Masa, the first Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible Soulbound identity protocol, announced its mainnet launch on the Ethereum network.
The mainnet launch of Masa Soulbound Identity “brings a standardized on-chain Soulbound Token protocol and infrastructure to power the web3 economy.”
The mainnet launch “empowers users to mint a variety of Soulbound Tokens, such as a Masa Soulbound Identity SBT, a unique .soul name NFT, and a web3 credit score SBT.”
A user’s .soul name will “serve as the domain name for their identity, and users will be able to trade their .soul names on OpenSea.”
With the launch of mainnet, Masa is also “empowering developers and projects to build upon the protocol, leveraging Masa as the infrastructure to easily mint SBTs for a wide variety of use cases.”
The Masa protocol will be “available to Ethereum and Celo developers, and expand to additional blockchains in 2023.” Projects built on Masa can “create SBTs for user authentication, Know Your Customer (KYC), risk-based DeFi lending, proof of participation, DAO and community reputation score, and many more.”
Web3 urgently “needs a composable, user-friendly, and privacy-preserving way to manage on-chain identity in order to bridge web3 with real-world data.”
Soulbound Tokens are quickly “becoming a fundamental identity primitive in web3.” Masa’s mainnet launch “intends to be the solution, using SBTs to function as the intersection between our unique identities, technology, and how we interact within a decentralized society.”
Calanthia Mei, Co-Founder at Masa, said:
“The next crypto bull market hinges upon web3 delivering real-world utility. Masa will help billions of global users build their authentic identity on-chain, and leverage their on-chain identity to unlock real-world utility, such as access to a thriving web3 economy and on-chain liquidity. Soulbound Tokens are uniquely positioned to serve as the bridge for web2 users to enter into web3, and Masa aims to be the SBT common infrastructure layer.”
Brendan Playford, Co-Founder at Masa, remarked:
“My vision for Masa is to on-board the next billion users to web3 by building web3’s de-facto identity primitive. At Masa, we want to make identity as simple as minting an NFT – for a user – and as simple as deploying an ERC-20 smart contract for a developer. After a year of testing and iterating with hundreds of thousands of users and developers, we are shipping the first version of the Masa Soulbound Identity protocol. With our mainnet launch, each sovereign individual can create their unique Soulbound Identity. Establishing and building a decentralized identity that unleashes the full potential of the web3 economy. Masa Soulbound Identity will be every web3 user’s passport to a decentralized society.”
Masa has seen “a tremendous amount of interest on testnet launches since August, with almost 250,000 Masa Soulbound Identities minted, almost 300,000 Masa .Soul Names minted, over 800 developer signups, and over 100,000 global community members.”
The Masa Soulbound Identity mainnet launch is “the next step in supporting the growth of a soulful Web3 across DeFi, dApps, Airdrops, DAOs and communities, and beyond.”