Masa | Fair AI | Crypto Deep Dive

Executive Summary

Masa is a decentralized AI data and LLM network where users can earn from their data and compute to power AI Applications. They are pioneering a new approach to AI development called Fair AI, which focuses on democratizing access to data and fair rewards for contributors. 

This is done privately and securely using Masa’s invention of Zero-Knowledge Soulbound Tokens (zkSBTs). This industry-leading encryption technology ensures that users’ personal information remains private while shared in the data market and with developers.

$MASA is the first live token on the Bittensor Subnet. It has a live testnet and mainnet launching soon. Users can earn $MASA and $TAO dual token staking rewards by becoming subnet miners or validators. 

About the Project

Vision: 

Masa’s vision is to democratize data ownership by building a network where individuals have control over their personal data, enabling them to share, monetize, and protect it. The project aims to create an ecosystem where large technology companies do not control data but act as an asset that benefits its owners. It will provide a data marketplace of rich, verified datasets for developers to utilize and build specific AI applications. 

Problem:

The existing environment is dominated by centralized data silos of large technology companies where personal data is harvested, often without adequate consent or compensation to the individuals. It usually lacks transparency, leads to privacy concerns, and limits innovation as AI and machine learning models are trained on large datasets. So, the problem Masa is trying to solve is twofold: the monopolization of data by a few entities, subsequent privacy violations, and lack of user empowerment in the data ecosystem. 

Solution:

Masa is building an ecosystem for harnessing global decentralized resources for high-quality data, incentivizing contributors via token rewards while offering scalable, transparent, and efficient AI development tools. 

The network sources data from X (Twitter), Discord, Telegram, Podcasts, YouTube, TikTok, public and gated Web Data, and more. It enables use cases such as fine-tuning large language models (LLMs), optimizing AI agents, and generally powering intelligent applications accessible through an API. 

Market Analysis

Masa operates at the intersection of a decentralized data marketplace and AI data privacy. According to the Grand View Research report, the global data marketplace market was estimated at $1.5B in 2024 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25.2% from 2025 to 2030. 

According to a report by Future Market Insights Inc., the privacy-enhancing technology market was valued at $2.4B in 2023 and is projected to reach $25.8B by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 25.6%. According to Statista, the broader artificial intelligence market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 28.46% to reach $826B by 2030, up from around $184B in 2024. 

Masa targets a rapidly growing niche within these markets, where users and businesses seek decentralized, privacy-respecting solutions for data sharing and AI development. Masa’s unique aspect of securely rewarding data owners aligns with emerging data ethics and ownership trends. 

Features

Masa is building a decentralized ZK-data marketplace and network that focuses on privacy and an incentivized economy for personal data. They also offer a developer hub for building privacy-preserving decentralized applications and AI models. 

Zero-Knowledge Soulbound Tokens (zkSBTs):

• Masa introduced zkSBTs, which allow for the secure storage of personal data. This data can be verified for authenticity without revealing the actual information, providing robust privacy protection.

Real-Time AI Data Marketplace:

• Masa network rewards users for contributing their data in $MASA tokens, thus creating a marketplace for developers to access high-quality, verified personal data for training AI models, analytics, and decentralized advertising. It supports real-time data sharing, which is crucial for AI models and more valuable in sectors like news and finance. 

Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP) and Homomorphic Encryption (HME):

• These cryptographic techniques allow data to be processed or shared without exposing it, ensuring that user privacy is maintained while still allowing for data’s utility in AI and other applications. 

Developer Tools:

• Masa SDK: Simplest data scraping and integration. 
• API Access: Offers seamless connectivity for developers to integrate datasets and AI tools into their applications. 
• Multifaceted Resources: A hub of fine-tuned LLMs, AI tools, and datasets, allowing rapid prototyping and deployment.  

Token

The Masa Network’s native token is $MASA, which powers the Fair AI ecosystem. Users can earn $MASA by contributing data and computing, and developers pay $MASA to access data and LLM services. Users can stake $MASA to earn up to 25% APY, and validators and delegators stake tokens to secure the network and participate in governance.

The token was launched in April 2024 and has a total supply of 1.59 billion, of which 387 million are in circulation and 14 million are already staked on the network. Masa also introduced a dual-token model on Bittensor, where validators and miners can earn both $MASA and $TAO tokens, expanding the reward system and utility of $MASA. The token trades at centralized exchanges like Gate.io, Bybit, MEXC, KuCoin, and others and decentralized exchanges like Uniswap.

Traction

The network has over 1.2 million unique wallets contributing data, 23+ million proprietary data points, 10,000+ data sources, 40,000+ testnet node operators, and 70+ ecosystem partners. It supports Ethereum, Polygon, Scroll, Celo, Base, and Binance Smart Chain networks. 

Team

Brendan Playford is a co-founder and CEO of Masa Network, having previously founded companies like Pngme and Constellation Labs. Calanthia Mei is the other co-founder and COO with experience in investing, operations, and finance. The broader Masa team combines technical expertise with web3 native experience; some are from Coinbase, Polygon, PayPal, Ocean, etc. 

Investors

Masa has raised $18M in private and public funding rounds. It started with a $3.5M pre-seed in May 2022 and a $5.4M seed in January 2024. Subsequently, it did a $8.79M ICO on Coinlist in March 2024 and a $40k IEO on Gate.io Startup in April 2024. Some notable investors are Hashkey, Binance, Anagram, DCG, Animoca Brands, GSR, Republic, and Rubik.

Conclusion

Masa is redefining data management and AI development with its Fair AI approach. It leverages Zero-Knowledge Soulbound Tokens for user privacy and data ownership. By rewarding data contributors and offering developers access to high-quality, ethical data, Masa taps into the growing markets of decentralized data marketplaces and privacy-enhancing technologies, both of which are projected for significant growth. 

The dual-token reward for the staking model and the network’s broad adoption across multiple blockchain networks ensures their commitment to a decentralized and secure ecosystem. With a seasoned team, substantial funding, and a growing community, Masa is well-positioned to lead in the data privacy and AI data marketplace segments.