Decentralized Web Scraping Venture Grass Secures $3.5M in Funding Led by Wynd Network

The Wynd Network-led team successfully completed a $3.5 million seed funding round for Grass, a decentralized web scraping network launched in June. The funding, led by Polychain Capital and Tribe Capital, along with a previous pre-seed round, brings Wynd's total funding to $4.5 million. Grass aims to transform web data into AI datasets by mobilizing home internet connections for scraping and verification. The founders believe in the benefits of a decentralized model for web scraping, envisioning Grass as a fair compensation mechanism through traceable datasets. Additional funding from various sources will be used to enhance Grass's infrastructure and expand its node network. For more details, check Grass's website or Twitter account.

https://app.getgrass.io/register/?referralCode=OWsORknWiSNcTIs
https://x.com/getgrass_io?s=20

Grass 101: How It Works

Introduction:

• Grass aims to reinvent residential proxy networks, creating a decentralized platform for individuals to monetize their unused internet.

Origin of Residential Proxy Networks:

• Emerged in the early 2000s with the introduction of residential components in anonymity networks.
• Originally motivated by privacy as a human right, allowing users to bypass censorship and surveillance.

The Commercial Model:

• Proxy networks consist of sellers (users with extra bandwidth) and buyers (E-commerce companies, adtech agencies).
• Commercialization led to middlemen networks charging high fees, extracting value, and creating a lopsided system.

Parasitic Proxies:

• Commercial networks often undercompensate users, viewing payouts as liabilities.
• Unscrupulous networks engage in tactics like tricking users into joining without compensation, leading to unfair practices.

Grass's Solution:

• Grass introduces a tokenized model, fundamentally different from traditional proxy networks.
• Tokenization ensures collective ownership, eliminating private ownership and stocks.
• 100% of revenue generated goes back to users, promoting fair compensation for bandwidth sales.
• Collective ownership prevents decisions contrary to users' interests, fostering a community-centric approach.

Philosophy Behind Grass:

• Grass emphasizes honesty, transparency, and being a network built by and for its users.
• The success of the network is shared collectively, and users are encouraged to join in building the network together.

In essence, Grass is committed to creating a fair, transparent, and user-centric residential proxy network through tokenization, challenging the traditional commercial model for the benefit of its community.

Enter the Data wars


Introduction to The Data Wars (2023):

• Tech conglomerates mobilize to develop large language models for advanced AI.
• AI models are trained using massive amounts of data from the public internet.
• An arms race develops among competing labs to accumulate data, marking the beginning of The D
• ata Wars.

Impact on Public Life:

• Public remains unaware until consequences seep into daily life.
• Social media sites realize the value of proprietary data for AI training, leading to civil strife.
• Barriers erected around content, resulting in blackouts, rate limits, and identity verification captchas.

Economic Backdrop:

• Events unfold against an economic backdrop of wealth inequality due to dovish monetary policy.
• Assets appreciate while labor is devalued, leading to economic challenges for ordinary people.
• Perception of Data Wars as infighting among Silicon Valley elites with no benefit to the public.

Emergence of Grass - Alternative to Web 2.0:

• Grass introduced by Wynd Network to democratize data gathering.
• AI labs traditionally harvested public data for free (Reddit API) or paid substantial sums (Facebook API).
• Grass presents an alternative with promises of Web3 through blockchain technology.

Methods for Gathering Data:

• Social media sites respond to the data war by limiting scraping or maximizing profits as gatekeepers.
• Reddit raises prices on its API, affecting third-party mobile apps and causing user protests.
• Twitter struggles with web scraping, implementing limitations to control data access.

Web Scraping and Grass's Role:

• Web scraping becomes a crucial method for data gathering, particularly as an alternative to API calls.
• Grass offers a third alternative by allowing users to sell unused bandwidth for web scraping.
• Grass aims to democratize the process, ensuring compensation for individuals contributing to the data.

Grass's Features and Design:

• Grass is a decentralized network, distributing revenue fairly based on user-supplied bandwidth.
• Users are compensated with token rewards for contributing to AI labs' data gathering.
• Grass redirects capital from AI labs to ordinary people and ensures governance by tokenholders.

Invitation to Join Grass:

• Users are encouraged to join Grass to capitalize on the AI explosion.
• Grass promises further details on its mechanics, design, and articles about the evolving data wars.

In summary, the article discusses the current landscape of The Data Wars, introduces Grass as a decentralized solution, explains existing methods for data gathering, highlights Grass's unique features, and invites users to participate in this alternative approach to democratizing data access and compensation.



Grass Points


Exploring Grass Points: Reward System for Beta Phase

Introduction:

• Grass Points are the reward system for the app's Beta phase.
• These points play a crucial role in determining network ownership distribution.

Earning Grass Points:

• Users can earn points through various methods.
• Downloading and running Grass initiates point accumulation seamlessly while browsing the internet.
• Points are a form of gratitude for active community participation and contribution to Grass ecosystem growth.

Referral Points:

• Referrals offer another significant avenue for earning Grass Points.
• Users earn a 20% commission based on points accumulated by referred friends indefinitely.
• A cascading system allows users to earn 10% and 5% of points from second and third-level referrals, respectively.

Future Earning Opportunities:

• Exciting plans for additional ways to earn Grass Points in the future.
• Milestone achievements within the Grass ecosystem and maintaining uptime streaks will be introduced.
• These new methods aim to provide more earning opportunities and contribute to Grass ecosystem success.

Viewing Points and Obtaining Referral Link:

• Users have been accumulating Grass Points based on outlined rules.
• Users can obtain a referral link to join Grass Beta in the Discord community.
• Grass Points system recognizes and rewards user contributions to the Grass ecosystem.

Call to Action:

• Users are encouraged to download Grass, invite friends, and start accumulating Grass Points immediately.
• Grass Points represent a unique way of acknowledging and rewarding user contributions.

In summary, the Grass Points system incentivizes users for active participation, referrals, and future contributions, enhancing community engagement and the success of the Grass ecosystem.