Web3 promises so much, but one of the barriers to Web3 is Web3 itself.
The best businesses in this industry wear a Web2 mask. User experience should be at the forefront always.
In this article, don’t worry if some things may seem technical - that’s just us explaining some of the Web3 magic. The aim is to try and dilute it down so it is understandable for both a Web2 and Web3 audience.
The Problem
Publishers can’t capture enough value from their users - ad revenues flow to platforms instead of publishers.
We often hear 'time is money' but the digital landscape has mostly ignored the currency of time, prioritizing clicks over quality engagement.
The Solution
Monetize through ‘Time Availability’ rather than intrusive practices. Rewarding time spent in a way that benefits both publishers and readers.
At Hydro we enable publishers to capture outsized value, from big tech and content creators, realigning incentives online and thus allowing them to give back to their community.
We exist to empower publishers with passive income so they can create better user experiences.
Understanding the Audience
In our initial brainstorming sessions, we recognized that our primary audience comprises of content creators, major publishers, high-traffic NSFW platforms, and small to medium-sized websites.
Luckily we discovered some underlying truths that unite them all:
Membership Tiers
Before we get into how Hydro works let’s distinguish the difference between the different tiers of Hydro. This will help you understand the rewards element.
Hydro Online: Freemium plan, generates competitive revenue
- Hydro allows publishers to fully monetize ‘time spent’, reducing reliance on ads, paywalls and other intrusive practices.
- Publishers earn more as their audience enjoys a richer, uncluttered online user experience.
Hydro Plus: More nodes = More web revenue for publishers
- Nodes lock up tokens and generate demand.
- Publishers get multiplied web revenue by adding more nodes.
- Increased token scarcity.
How does it work?
So, on the surface level, how does it work once you sign up?
- Publishers sign up to Hydro, an online platform that allows websites and apps to monetize without ads.
- Publishers can choose between Hydro Online, Plus and Pro. Depending on the plan, earnings will increase.
- After signing up, publishers can access a unique code in their account, which they can integrate within their platform.
- When a user visits the website or app, they become a part of the Hydro ecosystem, initiating a journey of value creation.
- Hydro turns passive browsing into active earning, creating a win-win ecosystem. No ads, no data collection, no more cluttered UI.
Now, let’s get a little more technical…
Financial Engineering: Driving token value via scarcity and a circular token economy
Hydro derives its power from blockchain, financial engineering and circular token economy all whilst putting on a friendly Web2 disguise.
- Publishers who join Hydro's network are offered to become an active contributor by owning ‘nodes’ to earn supercharged web traffic revenue.
- This is a fragment of a computer that, when combined, validates transactions on the SUI blockchain (and other blockchains over time).
- This process drives token demand and scarcity, further boosting revenue potential.
- Publishers earn rewards in exchange for each node’s computational effort and time.
- Important: Hydro does NOT use web mining at all. That has been replaced by the above described process, working through fractionalized validators.
This is probably the most important and key value driver within the Hydro network.
As total circulating supply on the open market decreases and more publishers join the network and become node operators you see token demand and scarcity increasing exponentially over time.
Not only does this further boost revenue potential for publishers but it also increases the token value.
As for acquiring publishers for the Hydro ecosystem, our value proposition is very strong and clear, offering free, seamless, passive revenue. We plan to reach publishers with this proposition by adhering to a well-thought-out plan that will make use of all available channels to increase reach and target the desired audience - website/app owners.
As such, we plan a massive media buying campaign that will intertwine with our press release campaigns, as well as organic growth through value-focused partnerships and word of mouth.
What are the rewards? How are stakeholders incentivized?
To incentivize all stakeholders of the Hydro ecosystem, weekly block rewards (725,960 Hydro @ <~4% annual inflation rate) are generated, which are distributed proportionally between the contributors of the network. The inflation or deflation rates and incentives linked with ecosystem participation will be subject to governance, to be voted by ecosystem stakeholders. Let’s take a look at different stakeholders in the ecosystem and how they are rewarded:
Hydro Freemium users: They are bringing website traffic to the ecosystem and are rewarded from a pool of 25% of Hydro block rewards, shared proportionally based on their website traffic.
Hydro Plus users: Not only are they bringing website traffic to the ecosystem but also they own a stake in the network = at least one publisher node. They are rewarded from a pool of:
- Rewards from the Freemium tier mentioned above (25% of Hydro block rewards, shared proportionally based on their website traffic).
- Additional 15% of Hydro block rewards, only shared proportionally between Hydro Plus users as per their website traffic and the number of nodes owned.
- Additional 30% of Hydro block rewards, only shared proportionally based on the number of nodes between Hydro Plus users.
- Additional SUI rewards from SUI validator staking based on the SUI collateral publisher nodes would produce. Additionally, this will be boosted by the integration of other blockchains as well.
Hydro Pro users: Web3 users in charge of running the masternodes, which are going to own the process of validation.
- Passive masternode rewards: Owners of masternode NFTs will receive 10% APR over their masternode collateral.
- Active masternode rewards: If the masternode is voted to own the process of running a validator:
- To become an active masternode candidate, masternodes will propose their commission rates for running the validators when the network has enough collateral to run a validator. Publishers in the network will vote to select the masternode.
- 20% of Hydro block rewards will be shared proportionally based on the masternode collateral between active masternodes
- % commissions of SUI validator block rewards.
Stakers: Anyone in the ecosystem will be able to stake their tokens, stakers are rewarded from a pool of 7.5% of Hydro block rewards, shared proportionally based on the amount staked by the user.
Referrers: Anyone in the ecosystem will be able to use the referral program to introduce Hydro to the new publishers, they will be rewarded 1% over the introduced website traffic revenue.
Visitors (Community & Community Plus Programs): So, we’ve covered publishers quite thoroughly, but what about website visitors? Where is the earning potential there?
With Hydro’s community program, visitors of the website will have an introduction to a Web3 environment, if the website owners decide to share Hydro earnings with their visitor base.
Hydro will simply present an option for website owners to share their earnings via them by a percentage. Say 50% is set for the loyalty program, whatever this visitor brings as a revenue to the publisher, the visitor will be entitled to claim 50% of these rewards. Therefore, they will automatically own a SUI wallet in the backend to get Hydro rewards.
With the Community Plus program, Hydro plans to increase the stickiness of these users to web3 by rewarding them additionally. If the visitors subscribe to the community plus program, they will earn double the amount of loyalty rewards provided by the publisher while browsing all websites that have activated the community rewards program.
How does Hydro generate revenue?
Hydro gets 30% commission over publisher and validator earnings (token revenue share) and from subscriptions (cash revenue).
As more stakeholders lock up tokens, token value increases due to scarcity, resulting in more revenue for both stakeholders and Hydro.
Over time, Hydro will also be in a position to buy back and burn tokens using the cash revenue generated from subscriptions to the Community Plus program, or via direct burns over token revenue share.
