Meet With BNB Chain Experts #1: Exploring BAB Token Value in the Ecosystem

Hey BNB Chain Fam,

We'd like to welcome you to our new Podcast series: Meet With BNB Chain Experts. For each episode we will invite experts in the BNB Chain ecosystem be a part of a discussion on topics that will help team learn ‘how to build great Web3 dApps’.

As we know, the first-ever Soulbound Token (SBT) built on BNB Chain was launched recently and 14 leading Web3 projects on BNB Chain will provide exclusive incentives for BAB token holders.

Our first episode went live last Tuesday with the topic focusing on the value of the BAB Token to the BNB Chain ecosystem. We invited two core members from The Harvest Game, a F2P MOBA Shooter powered by blockchain, along with BNB Chain team members, to share their thoughts and visions on the new-born BAB tokens.

Participants:

Alvin Kan, Director of Business Operations, BNB Chain

Arno, Solution Architect, BNB Chain

Caio Jahara, Co-founder, the Harvest Game

Abel Chang, Community Manager, the Harvest Game

Podcast Recap:

Here is a summary of the 1st episode. If you want to listen to the full content please click here.

1) What is Soulbound Token?

The idea of the Soulbound Token (SBT) came from the game World of Warcraft, where people were able to collect specific items that had some specific traits or characteristics.  They were not able to be exchanged or traded on the secondary market. We can say it's an NFT without the transfer function in a way.

2) SBT Helps Achieve Decentralized Society

If Soulbound token is like a digital achievement badge or a degree certificate in the traditional Web2 world, why does it become a trending hyped topic in Web3 right now? The answer is: it brings us closer to the goal of decentralized society which we always want to achieve with blockchain.

3) Extra Utilities Could be Unlocked for BAB Token Holders

Take BAB soulbound token for example. BAB token is basically a way for some Binance users who have done the KYC to link their BAB token to their specific DeFi wallets which can be used in different dApps. From the perspective of a project like Harvest, we can see that this specific wallet has gone through KYC by Binance, so it potentially builds more trust and the projects can potentially release more utility for the specific users, such as specific airdrops, specific private access to VIP rooms, etc.

4) Identity-Linked Battle Gear Available for Users

Inside the Harvest game, we can create special skins and battle tags for BAB token holders. These skins or battle tags are soulbound as well so they cannot be traded in our platform market. In the future we can also hold tournaments where the first winners could receive soulbound token rewards. We can do it in a way that everyone knows exactly how it works. We’re super open to listening to our community’s feedback and making things better.

5) SBT-based DeFi Lending

Besides GameFi, decentralized lending protocols could try to integrate SBT by lending a specific amount of money to users based on the SBTs that a user has in his or her wallet. It’s lighter than a traditional KYC in CeFi, because in the end you don’t know who is behind this, only the entity with these SBTs.

6) Potential use of SBTs in DAO Governance

DAOs can utilize SBT quite heavily for their governance. It's a great way to promote more voting mechanisms because one of the issues in the current societies is that we don't go through the voting process frequently enough. But it remains to be answered how these newly-minted SBT be balanced with the original governance tokens.

7) SBT enhances the identity of community members

SBT can be an engagement method for existing users. You are part of the community and you see other players in the game having the same set of exclusive skins you have, and there is an identity of community here. It can prove he or she is an OG. He is not someone who just bought this community badge somewhere or just joined the community, but someone who’s always been holding this and it is impossible that he got this from other users.

8) SBT enables two-way user acquisition

SBT can also be a good user acquisition tool for both sides. After integrating BAB token with Harvest and provide with BAB token holders with exclusive benefits such as a special skin, we would be able to attract the Binance users to come onboard and start playing the game. In turn, it will in the meantime incentivize Harvest players who are not Binance users yet to go to Binance, create an account with their KYC.

9) SBTs With an Expiry Date?

Should SBT have an expiry date or relevancy parameter? It is an open question. For example, we can use SBT to tag someone’s moderator experience, but after a certain amount of time he or she may not be participating in the community anymore, should this SBT be revoked by the community? The Harvest team thinks the project should reward the users who are willing to share the identity with us. They won’t get the SBT revoked. The glory and respect stays forever.

10) Remaining Questions

However, if a user wants to change its wallet address, or unluckily, loses his wallet, how should he or she transfer or retrieve the SBTs in the wallet? It’s basically getting the SBTs revoked from the previous wallet an re-shoot it to a new one. And because the SBTs are issued by different parties, it can make the migration even harder. This topic is still very new and requires a lot of discussions.

It has been less than 6 months since the idea of SBT was first raised, and the BNB Chain ecosystem has already taken an important step forward. However, SBT is still a very early-stage product. There are many questions to be answered and many innovations yet to be discovered. If you are also interested in integrating SBT into your project, feel free to contact our Growth Ops team. We’re more than happy to share our experiences and best practices and bring you to an exciting journey.

Follow us to stay updated on everything BNB Chain!

Website | Twitter | Telegram | Youtube | Discord | Reddit | Build N' Build Forum