Palace

April 6th, 2022

We’ve been heads down for the last few months but excited to finally share what we are building at Palace. If you have questions or would like to chat please feel free to DM me on Twitter!

TLDR; Palace is a decentralized social platform that lets us truly own our digital memories.

We don’t own the digital memories we upload to platforms.

Each week, 28 billion new photos and videos are uploaded to just Google. 665 million more are uploaded to Instagram every week.

These photos and videos contain priceless snapshots of our fondest memories: digital pieces of us we like to carry and reminisce on through our lives.

We also generate additional sub-value by interacting with each other’s moments on these platforms. Replying to stories, layering effects, comments, etc are all ways we add additional value on top of the moments we share with each other.

However, the precious moments we upload to these platforms aren’t owned by us, they are owned by the platforms we use (i.e. Google, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, etc). The cost of storing and sharing our memories on their underlying databases is free as we become the product.

Storing digital copies on a hard drive or USB is an excellent backup option. While it gives us full ownership, it’s clunky in the digital age and still easy to lose or damage.

If those databases are breached, shutdown, or unmaintained, we lose access to our priceless moments forever.

This poses a large risk in the future as so many of us have a majority of our lives documented digitally through the photos and videos we capture and share.

In addition, any sub-value we’ve generated by interacting with each other on these platforms becomes non-transferable and keeps us tied to their ecosystems.

Let’s take a look at an example.

Vitalik captures some incredible photos of his vacation in Bali with some friends and posts them on Instagram. His friends and network of professional photographers compliment his incredible photography, vibes, outfits, and re-share his photos on their stories. Vitalik’s friends also post pictures of the vacation, and the group reposts each other’s content, commenting inside jokes, and using the platform’s tools to digitally enhance the value of their moments. Vitalik captured his memories on a Google Pixel so his vacation snapshots auto-backup to his Google Photos.

One day, Vitalik’s Instagram account gets hacked and he loses access to hundreds of posts he had since the account was first created. He has no way to keep ownership of his moments, or any of the value that him and his friends had added by interacting on the platform.

Now, all he has is a backup of the photo on Google Photos - easily subject to getting hacked as well.

Existing social apps for connection like Instagram and Snapchat are extremely broken.

What used to be a genuine and fun way for us to share moments and connect with each other is now filled with ads and toxic influences. The emphasis on fabricated lifestyles, oversharing, and constant comparison has negatively impacted millions across multiple generations, recently also emphasized by the Netflix show The Social Dilemma.

Effected by the feature choices of existing platforms, Gen-Z feels more anxious, depressed, and alone than ever: in a world where we’re more globally connected than ever.

Suicide Rates for Girls Ages 10-14 are up 150%+ since 2009 (The Social Dilemma)

These platforms were first used genuinely, until they started taking advantage us, creating products that hurt us while keeping ownership of the treasured digital moments we capture, share, and enhance.

Introducing Palace - A Decentralized Memories Platform

Palace is a decentralized social platform that lets us truly own our digital memories.

The platform will let you digitally enhance your memories and cryptically store them on the blockchain, giving only you ownership of your cherished moments, and even letting you share them with generations to come - an on-chain memory palace.

How?

The blockchain is permanent, enabling new systems of ownership and value creation through Hyperstructures, NFTs, tokens, and more.

NFTs can programmatically associate ownership to content you create
Blockchains run on decentralized nodes and can be kept running for a long time, potentially generations

Utilizing these characteristics, digital memories can be stored on the blockchain as NFTs and be owned by only you and those you choose to share with. You can also share them with future generations by passing down the wallet private key.

Data Privacy

Data privacy is one of the main limitations to public blockchain technologies. Especially with private memories, you’d never want just any actor to have access to them.

One possible solution is to encrypt the information before storing it on-chain. By distributing the encryption key off-chain, users keep restricted access, but on the flip side, requires secure key management.

Every solution has drawbacks and we want to use the right one to ensure privacy.

https://research.csiro.au/blockchainpatterns/general-patterns/data-management-patterns/encrypting-on-chain-data

Palace will also be a new social experience, focused on intimate groups, tools to dynamically enhance memories, and encouraging experiencing life with each other again.

Existing Platforms Are Declining In Use

Growth in apps like VSCO, Dispo, Locket Widget, and sharing of photo-reel TikToks illustrates the reignited desire people have for wanting to genuinely connect, dynamically create, and authentically share with their close friends.

Humans Enjoy In-Person

In the last few years we’ve focused our efforts on building online tools and experiences, but humans aren’t meant to be purely digital creatures. We want to experience each other and real life.

Over the next decade, trillions of memories will be captured digitally, and we'll want to refer to those photos and videos to reminisce.

Imagine if we lost them forever.