When real-world property (RWAs) lastly grew to become the crypto business’s narrative du jour, Sunny Lu, the founder and CEO of VeChain, may solely smile.
“I imply, we have been doing this again in 2017,” Lu informed CoinDesk in an interview forward of Consensus 2025 in Toronto. “Again then, nobody cared about RWAs.”
Again then—eons in crypto years—among the tasks VeChain was concerned with have been a dairy traceability venture in China, working with Walmart China on meals security, and tokenizing carbon credit in 2018 with BYD because it was reworking from a regional automotive model to an up-and-coming international big.
“We have been forward of our time,” Lu continued.
VeChain outlined a class that TradFi giants like BlackRock are actually constructing into their model.
Now it is time for the protocol’s subsequent act.
At Consensus Toronto, Lu will ship a keynote titled “Actual Decentralization for Mass Adoption,” outlining VeChain’s new method to scaling RWAs and blockchain use past the crypto-native crowd.
A roadmap that entails turning human habits itself right into a tokenizable asset and bridges crypto’s usability hole with AI brokers and NFT-based staking.
Tokenizing human habits
VeChain desires to show on a regular basis actions like recycling or driving an EV into one thing measurable and priceless on-chain.
By linking real-world habits to blockchain rewards by means of instruments like VeBetterDAO and Tesla integrations, it’s creating a brand new class of tokenized property, making sustainability measurable and incentivized on-chain.
“We’re not simply tokenizing large property,” Lu mentioned. “We’re tokenizing the invisible ones that didn’t have market worth earlier than.”
Lu calls this “tokenizing human habits,” an idea VeChain first explored in 2019 as a prototype by means of its partnership with BYD, the place it tracked EV mileage to generate carbon credit.
AI Brokers for the Internet 2 Crowd
However real-world worth doesn’t matter if folks can’t entry it. Crypto stays intimidating for many customers, and Lu believes AI is the reply.
VeChain is constructing an AI agent into its VeBetterDAO ecosystem, beginning with a personality named “BMO,” a digital assistant that may information customers by means of staking, app interplay, and finally optimize their token methods throughout the VeChain community.
“Individuals don’t wish to memorize seed phrases,” mentioned Lu. “They need a Tesla login or a Google ID. They wish to click on a button and take part. Our AI agent will assist them do precisely that.”
VeChain’s upcoming integrations will permit customers to log in with social credentials and even Tesla accounts. For instance, EV charging knowledge can circulation routinely into good contracts and generate carbon credit score rewards with out person intervention.
“We’re eradicating friction from each a part of the stack,” Lu mentioned. “It’s like transferring from Linux command line to macOS.”
NFTs as Infrastructure
To allow broad protocol-level participation, VeChain is rethinking staking. Somewhat than requiring technical know-how or counting on centralized validators, customers will quickly be capable of mint NFTs that characterize their staked property and delegate them on to node operators.
“You don’t have to surrender custody,” Lu mentioned. “Block rewards go immediately from the protocol to you, no intermediary. It’s safer, extra compliant, and simpler for the common person.”
This technique, a part of what Lu calls the VeChain Renaissance improve, goals to spice up staking participation by decreasing the technical obstacles whereas preserving decentralization.
“That is actual decentralization,” Lu mentioned. “Everybody else talks about it. We’re constructing it.”
10-12 months Anniversary
Lu’s keynote at Consensus in Toronto will mark a private milestone: ten years since he first offered VeChain in New York again in 2015. This time, he’s coming with receipts and plans to showcase actual traction from VeChain’s AI and sustainability initiatives.
Mugshot, a DeFi app that rewards customers for reusing their espresso mugs and never shopping for disposable cups, is approaching a million customers. One other venture, EVEarn, which integrates Tesla’s API to routinely convert EV charging knowledge into on-chain rewards, boasts a 98% retention price.
“In Web3, that’s insane,” Lu mentioned. “Virtually each person retains coming again each week. That tells you the expertise is working.”
For Lu, the way forward for crypto received’t be received by hype cycles or flashy tokens. It will likely be earned by means of usability.
“The objective is mass adoption,” he mentioned. “Actual decentralization is the muse. However adoption, that’s the vacation spot.”
