Announcing Console

Console is a Web3 group chat platform where communities can co-create magic

Announcing Console

Digital property is a new innovation that allows you to have the same ownership rights online that we’re familiar with when we talk about owning a house, a car, or a driver's license in the real world. Bitcoin sparked the movement when it launched in 2009. With bitcoin you can verifiably own digital information, which represents money. “Own” in the sense that no one can forcibly take your digital property away from you — at least not without your consent.

Prior to Bitcoin there was no way to own anything on the web. Information could only be rented. Today, you rent your Gmail account from Google. Your Instagram photos are on borrowed server at Facebook. Twitter owns their algorithm deciding what content you see, or don’t see.

In the same way Bitcoin began the great unbundled of money from governments,  decentralized identity (ENS, BNS, NFTs, etc). will be the first step in unbundling power from social media goliaths like Twitter, Facebook, and Discord.

The mission of Console is to use the power of digital property rights to build the future of group chat communications.

Console is Web3 chat. It’s an open-source, decentralized app for communities.

I believe Console can play a large role in attracting the next 100,000 users to Web3, and so today I’m excited to share what we’re building.

Console is Built on Web3 Principles:

  1. Console is decentralized — In our first release we’ve decentralize where it’s most important: Identity verification & chat text. Moving forward, we’re employing a progressively decentralized approach to further decentralize. Our ultimate goal is to create a censorship resistant app, one where users can always communicate and reach their audience, even if the entire network tries to stop it.
  2. Console is open source — Read our code, contribute to the repo, and help us build a better future for Console.
  3. Users own their data — Users are verified with native smart contracts, not third-party bots. Unlike Facebook, Instagram, Discord and nearly every other social media app, Console doesn’t own access to your identity, we don’t own your data, only you do.

We believe passionately that we — the Web3 community — are building the future of work, governance, and the creator economy; and therefore we must build on a foundation of tools that we can trust respect our vision and values.

A Community Powered by Trust

Security on Discord is a huge problem. When I’m chatting in Discord servers I’m often on high alert for phishing attempts, DM bots, and random mutant apes shilling their latest rug-pull NFT. These types of hacks not only bankrupt our wallets, they bankrupt our trust in our community. Trust is something you can’t buy with your sats. It can’t be minted. Without trust, organizations fail.

Now, imagine your community super-powered by trust. Imagine being able to click on a community member to review their contribution to the community.

When did a particular member join? How many proposals have they voted on? How many bounties did they complete? The answers to these questions give users a snapshot of who is active in your community. Imagine all that in one app and without the need of third-party bots like Collab.land or MEE6.

This summer we will launch our beta for Console. And when we do, our first Console community—Crash Punks—will be closing its Discord server of 25,000 members and moving over. In the meantime, we are accepting applications for the next batch of ten Console communities. In the meantime, I’d like to share a sneak preview:

Decentralized Identity Means: Zero Sock Puppets

Sock puppets plague social media. A sock puppet is a phony name or identity used to argue, troll, or take advantage of other users. For example, if you’re on Discord, you may not know if the person you’re talking with is an active community member or a puppet.

Console is different. We use verified identity to silence sock puppets. When you arrive at Console, you log in with your favorite web wallet: Hiro Wallet, or MetaMask.

Console validates your membership into communities based on your ownership of NFTs, FTs, .eth or your .btc decentralized ID.

With Console’s built-in identity verification, you can trust that the people you are chatting with are in fact verified members of your community—not masquerading bots or scams. As your community grows, you can assign roles (admin, moderator, member). And when you’re ready, you can choose to gate access to your community with an NFT, .eth or .btc domain. More trust, zero sock puppets.

More Secure, Better Design

Console offers a 10x improvement to Web3 chat. We’ve built in design improvements to threaded conversations, reactions, end-to-end encrypted private channels, and more.

Follow @ConsoleDAO

Console is invite-only. Want to join? Apply for a chance to bring your community to Console. If you have feedback, thoughts, or questions please reach out, we’d love to hear from you. Follow us on Twitter for early access and upcoming announcements @ConsoleDAO.