“90 per cent of my comments are bots,” Musk tweeted on September 5th.

Even as Twitter insists on claiming that only five per cent of its users are automated accounts, or bots, the issue is increasingly incendiary, as Musk has been trying to back out of the US$44 billion deal for months, only to revive his bid at the beginning of October, just before the beginning of the Delaware trial aiming to solve the issue once and for all.

Where do we currently stand on bots?

Corroborating Musk’s theory that spam and fake accounts prevalence on Twitter is higher than on other social platforms of its size is a study by Cyabra, a data analysis firm using publicly available data to claim with 80 per cent confidence that bots represent 11 per cent of Twitter’s total user base, significantly higher than the five per cent reported by the company itself. 

The same issue, relating to audience exaggeration and the pervasiveness of social media bots, is true for Facebook, now Meta. In 2017, Facebook claimed it could reach more people than exist within certain age groups, at least according to data from the US Census.

Musk’s wish to eliminate bots and false profiles from Twitter, as well as his insistence on user verification, is very honourable. His call for greater transparency is a message that Silicon Valley badly needs to hear, as much as it needs to know how positive an effect eradicating spam accounts could have. 

Also Read: Is Twitter playing whack-a-mole with its problems?

The first social media platform to actually be able to do so will have a major competitive advantage over its competitors because once you have a fully credible environment, you can begin to develop many commercial applications around it, and you set an example for your peers.

Facebook vs regulators

What went wrong for Meta’s Libra project, the permissioned blockchain-based stablecoin formerly known as Diem, was the regulators’ –justified– concern that the company would come to completely control the world’s biggest marketplace without any real system of checks and balances in place.

And back when it was Facebook, Meta didn’t have the greatest reputation among legislators due to a series of controversies over issues like “data privacy, misinformation and alleged censorship”. 

As of yet, Meta hasn’t proved its ability to manage the many pitfalls they have faced in recent years around security, fake profiles, scams and the like, nor has any real desire to do so.

After an initial planned launch set for 2002, Project Diem ultimately shut down in early 2022 after Meta and its Diem Association “said it became clear from dialogue with federal regulators that the project could not move ahead.”

How to solve the bot issue with Web3 technology

The solution to this is methodically separating the social media activity side of the company from its commercial activity infrastructure. 

In this case, an independent third party could develop a project like Libra, entirely autonomously and without running the risk of interference between different projects from one side of the company or the other.

This independent third party would need to be a Web3 key player with a scalable infrastructure supporting an independent token, and it would benefit from the specific integration of an ID layer and zero-knowledge proofs. 

The same is true for any social media company with a prevalent bot problem. Applying this same concept to a platform like Twitter, an ID layer at the protocol level, would enable a system of trust and credibility in which to continue fostering strong partnerships and seeing positive commercial results. 

Within a controlled and regulated environment, facilitating the right kind of business projects would become infinitely easier, and so would assisting them by developing the needed tools and services.

Balancing privacy with accountability

Balancing privacy with accountability is our motto at Concordium, and it’s served us well. As a science-backed blockchain designed with business applications in mind, we are helping to build the technology needed for the world to migrate from Web2 to Web3 and beyond. 

In the case of social media platforms, they badly need to revisit their Web2 strategies for Web3 purposes and intents, and I believe that blockchain-based innovations and companies like Concordium can help them do just that. 

As social media platforms currently allow anyone to create an account with just an email address on file, we have very little accountability and absolutely no way to verify anyone’s identity unless they want us to know who they are. 

Also Read: Elon Musk doesn’t look at credentials when recruiting. Is that silly or disruptive?

Casinos and online betting platforms have strict and efficient KYC (Know Your Customer) systems in place, so why shouldn’t spaces like Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter? After all, we’ve all seen how automated accounts, or bots, contribute to the spread of fake news and propaganda.

A hopeful vision for the future

In a statement from Diem’s CEO Stuart Levey announcing the sale of the Diem group’s assets to Silvergate, he addressed the need for a payment network with controls against misuse, such as “a prohibition on anonymous transactions, which pose both sanctions and money-laundering risk.”

And that need still stands; for a while, its execution was botched, but the vision of Diem and the ideals it was designed on were worthy and worth exploring. I believe Meta’s idea was spot on. 

Online businesses –which, these days, means any business- greatly benefit from access to online customers and widespread reach of their messaging on social media platforms, but once Meta tried to control every aspect of such a large “database,” it became a monopoly in all but name. It was obvious that regulators would not let that fly. 

A well-designed and efficiently targeted partnership between a social media platform the size of Meta or Twitter, and an external and completely independent ID provider, would be less controversial to those in Washington looking to either green light or end social media companies’ expansion. 

So far, we have witnessed strained relationships between Silicon Valley minds and lawmakers in Washington, but it doesn’t have to be that way. 

Giving the power back to the users while balancing privacy with accountability and transparently doing it all could usher in a new era of collaboration between the two parties with one common goal: making the internet of the future safer, more inclusive, and less bot-friendly.

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Busan Blockchain Week (BWB) 2022, hosted by Busan Metropolitan City held at BEXCO for three days from October 27 to October 29th. With the theme of “Blockchain, City and Life”, as an extension of last year’s NFT Busan 2021, BWB 2022 will feature conferences for the advancement of the blockchain industry and provide a space to obtain insight as well as to share information.

Anndy Lian’s speech is on “Trends Shaping the Future of NFT”.

Lian is an all-rounded business strategist in Asia. He has provided advisory across a variety of industries for local, international, public listed companies and governments. He is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur, book author, investor, board member and keynote speaker.

NFT: From Zero to Hero is his latest book. The book is a call to anyone and everyone excited about the prospect of the world of NFT. Bound by imagination only, the NFT space is still in its early days, and early adopters can be a “hero” in their search for new possibilities. The book is available on Amazon and Bybit. More than 8,000 copies were sold.

NFTs took 2021 by storm. With billions traded over NFTs and a strong community behind the technology, we’re seeing NFTs being adopted by industries as diverse as gaming, finance, art, and medicine.

NFT gaming and game-fi

This trend is obvious. At present, many successful game manufacturers in the traditional game industry want to get involved in NFTs.

NFT ticketing

NFT ticketing goes beyond this. The future of NFTs in ticketing offers opportunities for lifetime value, exclusive access, and extra incentives for buyers.

NFT fragments

Fractionalisation essentially breaks up an NFT into smaller pieces so people can purchase small parts of an expensive NFT.

Digital twin NFTs

Imagine this same type of record existing for physical items. It would completely change resale markets.

AI NFTs

Alongside blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the next major disruptor in tech. So it should be no surprise the two are being combined.

NFTs and health

With issues surrounding counterfeit vaccination passports and concerns about the vulnerabilities of centralised data storage of sensitive medical information, NFTs and the blockchain may well be integrated more and more into medicine and health in the years to come.

Growth amidst doubt

Although the popularity of NFTs is indeed declining, all walks of life are still accelerating their integration with NFTs.

Starting in the second half of 2021, many well-known brands have also begun to try NFTs, matching them with real objects and even designing their own metaverse. Obviously, the utility has become the first test for big brands in the metaverse field through NFTs.

NFT essentially provides brands with a new way to launch limited-edition products, and the resulting community and word-of-mouth communication will raise their share of voice compared to rival brands.

The future of NFTs

A number of countries are now actively working on regulatory frameworks for NFT assets, strengthening anti-fraud and anti-manipulation audits of projects, determining the business core of each platform, and solving financial security issues such as illegal fundraising and false fraud.

At the same time, major public chains are actively upgrading, expanding, and building their own ecological frameworks to provide underlying support for the production, confirmation, pricing, circulation, and traceability of NFT assets.

Nowadays, NFT financial tools are becoming more and more abundant, and the scale of financial derivatives is steadily increasing. The NFT industry is gradually exploring a development path suitable for blockchain assets.

“The future these NFT trends depict is an interesting one. While many people are concerned about the implications of the metaverse and the rise of AI, it’s a future full of possibilities. We are still early. Let’s build the ecosystem together.” Lian added.

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Elwin Tan, Jason Chua, and Ben Chua were undecided about their next move as they finished their PhD studies in stem cell biology at the National University of Singapore and the Agency of Science Technology and Research (A*STAR).

As the trio started thinking deeply about the future, they saw the value of their academic research in stem cell differentiation.

After consulting various people, the threesome, with deep and relevant expertise in muscle and fat cell research, decided to apply their knowledge to develop a protein alternative. They were joined by Prof Teh Bin Tean, who holds multiple roles within Singapore’s research community.

“Food is a topic close to our hearts, and we felt our knowledge could help solve some pressing issues plaguing the world, such as food security, environmental degradation, and animal welfare,” Tan tells e27.

Also Read: Alt.Flex.Eat: Flexitarianism is the flavour of the SEAson

After further deliberations, they decided to build a venture in the cultivated meat domain. They were further encouraged by Singapore being the first country to approve cultivated meat sales in December 2020 and the emergence of a growing number of successful alternative protein companies globally and locally.

That was the beginning of Meatiply.

Incorporated in April 2021 in Singapore, Meatiply develops and produces cultivated meat cuts with a focus on Asian cuisines. An A*STAR spin-off, the startup obtains cells from livestock animals like chicken and uses regenerative biology to grow these cells into meat.

Meatiply (derived from the words ‘meat’ and ‘multiply’) unveiled three structured prototypes as its first proof of concept in September 2022 — kampong chicken yakitori, chicken katsu bites, and Asia’s first smoked duck breast.

These were made from a specific blend of plant-based components and a high percentage of meat cells.”The plant-based ingredient is a blend of components developed by our in-house food technologists. It works best with our cells to give the aroma, texture and taste to the products we are trying to mimic,” Tan explains.

The company plans to pursue a B2C strategy for cultivated meat products and a B2B strategy for meat-derived products. It envisions selling directly to customers and will likely tap into e-commerce platforms and distribution networks for conventional meat, such as supermarkets.

The company aims to launch the products in 2024.

Tan admits that the pricing of its products is currently astronomical compared to conventional meat. “We have R&D strategies to drive down costs and get closer to price parity in the next few years. We also envision adding value to our offerings to make them more enticing to consumers, and they would be prepared to pay a premium for it.”

Consumer perception is also another issue to overcome. “In Singapore and SEA, consumers are highly price-sensitive. In markets like the US and Europe, consumers are willing to pay a premium for foods better suited to their lifestyle and needs, such as sustainable and organic food.”

The meat market in SEA

Meat is a US$2 trillion industry in the region and is ripe for disruption, given the issues of animal welfare and the environmental impact of agriculture.

The founders see enormous opportunities in the region, given that Southeast Asia is at the epicentre of the most populous nations, such as China, India and Indonesia. In addition, SEA has a burgeoning middle-class growth, with chicken being the fastest-growing consumed meat in Asia.

“We want to establish our footprints in Singapore first. As we obtain regulatory approval, we plan to target other markets in Asia, such as China, India, Korea and Japan. We are also aware of the widespread Asian food influence in other parts of the world like the US and Europe and will target these markets in our second phase,” Tan reveals.

Also Read: No animals were harmed in the making of this ‘meat’ burger

Although small, Singapore has witnessed a spike in the birth of alt-protein companies in the last few years. Many companies are already operating in Singapore, including Shiok Meats, Next Gen Foods, TurtleTree, Growthwell Foods, Shiok Meats, Karana, Phuture Foods, Life3 Biotech, MAD Foods, and Float Foods. Players such as Shiok Meats and Net Gen are heavily funded and have already expanded their footprints into other categories or markets.

Tan says that Meatiply develops high-quality and highly complex products with a superior taste, texture, and aroma to its competitors. “We believe that the eventual market leaders in cultivated meat would be the ones that can deliver products with superior taste, texture, and aroma.”

The business is raising a seed round of funding to develop the critical areas of scaling production, cost optimisation, and exploring regulatory approval. Together, these will lay the foundation for its commercialisation plans. It also seeks partners to leverage new technologies in food safety and bioprocess development and further develop cultivated meat and cultivated meat-derived products.

Why bother when there are many plant-based alternatives?

“While plant-based meat greatly reduces conventional meat consumption, not everyone will be convinced to replace meat with plants. We believe that if we make a more realistic product, we’ll convert more people away from the many ills of conventional meat, thus saving more animals and the planet,” Tan concludes.

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Image Credit: Meatiply

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Delysium, an AI-powered AAA Web3 game focusing on Southeast Asia, has secured a US$10 million strategic funding round led by US-based Anthos Capital.

Immutable, GSR, Blockchain Coinvestors, Leonis Capital, Antalpha Ventures (Bitmain’s venture arm), Perion, and Formless Capital also participated.

The funding will be used mainly to develop the content, enable unique AI-powered experiences, and build Delysium Multiverse, an open-source operating and publishing network on the blockchain.

“We will focus on making three things happen to build a strong community: a great game, a unique AI-powered experience, and an unprecedented, innovative business model based on the blockchain,” said Xiankun Wu, Co-Founder of rct AI, the parent of Delysium.

Also Read: Web3 games should aim to have sustainable tokenomics, ecosystems: Froyo Games’s Douglas Gan

rct AI is a company backed by Y Combinator, Makers Fund, and Galaxy Interactive. Its game Delysium is powered by Deterrence, an AI layer for powering intelligent NFTs. The startup has integrated technologies (AI yield farming, conversational AI, battle AI, and AI motion generation) to create cognitively aware virtual beings distributed to every corner of Delysium. Players can enjoy a more dynamic and personalised gaming experience by interacting with AI MetaBeings.

Born in the virtual world, these AI MetaBeings are native digital species capable of earning and holding their private assets by joining game modes with players, creating dynamically generated narratives for players, and learning and iterating from continuous interactions with players.

In Delysium Multiverse, each universe is operated by a separate Delysium Multiverse Operator (DMO). Not only can DMOs issue their own NFTs based on Delysium’s IP free of charge, but they can also create their own customised tokenomics or incentive system with their own tokens embedded into the game. Based on this innovative model, players can enjoy more diverse and rich content through community-based DMOs’ creation and operations.

Unix Gaming, one of the world’s largest gaming guilds with more than 200,000 players, has become the first DMO officially announced.

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