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When real-world assets (RWAs) yet became the crypto industry's communicative du jour, Sunny Lu, the laminitis and CEO of VeChain, could lone smile.
“I mean, we were doing this backmost successful 2017,” Lu told CoinDesk successful an interrogation up of Consensus 2025 successful Toronto. “Back then, nary 1 cared astir RWAs."
Back then—eons successful crypto years—some of the projects VeChain was progressive with were a dairy traceability task successful China, working with Walmart China connected nutrient safety, and tokenizing c credits successful 2018 with BYD arsenic it was transforming from a determination car marque to an up-and-coming planetary giant.
"We were up of our time,” Lu continued.
VeChain defined a class that TradFi giants similar BlackRock are present gathering into their brand.
Now it's clip for the protocol's adjacent act.
At Consensus Toronto, Lu volition present a keynote titled “Real Decentralization for Mass Adoption,” outlining VeChain’s caller attack to scaling RWAs and blockchain usage beyond the crypto-native crowd.
A roadmap that involves turning quality behaviour itself into a tokenizable plus and bridges crypto’s usability spread with AI agents and NFT-based staking.
Tokenizing quality behavior
VeChain wants to crook mundane actions similar recycling oregon driving an EV into thing measurable and invaluable on-chain.
By linking real-world behaviour to blockchain rewards done tools similar VeBetterDAO and Tesla integrations, it’s creating a caller people of tokenized assets, making sustainability measurable and incentivized on-chain.
“We’re not conscionable tokenizing large assets,” Lu said. “We’re tokenizing the invisible ones that didn’t person marketplace worth before.”
Lu calls this “tokenizing quality behavior,” a conception VeChain archetypal explored successful 2019 arsenic a prototype done its concern with BYD, wherever it tracked EV mileage to make c credits.
AI Agents for the Web 2 Crowd
But real-world worth doesn’t substance if radical can’t entree it. Crypto remains intimidating for astir users, and Lu believes AI is the answer.
VeChain is gathering an AI cause into its VeBetterDAO ecosystem, starting with a quality named “BMO,” a virtual adjunct that tin usher users done staking, app interaction, and yet optimize their token strategies crossed the VeChain network.
“People don’t privation to memorize effect phrases,” said Lu. “They privation a Tesla login oregon a Google ID. They privation to click a fastener and participate. Our AI cause volition assistance them bash precisely that.”
VeChain’s upcoming integrations volition let users to log successful with societal credentials oregon adjacent Tesla accounts. For example, EV charging information tin travel automatically into astute contracts and make c recognition rewards without idiosyncratic intervention.
“We’re removing friction from each portion of the stack,” Lu said. “It’s similar moving from Linux bid enactment to macOS.”
NFTs arsenic Infrastructure
To alteration wide protocol-level participation, VeChain is rethinking staking. Rather than requiring method know-how oregon relying connected centralized validators, users volition soon beryllium capable to mint NFTs that correspond their staked assets and delegate them straight to node operators.
“You don’t person to springiness up custody,” Lu said. “Block rewards spell straight from the protocol to you, nary middleman. It’s much secure, much compliant, and easier for the mean user.”
This system, portion of what Lu calls the VeChain Renaissance upgrade, aims to boost staking information by lowering the method barriers portion preserving decentralization.
“This is existent decentralization,” Lu said. “Everyone other talks astir it. We’re gathering it.”
10-Year Anniversary
Lu’s keynote astatine Consensus successful Toronto volition people a idiosyncratic milestone: 10 years since helium archetypal presented VeChain successful New York backmost successful 2015. This time, he’s coming with receipts and plans to showcase existent traction from VeChain’s AI and sustainability initiatives.
Mugshot, a DeFi app that rewards users for reusing their java mugs and not buying disposable cups, is approaching 1 cardinal users. Another project, EVEarn, which integrates Tesla’s API to automatically person EV charging information into on-chain rewards, boasts a 98% retention rate.
“In Web3, that’s insane,” Lu said. “Almost each idiosyncratic keeps coming backmost each week. That tells you the acquisition is working.”
For Lu, the aboriginal of crypto won’t beryllium won by hype cycles oregon flashy tokens. It volition beryllium earned done usability.
“The extremity is wide adoption,” helium said. “Real decentralization is the foundation. But adoption, that’s the destination.”
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