Hello, and thank you for joining us today!
We’re excited to learn more about the Anima Protocol and its unique approach to building bot-free communities through reputation and NFTs. Let’s dive into how Anima is helping users forge their online reputations.
1. Could you start by giving us an overview of the Anima Protocol and its mission to fight bots and foster genuine communities?
Anima Protocol is on a mission to create bot-free, Sybil-resistant communities in the crypto space by focusing on Proof of Personhood and onchain reputation. Our solution targets a widespread problem: bots and Sybil attacks. These issues not only harm projects by distorting engagement metrics, but they also result in wasted marketing budgets. Through Proof of Personhood (PoP) and its Reputation NFT—a Soulbound NFT (SBT)—Anima ensures that only real, unique humans can claim rewards, contribute to a project’s ecosystem, and engage in governance, fostering more authentic communities.
While protocols and VCs often rely on MAU (Monthly Active Users) to measure adoption success, this metric is flawed in crypto due to the prevalence of bots. Anima is shifting the narrative by introducing a new reference metric: RAU (Real Active Users). With RAU, projects can track genuine engagement, ensuring that their success is measured by real human participation and not inflated by bots. Our goal is to empower projects to reward the real contributors, leaving the bots out of the equation.
2. The concept of Soulbound NFTs is central to Anima. Can you explain how these NFTs work and how they help build a user’s reputation?
Soulbound NFTs (SBTs) are at the core of Anima’s approach. Our Reputation NFTS are non-transferable NFTs minted once a user completes a Proof of Personhood (PoP) challenge, verifying that they are a unique, real human. Since the NFT is non-transferable, it remains permanently tied to the user’s wallet, making it impossible to sell or transfer. This is key for building a user’s authentic reputation, as the NFT evolves alongside their actions and engagement within the ecosystem.
Moreover, these Reputation NFTs can level up, further enhancing trust and making users eligible for more exclusive rewards. This makes the reputation system dynamic, allowing it to evolve with user participation.
3. You’ve mentioned that users can level up in the Resistance. How does the process of upgrading Soulbound Tokens work, and what benefits do users gain from leveling up?
Our leveling system adds another layer of trust and reliability to the Reputation NFT. Every two weeks, users can complete a new Proof of Personhood (PoP) challenge. Each time they successfully pass, their Reputation NFT levels up, showing a higher degree of commitment and verification. This system ensures that users are consistently proving they are real, active participants—not bots. As users level up, they gain greater credibility within the ecosystem. This enhanced reputation may lead to better rewards, increased eligibility for airdrops, and the ability to participate in more exclusive activities within the communities they are a part of.
Additionally, this mechanism has been designed to prevent malicious actors from getting someone else to perform the PoP challenge for them. While it might be possible to cheat once, it becomes increasingly difficult to cheat multiple times consistently, ensuring greater integrity over time.
4. Reputation building is key in Anima Protocol. How does the platform ensure that reputation scores reflect genuine user behavior, and how do they impact future rewards or airdrops?
Anima’s platform will use on-chain data through quests to track genuine user behaviors, such as engagement in governance, participation in key project activities, and the frequency of transactions. Since every user of our dApp are holders of the Reputation NFT, projects can be confident that reputation scores are based on real actions by real people, not bots or fake accounts. This ensures that only verified users with good behaviors are rewarded. By using this system, projects can better manage their airdrop and reward strategies, ensuring that only valuable contributors benefit, which helps maintain the integrity of tokenomics.
5. How do the Proof of Personhood (PoP) mechanisms work within the Anima Protocol to prevent bots and verify users?
The Proof of Personhood (PoP) mechanism verifies that a wallet belongs to a real, unique human. The process is quick and privacy-focused: users complete a simple challenge, after which they are validated and can mint their Reputation NFT. This NFT acts as their proof that they are a legitimate user in the ecosystem.
Here is a link to our detailed process outlining the steps for completing the PoP challenge. In summary, users are asked to perform a biometric check, which is used to create a FaceGraph, a unique non-biometric proxy stored in encrypted form. Once the FaceGraph is generated, users validate their PoP challenge and mint their Reputation NFT for a small $1 fee, ensuring privacy is maintained while proving thttps://discord.com/invite/Ba8pbMn7nTeir identity.
6. Can you share more about the communities that have already joined the Resistance, such as those on PolygonID, Phaver, and Starknet? What role do they play in the ecosystem?
Sybil resistance is a significant issue in crypto, and it concerns various types of actors, from Layer 1 protocols to GameFi, identity platforms, NFT marketplaces, and almost any dApp. So far, more than 200,000 Reputation NFTs have been minted across chains like Polygon, BNB, Linea, Base, and Scroll.
Since its creation, Anima has supported crypto companies on Sybil resistance challenges, such as Linea, Playbux, AlphaMind, Phaver, LibertAi, Nekodex, Privado ID, Perpetual Protocol, Starknet ID, The Sandbox, and more. These projects have embraced Anima’s Sybil resistance capabilities to ensure they build authentic, engaged user bases, leveraging Reputation NFTs to foster fair airdrop and reward systems.
7. Anima emphasizes regular NFT updates to sustain reputation. How do users maintain their status within the Resistance, and what happens if they fail to check in regularly?
Every two weeks, users see their reputation countdown fall to 0, signaling a new opportunity to take a PoP challenge to level up. Once the new challenge is validated, their Reputation NFT gets an additional level, updated in the NFT metadata.
If users remain inactive for two months without completing the PoP challenge, their Reputation NFT level will start to decrease, encouraging consistent participation to maintain a strong reputation.
8. How does the protocol plan to scale its sybil resistance efforts as more users join and participate in the ecosystem?
As more users join, communities will free themselves from bots, allowing for advanced interactions between users without requiring personal doxing. Anima has two main levers to grow:
- Affiliate program: Anyone can refer projects launching an airdrop or needing an anti-bot solution to Anima. 20% of the fees generated by the Reputation NFT mint of the project’s users will be distributed to the referrer.
- Referral program: Users can share their referral link to invite friends and family to mint their Reputation NFT, signaling their humanity on-chain. Users will earn points for the first few months, which will later be converted into tokens.
9. The Anima Protocol rewards users with NFTs and airdrops. Can you explain how users can earn these rewards and what types of opportunities await active participants?
Our Reputation NFTs are leveraged by protocols conducting airdrops. By holding these NFTs, our users increase their chances of receiving reward allocations. While each airdrop has its rules, our Reputation NFT proves that the users are human and unique.
Reputation NFT holders will also be rewarded directly by Anima Protocol once we reach our dApp beta version. In October, we’re launching the Alpha version of the dApp, focusing on Sybil resistance and Reputation NFTs. In December, we will launch the beta version, which will include quests. By Q1 2025, we’ll release our reward mechanism, providing users with true incentives directly on the dApp. Users will benefit both from protocol-specific rewards and from rewards within the Anima community.
10. Finally, what are the next big developments we can expect from Anima Protocol in its ongoing fight against bots and promotion of reputation-based systems?
Anima Protocol has several exciting developments on the horizon as it continues its fight against bots and promotes reputation-based systems. In the coming months, we will be expanding our ecosystem by launching on new chains, including Cosmos, Aptos, Supra, Sui, and Ton, further increasing our reach and accessibility.
In November, we will introduce quests with the beta release of our dApp, allowing users to engage with more interactive and rewarding experiences. Alongside this, we’ll be onboarding new partners who will offer custom quests directly within the dApp, enriching the ecosystem with diverse opportunities for user participation.
Looking ahead to Q1 2025, we’ll be launching our highly anticipated token and reward mechanism, which will introduce even more incentives for users to actively engage with Anima and its community, driving deeper participation and growth.
Social links
https://anima.io
https://x.com/anima_protocol
https://t.me/animadid
https://discord.com/invite/Ba8pbMn7nT
Thank you for sharing your insights on the Anima Protocol!
We’re eager to see how the Resistance continues to grow and support the creation of genuine, bot-free communities.
