AMA Recap: DOKDO DAO x MASA
17th July, 8PM (UTC+9)
A : Calanthia, Co-Founder of MASA
Q : DOKDO DAO
Masa is building the leading decentralized AI network, where people earn by contributing data. Masa enables people from all over the world to contribute their data and compute to AI development, without centralized control. It facilitates the fair, open, and permissionless contribution of AI training data, compute, and bandwidth.
INTRODUCTION ABOUT MASA
Q Please give us a brief introduction to MASA
AMasa is a decentralized AI network, where people earn by contributing data. In the AI era, data is the new currency, AI developers can build anything, anywhere with the world’s data on the Masa Network. Masa facilitates the fair, open, and permissionless contribution of AI training data and computational resources. In return, contributors are rewarded based on the value of their input, ensuring a fair and open system.
Q How about the Masa team?
AThe team behind Masa are experienced entrepreneurs and developers in the United States and Europe, from blue-chip firms such as Coinbase, PayPal, and Polygon. Masa has been featured on leading international media outlets and research institutes, such as the World Economic Forum, Berkeley Center for Responsible Decentralized Intelligence, CNBC, New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ TV, CoinDesk, CoinTelegram, the Block, and Hackernoon.
Q Who are the investors behind Masa?
AMasa has been incubated by web3 leaders such as Binance and Hashkey AI Accelerator, and is supported by major investors including Digital Currency Group, Anagram, Animoca, and Republic Digital. Masa raised $18-million dollars ahead of its Token Generation Event.
Q What is the development stage of Masa?
AMasa is a pioneering project in the AI data space. As one of the first live Decentralized AI data networks, Masa has already amassed over 2 million contributors, over 48,000 node operators, and is used by over 100 leading AI developers globally. It is important to note that Masa’s customers are not only web3 AI developers, but also include web2 AI developers. Masa is already working with leading web2 AI giants to supply data to them. Please stay tuned for official partnership announcements later this year.
Q What is a fun fact about Masa?
AMasa was the first AI project to debut on CoinList Launchpad in 2024. In March of this year, MASA launched its token through a record-breaking CoinList Launchpad sale, raising $8.75 million in just 17 minutes.
PRE-COLLECTED QUESTIONS FROM USERS
QYou explained that you will earn revenue by providing data to MASA. I would like to know where the revenue to be paid to the provider comes from and the detailed plan for producing added value with the data provided.
AYou’re right: on the Masa network, people earn MASA tokens by contributing data to the network. We recently announced an Incentivized Testnet for the Masa Bittensor Subnet. This program invites all miners to join, providing data and computing power to earn from a 3,000,000 MASA token reward pool.
Here’s how it works: Miners give data and computing resources to the Masa Bittensor Subnet. The top 256 miners at any time earn rewards based on their work. Performance is judged on the amount and quality of data, and the computing power miners provide to the network. All rewards are calculated by computer throughout the entire testnet campaign.
These rewards are backed by the strong data economy built on MASA tokens. Miners get MASA by providing useful data to the network. Validators get MASA by overseeing the network and checking AI outputs. AI developers — our customers — pay for data and AI products from Masa.
As one of the first working Decentralized AI data networks, Masa is used by over 100 top AI developers worldwide. It’s important to note that Masa’s customers aren’t just web3 AI developers, but also include web2 AI developers. Masa is already working with leading web2 AI companies to supply them with data. In return, these customers pay for the data and AI services they get from the Network.
Q What are the characteristics and advantages of MASA, a Web3 Ai, that is different from Web2 Ai, such as Open Ai?
A This is an excellent question: AI is the most important technology of our time. It could add $15.7 trillion to the world economy by 2030 (PwC). But as AI grows fast, we’re at a turning point.
Right now, a few big companies control AI — Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta, and Nvidia. These “Big AI” companies get most of the money from AI development. While AI promises to bring economic growth worldwide, there’s a worry: if we don’t change who benefits from this AI boom, we might repeat past mistakes.
We’ve seen how Big Tech companies have made trillions while often misusing people’s data and privacy. The same thing could happen with AI, but even faster. When a few companies have all the power and resources, it raises questions about fairness, access, and making AI available to everyone.
This is where Fair AI, using decentralized networks, comes in. More people want decentralized AI companies. The main parts of AI — computing power, models, and data — shouldn’t be controlled by just a few companies. In fact, the AI part of the crypto industry could make $10.2 billion by 2030, according to VanEck research.
We’ve seen three big ideas in crypto: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and now Decentralized AI (DeAI). Bitcoin changed how we think about gold, which has been used as money since around 600 BCE. Ethereum changed the idea of paper money, which started around 1260 CE. Now, for the first time, Decentralized AI is growing alongside regular AI. This gives us a chance to build a fair, open AI world from the start.
It’s time for a change. It’s time for Fair AI, powered by people. This new way of doing things promises to make AI available to everyone, ensure fair pay for people who provide data, and create a system where new ideas can grow without being controlled by big companies.
What role does Masa play in Fair AI’s future? Masa tackles key problems AI developers face. As data becomes crucial in AI, Masa is working to make AI development open to everyone:
1. Special Data for Special AI: With many general AI models around, the real value is in specialized AI. Masa knows these need special training data that general AI models can’t provide.
2. Real-Time and Structured Data: Lots of data is created daily, but much of it is scattered or hard to access. Masa turns different data sets into one easy-to-use layer. This helps collect, organize, and access real-time data from many internet sources for AI development.
3. Open Data Access: Big Tech companies often keep user data locked away, making it unavailable for open AI development. Masa breaks these barriers, offering open access to various data. This encourages new ideas and makes AI development more open.
4. Fair Data Attribution: Current AI models often don’t properly credit or pay for data sources. Masa creates a fair system where data providers are recognized and paid based on how useful and valuable their data is to the network. This ensures value goes back to data providers, not just to Big Tech and Big AI companies.
5. Affordable and Open Computing Power: Top computing providers often charge high prices and can deny service at will, which stops innovation. Masa’s network offers cheaper and more accessible computing resources for AI developers. This includes custom-made AI models for specific uses, like models trained on JSON, Twitter trends, news feeds, podcasts, and more.
By solving these problems, Masa is creating a fairer, more accessible, and more innovative AI development system. This approach not only makes AI technology available to more people but also ensures that the benefits of the AI revolution are shared more fairly among everyone in the data economy.
Q AI Coin is trending these days, but is there something special about Masa?
A There are many AI coins out there, and it can be hard to tell real from fake. At Masa, we’re proud to stand out for these reasons:
First, industry titans see Masa as a top AI project they believe in. Our investors and supporters are well-known worldwide. Digital Currency Group, started by billionaire creator of Bitcoin etf Barry Silbert, led Masa’s private sale round. Anagram, founded by Solana Foundation’s President Lily Liu and Polychain Capital’s former President Joe Eagan, also led Masa’s private sale round. These big players chose Masa as their bet in Decentralized AI.
Masa was part of the Binance MVB Accelerator in 2023 and Hashkey AI Accelerator in 2024. These programs are very selective — Binance MVB is harder to get into than Harvard or Stanford. Masa is the AI project these platforms picked.
Also, Masa was the first AI project to launch on CoinList Launchpad in 2024. In March this year, MASA’s token sale on CoinList broke records. CoinList is the most trusted launchpad globally and has launched big projects like Solana.
Second, Masa has proven its value and has a community of AI developers from both web2 and web3. Many AI projects don’t have real products or customers. But Masa, as one of the first working Decentralized AI data networks, is used by over 100 top AI developers worldwide. It’s important to note that Masa’s customers aren’t just web3 AI developers, but also include web2 AI developers. Masa is already working with leading web2 AI companies to provide them data.
Some of our well-known AI customers include Allora, Spectral, and Sleepless AI. Here’s some ALPHA for this group: Masa will soon announce a partnership with NEAR Foundation and NEAR Korea, as a key strategic partner in NEAR’s leading AI ecosystem.
LIVE QUESTIONS
Q What are the anticipated milestones for the Masa Bittensor Subnet leading up to the mainnet launch in Q4 2024, and what can participants expect during this period?
A We recently announced an Incentivized Testnet for the Masa Bittensor Subnet. This program invites all miners to join, providing data and computing power to earn from a 3,000,000 MASA token reward pool.
Here’s how it works: Miners give data and computing resources to the Masa Bittensor Subnet. The top 256 miners at any time earn rewards based on their work. Performance is judged on the amount and quality of data, and the computing power miners provide to the network. All rewards are calculated by computer throughout the entire testnet campaign.
Today, we are very happy to share that we have extended the deadline to participate in the testnet campaign to August 20, so more community members can participate.
After the end of the Masa Bittensor Subnet incentivized testnet, here are the future milestones:
1) Go live with Masa Bittensor Subnet Mainnet
2) Go live with Masa Protocol Mainnet
3) Make it easier to contribute data and become a node worker on Masa via the launch of 1-click desktop deployment and mobile app
Our goal is to make it extremely easy for anyone to participate in the AI economy and earn by contributing data
Q Staking programme is very important for any project? Can i stake your token? Do you have any plan of starting staking programme?
A Yes, we have a very exciting staking program. You can participate in the staking program here: https://app.masa.ai/staking. Secure up to 25% APY through MASA staking.
Q Can you tell us more about the collaboration between Masa and Bittensor? What benefits does that cooperation bring to Masa?
A Last week we announced the launch of Masa’s AI Data Subnet on Bittensor. The launch of the Masa Bittensor Subnet unites the technology and community of two of the pioneering forces in decentralized AI. Masa is now bringing the world’s data to the Bittensor’s global brain.
Bittensor is a decentralized, peer-to-peer artificial intelligence network designed for the creation, sharing, deployment, and training of machine learning models. With its sophisticated TAO economic model that incentivizes the decentralized production of high-value artificial intelligence, Bittensor has become a force to be reckoned with. Since its launch in March 2023, Bittensor has grown into one of the first $10-billion AI ecosystems, with institutional validators — such as Digital Currency Group’s subsidiary Foundry and Polychain — staking a total of 5.7 million $TAO, worth $1.8 billion.
We believe Bittensor is the Ethereum ecosystem for Decentralized AI, and Masa will become an extremely important component of the Bittensor ecosystem. We are the first live token project in the Bittensor ecosystem, which creates a very exciting investment opportunity for the community. If you missed out on investing in TAO, now is a great time to invest in MASA.
[MASA Official Links]
Website: https://www.masa.ai
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/masafinance
Telegram: https://t.me/masafinance
Twitter: https://twitter.com/getmasafi
