Can NFTs Carry a Soul?. Reflecting on Decentralized Society… | by Awu Chen | Medium

The Nugget

NFTs can carry a soul in the form of Soulbound Tokens (SBTs) that are designed for social composability, offering a way to link verifiable identity across multiple social networks.

Key quotes

"The Dao is the hearth and home of the ten thousand things. Good souls treasure it, lost souls find shelter in it." — Laozi, #62
"Soul wallets collect SBTs across a wide array of communities...and their private keys can be recovered by the same community of institutions and/or individuals that issued the SBTs."
"The promise of a fully pseudonymous world of Web3 can be shattered by SBTs that reveal too much information."

SBTs shift the focus from accruing financial value to building social value in Web3.
They offer a solution for remaining pseudonymous while maintaining social credibility in DAOs.

SBTs can be revoked, ensuring accountability and aligning behaviors with issuers’ intent.
They can work complementarily with NFTs to track social provenance, enhancing trust and reputation in the digital space.

SBTs can unlock a bottom-up credit system, reflecting a shift towards more transparent and merit-based societal structures.
Community key recovery and the concept of vesting into transferrable tokens offer practical safeguards and flexibility.

SBTs allow for in-between ownership agreements, catering to varied needs and use cases.
Careful consideration is needed to prevent SBTs from revealing too much information, highlighting the importance of safeguarding privacy in a digitized society.

💡 SBTs are like digital souls, connecting individuals across social networks while maintaining pseudonymity.
🗝️ Recovery through community: SBTs allow for decentralized private key recovery by the communities that issued them.
🌐 SBTs empower individuals to navigate the digital realm by encoding rich social and economic relationships into their virtual identities.
🔒 Privacy first: Balancing the benefits of SBTs with the need for data protection is crucial for ensuring their positive impact in Web3.