1. Ethos: The cornerstone of trust in Web3.
Ethos is a blockchain-based decentralized reputation scoring protocol aimed at establishing a transparent and trustworthy reputation system for the cryptocurrency industry.
Ethos allows users to build reputation through peer-to-peer evaluations and staking ETH, similar to real-world credit rating systems but ensuring transparency and immutability based on blockchain.
For example, users can view others' reputation scores on X through a Chrome extension, facilitating quick assessments of trustworthiness.
2. Underlying logic: How credit scores are generated.
Ethos's core positioning is as an on-chain reputation aggregation platform, similar to a 'Yelp' on the blockchain, with its traffic and value arising from collective behaviors and emotions of the community, rather than centralized rating agencies.
This is beneficial for ordinary people like us and could very likely be a highlight, allowing both ordinary individuals and KOLs to score other KOLs, projects, and users to some extent, which could restrain project parties from malicious actions.
Ethos's credit scoring system is based on various peer-to-peer interactions and on-chain behaviors, specifically including:
User feedback: Users can leave likes, dislikes, or neutral comments for others, with a single instance having a small impact, but long-term accumulation, especially from high-reputation users, having a larger influence.
Endorsement (Vouching): Users can stake ETH to endorse others, indicating trust, significantly increasing the credit score of the endorsed individual while also reflecting the judgment of the endorser.
Punishment (Slashing): If malicious behavior is detected, the community can propose punishments, and once approved by vote, the violator loses their staked ETH, severely affecting their credit.
The calculation of credit scores considers multiple factors, including wallet age, the amount of staked ETH, the number of X followers, positive/negative reviews, referrers, the amount of ETH backed, punishment records, attestations, the number of trustworthy endorsers, and the potential for Sybil attacks. These factors collectively form an objective peer-to-peer credit measurement standard.
For instance: Xiao Ming is an active community member who stakes 1 ETH to endorse Xiao Hong, resulting in an increase in Xiao Hong's credit score. However, if Xiao Hong later engages in fraud, the community can vote to deduct his staked ETH, which will also affect Xiao Ming's endorsement behavior, similar to real-world credit rating systems but more transparent and immutable.
3. Problems being solved: The trust crisis in the crypto world.
Ethos helps users identify potential risks by providing a verifiable reputation system. For example, in the 2021 Squid Game token incident, investors suffered heavy losses; had Ethos been available, the project's low reputation score could have issued an early warning, reducing losses.
Compared to traditional finance, real-world credit scores (like Sesame Credit) help users obtain loan benefits; Ethos plays a similar role in the crypto world but is more decentralized, with data stored on the blockchain to ensure immutability.
4. Future development: The trust infrastructure of Web3.
Ethos's long-term vision is to become the trust layer of Web3, building a scalable 'credit proof' platform. Currently, the Ethos Credibility Score is its first dApp, but future plans include supporting developers to interact directly with Ethos's smart contracts to create custom credit scoring systems.
Possible expansion directions include:
Cross-chain support: Currently primarily based on Ethereum, with potential expansion to public chains like Solana and Polkadot in the future.
Ecosystem integration: Collaborating with DeFi platforms (like Aave), NFT markets, or DAOs, where credit scores can be used for lending rate discounts, NFT trading priority, etc.
AI optimization: Combining AI to analyze on-chain behavior and improve the accuracy of credit scoring.
For example, in the future, if a user has a high Ethos reputation score when borrowing on Aave, they may receive lower interest rates, similar to how Sesame Credit works in Alipay, but the specific implementation still needs observation.
5. Benchmark products: The integration of traditional and Web3.
Ethos combines the advantages of Web2 and Web3 and can benchmark against the following products:
Web2: Similar to Yelp or Trustpilot, where users build trust through reviews, but Ethos is more transparent, with data stored on the blockchain to ensure immutability.
Web3: Similar to Gitcoin Passport (building reputation through contributions) or POAPs (proving identity through events), but Ethos focuses more on establishing a dynamic credit system through actions and staking.
6. Project advantages: Forward-looking track.
Ethos's traffic originates from the community's collective response to projects or KOL behaviors. For example, when a project becomes controversial, the community will discuss and evaluate it on Ethos, quickly drawing attention. This 'emotion-driven' traffic mechanism is bound to convert into significant momentum. The investments made by A16Z and Paladin in multiple Web4 social projects last year demonstrate the potential of this traffic mechanism.
Community expansion and ecosystem integration is a necessary path for @ethos_network, and this presents a significant opportunity for ordinary users. In the long run, Ethos Network is expected to evolve into a part of the Web3 social infrastructure, supporting the trust system of a decentralized society.
🏁 Finally, to summarize my personal views:
1. On-chain reputation scoring protocols are a very promising track; issues with project parties and KOLs are rampant, and if a reputation scoring system emerges to differentiate these project parties, it would be very meaningful.
2. Reputation scores can motivate users and KOLs to write more authentically and thoughtfully, which can also positively influence the news field of Web3.
3. Reputation scoring relies on community interactions, reflecting collective trust, which helps enhance the weight of communities and ordinary users, benefiting the entire Web3 user base.
4. Finally, the on-chain reputation track is a very blue ocean track, offering many opportunities in the future for both project parties and ordinary users.
