The AI/Web3 Intersection Will be Mindblowing: Push's Rajat

Harsh Rajat is the founder of Push Protocol and a leading figure in the world of decentralized messaging. Push Protocol is a messaging protocol that utilizes the power of decentralized networks to create secure, private, and efficient communication between dApps and Web3 users. In our conversation we dive into Harsh’s background, the founding story of Push Protocol, their business model, the intersection of Web3 and AI, challenges in Web3 UX, and more. We begin our conversation with an introduction to Push Protocol from Harsh.

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Timestamps

• 00:00 The Push Protocol Explained
• 05:09 The Importance of Notification and Messaging Systems for Web3 Applications
• 09:05 Understanding the Functionality of Push Protocol in Web3
• 12:15 Compatibility
• 13:27 Competition
• 15:08 Harsh’s Background and Founding Story
• 18:48 Driving Growth
• 26:51 Business Model
• 31:59 Open AI Integration
• 43:00 Simplifying the Onboarding Process for New Web3 Users
• 48:53 What’s Next for Push
• 54:00 How are you defiant?

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Now, onto the transcript:

Revolutionizing Communication on the Blockchain: The Push Protocol Explained

Why don’t we just start from the very basics, if you can describe what Push is?

Push protocol is a decentralized communication protocol designed to handle various types of communication, such as notifications, messaging, video calling, and streaming. This protocol allows any decentralized application (dApp), smart contract, or backend service, including web2 services, to send communication through on-chain or off-chain notifications or chats. These communications are tied directly to users’ wallet addresses and are secure and encrypted.

The integration of wallet and communication enables crypto wallets and dApps to tap into the Push network and display all types of communication, including notifications and chats, within the wallet or dApp. Push protocol was established in 2020 to bring notifications to web3, addressing the need for alerts in the growing DeFi space.

Push protocol recognizes that web3 wallet addresses serve as web3 usernames, so it ties communication to these addresses instead of relying on separate platform usernames like those used on Twitter or Telegram. Since its inception, Push protocol has launched two products: Push notifications and Push chat. The latter was developed after the successful implementation of notifications, as messaging systems like WhatsApp heavily rely on notifications.

So far, Push protocol has sent over 30 million notifications to more than 80,000 web3 users and powers notifications and communications for prominent protocols like Uniswap, Lens, Bitcoin Polygon, Aave, Decentraland, and dYdX.

The Importance of Notification and Messaging Systems for Web3 Applications

The decentralized nature of web3, while exciting, creates challenges for DeFi protocols to communicate with their users. The solution is to have web3-native messaging through wallets to allow for direct communication between users and protocols without the need for personal information exchange.

In web2, we often start our day by checking notifications on our phones from various applications. These notifications alert us to important events or updates, like work-related messages on Slack, viral tweets on Twitter, or delivery notifications from Amazon. These apps have their own notification and messaging modules to communicate with users and prompt them to take action.

Applying this concept to web3, decentralized applications (dApps) need similar notification and messaging systems to compete with web2 apps. Users need notifications for events such as DeFi loan liquidations, protocol upgrades, layer 2 to layer 1 transfers, governance proposals, or even article notifications from platforms like DeFiant.

These notifications are sent to users’ wallet addresses. Once users receive targeted notifications, the next logical step is to enable chat functionality. In web3, wallet addresses serve as usernames, so it’s essential to have messaging and chat features for better interaction among users, particularly in NFT marketplaces or web3 social platforms. This allows wallets to “talk” to each other and fosters communication within the web3 ecosystem.

Understanding the Functionality of Push Protocol in Web3

When dApps integrate Push notifications, does the end user have to do anything on their end, or will they just receive these notifications on their desktop or like whenever, wherever they are in interacting with these dApps?

End users must install a compatible wallet, extension, mobile app, or compatible dApp/crypto wallet to access the Push protocol. They can view notifications by signing in with their wallet address on both desktop and mobile devices. However, it is not automatic; users must opt-in to receive notifications from a specific protocol and accept chat requests from other users.

This requirement for user consent is in place to ensure privacy and control over which protocols can send notifications and which users can initiate chats. Once users allow certain protocols or wallets to send them notifications or chats, the process becomes automatic, and they will receive the messages as desired.

If I’m using a Metamask wallet for Uniswap, then I would have to go to the Push website to allow Uniswap to send me messages through my wallet. Is that right?

Yes. Users can opt-in to receive notifications from specific protocols, like Uniswap, by visiting app.push.org and selecting the desired channel. They can then give consent through a free, gasless signature from their wallet, maintaining a permissionless and trustless system. After opting in, users will receive all notifications that Uniswap sends to them.

Alternatively, users can opt-in from any dApp frontend that offers this functionality, without needing to visit the Push website. If a user’s wallet, such as MetaMask, does not yet support the Push protocol, they can download the Push extension or the Push mobile app to start receiving notifications or chats.

Compatibility

Which wallets are compatible?

Currently, four wallets are integrating with the Push protocol. Although specific names cannot be disclosed, the Polygon wallet is one of them, and its compatibility has been publicly announced. There are three other wallets also working on integration with Push.

Competition

Are there any competing or similar protocols in web3 that also offer notifications?

Currently, no one offers notifications at the protocol level. Most solutions opt for a web2.5 experience, connecting wallets to emails, which was not the desired approach for the Push protocol. Instead, Push aims to create a web3 experience.

Dialect, a Solana-based project, offers messaging services, but they only focus on chat and do not have a native notification module. This could limit user re-engagement. To achieve optimal re-engagement, it is believed that having separate chat and notification modules is essential.

Etherscan also had or has a chat function or feature.

Yes, Etherscan offers some web3 solutions, but it functions more like a closed system, similar to WhatsApp. Unlike an open protocol, it doesn’t allow any developer to build on top of it.

Harsh’s Background and Founding Story

What’s your background and what’s the founding story behind Push?

I have a decade of entrepreneurial experience, starting with mobile apps and games. I was there when Apple introduced notifications to web2 and observed their impact on users. My journey in communication led me to explore Bitcoin, Ethereum, and various protocols before starting the Ethereum Push Notification Service (EPNS) project.

I focused on communication for two reasons: First, I recognized its central role in web2 and dApps. Second, I experienced a personal loss in a DeFi protocol liquidation without any alerts, motivating me to investigate web3’s communication gaps.

To address these gaps, we developed notifications as a foundation for other communication forms. We also built Push Chat, an AI chatbot, and will soon introduce Push Video, an instant video feature.

Driving Growth

It looks like since 2020 you’ve had a really good amount of traction. You’re seeing users on the protocol which is great to see. So for other builders out there, what would you say are important lessons that you’ve had in this journey? What has been key in driving growth?

• Be shameless in asking questions.

• Share everything with the community.

• Start with a hackathon.

Business Model

What’s the business model there? Just like bluntly, how do you make money from this?

Push protocol’s business model is inspired by the web2’s 80/20 rule, where 20% of the services pay for the rest of the 80%. Push aims to provide basic services to users for free and only charge for super-premium services, mainly to the protocols sending notifications. For example, after sending 10 million notifications, the protocol may need to pay a fee. Similarly, chat users may need to pay for additional premium features.

The protocol charges a small activation fee (50 PUSH) for protocols wanting to send notifications. In the future, fees will be charged only when services or users benefit significantly from Push and desire extra features. These fees will flow directly into the Push protocol fee pool.

Token holders of Push can decide how the fees are distributed, ensuring that crypto wallets adopting the protocol are incentivized and fairly rewarded. The business model aims to encourage adoption and benefit users without burdening the majority (80%) with additional costs. The model will start taking shape with the protocol’s V2 release.

If a user wants to set up a messaging restriction, such as requiring a specific amount of PUSH tokens to send them a message request, Push will charge a small fee (0.1% of that value). This charge applies to premium features that the user greatly benefits from. The chat request feature will be introduced in the newest audit of Push.

• The only active fee in Push protocol is the activation fee for protocols that want to enable themselves on the platform.

• This fee is required even when notifications can be sent off-chain.

• This setup allows on-chain governance to determine if a protocol is misbehaving and needs to be removed.

• The activation fee was implemented a few weeks ago.

How much revenue has that generated for you so far?

We basically charge a very basic fee of 50 push. So it’s not about revenue, it’s more like a civil production.

Open AI Integration

How did that happen? How does it work?

If you’re a web user, you can just go to app push.org/chat/push, and just start chatting.

The chatbot in Push protocol has a witty and sarcastic personality to make it engaging and fun for users. Initially, the chatbot aims to familiarize users with AI capabilities, even offering a hidden command that allows it to draw pictures.

The long-term vision for the chatbot is to improve user experience by assisting with tasks such as swapping tokens, calculating yield strategies, and facilitating payments. The AI can also learn users’ preferences to provide personalized recommendations, similar to Spotify or YouTube algorithms. The chatbot can act as a support tool for users, answering questions about various platforms like Uniswap. This is just the beginning of the chatbot’s potential within Push protocol.

AI-Powered Chatbots in Web3: Revolutionizing User Experience and Adoption

In the near future, developers building on top of Push Chat will have access to the AI chatbot module and the ability to train it for their own purposes. This can lead to various applications, such as support chats that guide users through processes like investing or buying NFTs. Instead of relying on documentation or tutorials, users can engage in conversations with the chatbot, creating a more interactive and powerful user experience.

• AI can personalize user experience in web3, similar to how Amazon recommends products, making it easier for users to discover new NFT collections or optimal times for purchasing.

• AI can improve UX in web3 by offering human-readable explanations for smart contract functions, as demonstrated in a hackathon project using ChatGPT.

• Web3 adoption relies on improving UX, and AI combined with web3 can help eliminate the steep learning curve (e.g., seed phrases, smart contract interactions, etc.) that currently hinders mainstream adoption.

Simplifying the Onboarding Process for New Web3 Users

Imagine a new web3 user wants to participate in a protocol they like. They must first:

1. Install MetaMask, which may be unfamiliar to them.

1. Learn about seed phrases and securely store it.

1. Use a centralized exchange to obtain the necessary tokens, involving KYC and on/off ramp processes.

1. Possibly use Uniswap if the protocol charges in its native token.

These steps are required for just one interaction, which can be daunting and needs simplification for a better user experience.

I think AI can help translate some of those steps. Like you were saying, reading a contract or understanding what you’re signing when you’re signing a transaction.

Yeah, AI can help with that. But like all of those steps you mentioned in the end, it comes down to developers making it easier. I don’t think AI can solve all of that.

AI and account abstraction, like Ethereum’s planned improvements, will significantly help streamline onboarding. By allowing users to create a social recovery account using smart wallets, the process becomes more straightforward. Network abstraction, as demonstrated in Instadapp’s new wallet launch, also eases onboarding. The goal is to make the onboarding process as simple as entering an email. AI will further improve users’ experiences by enabling personalized content discovery, similar to what we enjoy in web2, for things like NFTs in web3.

What we lack is the UX part, which this account abstraction and AI will improve and that will basically make it very seamless. So in the future, I don’t think we even will talk about web3 and web2.

You’re saying that we won’t talk about web2 on web3 because they’ll be the same thing, or because everyone will be on web3?

In the future, everyone will be on web3 without realizing it, as various protocols will interact seamlessly with each other behind the scenes. Just like in this video call, where multiple protocols work together without our awareness, everything will be abstracted away. Users might use services like Uniswap for banking without having to understand the underlying mechanisms, making web3 more accessible and user-friendly.

What’s Next for Push

We talked about this AI development and you mentioned this video chat as well. So if you wanna can you explain a bit more about what this is?

The next step for Push is to provide developers with more tools to create innovative applications. We will soon launch Push Video, a decentralized peer-to-peer wallet-to-wallet video call protocol that developers can build on. This development is part of the era of decentralized social networking, and it will be released in the near future.

I’d love to just see your big picture, long vision for Push. If everything goes well and we have this web3 slash AI-infused internet and future, where do you see Push in 10 years?

Push has a broad vision, and we are just getting started. Our goals include:

1. Becoming a communication protocol available on all blockchains, including Ethereum, Bitcoin, and others like Solana and Aptos.

1. Allowing users with multiple wallets on various chains to interact seamlessly, enabling cross-chain communication between users and protocols.

1. Enhancing the user experience by providing a seamless, unified interface for all crypto-related communication, regardless of the blockchain.

Push aims to be a middleware for the entire web3 ecosystem, offering various communication methods, including video calls, podcasts, and token gate payments. Our goal is to make all these features accessible to web3 developers, creating a more user-friendly experience across the board.

How are you defiant?

I believe that you need to challenge the status quo all the time. I do believe that people who basically take it upon themselves to change the world will usually do. Or other people who will usually be responsible for changing it. So how am I defiant? I love to challenge whatever is there, and I love to keep on improving that.