Relay is missing something. We created the initial encrypted wallet messaging products on XMTP, but there’s an issue everyone encounters.
Who is messaging me?
Who is this 40 hexadecimal character address? or who is this ENS name?
So we made something better than sleuthing through Etherscan for context.
Introducing Relay Profiles, an aggregator of your web3 identity.
There is now a rich set of public data points for an address, and now is the right time to start showing them off and creating new connections.
We already have ENS for the Ethereum-wide account username. So what else is there?
This summer saw the launch of:
new decentralized social graphs — Lens
new verifiable credentials — Disco, MintKudos, POAP
new Sybil resistance — Gitcoin Passport
These combine into a strong and diverse “portfolio” of your web3 identity, and Relay is aggregating these into one simple profile. You can share yours, or you can learn about others.
Yet there is an issue with this. So far every web3 social interaction requires finding the address owner on Twitter, or Discord, etc in order to communicate.
The fix to this is a very natural pairing with our current relay.cc wallet message client — decentralized & encrypted with XMTP — now web3 profiles can message each other and web3 messaging has the context of profiles.
This is such a clear benefit of connecting open protocols, and only possible now by building on the work of XMTP and Lens.
We hope you find Profiles and Relay messaging extremely useful, and will be continually adding new web3 identity integrations. Reach out to us on Twitter or message the creator at relay.cc/u/seanwbren.eth.
Bonus:
Not convinced? Here’s a list of different user experiences this solves:
Going from profiles to messaging, you can explore Relay Profiles of:
NFT collectors, to message them buy or sell offers (with asset-validation)
DAO members, message them about DAO votes or updates or calls
DAO delegates with influence, message them about a proposal
NFT creators, message them about past/upcoming mints
Hackathon/conference friends, see what DAOs/events/NFTs they like
Fellow members of your NFT collective, such as BAYC
Going from messaging to a profile, you will need Relay Profiles if:
Someone you don’t know messages you on Relay and you want more context on who they are
Someone messages you about a friend or a possible new hire, and you’d like to see their profile
A friend messages you out of the blue and you’d like to see what’s been happening in their life
A new user of your project messages you for support help and you see if their account has the correct NFT
You join a new DAO group chat and you want to see what other DAOs the members are part of
As an NFT creator/collector, someone messages me about buying a valuable NFT and I go to their profile to see if they have the assets to do so
You’re in a large telegram group for an event and you’d like to know more about who’s in it, so you look up their ENS name on Relay
So look out for relay.cc profiles, and get your Lens handle if you don’t have it yet!