Data Backpacks in the Wild by Evin McMullen

of fine data backpacks so that you can carry all the stuff you need for your adventures across the metaverse using the very same keys that you use on chain. Um I am so excited to share a little bit more of data backpacks in the wild with you here today. My name is Evan McMullen. Uh you can find me on Twitter at proven authority. Excited to hear all of your metaverse dreams at discoxyz.

Um and I am the co-founder of the disco. Um, so today we know disco balls just like these is the instant mark that fun is a foot on a dance floor. I'm sure like many of you saw last night. Um, so if you were dancing underneath a disco ball yesterday, please hydrate because I know you probably need it. Um, so disco balls are the shining center of the party and when one shows up, you know you have the ingredients for a really good time.

And that's how web 3 should be. At Disco, we believe that you are like this disco ball. You are the multifaceted center of the party just as you are and you should reflect your data and your identity to the world however you decide. So we make consent a new type of interaction in web 3 where you should o or where you are able to control the data that is demonstrated when you present your public address. You are able to decide how you want to show up in a variety of different interactions.

Um so let's talk about what a data backpack is. Um so first up before we get into the how let's talk about the what. Um most of you all I'm sure are familiar with fungeible tokens are familiar with nonfgeable tokens. These are the of course public immutable largely transferable assets that we have on chain. But what about the third game piece in web 3?

The verifiable credential. So this is a signed JSON blob. A statement written by one party about another that is offchain. can be written by more than 150 different kinds of keys, resolved or used by anyone with an internet connection, no gas fees, chain agnostic, uh, and private by default. So, this is our third game piece.

This is the piece of data, the type of data you carry around in your data backpack that can interact with smart contracts, but does not need to live on a blockchain. Um, so public ledgers and public databases, as we know, are equal opportunity surveillance platforms. They are optimized to store data that requires global public availability to everyone on earth and in space with an internet connection for all time. Um, you know, where that data can be visibly mapped to public keys whether the owner consents or not. So if I know your public key, I can map anything to it that I want, inappropriate pictures, things that you don't want the world to see and you can't do anything about it.

Uh so in order for us to have consent first we must decide do we want to take custody of the data that describes us and where do we want to share it. So for data that changes and evolves like we do because we are human for data that does not require 247 global access and immutability for data that describes us and therefore should be compliant with data privacy and consent laws. Enter Disco. So, if you want when you go home or even hanging out here if your Wi-Fi is behaving better than mine, you can set up your data backpack in a minute or two starting with your MetaMask just at app.discoco.

xyz. So, today's Disco Web app makes data backpacks easily accessible to everyone with EVM keys. You bring your existing keys to the party and we help you set up encrypted storage where you can own and control off-chain data with those very same keys. We also allow you to use those keys like a personal notary stamp so that you can sign verifiable credentials structured off-chain data and that can be tamper evident and can be shared with others or can be used to describe yourself. Um so when you issue and receive credentials within Disco you are able to mark the ones that you want to share public and when you want to connect your wallet to different DAPs your D your data backpack will able to come along with you as well as your wallet.

Um, so actually if we look at my data backpack here, you can see that I have my Boys Club membership credential. Shout out boys club.vip. Global community of women and non-bin binary people in web 3. I can use that boys club credential today to gain access to events, merchandise, collaboration tools, and more.

Um, you can see here we've got some other kinds of fun credentials, some GMs from my friends. Um, we'll talk about GMs a little bit later, but essentially these are like off-chain NFTts, JPEGs that I own with my keys that I can carry to different places to do things for me. So, because our Wi-Fi is a little funky today, we're going to go through some screenshots of how this product rolls. I was going to do a live demo, but want to make sure I'm able to share all of this with you. So, let's say I wanted to write a credential about myself.

This would allow me to uh decide what type of credential I want to issue. Let's say I want to set my preference for dark mode. I prefer to view apps in that manner so that when I carry my data backpack to different apps and services, it'll customize to my preferences. So, let's choose that credential. Then, uh I see that I've written it about myself.

I prefer dark mode in my apps. I'm going to click issue that credential and then I throw this signed JSON blob into my data backpack and I party on into the metaverse. Um, and so in this way, I'm able to determine beforehand what are my preferred pronouns, my preferred language, uh, my preferred t-shirt size, so that I never have to fill out a form again. Um, let's say I wanted to send a credential to one of my homies, my co-founder Johnny. Let's send him a GM.

So, it's just actually even simpler than creating an NFT. I'm able to generate a uh, a net new digital asset with my keys about his and give it over to him so he can use it wherever he likes. So we can search by his Twitter handle, his Discord handle, his DNS record that are birectionally and independently bound to his data backpack. Um, so we can select that credential, issue it to Johnny, throw it in his backpack, and then we party on. Um, so let's talk a little bit more about these credentials.

Um, so first when we receive a credential, we have to decide is are we going to keep it private to us or do we want to share it with others? Do we want to let the world see? Then we're able to interrogate into it even a little further if we want. We can see the address it was written by, the address it was written about, and we can drill all the way down into that sweet, sweet JWT token, carry it to any old JWT resolver we find on Google, and be able to engage with the signature in that way. Um, so what else are we doing at the Disco?

Let's talk about these data backpacks out in the wild now that we know what they are. Um, so at Disco, our API makes it easy for builders to call and validate credentials from your data backpack when you visit their app, service, or smart contract so that you can enjoy a personalized experience right off the bat instead of spending a whole lot of time filling out forms. In fact, uh, in the United States, Americans spend 11 12 billion hours filling out forms. I know we all feel like we did that before the parties this week. And so the objective with Disco is that you will never fill out a form again.

Um, our SDK supports programmatic issuance and client side resolution as well as other capabilities. Uh, and so we're really excited to make it easy for all kinds of DAPs to move beyond coordinating around public financial assets alone and enable us to coordinate trust minimized interactions using any kind of data. So today, let's talk about some places where you can carry your data backpack. Um, first up, you can mint NFTts exclusive to Disco users uh with access control by credentials in your backpack. So, if you sign up for Disco, you get a Disco credential in your data backpack.

You visit this minting site, we will then once you check connect your wallet, check to see if you have the right off-chain data and then permit you to interact with a smart contract. So what's actually happening here is rather than passing the entirety of that off-chain JSON blob which could be quite sizable to a smart contract which would be pretty pricey instead we are using the MetaMask delegatable framework to generate a signature at the application layer and then passing that basically a thumbs up or like a green light to the smart contract letting it know that the presenting public key indeed has the off-chain requirements to interact with that smart contract. So as fun and delightful as it is to mint a discoi object which all of you can go home and do today if you would like on polygon or ETH additionally this is the same mechanism by which we can take an off-chain KYC credential and gate access to an onchain permissioned D5 pool. Furthermore the set of capabilities also works in the opposite way. So we can wrap a token such that it can only be caught by wallets that have the right off-chain credentials in their backpacks.

And so this is a way that we can create closed and semi-p permeable economies with evolving rules on open permissionless networks. Um, additionally we can get access to all the regular stuff that we love to use. So things like Google collaboration tools, GitHub repositories and chat channels and roles on Telegram and Discord. You can also top the GM leaderboard. Uh the GM leaderboard that we released this week is an open source tool that we're excited to roll out to our community that allows you to create a public leaderboard of any kind of credential.

This is the predecessor to what we're calling the VCR or the verifiable data curated registry where we can make lists curated not by our financial token holdings and instead of a bureaucratically uh organized set of information instead we can organize lists in accordance with people's expertise, contributions and aptitude. So we can move away from plutoaucracy and toward the meritocracy we were promised. Um, now if you uh got that big DID energy like I do here, like Shan does in the front row, we got the right kind of BDE here. You can pay with your reputation in the disco store instead of dollars and get our swag for free. So, our integration with Shopify allows you to gain access to physical objects as well as um you know, discounts and stores in their entirety uh utilizing off-chain credentials in the same way that one might utilize an onchain token.

Um, you're also able to gain access to parties in physical spaces such as the disco lounge at the Clay uh hotel or Clay House coffee shop at the Cupard Hotel today until 4:30. Um, I know a number of you actually who I'm seeing here in the audience have used credentials in your data backpack to get into events this week. So, in this way, we can have one credential to allow us to access onchain logic, physical spaces, web two collaboration tools, chat channels, and more. Um, we're also super stoked about our collaboration with the ETH pass team. Uh, so back in the day, ETH pass allowed you to just carry around a proof in your Apple wallet that you own a specific NFT, but that was just a picture of a JPEG and your public key, which doesn't provide a lot of context.

As we can see with this uh beautiful JPEG over here from artist Dave Krugman, who's one of my personal favorite NFT photographers. Um, so now in collaboration with Disco, when you pull that up in your wallet, you are able to return not only your public key, not only the JPEG, but all sorts of other contextual information about yourself, um, such as your social handles or your associated profile. Um, we're also super proud to partner with teams like Virtue Poker to issue participant credentials to the East Denver Poker Tournament participants this year so they can prove their reputation in future events and build uh, build and flex that reputation in future tournaments. We're stoked to empower builders of all kinds with verifiable data. So, shout out to the Turbo ETH team whose starter kit for web3 builders welcomes them to a world that includes both on and off-chain data, not just the limited public data that we have on our public ledgers, which is what most people think is the entirety of web 3.

So at Disco, we are building the human part of human coordination tools so that next year when I look out in this audience in accordance with web 3, you will not just be piles of tokens, which is all you can be on a blockchain right now. I want you to be whole, beautiful people with preferences, experiences, expertise. You know, in the uh in the words of Tyler Deran from the movie Fight Club that I that I quote a lot, you are not your car. You are not your job. You are not the contents of your wallet.

At Disco, you are the multifaceted center of the party and we are so excited to support the metaverse adventures that we can build together. So, if you'd like to party with us, whether you'd like to use your data backpacks and credentials with your internal squad, with your company, or build DAPs that issue or rely upon verifiable data, we can't wait to welcome you to the Disco. So, if you're stoked about the future of fun, please share all of your metaverse dreams with us at disco.xyz. I know.

I can't wait to hear your wildest imaginations for building a world that prioritizes the human part of human coordination tools. I am Evan McMullen and I will see you in the metaverse. Thank you so much for having me today. I think we might have a minute or two for questions. Does anybody have any burning did VC backpack inquiries before we part ways?

No. Feeling good. Feeling informed. All right. Thank you guys again so much for having me.