Overview

Blockchain technology, or more relevantly, the “crypto world” as we know it, is at a watershed moment. The vicious cycles of booms and busts since its birth have served but only one purpose so far - to show that the harms of such innovations could be more real than their potential benefits to society at large. All philosophical debates about utopia vs. dystopia aside, the advocates, industry leaders, and builders urgently need to validate the notion that crypto isn’t just a pyramid scheme driven by hyper financialization, that tokenization, smart contracts, and decentralized applications (dApps) can effectively unlock and unleash the hidden potence of internet, that it has the same power of behavioral change through the process of value sharing as through the one of information sharing.

Among all the strong trends in this quest, two particular ones are: web2 ecosystems are migrating to web3, and real-world experience is being augmented by that of the metaverse. Underpinning both of these transitions is the unmistakable deviation away from the crypto mania that has been plaguing the world so far -- hyper financialization. Instead, both of these categories of crypto adoption center around one quintessential mandate: the user experience that is tragically missing from the dApps that exist today. It is with clear recognition and focus of this urgency, and the specific opportunities with providing the most convenient, useful, and universal Decentralized Identification (DID) solutions, that Project Lifeform is founded.

There are three major challenges that Lifeform is set to address.

1) Web2 compatibility. Digital Identification technology has its root in the early formation of the web2 application clusters. There were multiple attempts at standardizing an identification protocol that could be used across the internet, but as the few tech giants gradually gained dominance, most notably Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Apple, digital identification has become tied to the user accounts of the above few platforms, respectively, which eventually forced users to use them as their identities on most other platforms. In the web2 world, one may claim that the digital identity solution is already available, but one must also come to the realization that the origin and control of such identities is highly centralized. If a Decentralized Identification solution is to have mass success, it must first be able to support applications in the web2 establishment, and Lifeform approaches this issue realistically.

2) Visual representation. In both web2 and web3 applications, collaboration and communication are taking a much more lively form than the applications of the previous generation would require. Remote meetings and events make heavy use of cameras in formal settings, but in more social and entertaining scenarios, such as those taking place on Discord or Twitter, animated personalities bring an entirely different sense of dynamics and liveliness to the occasions. The booming gamefi and metaverse ecosystems, whose focused pursuit of immersive experience, make visual personality an absolute necessity. The username or login handle methodology is utterly inadequate in these types of applications. In short, DID must go beyond being merely digital; it must also be visual and animated. If the creator economy and individual values are driven by spirits and souls, then Lifeform is set to wrap these spirits and souls with their reflective images and bodies.

3) Web3 integration. As stated previously, the paramount issues of adoption of blockchain in a web3 regime is the tangible realization of economic and social values, which requires interoperability and composability to integrate user experience with crypto assets and other forms of non-transferrable digital ownership. While decentralization lies at the core of such ideology, fragmentation proves to be the detriment to a boom of decentralized killer-apps - after all, if cross-platform user friendliness cannot be said as one of the quintessential features of web3, then the superiority of the wallgardened web2 ecosystems will continue to reign. Lifeform is set to provide the “user composability” with regard to web3 integration.

With these crucial elements at the core, this paper describes the Lifeform solutions and outlines the vast landscape in which they can be applied.