In today’s digital landscape, data has become the new oil.
The most recent statistics show that each of us generates approximately 146GB of data on a daily basis. What’s even more noteworthy is that 90% of the data in existence was generated within the last two years. This trend is being driven by the increasing flow of information we produce through digital interactions on social media platforms, gaming ecosystems, ecommerce, and many more.
But who exactly profits from all this data? If you’re an avid follower of the tech industry, it is likely you’ve come across the argument against centralization and the monopoly over our data by titans in the space including the likes of Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon. These companies have an unfair advantage when it comes to data monetization given that they provide the platforms for digital interactions.
For instance, Meta's Facebook collects data on users’ likes, shares, and comments, which it then uses to customize the ad experience for its users. Similarly, Google’s advertisements are tailored according to one’s most recent searches with so much precision that sometimes it leaves one wondering whether they are being spied on. Well, this customized experience is what you pay for with the data you generate through digital interactions.
One might be tempted to think that the convenience offered through customization is equal to the value of the data that we unknowingly give up everyday.
However, that’s far from the truth; according to a recent analysis by Proton, a company like Facebook raised an average annual revenue of $217 per user from the U.S. and Canada in Q3 2023. While the figure is much lower in regions with a smaller advertising market, the global average was around $42.34.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Last year, Google’s advertising revenue accounted for close to 26.8% of the total ad revenue generated within the U.S. Facebook and Amazon also had a significant share at 21.1% and 12.5%, respectively.
From these figures, one thing is clear: the big tech firms are leveraging the vast amount of data currently being produced to expand their revenue base through targeted advertising, amongst other data monetization practices, including in more nascent and futuristic niches such as machine learning.
Now to the big question; where does this monopoly leave the true data owners?
The answer is simple. Internet users are currently at the mercy of regulatory frameworks to protect them from data ‘extortion’. However, apart from a few regions like Europe where the 2018 GDPR policies seem to be working, most jurisdictions are yet to adopt or enforce rules that curtail tech companies from misusing users’ data.
But what’s probably worse is that these tech companies enjoy a vast network of lobbyists and capital such that even the most hefty fines from authorities don’t seem to scare them at all. For context, a company like Microsoft was fined $60 million in 2022 by France’s privacy watchdog; in comparison, they made $198.27 billion in revenue during the same year. The fine was a mere slap on the wrist.
As mentioned in the introduction, the concept of centralized databases or information systems is gradually becoming outdated. Bitcoin’s survival for over 15 years as a decentralized digital asset has proven that we don’t need middlemen (big tech, banks) or regulators to enjoy the benefits that the financial system has to offer.
Similarly, there are Web3 projects such as CARV that are taking the data monetization game to a whole new level through their decentralized infrastructure. Imagine a world where users not only have sovereignty over their personal information but also the opportunity to monetize the data through the economic ecosystems built around it. This is the type of ecosystem that CARV is currently building for the gaming and AI space.
At the core, CARV’s protocol is designed as a modular data layer whose main function is to enable data exchange and value distribution. The protocol features an end-to-end data lifecycle supported by its decentralized architecture that comprises an identity layer, storage layer, computation and training layer, execution layer, and the verification layer.
In addition to the protocol, CARV has also pioneered two flagship products: CARV Play and an AI-driven personal agent dubbed CARA. The former is a cross-platform credentialing system that empowers gamers with data sovereignty and privacy by aggregating one’s gaming achievements from different ecosystems such as Steam into verifiable SBTs (Soul bound Tokens).
These SBTs are unique and non-transferable which means gamers who own them will always have a hard proof of their gaming accomplishments. But more importantly, this model gives gamers full control over their data as well as provides opportunities for monetization.
"Web3 started out a bit more hyper-financial, and since then the focus has evolved. In that sense, we see CARV as a place where different types of gamers can find their own communities and have a very tailored experience based on AI recommendations.” emphasized CARV’s Co-founder and COO, Victor Yu, in a recent AMA with Cointelegraph.
Although a nascent project compared to the centralized companies currently running the data monetization show, CARV is currently the leading social DApp with over 738K unique active wallets (UAWs), according to DApp Radar. To add to it, the protocol has also supported over 900 games in Web2 and Web3 to leverage data as a commodity.
With the amount of data generated in 2023 expected to grow by 150% to reach 181 zettabytes by 2025, it is only fair for the true owners of the data to start enjoying the pie as well. One way to go about this is to demand a share from the current beneficiaries (big tech), but how can this be done when even authorities seem to be struggling to curb their greed?
On the brighter side, decentralized infrastructures will not be limited to burgeoning sectors such as gaming and AI. More Web3 innovations around data monetization are currently being developed, and the beauty is that projects like CARV are already proving that a decentralized approach to data monetization could be the missing piece to restoring sovereignty.