Nội dung bài viết
Overview
Decentralized Social is a layer-1 blockchain developed for decentralized social applications (belonging to the SocialFi category). Essentially, DeSo is a Layer 1 blockchain project tasked with building a social network ecosystem that empowers users to fully control their identity, profile, and content.
DESO’s Key Advantages over Other Layer 1 Projects
DESO has an on-chain state storage cost of only $80, compared to other projects such as Solana, Avalanche, and Cardano, which cost millions of dollars.
In DeFi-focused blockchains, the cost of storing each post, like, follow, etc. can be over $0.15. With DeSo, it will only cost about $0.000017.
Dev Team, Backers, and VCs
Team
The DeSo ecosystem is supported by the DeSo Foundation, headed by Nader Al-Naji, who previously worked at D. E. Shaw Group and later at Google (named in Forbes’ top 30 under 30 in finance in 2019). Salil Shah, a core member who previously held the position of Senior Director at Meta (formerly Facebook), has recently joined DeSo as COO (Chief Operations Officer).
Backers
DeSo has successfully raised $200 million in seed funding and $50 million in Series A funding with the participation of 22 investors. Notable names include A16z, Coinbase Ventures, Sequoia, Winklevoss Capital, Polychain Capital, Pantera Capital…
Tokenomics
Total supply: ~ 10.8 million
Circulating supply: ~ 10.6 million
DESO was sold through a bonding curve model, with the price increasing as the total supply increased. In addition, this model limits individuals from buying more than 5% of the total token supply.
DESO Token Allocation
DESO is allocated as follows:
- Bonding Curve Sale: 78.7%
- Mining: 2.8%
- Founding members: 18.5%
Tokenomics analysis:
DESO was launched in 2021, so currently almost all DESO tokens have been unlocked. The token allocation is mainly focused on funding for the founding team, which holds the majority of tokens. This is not a project with a well-distributed initial token allocation, as there is no percentage allocated for the Community or Incentive Ecosystem to support many Dapps, leading to a price drop of 20 times from its peak and not attracting a large number of users like Lens Protocol.
Through two fundraising rounds, $250 million was raised, which is divided by the total DESO supply of around 10 million (with fundraising accounting for almost 80%). The average price for VCs to purchase DESO was around $20-30. Looking at the chart, we can see that the token has been sold from $200 to $8, with the highest trading volume between $50 and $100. VCs may have sold with a 2-3x ROI.
If the project wants to grow again, the team, VCs, and market makers need to buy back tokens after selling, to be able to pump them again in the future. Currently, the price is accumulating in the range of $8-10/DESO.
Token Usecase
DESO is the native token of Decentralized Social, which can be used for the following purposes:
- Paying transaction fees when creating posts on DeSo.
- Using DESO to buy or create one’s own tokens (creator coins).
- DESO can be used as an intermediary asset for buying and selling throughout the ecosystem.
- Having voting rights in governance.
Ecosystem
More than 200 Dapps are being built on DeSo.
- Diamond: A centralized version of Twitter
- DAODAO: A decentralized fundraising platform
- Desofy: A decentralized social network for phones
- Stori: A decentralized version of TikTok
- DeSo Messenger: A decentralized version of Discord
- Zirkel: A decentralized version of Medium
- Pearl: A decentralized version of Instagram
Total transactions and transaction volume have both been growing recently. The number of active wallets is also on the rise.
Conclusion
Deso is a potential project in the field of SocialFi, with a similar competitor being Lens Protocol (which is currently also experiencing strong growth). When Lens Protocol started listing tokens that could create a new trend, strong ecosystems developed during the downtrend leading the trend, including names like Lens, Deso, and Mask Network.
Regarding onchain data, the number of Dapps, transactions, wallets, etc., the Deso ecosystem is still developing very well and is a potential project in the future. The limitation of the project comes from tokenomics when too much allocation is given to VCs backers, and it has not yet been listed on major exchanges, so liquidity is relatively low. Accessing and using Dapps on Deso also requires a lengthy KYC process, so it has not really created a FOMO effect for users.
Raising a lot of capital is also an advantage, as the Deso Foundation has raised $200 million to support the project’s development (currently, the fund has about $98 million (28M USD and 2500 Bitcoin) in liquid assets, and it spends about $5 million per year, mainly for the dev team and personnel to develop the project). Regarding financial issues, the project is ready for the next uptrend season, so with a Marketcap under $100 million, it is still a potential project in the SocialFi field.
