information of top VC investments, AI projects can quickly go from being unnoticed to being widely discussed.

In addition to discussing Vitalik's live performance at Token 2049 yesterday, the most talked-about project in the CT community is undoubtedly Vana: after the project's official announcement, it immediately received a total of $25 million in financing from the encryption VC giants Coinbase Ventures, Paradigm, and Polychain. Various likes, congratulations, and analysis posts emerged immediately.

You may not love VC coins, but any significant financing in a market lacking hot spots is still worth paying attention to.

Vana's Twitter bio reads, "Empowering users with their own data to empower their own AI".

It seems to be another narrative against the monopoly of big companies on AI, playing with data again, and familiar VCs gathering together... What's the differentiation of Vana this time?

Data DAO high-end, unity VC

As soon as Vana's financing information was released, all parties were optimistic.

For example, a fellow pusher analyzed that Vana is the first AI project invested by Paradigm, and Vana has received investments from different top VC in different financing rounds:

• Strategic Round: Coinbase Ventures invests $5 million
• Series A: Paradigm leads a $18 million investment
• Seed round: Polychain invests 2 million US dollars

If the VC giants all love a project, it's probably because the project's narrative and the problem it aims to solve are significant enough.

As mentioned at the beginning, Vana's main problem area is the 'dragon-slaying' narrative of data control in the AGI era - individuals contribute data but cannot get rewards, and data privacy is not guaranteed; a few dominant companies train monopolistic AI models... Therefore, we need to break this situation.

But following the AI trend of the past two years, calling for the coexistence of multiple AI models and opposing monopoly has become the narrative correctness in the crypto circle.

(Related reading: Delphi Labs: AI will face competition from multiple models, which encryption applications do we favor?)(https://www.techflowpost.com/article/detail_20427.html)

This is not a new story, but most encryption AI projects currently telling this story are mostly focused on the DEP field, which encourages the contribution of different resources using different hardware in different fields.

Vana's approach to problem solving appears to be more innovative --- using DAOs with different purposes to allow everyone to contribute different types of data, thereby training AI models for different purposes.

Vana wrote in her technical blog article:

"The data DAO is a Decentralization entity that allows users to aggregate and manage their data... It's a bit like a data union. The DAO has complete control over the data set and can choose to rent or sell anonymous copies. For example, Reddit's data can even be used on new platforms owned by new users, including fren, past posts, and other data, which can be used on the new platform at any time".

Currently, Vana's official website lists 16 different data DAOs, allowing users to contribute various types of data such as Reddit, Twitter, dating apps, etc., and take control of their ownership of these data through Vana's blockchain network.

At the same time, data can also be contributed to AI models that require specific vertical domain data for training, and users can also benefit from it.

If all kinds of data from various industries can be contributed in this DAO manner, it is indeed a relatively ideal model, but the problem lies in how to achieve it.

At least two specific issues are involved here:

1. How do you ensure that I have actually contributed the data?
2. How do you ensure the security and ownership of contribution data?

And this also involves the implementation and principle of the Vana network.

The core of the Vana network lies in its unique multi-layer architecture design, aiming to create a Decentralization data ecosystem to address the key issues of data ownership, privacy protection, and value creation mentioned above.

According to the latest architecture diagram, the Vana network is mainly composed of three key components: the Data Portability Layer, the Data Liquidity Layer, and the Universal Connectome.

1. Data Portability Layer - This layer is the top layer of the Vana network, responsible for handling the applications and AI models of on-chain data. There are two main types of participants in this layer:

• Developers: They create applications and AI models that use on-chain data.
• Users: They use these applications and models, and are also the ultimate beneficiaries of the data.

The main function of this layer is to ensure the portability and interoperability of data, allowing users to easily transfer and use their data between different applications and models.

1. Data Liquidity Layer --- This layer is responsible for bringing user-owned data onto the chain and is the foundation of the entire system. It includes two important types of participants:

• Contributors: They contribute their own data to the system.
• Validators: They are responsible for verifying the authenticity and value of the contributed data.

This layer solves the problem of securely and reliably converting offline data into on-chain assets, providing liquidity for the entire ecosystem.

1. Universal Connectome - This is a unique component that serves as a real-time data flow chart for the entire ecosystem. It is composed of the following roles:

• Propagators: They are responsible for propagating and updating the flow of data in the ecosystem.

The role of the Universal Connection Group is to provide a real-time map of data flow throughout the entire ecosystem, enabling all participants to understand the flow and use of data.

These three components work closely together to form a complete data ecosystem:

• The data liquidity layer brings the data owned by users securely into the chain, providing raw data for the entire system.
• The data portability layer utilizes this on-chain data to support the development and use of various applications and AI models.
• The Universal Connection Group real-time monitors and displays the data flow in the entire ecosystem, ensuring transparency and traceability.

If you don't delve into the technical details of implementation, such as smart contracts, ZK, and code level things, you can think of Vana as a blockchain network that provides a comprehensive solution for data contribution, validation, usage, and monitoring.

The combination of mega infrastructure, monopolistic AI model slaying, and the old and new integration of DAO... When these elements are combined, it also seems relatively reasonable to unite several top VC players.

(Shenchao Note: Readers interested in technology can directly visit the projectdoc Learn more)

点击挖矿grounded 气,团结組众

According to the previous tone and routine of encryption AI, such projects focus on high-end and technological sense. Ordinary players usually stay in the stage of feeling mysterious and difficult to participate in actual use.

But this time, Vana has become more down-to-earth in its actual gameplay --- in addition to the high-profile narrative for VC, there is also a "click-to-mine" mode that is more accessible to retail investors and features a lower threshold, which is well-received.

Narrative is important, tone is important... But popularity is more important.

When it comes to Paradigm's investment projects, the gameplay inherited from Blur and Friend.Tech, which involves points, attracting popularity, and intensive operation, is also reflected on Vana. The specific gameplay is as follows:

1. Open Telegram and enter the Vana Data Hero mini-program (interested players can try it out by clicking here)
2. The main gameplay is currently very simple, which is to simply click the mouse and tap the ball on the screen containing various Web2 application icons. The more clicks, the faster the points are added in unit time. (It may symbolize contributing data from various Web2 applications to mine)

1. In addition to simply clicking on the screen, there are other activities such as following social media, inviting fren, adding the testnet, etc., which can be completed, and different scores will be rewarded afterwards.

The project party is obviously knowledgeable in marketing and creating hot topics. For example, in one of the tasks, you can earn 500 VANA points by replying to Musk's previous posts on AI, data, and privacy topics; this is a bit of rallying the masses to promote Vana in its own way.

However, we do not currently fully understand the exchange token ratio and distribution rules of this VANA score. Interested players can further follow Vana's social media for more information.

However, with the support of VC giants and the successful precedents of projects on Telegram, there will definitely be money raining down and the expected listing. It's just that the points-based gameplay of PUA makes people tired and fearful of missing out. As for how to participate, it's a matter of personal preference.

Adult, the times have changed

Interestingly, even the AI project with thick eyebrows and big eyes is using Telegram mini-programs to attract popularity and build momentum.

The previous AI project gave people a lofty feeling, but after the industry sparked a discussion about VC coins and TON ecosystem mini-programs representing Mass Adoption, it is evident that the project parties have also clearly responded to the industry's changes.

We must unite with VC and also strive to win over the masses.

If you check the earlier information about Vana, you will find that after 21 years of establishment, the project was positioned as an AI identity generation application.

Obviously, building infrastructure is better than developing applications, and it is better to cater to both VC and the masses rather than just telling a story to VC.

After the transformation, you can clearly see the strategic changes of the project in Vana's Go To Market. There are only so many grand narratives, and new technologies cannot emerge immediately. Instead of relying on changes in the overall environment, it is better to adjust oneself to the maximum extent and keep up with the rhythm of the current market.

The author expects that there will be more and more new projects, or old projects with new gameplay variations.

Time, fate.

Statement:

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