Web3 Identity and the Future of NF.TD

The early days of the Internet gave rise to identity through domain names, screen names (👋 AOL), and email addresses. In the past decade, we’ve seen a significant shift towards the adoption of social profiles across multiple platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Medium, Discord, etc.).

Built on the existing model of Web2 profiles and user generated content, Web3 identity allows for unique and verifiable forms of self-sovereignty, ownership, and reputation backed by public transactions for anyone to validate.

The make up of a person’s complete digital identity has transformed, now consisting of:

1. All the links that make you who you are.

2. Your relevant on-chain activity.

The widespread popularity of link in bios emerged from a need to aggregate many links in one place coupled with the lack of real estate to do so in existing app profiles.

Similarly, people are now seeking ways to give visibility to the crypto communities they’re a part of – oftentimes, by hacking together a solution that involves tagging a DAO, listing a token in their bio, and replacing their name (or even their location) with their ENS. Unfortunately, none of these workarounds are authenticated, contributing to a lack of trust in an ecosystem already muddled with bad actors and skeptics.

Networking and identity are shifting from workplace and alumni to communities and credentials.

DAOs and crypto communities are subverting older systems of organizing while allowing for collaboration around shared ideas and values. Coordination unhindered by age, borders, and other physical attributes has allowed for pseudonymous contributors to build their digital reputations and on-chain credibility - furthering the pseudonymous economy.

It isn’t just work being disrupted. Universities including Duke, MIT, and Pepperdine have started to experiment with cryptocredentials and placing certifications on-chain. In the fall of 2021, Stanford University issued an ERC-721 CNFT (Course NFT) to students who completed its introductory blockchain course. Crypto-native educational resources RabbitHole, Odyssey, and Decrypt are – naturally – issuing NFTs upon course completion, as well.

This is only the tipping point, and while the infrastructure for assigning and documenting cryptocredentials exists, there is – at present – no curation layer to display them.

Utilizing a block explorer like Etherscan to make sense of a wallet’s transactions is messy. After all, not every transfer, mint, deposit, and withdrawal is relevant to your Web3 identity. Out of hundreds of transactions, there may only be a few of substance.

On-chain activity is clutter. We want to make it useful.

Our mission is to facilitate more meaningful relationships by adding a layer of verified credibility and clarity to identities in this space.

Through the vehicle of an already familiar medium – the link in bio – we’re building a curated Web3 profile reflective of your relevant on-chain history. Form verified connections across social and professional networks by highlighting your membership in DAOs and other tokenized communities. Add visibility to the cryptocredentials that color your digital persona.

Reducing some of the visual complexity around individual on-chain activity will prove essential to legitimizing this new frontier.

Existing key features of NF.TD:

• usernames are minted as NFTs

• your primary ENS will be pulled in upon profile creation

• select a PFP from your wallet to use as an avatar

• share all your links with just one link

Our next big product update will give you the ability to curate cryptocredentials. NF.TD plans to stay protocol and standard agnostic, affording us the ability to support various types.

Web3 identity feels quite noisy, but it doesn’t have to be that way. The promise of self-sovereignty, borderless collaboration, and trust through blockchain-backed activity is a future worth building.

If this resonates with you and you want to chat please reach out to us nf.td/victor and nf.td/steph.

To follow along: nf.td/nftd

A HUGE thank you to our early community & supporters (in private beta): 0xen, alex, austin, ben, benlim, bgrill, brianjckim, chris, clubcpg, corbin, dan, david, dinislam, dylan, dwr, eli, etekis, gabrielayuso, gaby, giu, guddy, hiroki, ian, isabelle, ishika, jack, jake, jaren, jayme, jcdenton, jeff, jozhu, jsson, kat, keith, kiyo, koloz, kostas, kuupottery, les, lin, lou, luke, madhur, markus, marlon, matt, matthew, max, mihai, mika, mircea, montana, naveen, nicho, nico, nonlinear, nybble, playlo, pug, ravi, rish, sathaxe, sds, shai, shotbydanni, shriphani, steak, tharun, tjack, todd, tyler, varun, vicc, winnie, xtina, yusuke, zach.