What is Grass (GRASS)?

TLDR
Grass is a decentralized network that rewards users for contributing unused internet bandwidth to collect public web data for AI training, creating a user-owned alternative to corporate-controlled data scraping.

1. Purpose – Democratizes access to web data for AI development while compensating users
2. Mechanism – Turns idle bandwidth into a resource for ethical data collection via a Solana-based DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network)
3. Rewards – Users earn GRASS tokens based on bandwidth contribution and network participation

Deep Dive

1. Purpose & Value Proposition

Grass addresses two key issues:
- AI data scarcity: Centralized entities (like Google) dominate web scraping, limiting access to diverse datasets for AI training. Grass decentralizes this process, enabling permissionless data collection.
- User exploitation: Traditional apps often monetize user bandwidth without compensation. Grass lets users profit from their unused internet via a transparent rewards system (Grass Blog).

The network supplies verified institutions with public web data for market research, price comparisons, and academic studies while maintaining user privacy.

2. Technology & Architecture

• Distributed nodes: Users’ devices form a global network that scrapes public websites through residential IP addresses, avoiding centralized control.
• ZK-proofs: Ensures data integrity and user anonymity by validating contributions without exposing personal information.
• Solana integration: Leverages high-speed, low-cost transactions for reward distribution and governance.

3. Tokenomics & Governance

• Grass Points: Track user contributions (bandwidth sharing, referrals) and convert to GRASS tokens during airdrops.
• Supply mechanics: Fixed 1 billion total supply, with 29% currently circulating. Token holders govern partnerships and network upgrades.
• Use cases: GRASS secures network operations, incentivizes node operators, and grants voting rights in decentralized decision-making.

Conclusion

Grass reimagines internet infrastructure by transforming passive bandwidth into a community-driven resource for AI development, prioritizing user ownership and fair compensation. As decentralized AI gains traction, can Grass’s ethical data model challenge Big Tech’s dominance in web scraping?