A decentralized, open identity protocol to connect profiles across Web2 and Web3, enhancing data ownership and mobility.

🗞️ Welcome to the inaugural edition of our community update for Next.ID! This is where you'll find all the latest developments, news, and events related to the Next.ID community.

• [Feature updates]

  • ProofService

    • Headless browser: A headless browser is a browser without a graphical interface. With the recent tweaks made to the headless browser, now the production server records are able to display the correct is_valid status.

      • To enhance the functionality of proof_server and expand its support for various services, we decided to incorporate a headless browser. This decision was made due to the difficulty some platforms face when attempting to perform the fetching through proof_post by API or single HTTP GET in the real world. APIs can be restricted by platforms like Twitter, which means developers can lose access to user content. To avoid this, developers may need to make their automation flow appear like normal user behavior. The purpose of the headless browser is to simulate a user's page-browsing flow and complement the current API-based proof post-fetching channel.

        In order to encourage the participation of developers, we joined the Gitcoin Social Hour Hackathon 2022. As part of this initiative, we offered a total prize of $6000 and selected two winners from the five submissions we received.

        Among 5 submissions, we selected these two as the final winner: https://github.com/nextdotid/proof_server/pull/47 and https://github.com/nextdotid/proof_server/pull/44/, which excited us for their beautiful implements.

        And now thanks to the recent tweaks made, developers and projects can easily do code works in the browser without caring about GUI. We now can get rid of Twitter’s API from it stopping us from fetching users’ proof tweets.

  • RelationService/Web5.bio

    • Added Farcaster/Space.ID platform support.

      • Now users can to view others’ Farcaster profiles through simple searches and look up their .bnb domains through Web5.bio.

    • Next up is the .arb domain support.

  • CoreService

    • The marketplace is up.

      • Design: CS clones GitHub repo and provides local API https://github.com/NextDotID/core_service_bucket. Right now, it’s in a very early stage, you’re welcome to contribute and build together.

    • Now AuthService and Mastadon can be launched by CoreService.

• [Milestone reached]

  • Next.ID recently released our v1.1 version in which KVService, RelationService, and CoreService became the 3 major services we have. Future developments will be built upon them. For example, Web5.bio’s new upgrade on RelationService and CreateSuite(read the initial code at CreateSuite repo and its front-end repo) on CoreService.

• [Data queries]

  • ~140, 000 times API calls/per hour on ProofService .

• [Data insights]

  • RelationService now indexes 2.79 M ENS domains, 115 K Lens handles, 11 K Farcaster handles, and 21.4 K dotbit (.bit) domains. With the recent Unstoppable Domains partnership, over 3.3 M UD domain queries are added.

• [SBT hodlers are growing]

  • Next.ID SBT hodlers reach a number of ~2K! Thanks to the support of Next.ID’s community members, Next.ID has witnessed active participation in virtual and IRL events such as Twitter Spaces, Discord AMA, community calls, and hackathons.

    Community members contribute by building apps, creating educational content, and participating in workshops. The Next.ID DAO rewards engaged members by issuing verifiable credentials to track their contributions, with potential perks or tokens

    Join the Next Planet>>> | View past events>>> | Check your eligibility for a Next.ID SBT>>>

• [Partner announcement]

  • Unstoppable Domains x Next.ID

    • Next.ID now welcomes Unstoppable Domains as our partner! The collaboration with Unstoppable Domains has further enhanced the database query to over 3.3 million UD domains, alongside other underlying Web3/Web2 identity connections.

      Learn more>>>

  • Collab.Land x Next.ID

    • Next.ID is now a premiere identity partner of Collab.Land! With the mission to create the best DID and identity graph infrastructure for developers, it is our great pleasure to partner with Collab.Land and enrich the experience of millions of users.

      Learn more>>>

  • XMTP and TON partnerships are in the making.

• [Conference participation]

  • Past

    • 2023 Game Developers Conference recap

      • At GDC 2023, several game studios, including Playmint and Loot community game studios, expressed interest in incorporating decentralized identifiers (DID) into their fully on-chain games.

        Our discussion focused on expanding identity and social graphs to on-chain games, which would enable greater interaction and engagement among players. Additionally, the idea of incorporating game communities and DAOs was also discussed.

    • ETHDenver 2023 recap

      • Imagine a week-long gathering that brings together brilliant minds from all over the world to create, innovate, and share ideas about the future of Web3. That's what happened during ETHDenver's BUIDL week in February 2023.

        The feedback we received from ETHDenver was overwhelmingly positive and reinforced our belief in the bright future ahead for Next.ID as an early-stage product.

        Read full recap>>>

  • Upcoming

    • #ETHBeijing:

      • Time: April. 7, 2023

      • Speaker (s): Sannie (developer)

      • Speaking session: workshop demo

      • Location: Beijing, China

    • Hongkong Wanxiang Web3 Summit

      • Time: April. 12 - April. 15, 2023

      • Hosts: Wanxiang Blockchain Labs, Hashkey Group

      • Speaker (s): Yisi Liu (core initiator)

      • Speaking session (s): Web3 Financial Infrastructure: Digital Wallet and DID

      • Location: Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC)

    • Dokidoki at #ETHTokyo

      • Time: April. 16, 2023, 4 PM - 10 PM

      • Speaker (s): David Phillips, Linda Yeboah

      • Speaking session (s): socializing

      • Location: Tokyo Tower, Japan

    • MIT Bitcoin Expo

      • Time: April. 22 - April. 23, 2023

      • Speaker (s): Yisi Liu

      • Speaking session (s): DID Panel

      • Location: Building 32 and 10, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

    • #ETHShanghai

      • Time: June. 8 - June. 18, 2023

      • Speaker (s): Wei Duan (community manager)

      • Speaking session (s): BUIDL week

      • Location: Shanghai, China

• [Hacking with Next.ID at Blockbooster]

  • Time: April. 6 - April. 10, 2023

  • Speaker (s): Yisi Liu (core initiator), Wei Duan (community manager)

  • Register here: https://blockbooster.io/

• [Next.ID Thailand]

  • Next.ID is looking to expand in the Thailand market which will be city and university-based. Starting from Thailand, we wish to tap into the South-Eastern markets in the coming future.

• [Community spotlights]

  • Next.ID wins 3rd place at Alibaba Cloud Web3 Startup Competition 2023

    • Time: March. 25, 2023

    • Hosts: PlatON, Alibaba Cloud, Hashkey Group

    • Award prize: 5000 USDC will be the initial fund for community engagement.

  • Bi-weekly community call updates

    • To make our community calls more friendly to earlier contributors, we'll be booking slots with them in advance instead of running the calls on a regular schedule. We'll then broadcast the information to the community at least one week ahead of time.

• [Dev contributions]

  • A hacker from Singapore helped integrate Next.ID's ProofService with apps on StarkNet.

    • The developer added support for linking users’ StarkNet wallets to their Next.ID core identities.

      This allows users to use Next.ID across all StarkNet apps, with validation achieved by users signing a human-readable message using their StarkNet wallets such as Argent X and Braavos, and validating it with the StarkNet RPC using a specific contract-based signature validation protocol.

      If the validation is successful, the StarkNet ID can be added to the user's Next.ID Avatar.

• [New members]

  • Introducing our newest team member, David Phillips - the Product Manager and DevRel.

    • David will be leading the product team in defining and executing our vision, strategy, and roadmap, identifying new opportunities for the data graph in Web2 and Web3, and ensuring our product delivers the best value to our users and developers.

      When not working, you can find him riding big waves as a surfer. Follow him on Twitter @davidpco and check out his GitHub at Davidpco.

Thanks for tuning in to the community updates of Next.ID! We're thrilled to have your support and we urge you to stay plugged into our community. Got a burning question or some spicy feedback? Slide into our DMs on Telegram and let's get chatty!