Today, we are introducing Form: a layer 2 blockchain to advance the SocialFi ecosystem. Form is powered by the OP Stack and utilizes Celestia as a modular data availability (DA) layer to ensure high-throughput and low fees.
We will bring 30+ projects to the network upon launch of the Form mainnet in Q2 of 2024 and plan to release a Form governance token within a year of the launch.
When we look at SocialFi currently, we see a promise of interoperability and decentralization that has not yet been realized in this space.
We see the dream of an ecosystem where the profile tokens from one crypto app can be the channel tokens or group tokens of another. We see the importance of these tokens entering the broader crypto capital markets on decentralized and centralized exchanges. None of these opportunities exist or are currently possible for users in any SocialFi application at the moment.
What is the ideal: a creator having one token to realize their community as a digital asset across all SocialFi platforms, or the present need for a creator to have 6 different SocialFi tokens across 6 different platforms? The latter only creates a fragmented, centralized, near-dystopian setting led by platforms and not users.
It is Form's mission to create a SocialFi ecosystem guided by users. Where the network potential for SocialFi communities has no upper bound and is not tethered to centralized contracts or siloed platforms, but instead pushes the limits of permissionless interoperability. Your SocialFi tokens deserve their own contracts, and we aim to realize that promise on our network.
To put it simply, the Form blockchain is coming out of stealth to begin a pathway to SocialFi decentralization starting right now with you, us and many of our friends that have been building for years in the crypto and social crypto community.
A Brief History of SocialFi, or Why We Are Launching Form
SocialFi was popularized in late 2023 and made sense according to crypto's first principles which generally bring to market financial use cases around trading, value creation and payments. Product-market-fit soon emerged in SocialFi as a bonding curve that can represent the layer of interaction between the creator and their community. Simple utility-driven use cases were formed, resembling ICQ/AOL-like chat rooms that were seamlessly tied to the creator's bonding curve. When a user bought a creator’s token, they entered the creator’s chat room and the creator’s token was priced higher on the bonding curve.
SocialFi soon began to take off exponentially as new teams forked the repos of projects like friend.tech that popularized the category. It seemed as if there was a new emergent crypto primitive that could be introduced into a wider crypto ecosystem. We were excited for a world where the tokens that were introduced in one SocialFi platform could be ported to another, integrated into DeFi, bridged across chains and staked in rewards-based protocols. We were sadly mistaken.
What followed in 2023 SocialFi was a backwards reality where the "tokens" that were "created" did not even have contract addresses tied to a blockchain. These tokens were not owned by their users, they were siloed on platforms and could not benefit from the agglomeration of financial primitives present in DeFi and other categories. This would be akin to tokens on Uniswap not being compatible with tokens on another DEX like Balancer.
We began to wonder how such a reality is possible after nearly 10 years of decentralized applications. How could builders not know that all innovation stops in crypto once the right to transact is removed? And that the consequence of centralized determinism in this space, where the outcome of the network is determined by one group, is the erosion of trust and potential value that users see in a system?
These results are fine for one single platform, but not for an entire emerging sector of crypto with so much potential for growth.
The Path to SocialFi Decentralization
We are launching Form to advance SocialFi and bring interoperability into the ecosystem. The mission of Form is to integrate bonding curves across online communities and financial systems. Form contributors have created a unified framework and infrastructure for SocialFi bonding curves to interact with the wider crypto ecosystem. These projects will be revealed soon on the road to Form’s mainnet.
For SocialFi to realize the promise of other crypto primitives like DeFi, DAOs and NFTs, it is necessary to reimagine the category as a fully interoperable standard with the rest of the Web3 economy. This is our dream with Form, to uphold the fundamental principles of decentralization for SocialFi that empower individuals and communities alike.
We pledge to ensure the unrestricted right to transact, to bear a market, and to claim ownership; to steadfastly oppose centralized determinism; to champion interoperability and progressive decentralization; to foster community governance and decision-making; and to instate transparent and fair reward systems. These are the core tenets that guide our mission to advance the SocialFi landscape.
The Right to Transact
We proclaim the right to transact as an inalienable right at the protocol level, ensuring every participant has the unrestricted ability to engage in economic activities, free from undue interference.
The Right to Bear a Market
We uphold the principle that every individual and community has the inherent freedom to create and participate in all markets, fostering innovation and economic diversity across the SocialFi asset class.
The Right to Own
We affirm the freedom and integrity of personal and communal ownership, ensuring that all users have sovereign control over their digital assets.
An Opposition to Centralized Determinism
We reject the over-centralization of power, we champion a system where decisions and influence are distributed across the network.
Interoperability
We commit to seamless integration and cooperation among independent decentralized systems, ensuring that the right to transact and the right to own will define the SocialFi ecosystem.
Progressive Decentralization
We commit to the relentless pursuit of a fully decentralized network for SocialFi applications and the Form blockchain itself, where power is continuously redistributed to the edges, to the users themselves.
Community Governance and Decision-Making
We aim to empower our users through direct participation in the governance processes, upholding the democratic ethos that every voice matters.
Transparent and Fair Reward Systems
We advocate for clarity, opportunity and fairness in the distribution of rewards, recognizing the value of on-chain contributions in the Form ecosystem.
These are the guiding principles of the Form blockchain, dedicated to advancing the SocialFi ecosystem and the empowerment of its users. Please hold us to these principles and help us shape the foundation of SocialFi at Form by following us on Twitter, joining our Discord, subscribing to our mailing list and following our Telegram announcement channel.
You may also want to consider minting this post here on Mirror and future posts 🙂
- Form contributors