Masa Finance is going to launch a decentralized data network and marketplace in the first quarter of 2024. They compare themselves to a decentralized Google for the AI era.
Masa is working with AvaCloud to set up a special blockchain network called Avalanche without using gas. The special blockchain will be made to handle a lot of secret data in a fast and cheap way.
In May 2022, Masa got $3. 5 million to develop its decentralized credit data protocol.
The subnet is like a bigger version of Masa’s current data system. The project wants to help people have more control over their personal information and get paid for it. “We started working with credit data in early 2022, and then expanded the technology to all user data in August 2022. ” A Masa representative said that this data analytics subnet is more like a wider expansion.
“We looked at different choices in the market when picking the infrastructure to build a special Masa blockchain,” said Brendan Playford, a co-founder of Masa. Masa can create a chain that doesn’t need gas and can handle a lot of transactions using AvaCloud on Avalanche. This chain can store a lot of private data and can be used for different purposes at a low price.
Masa is getting help from the Avalanche Foundation and investment from Avalanche’s Blizzard Fund to improve the platform. The amount of money that was invested was not told. NodeKit recently raised $1. 2 million in funding to build a network for rollups based on Avalanche.
How Masa Operates
Masa’s system uses a special token called a zero-knowledge soulbound token (zkSBT). This token is like a secure digital locker for personal data, and helps people to manage and control their personal information safely. It keeps your digital footprints and social connections safe by coding them, so people can’t see what you do online, like in web3 communities or decentralized apps.
The team says that over 890,000 users’ wallets have given permission for more than 8 million data events on Masa in the last year. With the new zk-data marketplace, users can see their information in their zkSBT locker and share it in the marketplace by staking it to earn money. For example, people can let banks check their Masa zkSBT to confirm their age without seeing their birth date.
“This is the best design to help our zk-data network and marketplace,” said Calanthia Mei, co-founder of Masa. “Big banks, new AI companies, and popular tech apps can use secure and scalable user data without paying any fees by setting up on a specific Avalanche network. ”
Masa believes that big tech companies are using people’s personal information without their permission and not paying them for it. This is made worse by the increase in AI technology, which requires even more personal data to work properly.
