Unlocking Data Ownership and Portable Ecosystem Identity with Vana
Vana is an open network dedicated to empowering users to own and utilize their data across a diverse ecosystem of applications. With apps like rdatadao, Finquarium, Vana Tensor, GoKnowhere, Voogle, and DataPig, Vana’s ecosystem allows users to earn reputation for their data across web2 data sources through DataDAOs.
Para partnered with Vana to support their ecosystem’s mainnet launch in late 2024. We’re excited to highlight this partnership and the power of cross-app embedded wallets in driving ecosystem-wide onboarding and retention.
DataDAOs on Vana
A DataDAO is a decentralized entity that allows users to pool and govern their data, rewarding contributors with a dataset-specific token that represents their ownership in the dataset. These datasets can replicate or even surpass those that big tech companies sell for hundreds of millions of dollars. The DAO has full control over the dataset and can choose to rent it out, sell anonymized copies, or even seed new user-owned platforms.
Each DataDAO allows users to earn reputation for their data across a variety of data sources like trading data, map data, search data, Reddit data. This means a user’s collective reputation across DataDAOs can influence their rewards in the growing Vana DeFi ecosystem and their ownership in future user-owned AI models.
The Need
For a rich app ecosystem like Vana, it was important for new users to have both:
- An easy way to onboard (with an email or social login)
- The ability to use the same email and wallet to earn reputation from all of the applications in the ecosystem
This called for an embedded wallet solution where users could create embedded wallets within the context of one application, then take those wallets elsewhere to other onchain apps.
A cross-app embedded wallet preserves the interoperability benefits of crypto by allowing users to access the same onchain accounts, reputation, and assets from any application across the entire ecosystem.
To solve these challenges, Vana partnered with Para to integrate its wallet and authentication suite in their Data Hub app and across their ecosystem. Para allowed existing users to login with their web3 wallets and new, web2 users to create embedded wallets. With this partnership, the Vana ecosystem was able to easily onboard new users, improve overall user retention, and create new value to the ecosystem by aggregating reputation and assets.
One wallet across an entire ecosystem of apps streamlined the need for repeated sign-ins and provided users with a unified experience from day one - users with Para wallets could easily interact with their data across multiple applications without exporting private keys or jumping through unnecessary UX hoops. Whether managing financial insights in Finquarium or contributing to projects like r/datadao, users experienced a frictionless, intuitive way to use and access their data and identity wherever they needed it.
Making Collectively Owned Data a Reality: An Ecosystem Solution
Para supported 5M+ new users onboarding to the Vana ecosystem. Once onboarded, 77.1k users leveraged cross-app interoperability, interacting with their data across multiple applications.
Apps like DataPig and VanaTensor saw a surge in cross-app activity as users effortlessly transitioned between platforms, fully leveraging the capabilities of the Vana ecosystem.
Para’s wallet SDKs were performant and remained active during big spikes in activity.
“Many of our other partners folded under the volume of mainnet. [Para was able to hold] strong under the load” – Anatoly (Head of Product, Vana)
In partnership with Para, Vana achieved more than just a smoother onboarding process. They unified their ecosystem and empowered users to unlock the full potential of their data.
Vana ecosystem teams not only benefit from a smoother UX, but also the opportunity to reach a network of millions of users actively engaging with their apps.
“With [Para], we’re particularly interested in two aspects of the social login which helps onboard non-crypto native users, and the potential of shared wallets across the Vana ecosystem. We see these as valuable features, especially as the ecosystem grows.” – Louis (Co-Founder, DataPig)
“[Para] is above all else super helpful for wallet integration as it greatly simplifies things...also took a lot of the weight in terms of ensuring the integration mechanism was secure as [Para] had it all built in already – Sean Alexander (Co-Founder, VanaTensor)
“Connecting your existing EVM wallet is as smooth as a click [with Para]” – Nabiha Rizvi (Co-Founder, Knowhere)
We're excited to continue building for ecosystems. If you'd like to learn more, please reach out ✴️