The Battle of Tech Giants Digital Identity, Payments, Social Graphs, AI, and Universal Basic Income

Tech giants are competing in digital identity, payments, social graphs, AI, and universal basic income.

Author: DAOrayaki

Technology giants are engaged in a high-stakes battle to create dominant “everything applications” that combine digital identity, information transmission, payments, and artificial intelligence services. The winner of this competition can obtain unparalleled data to power their AI platforms and shape the future of society.

Implementing universal basic income (UBI) through these super applications is a mechanism to address the downward risks of technological disruption in an era of accelerating automation and widespread adoption of AI. Whether these promises can be fulfilled, whether they can bring about more equality, whether they can decentralize power to all of humanity, or whether they can be implemented in time before automation disruption, these are all worth paying attention to.

The main participants in this competition are:

• Messari Overview of SandBox Development in Q2 2023
• EthCC Experience Cryptocurrency VCs Not as Good as Dogs, Applications Upgraded to Infrastructure
• A Week After the Renaming Predicting the 8 Major Changes That Will Happen to the ‘New Twitter X

Wordcoin

——Achieving digital identity, on-chain financial freedom, and UBI through “The Orb”

Wordcoin is an ambitious crypto project that recently launched on the Optimism Mainnet. It aims to create a global identity system and distribute digital currency to everyone on Earth. Its goal is to use zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs to distribute tokens and payments to every person on Earth while protecting privacy. Wordcoin is supported by Sam Altman, former president of Y Combinator, and physicist Alex Blania. It aims to attract billions of users to its platform and ultimately provide universal basic income in the form of tokens with a maximum supply of 10 billion to prepare for the arrival of AI.

The core innovation of Wordcoin is the use of iris scanning to generate a unique encrypted identity for each individual. People can scan their irises with Wordcoin’s “Orb” device, which uses advanced biometric technology to map irises. This biometric data is stored only on the device, not in the system—only encrypted proofs protecting the privacy of unique identities are recorded in Wordcoin’s system.

According to the Wordcoin team, iris scanning provides the highest entropy and uniqueness compared to other biometric technologies such as fingerprints or facial recognition. This allows Wordcoin to provide strong cryptographic proofs that every identity on their system is associated with a real human being.

The goal is to make Wordcoin an open and permissionless protocol for anyone to verify their identity. Identities registered with Wordcoin can then be used in many applications—login services, additional credentials, receiving universal basic income distributions, and more.

Wordcoin faces questioning and criticism in terms of privacy and the ethics of biometric identity systems. The company emphasizes that biometric data exists only on the “Orb” device, and the system uses ZK encryption to protect privacy. However, some people still remain skeptical of potential risks.

So far, Wordcoin has registered over 2 million identities and launched its token distribution and identity platform. With the support of Sam Altman and other prominent investors, Wordcoin aims to attract billions of people to participate and create a universally accessible global identity and economic system.

X

– All applications

Elon Musk has ambitious aspirations for X (formerly known as Twitter). His goal is to make X the center of a comprehensive ecosystem and ultimately merge his other companies, such as x.AI, Tesla, Neuralink, SLianGuaiceX, and The Boring ComLianGuainy.

Musk envisions linking user identities from different platforms together so that users can seamlessly use his products and services. X will become the portal and universal control panel of Musk’s empire.

You can drive a Tesla and livestream real-time footage from the cockpit on X. Travel from the city to the airport through The Boring ComLianGuainy’s super circular tunnel and share the journey in real-time on X. Chat with an AI assistant supported by Neuralink on X to get answers and suggestions for daily activities.

Access global satellite internet through X, and SLianGuaiceX missions can also become interactive programs on X. Millions of viewers watch every detail of rocket launches. Fans vote on payloads, conspiracy theorists analyze camera footage, space enthusiasts communicate together, all happening on the X platform.

Integrate technology and entertainment into continuous spectacles. The most important moments of Musk’s companies are livestreamed synchronously to the entire audience on X, with a countdown for each milestone.

In order to connect his brands in this way, Musk needs comprehensive vertical integration and user lock-in. Real identities, elimination of anonymity, linked accounts, built-in payments and subscriptions are needed. X will be the cornerstone of your digital existence, including enabling your AI agents to handle daily tasks through xAI and Tesla’s Optimus robot.

Of course, building this digital kingdom faces countless challenges. But Musk has the ambition and disregard for tradition necessary to attempt this goal. Whether good or bad, his X will soon become the portal for you to experience, discuss, and pay for all aspects of life.

Meta

– Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, Threads, Quest

Facebook’s parent company has renamed itself Meta, focusing on the metaverse, a future sci-fi vision from Neil Stephenson’s Snow Crash, driven by artificial intelligence, blockchain, and XR (virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technologies). Meta is driving digital identity through accounts and plans to integrate messaging, commerce, and XR experiences. It also has leading AI labs and billions of data points.

Meta has grand aspirations to become an app that allows you to do everything online. By combining social connections, messaging, commerce, work tools, and more in virtual reality, Meta aims to build the first true “metaverse”.

This vision began with Facebook itself. With nearly 3 billion monthly users, Facebook has become the identity and community center for most parts of the world. Now, Meta is committed to integrating messaging, payments, marketplace functionality, and virtual reality directly into the Facebook experience.

Meta’s acquisition of WhatsApp and Instagram has turned them into two large platforms with over 2 billion users. It is estimated that 3.8 billion users use at least one Meta app. Combining messaging and shopping features in its app series can create a sticky and interconnected ecosystem. In addition, Meta’s launch of Threads aims to challenge the X (formerly Twitter) field.

Meta Horizons and Horizon Workrooms indicate the company’s productivity and collaboration goals in XR. Meta is betting that augmented reality will become the next frontier for social connections and business. It sees an opportunity to lead in building XR equivalent tools like Zoom and Slack.

Critics believe that Meta’s vision of the metaverse is still far-fetched and faces significant obstacles. The company also continues to face regulatory scrutiny over its market power and data privacy practices. Meta’s focus on owning the infrastructure layer of the metaverse conflicts with a more decentralized, user-owned future vision.

However, with billions of users and top-notch internal AI researchers, Meta has the resources to iterate and achieve its goal of immersive fusion digital experiences. If Meta succeeds in becoming the “everything app” for work, entertainment, and social life in the metaverse, it will solidify its position as one of the most influential companies in the tech industry.

WeChat

——The Everything App in China

In China, a single app dominates daily life. WeChat, owned by tech giant Tencent, has become an indispensable platform that combines messaging, payments, transportation, news, and countless other services.

WeChat has over 1.2 billion monthly active users and is one of the largest “super apps” globally. Messaging is at the core of WeChat, but it goes far beyond chatting with friends. WeChat users can hail taxis, order takeout, make doctor appointments, check bank statements, book vacations, and even apply for divorce—all without leaving the app.

The app has become a payment powerhouse. WeChat Pay, built into the platform, is the most popular mobile payment method in China. Users can send money, pay bills, check out at stores, and pay for everything from dining to groceries through WeChat. Its feature of digital cash gifts known as “red envelopes” has become a cultural phenomenon.

WeChat’s ubiquity and functionality have created a closed ecosystem, consuming more and more people’s digital lives. Users increasingly exist in the WeChat world rather than directly on the broader internet. The app is described as the “digital gateway to China”—a mandatory entry point connecting with billions of citizens.

However, WeChat’s dominance raises concerns. As a centralized proprietary platform, it deviates from the open spirit of the internet. Its payment sector has also become a target of Chinese regulators over antitrust issues.

Nevertheless, WeChat still provides a compelling case study for integrated super apps that can meet users’ communication, business, and convenience needs in a single interface. Tencent continues to be committed to expanding WeChat’s functionalities to make it even more indispensable in China’s daily life.

Apple

—— All Platforms

Thanks to the popularity of the iPhone and Apple’s integrated ecosystem, the company is ready to create a “everything app” experience.

Apple’s iMessage, FaceTime, Apple Pay, Wallet, and iCloud services already allow users to communicate, shop, store identification documents, and more through their iPhones. With over 1 billion people using iPhones worldwide, Apple has a large built-in user base.

Compared to ad-driven platforms like Facebook, the company’s focus on privacy also puts it in a favorable position. Apple has long advocated for protecting user data rather than monetizing it.

However, Apple still faces challenges in turning its apps and services into truly integrated super apps. Most of its products still remain isolated rather than seamlessly interconnected.

Apple lags behind competitors in emerging fields such as augmented reality and virtual reality, but it is seeking to catch up with the Apple Vision Pro series (which also applies iris scanning for identification, challenging Worldcoin’s Orb).

Nevertheless, Apple still holds a potential goldmine as its services are closely related to people’s daily habits, including communication, payment, entertainment, etc. If Apple opens up and connects its ecosystem, it can build an everything app centered around individuals rather than advertisers.

Apple’s goal is not a closed platform, but an open and user-centric hub, focusing on simplicity, privacy, and security. The result may not be as all-encompassing as WeChat, but Apple has the technology and trust to create a remarkable everything app focused on serving individuals.

What does success look like?

Companies that succeed in this race for universal apps can quickly advance the development of artificial intelligence by utilizing data from billions of digital records and activities. They may gain access to universal basic income and shape the ability of online identity and commerce.

However, concerns about privacy, manipulation, bias, and concentrated power monopolies in artificial intelligence systems abound. Many critics argue that these ambitions should be checked through regulation and power decentralization. Yet, tech giants are forging ahead, hoping to dominate the next era of the internet. Their actions can reshape society, for better or worse.

A case for universal basic income

As we find ourselves in the midst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, technological advancements are not only gradually changing our lives and the way we work but also reshaping entire industries. This has intensified the urgency to reevaluate our economic paradigms. One proposal gaining attention is Universal Basic Income (UBI). But what is UBI? Why do we need it now more than ever?

Universal Basic Income is an economic model where all citizens of a country, regardless of their employment status or wealth, receive a regular, livable, and unconditional sum of money from the government or other public institutions. The universality of basic income is its defining characteristic, setting it apart from means-tested welfare programs or condition-based social transfers.

The need for universal basic income is a response to contemporary challenges:

1. Automation and job displacement:

The progress of artificial intelligence, robots, and automation is changing the job market in unprecedented ways. Many tasks that were previously performed by humans are now being done more efficiently by machines. While this transformation increases productivity, it also has the potential to result in a large number of unemployed workers.

It is not just blue-collar jobs that are at risk; white-collar jobs are also under threat. Complex algorithms can now perform tasks such as data analysis and disease diagnosis, many of which were once considered safe jobs.

Universal basic income can serve as a buffer against these economic shocks, providing a safety net for unemployed workers to undergo retraining or find new employment paths in an ever-changing job market.

2. Alleviating poverty and inequality:

Income inequality and poverty are major challenges faced by many societies today. Universal basic income can be a powerful tool in reducing poverty and ensuring a more equitable distribution of wealth. It ensures that every citizen has access to basic income, promoting social fairness and preventing the exacerbation of poverty.

Universal basic income can supplement the income of those who earn less than a living wage, providing a certain level of financial security and alleviating the pressures associated with financial instability.

3. Encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation:

The fear of financial insecurity often hinders individuals from pursuing entrepreneurship or creative pursuits. With guaranteed income, people have the ability to take calculated risks, explore new ideas, and invest time in innovation. In this sense, universal basic income can foster an environment conducive to entrepreneurship and the creative industries, driving economic growth and social progress.

4. Addressing unpaid work:

A significant amount of work carried out in our society, such as caregiving, raising children, and volunteer work, goes unrecognized and uncompensated. Universal basic income can help address this issue by providing basic income that acknowledges these fundamental contributions, which often fall outside the traditional economic framework.

Summary of UBI

Critics argue that universal basic income may discourage work motivation, but research has countered this point. Pilot projects in countries such as Finland, Canada, and Kenya have shown that people generally continue working after receiving basic income. UBI does not foster laziness; instead, it contributes to achieving a better work-life balance and enhances the ability to pursue fulfilling work.

Universal basic income is not a panacea for all economic challenges. However, it represents a paradigm shift towards a more human-centered economy. In an era of rapid technological advancement and increasing inequality, universal basic income can provide the necessary stability and security for individual and societal prosperity. It is not just a policy suggestion; it is an investment in humanity. We need universal basic income because we need to redefine economic success in the 21st century – success that includes everyone.

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