<\/p>\n
Think back to May of 2022. Spring is here, the NFT100<\/a> is a month away, and Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin<\/a> just made a huge announcement: Soulbound Tokens (SBTs). The idea \u2014 which came via a white paper<\/a>\u00a0entitled \u201cDecentralized Society: Finding Web3\u2019s Soul\u201d \u2014 inspires \u201coohs\u201d and \u201cahhs\u201d throughout the metaverse. That same month, the paper\u2019s co-author E. Glen Weyl states<\/a> that early uses of SBTs may be available by the end of 2022.<\/p>\n Yet, fast forward to January 2023, and where are all these early use-case SBTs to be found? Did the NFT space glaze over this potentially paradigm-shifting technology in favor of more Bored Ape derivatives\u2026 again? Or is there simply a lack of infrastructure to create SBTs in the first place? Maybe both, or maybe neither \u2014 because SBTs are <\/em>here, but they are still far from their final form.<\/p>\n In plain terms, Soulbound Tokens<\/a>\u00a0are NFTs that are non-transferable, making them ideal for managing permanent records (versus storing documents in your safe deposit box). But taking over paper records is only a single function of these NFTs. Because according to Buterin\u2019s paper, SBTs will function as a comprehensive suite of tools for online users to preserve and protect their identity.<\/p>\n Over the past year, it\u2019s become common sentiment that, should SBTs be adopted as originally planned, they stand to impact our everyday lives significantly. Through SBTs, medical records, academic achievements, alumni status, employment histories, criminal records, and everything in between can be minted as an NFT with immutable and non-transferable ownership. This could be especially useful for healthcare administrators and hiring managers. But so far, SBTs have yet to reach the outside world.<\/p>\n While SBTs have yet to be adopted into mainstream society (or NFTs, for that matter), there are still current Soulbound efforts coming to fruition on the blockchain. Not in droves, as some may have imagined after the initial white paper release, but a select few have taken it upon themselves to help usher in a new phase of Web3 identity<\/a>.<\/p>\n One such venture aiming to innovate within this burgeoning sector comes from MoonPay<\/a>. In 2023, the company, helmed by CEO Ivan Soto-Wright<\/a>, is poised to help define the potential of SBTs in our current blockchain climate by launching the Web3 Passport<\/a>. Billed as a \u201cnext-generation loyalty and rewards program,\u201d the passport will grant holders guaranteed access to exclusive experiences and products from MoonPay partners and other leading brands and creators. This Soulbound NFT offering could prove to be especially beneficial to Web3 brand building.<\/p>\n But of course, MoonPay is a single player in the quickly growing SBT game. While it could potentially be the most NFT-native SBT offering on the horizon (apart from an adjacent Pudgy Penguins endeavor<\/a>), other entities have begun breaking ground on Soulbound projects that aren\u2019t necessarily dependent on NFT tech or culture. From the Tenora blockchain<\/a> planning to go Soulbound in the future to Crypto VC LongHash<\/a> pondering an SBT reward system, and even a collaborative undertaking<\/a> from MetaMask, Cobo, and Gnosis Safe in the works, organizations from a variety of sectors have expressed interest in Soulbound Tokens.<\/p>\n Even so, considering how fresh the concept of SBT is, the practicality of the new type of token may still be at large. While real-life SBT applications \u2014 like tokenized diplomas<\/a> from the National University of Mongolia and potential SBT trials launching via Japanese banking giant SMBC<\/a> \u2014\u00a0have shown that Soulbound Tokens have every incentive to venture away from Web3 nativity, they still feel like a novelty that falls short of communicating the full potential of SBTs.<\/p>\n Perhaps this perceived shortcoming is more an issue of form vs. function, though. Currently, there are few methods through which NFT issuers can provide safe, usable non-transferable tokens at scale. Considering the constraints of SBTs as outlined by Buterin\u2019s white paper (that SBTs might not be achievable until we\u2019ve entered into a decentralized society where everyone has a \u201cSoul\u201d wallet), those hoping to launch SBTs must first create infrastructure and protocol that would grant SBTs function. Either that or place their bets on a chain or platform to do so for them.<\/p>\n This is precisely why some, like Masa Finance, are already tackling technological roadblocks head-on. With Masa\u2019s January 2023 Ethereum mainnet launch<\/a>, the company sought to empower users to mint a variety of Soulbound Tokens \u2014 including Soulbound Identity SBTs, Web3 credit reports, and unique .soul domain name NFTs \u2014 on its own unique platform, which centers around a decentralized credit protocol<\/a>.<\/p>\nWhat are Soulbound Tokens?<\/h2>\n
Where Soulbound Tokens currently stand<\/h2>\n
The issue of infrastructure<\/h2>\n