As a pioneer and gateway for large-scale applications in Web3, SocialFi has garnered widespread attention from users and investors. However, as a SocialFi platform that resists censorship and emphasizes privacy, it faces real issues like inconsistent content, fraud, and fake accounts. While attracting users with flashy economic models like 'X to earn', platforms lack the ongoing ability to attract content creators, and leading SocialFi protocols struggle to break through user number bottlenecks, proving market demand.

Farcaster recent six months daily active user data:

The Web3 social DApp XO has demonstrated real user demand with impressive data: since the launch of the App in 2022, users have grown from zero to 1.5 million naturally; Cyber L2 (the blockchain where XO is located) has a daily transaction volume of over 100,000; generating 7 million clicks and 1 million matches monthly; 82% of users have gained through natural growth or recommendations; the 30-day retention rate reached 15% (three times the industry standard); users spend an average of 40 minutes daily on XO (almost twice that of Facebook and Snapchat); AI agents are summoned over 100,000 times daily to facilitate interactions between users; and the average revenue per paid user is $38 (1.7 times that of Bumble). The high stickiness and willingness to pay behind these figures prove that XO is meeting real social needs. How did this dark horse of SocialFi come about?

The first dating app that combines blockchain technology.

It is well known that the dating industry has always been a huge market, but scams are rampant, and current industry giants show no signs of changing the status quo. The XO team's original intention is to create a safe social environment and believe that blockchain technology can bring change to the dating industry.

The opposite of privacy protection is security. XO employs multiple technical measures to prevent common fraud and fake account issues in social media and dating apps. The decentralized user verification system can provide verifiable credibility based on the user's on-chain activities. For example, interactions such as matching, achieving stable chats, or paying for dating are recorded on-chain and converted into social credit scores. When registering with XO, users receive a unique XO soul-bound token (XOUL).

The token enhances security through various verification methods (such as facial recognition, social network verification, ENS, and partnerships with DID providers like CyberID and Farcaster), through proof of personhood. The application of proof of personhood is also one of the important trends in the crypto industry proposed by a16z for 2025, helping humans prevent AI-related scams. It allows users to be controlled by specific real individuals to verify their identity without revealing their identity. Additionally, XO users can choose to connect their crypto wallet in account settings. Once the wallet is connected, if it has on-chain historical records, the application can verify the user's credibility through on-chain activities. Therefore, the number of social media followers, ownership of NFTs, companion scores in the XO app, and user-generated content will also constitute part of the social credit score, significantly reducing the probability of fake accounts and bots.

Additionally, XO features a diverse chat topic board that combines 'anonymous chatting' and 'community friendships', allowing users to share mood stories and enhance interaction. Since over 70% of users identify with LGBTQ+ identities, XO has thoughtfully created a members-invitation-only private community to foster a safe space for emotional expression and support. Carol, the co-founder of XO, stated, 'XO's original intention is to create an anonymous tree hole for modern people, where users can feel at ease being themselves.'

For users with high social credit scores, XO also offers personalized AI agent services. This feature allows users to generate an AI 'avatar' to expand their social interaction capabilities and motivate users to improve their credit scores.

In comparison to the current decentralized identity solutions (DID) in the market, such as Lens Protocol, there is a lack of real social demand and application scenarios. In existing products with genuine use cases, Farcaster's user data collection capability is limited. As a passive content consumption platform similar to Twitter and Reddit, Farcaster's data scope primarily focuses on user content interactions. In contrast, XO, as an active social application, can collect richer user data, covering information such as gender, age, and preferences, fully leveraging the potential of proof of personhood in cross-platform applications, such as integrating Web2 data into Web3 applications to provide personalized services. This approach helps address the cold start issue and offers more personalized recommendations for users, while also forming the real basis for user privacy protection.

Currently, XO has integrated Farcaster and Cyber ID, allowing users to use them across platforms, linking data and sharing credit scores. Future developments will continue to enhance the cross-chain social ecosystem.

Content matching + AI agents, achieving precise matchmaking.

Unlike traditional dating applications that match based on user profiles, XO matches based on content posted by users (such as emotions, confessions, or lifestyles). This matching scheme not only allows users to choose whether to remain anonymous to protect their privacy, but also continuously iterates based on user dynamics for more accurate matching.

This year, XO launched the AI Agent feature, and the AI pet on the XO platform is named ROO. It can conduct MBTI tests and provide tailored feedback based on user responses. For users who are not good at chatting, the AI agent bartender can also transform into an 'icebreaker' to ease awkward situations.

XO has revealed that it is testing an 'AI Twin' feature, which allows users to create their own AI agents, like an avatar, helping them to engage in matching chats before interacting with others. The behavior patterns of the AI Twin are completely customized based on user preferences, making interactions feel more real. Through feedback from AI agents, users can save time in choosing partners and find suitable chat partners faster. Such a feature not only feels fresh to users but also invites them to explore future possibilities. During the testing phase of this feature, XO has attracted a lot of attention, becoming a hot topic of discussion in the Web3 community.

Due to the current popularity of AI Agent topics, but the application scenarios being limited to X, there is a risk of AI Agents becoming overly common and undifferentiated. XO, as another platform that can practically apply AI Agents, has mature products available for developers, and is planning to be compatible with and allow for the emergence of a new ecosystem for more AI Agents. With over 4 million messages daily and over 1 million matches monthly, XO has strong data-driven capabilities that can be used to build robust AI assistants and recommendation system models. Similar to how AWS supports Web2.0 applications, XO's AI foundation is composed of multiple large language models (LLM), which input information based on user profiles, tags, and stories into a 16K parameter LLM, summarizing the user's language style, personality traits, and interests. This data is reinforced through real data and integrated with on-chain data, greatly reducing the time cost of making friends.

XO's AI agent system is not only a functional innovation but also a phenomenal application under the Web3 trend. As a dark horse in the Web3 social realm, XO's AI system, based on large-scale data-driven and decentralized applications, has initiated several trend developments.

  1. The extensibility of decentralized identity: The AI system combines users' DIDs (decentralized identities) with on-chain activity data to establish a high-credibility social environment, attracting a large number of high-quality users.

  2. New standards for intelligent social interaction: Through ROO and AI Twin, XO provides users with an unprecedented interactive experience, allowing users to not only engage in socializing but also participate in the Web3 revolution.

  3. The shift from tools to culture: As one of XO's core features, the AI agent makes socialization a cultural symbol, becoming a hot topic in the Web3 ecosystem and driving greater user participation.

In this wave of Web3, XO has become an undeniable trend representative. Whether it’s data growth, functional innovation, or market influence, XO's AI system continues to expand the FOMO effect, making it impossible for users and investors to ignore its future potential.

Sustainable economic models and business models.

To avoid the 'X to Earn' model being exploited by opportunistic studios before the official launch of the on-chain token, XO first introduced the $rStar-based Chat2Earn mechanism, testing over 5 million chat records daily, detecting possible algorithmic cheating behaviors, and observing user responses to earning in-app currency through chatting, exploring which behaviors and functions users are willing to pay for or spend in-app tokens, ensuring a sustainable token economy with balanced income and expenditure.

Based on surveys and iterations, XO has ultimately perfected Social2Earn. Its underlying PoC (Proof-of-Companionship) algorithm is based on user chat and real paid behavior, comprehensively assessing interaction quality and providing virtual currency $XO rewards. Users can enhance the health value of chat rooms through deep chatting, paid tips, content creation, continuous chatting days, and participation in AI games, thus triggering the reward mechanism.

Moreover, XO has a very robust business model, which is why it secured seed round financing from the renowned incubator TechStars and Japan's Rakutan Group in its founding year. Currently, XO's revenue comes from both To C and To B segments.

The C2 segment generates income for the platform through subscriptions, in-app purchases, advertisements, and Social2Earn. Users obtain richer social features through paid subscriptions, enhance their interactive experience through in-app purchases of virtual goods, and earn token rewards by participating in the Social2Earn mechanism. XO also provides users with unique digital assets and value-added services through the sale of virtual items.

In the B2B segment, XO provides customized market research and advertising services for brands through AI chat advertising and opinion mining, helping brands better understand and reach target users. Businesses can also integrate with the Web3 ecosystem via the XO platform, using NFTs and DAOs for brand promotion and user identity management, further enhancing brand exposure and user engagement, forming a win-win business ecosystem. Currently, XO has achieved comprehensive profitability.

Summary: Airdrop is imminent, and the SocialFi dark horse leads the new narrative of AI Agent social applications.

On July 11, 2024, the Xoul DID mainnet officially went live, and the team announced a round of $1.2 million airdrops (which are still ongoing and can be participated in at the XO official website). The $XO token is also about to be launched.

XO has implemented proof of personhood to help users build their decentralized identity (DID) through interaction behavior within the app. The team is actively seeking various Web3 partners, such as decentralized domain ENS and Web3 social identity ID. XO hopes to truly integrate centralized identity systems into the dating scene.

At the same time, XO is also more broadly involved in fine-tuning and optimizing AI agents, gradually developing them into decentralized autonomous chatbots that proactively expand their influence on social platforms.

In the first quarter of 2025, XO will launch the $XO token, and actively participating in community interaction or publishing content can earn $XO tokens. Users can also receive $XO airdrops by completing verifications on the XO App and DID website, as well as sharing the prize pool of Quest updates on the DID website.

XO has a verified user base, and with the dual drive of proof of personhood and AI agents, it can undoubtedly take SocialFi further and become a disruptive force in the global social platform landscape.

This article on Web3 social unicorn XO: Personality proof and AI agents driving dual wheels, is about to issue token $XO, first appeared in Chain News ABMedia.