Decentralized Search with Presearch: Base, Privacy, and the Future

Summary

In the 'Building Web 3 Podcast', host Tim explores the innovative world of decentralized search with Presearch, a platform boasting over 1 million users. Tim, Presearch's CEO, shares his journey from traditional finance to crypto, detailing his initial skepticism and eventual embrace of Bitcoin. He discusses the evolution of Presearch, from its ICO to its current status as a leader in web 3 search technology, emphasizing its privacy-focused, decentralized approach and the challenges of balancing transparency with user anonymity in advertising.

Takeaways

• 😀 Tim, the CEO of Presearch, was initially skeptical about Bitcoin but after deep research, he found value in it and became involved in the crypto space since 2013.
• 🔐 Presearch is a decentralized search engine platform aiming to revolutionize internet exploration with a focus on privacy and individual freedoms.
• 📈 Presearch has grown to over 1 million active users and offers a unique advertising model that respects user privacy by not tracking personal data.
• 💡 Tim's background includes managing a nine-digit family office and his experience spans various areas including stocks, bonds, real estate, and crypto.
• 🚀 Presearch introduced 'Preg GPT', a generative AI search engine that is part of their suite of innovative web 3.0 technologies.
• 🛠️ The platform allows users to choose from over 120 different search engines, providing a customizable search experience.
• 💼 Tim became involved with Presearch after being asked to be an advisor, and later took over the company to save it from failing after running out of ICO funds.
• 🔄 Presearch is transitioning from a centralized model to a decentralized one by building on blockchain technology, starting with Binance's Smart Chain.
• 🔑 They are working on giving users their own wallets for staking and rewards, enhancing transparency and aligning with the ethos of web 3.0.
• 🤝 Presearch has established partnerships with companies like Coinzilla and Q Coin, and is engaging with the broader crypto community for growth.
• 🌐 The Presearch team is focused on improving the platform's transparency, reducing token inflation, and planning for a deflationary model to increase token value.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the Building Web 3 Podcast episode featuring Tim?

The main focus of the episode is to explore the world of decentralized search, specifically discussing the platform Presearch and its innovations in Web 3 search technology.

How did Tim initially get involved in the cryptocurrency space?

Tim got involved in crypto in 2013 when a company he was working with asked him to manage a Bitcoin fund due to his fund management experience. Initially skeptical, he spent six months researching and eventually became more convinced about the potential of Bitcoin.

What was Tim's background before he became involved in the crypto space?

Tim's background is quite diverse, but he had experience in fund management. He was involved in a crypto fund without needing to understand or believe in Bitcoin, just needing to know how to run a fund.

What is Presearch and how does it differ from traditional search engines?

Presearch is a decentralized search platform that allows users to choose from over 120 different search engines. It also offers features like search staking, node staking, and keyword staking, which are unique to its platform.

What is the significance of Presearch's partnership with Salad, and what does it aim to achieve?

The partnership with Salad aims to create a generative AI search engine using Salad's decentralized network of GPUs. This collaboration is significant as it represents an innovative approach to leveraging underutilized computing power for AI purposes.

What is the concept of 'preg GPT' mentioned in the podcast?

Preg GPT refers to Presearch's generative AI search engine, which is a unique offering in the decentralized search space. It is designed to be more privacy-focused and less restrictive than other AI search engines.

How does Presearch plan to address the issue of transparency and centralization in its platform?

Presearch plans to move to a more decentralized model by integrating with blockchain platforms like Base. This will allow for greater transparency, as every search and reward can be recorded on the blockchain, and users will have more control over their tokens.

What is the strategy behind Presearch's approach to advertising, and how does it differ from traditional online advertising?

Presearch's advertising strategy focuses on privacy and does not use tracking methods like pixels or cookies. Instead, it offers 'Presearch Takeover Ads' which are displayed as background images without any invasive tracking, appealing to users who value privacy.

How does Presearch handle the issue of attributing ad campaigns without using traditional tracking methods?

Presearch provides advertisers with metadata about ad interactions, such as the number of clicks, without collecting personal data about the users. This allows advertisers to gauge the effectiveness of their campaigns without invading user privacy.

What are the future plans for Presearch in terms of technological advancements and integrations?

Presearch is planning to launch preg GPT2 with lower guard rails than its predecessor and is working on integrating with blockchain platforms for a more decentralized and transparent system. They also aim to make the platform more user-friendly by allowing users to manage their wallets and staking directly.

How can interested listeners get involved with Presearch and stay updated on its developments?

Listeners can get involved with Presearch by visiting their website, joining their Telegram channels, and following their social media accounts. They also host bi-weekly live streams to keep the community updated on the latest developments.

Outlines

00:00

🌐 Introduction to Decentralized Search with Presearch

The podcast begins with an introduction to the world of decentralized search, highlighting Presearch as a game-changing platform with over 1 million active users. Presearch is noted for its innovative use of technology, such as preg GPT, to lead the way in web 3 search advancements. The host engages with Tim, Presearch's CEO, to delve into his background, which includes a journey from skepticism to belief in cryptocurrency, sparked by his involvement in a Bitcoin fund in 2013. Tim shares his insights on the nature of fiat currency and the evolution of his understanding of Bitcoin and its place in the financial ecosystem.

05:01

📈 The Role of M1 Money Supply in Economic History

This paragraph explores the concept of M1 money supply and its historical impact on economic growth. Tim discusses the economic stagnation during the Dark Ages, attributing it to a lack of money supply expansion. The discovery of gold and silver mines in South America and the establishment of the first stock companies, such as the British East India Company, are highlighted as catalysts for the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution. The conversation also touches on the modern implications of fiat currency and the philosophical debate surrounding its value, positioning it as a matter of faith rather than tangible backing.

10:01

💼 Tim's Journey from Finance to Cryptocurrency

The narrative continues with Tim's professional journey, detailing his initial foray into cryptocurrency while managing a Bitcoin fund. He describes the fund's operation, which involved buying and selling Bitcoin without discretionary management, and his personal exploration into the fundamentals of both Bitcoin and fiat currency. Tim's transition from a traditional finance background to becoming involved in the crypto space is underscored by his experience with a fund of funds that achieved record performance due to its investment in Bitcoin.

15:03

🔍 The Genesis of Presearch and its Evolution

Tim discusses the origins of Presearch, a project he initially encountered during his investment in ICOs. His involvement with Presearch began as an advisor, following an invitation to recommend tokens for investment on a broadcast. Despite a period of disengagement due to the company's lack of progress, Tim eventually took over Presearch, restructuring it and addressing issues such as fake search reporting. He outlines the company's turnaround, including the development of a privacy-focused advertising model that respects user data and the transition to a break-even financial status.

20:03

🚀 Presearch's Transition to Web 3.0 and Decentralized Advertising

The conversation shifts to Presearch's move towards embracing web 3.0 technologies. Tim explains the company's upcoming plans to activate individual wallets on the Base layer-two blockchain, enabling decentralized search staking, node staking, and keyword staking. He discusses the challenges of decentralized advertising, particularly the inability to track user data, and how Presearch addresses these with a privacy-centric approach that appeals to a demographic valuing privacy, literacy, and disposable income.

25:04

🛍️ The Mechanics of Decentralized Advertising on Presearch

This section delves into the specifics of Presearch's decentralized advertising model. Tim explains how advertisers can attribute their campaigns to conversions despite the lack of user tracking. He uses the example of Cloud BET, a betting platform, to illustrate how clicks and subsequent actions can be associated with Presearch, providing advertisers with valuable metadata without compromising user privacy.

30:04

🤖 Launch of Preg GPT: Decentralized AI in Search

The podcast highlights the launch of Preg GPT1, Presearch's generative AI search engine developed in partnership with Salad, a company with a network of GPUs. Tim discusses the affordability and unique selling proposition of Preg GPT1, which offers a lower-cost alternative to other AI services. He also previews the upcoming Preg GPT2 and touches on the ethical considerations and guard rails necessary for generative AI to prevent the generation of harmful content.

35:07

🔗 Presearch's Strategic Partnerships and Collaborations

Tim outlines Presearch's key partnerships and collaborations, emphasizing the importance of working with agencies to scale advertising efforts. He mentions relationships with platforms like Coinzilla and Q coin, as well as data providers like CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko. These partnerships have not only bolstered Presearch's advertising reach but have also attracted potential investors who recognize the company's innovative approach to privacy-focused advertising.

40:10

🛑 Addressing Centralization and Transparency Issues in Presearch

The final paragraph addresses Presearch's historical centralization and transparency issues. Tim acknowledges the criticism and details the steps taken to rectify these problems, including the move to the Base layer-two blockchain to facilitate transparency and self-custody for token holders. He also discusses the company's financial management, emphasizing the reduction of token sales and the plan to make Presearch tokens deflationary, thereby increasing their value over time.

45:10

📚 Opportunities to Learn More and Get Involved with Presearch

In conclusion, Tim provides information on how interested individuals can learn more about Presearch and get involved with the project. He mentions the website, social media channels, and upcoming events like an all-expense-paid trip to Idlewild, California, sponsored by Base. Tim encourages listeners to explore Presearch's various communication channels, including Telegram and Discord, for updates and community engagement.

Keywords

💡Web 3

Web 3, short for Web 3.0, refers to the next generation of the internet, often associated with decentralized technologies, blockchain, and cryptocurrencies. In the video, Web 3 is the overarching theme, as the podcast discusses the evolution of the internet and how platforms like presearch are leading the charge in this new era of web technology.

💡Decentralized Search

Decentralized search is a concept where search engine functionality is distributed across a network rather than being centralized in one entity's control. The video talks about presearch as a platform that is revolutionizing how we explore the internet by offering a decentralized search option, which is a key innovation in the Web 3 space.

💡Presearch

Presearch is a decentralized search engine platform mentioned in the video that aims to provide a privacy-focused alternative to traditional search engines. It is highlighted as a game-changing platform with over 1 million active users, indicating its significance in the Web 3 ecosystem.

💡Crypto

The term 'crypto' is short for cryptocurrency, which is a digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography for security. In the video, the CEO of presearch discusses his initial skepticism and eventual understanding and acceptance of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which led him to the Web 3 space.

💡Fiat Currency

Fiat currency is a government-issued currency that is not backed by a physical commodity like gold but rather by the government that issued it. The video discusses the concept of fiat as a matter of faith and compares it to cryptocurrencies, emphasizing the shift in perspective the CEO had regarding traditional money systems.

💡M1 Money Supply

M1 money supply is the narrowest measure of the money supply in economics, which includes physical currency and highly liquid deposits. The video uses the concept of M1 to discuss historical economic trends and the necessity of expanding the money supply for economic growth, contrasting hard money with fiat currency.

💡Blockchain

Blockchain is the technology behind cryptocurrencies, which is a decentralized and distributed ledger that records transactions across multiple computers. The video mentions blockchain in the context of presearch's move to integrate with platforms like Base, aiming to enhance transparency and decentralization.

💡Staking

Staking in the context of the video refers to the process of participating in the validation of transactions on a blockchain network, often in return for rewards. Presearch offers various forms of staking, such as search staking and node staking, which are part of its decentralized network infrastructure.

💡Privacy

Privacy is a central theme in the video, with presearch positioning itself as a search engine that respects user privacy, unlike traditional search engines that track user data. The video discusses presearch's privacy-focused approach as a key selling point for users concerned about data privacy.

💡Decentralized Advertising

Decentralized advertising is a concept where advertising is managed in a decentralized manner, often without the use of tracking cookies or other invasive data collection methods. The video describes presearch's unique approach to advertising that respects user privacy while still providing a platform for advertisers.

💡Base Layer

A base layer in the context of blockchain refers to the foundational protocol or network upon which other applications are built. The video discusses presearch's decision to build on the Base layer to leverage its features for a more decentralized and cost-effective solution for their platform.

Highlights

Presearch aims to revolutionize web 3 search technology with over 1 million active users.

Tim, Presearch's CEO, discusses his background in crypto since 2013 and the evolution of his perspective on Bitcoin and fiat currencies.

Presearch's innovative approach to decentralized search includes privacy-focused advertising without the use of tracking pixels or cookies.

The concept of M1 money supply and its historical context is explored, highlighting the shift from hard money to fiat currencies.

Presearch's journey from a struggling project to a turning point with new leadership and a focus on transparency and decentralization.

Introduction of Presearch's unique advertising model, which uses background images for ads without invading user privacy.

Presearch's development of the first decentralized generative AI search engine, preg gpt1, in partnership with Salad.

The importance of guard rails in generative AI to prevent the generation of harmful content, and Presearch's approach to setting these boundaries.

Presearch's transition to the Base layer two blockchain for increased transparency and reduced costs.

The challenges of attributing advertising campaigns in a privacy-focused environment without traditional tracking methods.

Presearch's strategy to make the project more deflationary by reducing the number of tokens sold and increasing buybacks.

The potential for Presearch to become a leader in the web 3 space as it addresses criticisms and improves its operational and financial health.

Involvement of Presearch in the Aerodrome community and an upcoming all-expense-paid trip to Idle Wild, California, sponsored by Base.

How Presearch is working with various agencies to establish a new ad format that respects user privacy.

Presearch's plans for the future, including giving users their own wallets on Base and fully transitioning to a decentralized model.

Transcripts

welcome to the building web 3 podcast

today we're diving into the world of

decentralized search with research a

gamechanging platform revolutionizing

how we explore the internet with over 1

million active users in groundbreaking

Innovations like preg GPT presearch is

leading the charge in web 3 search

technology remember nothing stated here

is financial

advice welcome welcome to the building

web 3 podcast today I'm here with Tim

the CEO at presearch T before we get too

deep into presearch can you tell me a

little bit about your background and

what brought you into the web 3 space

well since I'm probably about a year or

two older than you are my background's a

bit my background's a bit complicated uh

I've been in let me just do the the

crypto part I got involved in crypto in

2013 when a company I was working with

in totally unrelated area said hey we

have this crypto fund Bitcoin fund uh

crypto really exists in 2013 it was just

Bitcoin I said would you manage it since

you have fund management experience and

I told him I said look guys this Bitcoin

thing the stupidest thing I've ever

heard about but since it's a fund with

no discretionary management essentially

there effectively an ETF some nuances

but effectively an ETF and so people

would subscribe we'd buy Bitcoin people

would would redeem we'd sell Bitcoin

there was no discretionary management so

I didn't I didn't need to understand or

believe in BTC I just need to know how

to run a fun I said yeah sure I'll run

you fun for you and I spent six months

digging into this and finally thought

you know this really isn't so bad then I

spent another bunch of time digging into

what Fiat was and I'll never forget I I

spent so I have a sore throat so I have

a cuff drop I spent like a week walking

around in the days going my God this

Fiat stuff the dollar the year and

everything that I thought was backed by

something and and everything else it's

really a question of Faith you know the

US dollar actually used to say full

faith and credit well the heck with the

credit because of of debts and

everything else so you focus and I'm not

a Bitcoin maximalist I think Fiat you

know I'm a Believer in Fiat I trade in

Fiat I'm the CEO of a nine-digit family

office that does know crypto we do

stocks bonds real estate so I'm very

comfortable with Fiat but I had to go

through a phase to get comfortable with

it again when I realize that Fiat really

is a question of faith in my more

sarcastic moments I say Fiat is a

religion it's a religious question

because it exists as people believe in

it they may believe in it because

there's also a central bank or whatever

but they believe in it and so at the

beginning of my analysis Fiat was here

Bitcoin was here and I did all Bitcoin

analysis it was still here didn't get

better didn't get worse wasn't a pony

scheme whatever fat was up here and I

dug into Fiat went like boom it's at the

same level and so my question as I

explained this to people

was because the gold standard was killed

on August 15th

1971 it's what when Nixon finished what

Roosevelt started people don't realized

that the the backing of gold backing of

a Dollar by gold wasn't eliminated all

at once it was went to 90% and 10 and

down by 10% increments and Nixon only

just finished the last 10% increment of

it

anyway Cyprus was invaded and set up a

new currency in

1974 and there it was a first currency

was set up from scratch not backed by

anything and it was worth two US dollars

to one ciate pound I mean it was

nominally stronger than the US dollar

and so my phrase became why is it 1.6

people who are collocated on an island

in the Eastern Mediterranean can start a

currency out of thin air and 1.6 million

people were connected bya the internet

at different places all over the world

can't and it became very clear that it

had a place what it would be in 2013

wasn't clear but now the rest of the

world or much of the rest of the world

is is at least willing to entertain the

idea of crypto so it's probably a longer

answer than what you wanted but to me

it's kind of an interesting story and I

am probably the first real Fiat Finance

guy who got involved in crypto

absolutely so you're working on the fund

you do this deep dive Research into not

only Bitcoin but fiat currency and you

start to you know lose some of the faith

of Fiat talk us through a bit about that

fund and then let's let's kind of close

the gap on how we got to presearch sure

I didn't really I mean I lost some faith

in fi but not kind of like the way it's

sounding I think fiia is fiia has its

place right and if you look at people

look at the Dark Ages from 400 ad to

about 1500 ad right so it's a th years

and from an e economic standpoint and

this is actually just fascinating when I

read stumbled across

this uh economists will look at that and

say you had 1100 years of Dark Ages not

for any of the cultural or other reasons

that people talk about Roman Empire fell

in 400 ad or 450 ad and the reason an

economist will tell you is because M1

which is the money supply didn't expand

so what happened in the 15th century in

the 16th centur

did they suddenly find gold mines they'

found all the gold mines and Silver

Mines in Europe we're almost sudden

available with that technology what

happened they discovered South America

so then Inca May in gold and you know

ignore the horrible colonal Colonial

activities there for the for this

purpose suddenly South African and C

South American and Central American Gold

is flooding Western Europe that's what

fueled the Renaissance and then so you

have M1 expanding the old way with hard

money and then you have the British East

India Company and the Dutch East India

Company the first stock companies in the

world what happens when you issue stock

you have a $100 I sell you stock I get

your $100 you get $100 a stock we both

have $100 we just went from $100 to $200

we increased M1 and didn't find a gold

mine that was new and also a stock

certificate from the British or Dutch

East India companies was the first

example of paper money or paper value so

then when M1 starts to expand boom

Industrial Revolution and boom you have

what's going on what's Happ going on now

and you can't have M1 expand if you're

hard money believer without finding gold

and silver mines and they're just finite

so you have to have something like Fiat

which is not backed by anything to work

and to the extent that Bitcoin and most

crypto they're exceptions but most

tokens I don't know like

cryptocurrencies as term most tokens are

not backed by anything they're not

better than Fiat they're the same as

Fiat look at mean coins that's totally

backed by faith right it's totally a a

religious question if you will or

totally a totally a psychological

question and so Fiat and crypto in the

main there are some exceptions on both

sides are really questions of

belief absolutely and for people that

are listening and they're like oh M1

money supply hard money because we don't

do as many podcasts on on bitcoin this

is uh more of the the Bitcoin area and

more like base economics talk a little

bit about what is M1 money I think it

was it was clear from the explanation

but for people that didn't fully follow

along and then to why does why does like

why do these new like gold discoveries

increase M1 and what did due to

that yeah a lot in there so let's let's

unpack it a little bit hard money is and

there are hard money Believers today

they are believers in essentially gold

and silver you might add padium or

platinum to it but nobody really print

you know minced coins so hard money is

you have money backed by an

asset and that makes some people feel

better some interesting questions there

because gold is about $2,100 an ounce

now but the the intrinsic value of gold

so the use of gold as a conductor and as

a plating mechanism to stop rust which

is really the intrinsic value of gold is

probably $600 or $700 an ounce the

difference between the intrinsic value

of gold and the market value of gold is

because is pretty it is shiny it is

malleable so you can make jewelry out of

it it also helps from an industrial

perspective so there is a a faith

element that accounts for roughly no one

really knows to the penny but roughly

two-thirds of the value of gold as well

so even when you're backing a a dollar

or Euro or Rand by gold there's still

this there's still this Faith this

psychological element in it but

nevertheless if you go directly to your

question M1 central banks have to

measure money supply if they increase

money supply there's there's more money

facing the same amount of goods and so

inflation goes up the nominal value of

the nominal price of goods goes up if m1

goes down you have fewer dollars

changing chasing the same number of

goods then the prices will go down

because there are fewer dollars running

around after them there's M2 M3 M4 all

the way up to M6 they're a little bit

more sophisticated some of them include

savings some of them include Investments

and no reason to go into them but M1 is

the basic one it's the money supply how

much money is out there so if you're in

your little kingdom of malova in the

carpathians and you're the king and you

want to know what your money supply is

you could order all of your subjects to

come in and stack up all their gold and

silver if you're a nice King you'll give

it back if you're not you're just gonna

uh you're going to count it up and keep

it but you will know what M1 is because

it's pH there's physical evidence of

what the money is and then as you start

drifting away from that that and add

paper money or even paper value go to

the stock example right the British e

India Company the first stock company

that were created they didn't the the

owners that could have said okay give us

a whole bunch of gold and then we're

going to finance this trip and we're

going to bring along all of this gold to

pay the sailors and buy the goods and

everything else at some point in time

when you're talking about a

concentration of wealth a physical asset

becomes impractical

right it's hard to there was one money

supply at one point in time was copper

sheets some island in the Pacific and so

people would haul around 40 50 kilo

sheets of copper that was their money

well gold is certainly better than that

silver is less of an improvement but

there are limits to try carrying a

billion dollars in gold around with you

it's kind of difficult so at a minimum

you have to represent the money and so

that was originally what paper or

represent the hard money and that was

originally what paper currency was

design designed to do okay we got the

money here it's just hard to drag it

around I don't want to drag it around

anymore here's this dollar bill that

represents that hard currency and then

some clever fellow goes I can uh

actually have more dollar bills than I

have gold here and so you start you

start

diluting um the and the there's

historically Kings have often taken in

100 gold coins debase them where it's

from because the base currency or the

base metal their base medals are added

to the gold base being simple and not

expensive and so he takes in 100 coins

and puts out 200 because he debased his

currency and so the same thing can

happen in paper currency because you

issue more more and more paper currency

over time but it's backed by the same

pile of gold so that's when inflation

kicks off and then again August 15 1971

Nixon says okay we're not going to back

it anymore that means we can print as

much as we want but there are still

practical limits I mean people say oh my

God they can put as much as they want

yeah sure they can but they're not

idiots and so they ex they expand some

of quantitative easing during covid and

now the balance sheet the FED balance

sheet which went from about a trillion

dollars to over9 trillion dollar now is

shrinking actually quite quickly it was

about 80 billion dollars a month which

actually to some in some people's minds

had a bigger effect on the economy than

raising or lowering interest rates

because M1 again we're back to M1 is

shrinking because the Federal Reserve is

pulling $80 billion doar worth of money

out of the economic system on a monthly

basis and 80 billion is serious money to

to most people you're looking at almost

a trillion dollar a year so sorry if I

didn't touch on all your issues please

feel free to no no no these these were

great so we've got the fund We Now

understand M1 money we we talked a

little bit about Bitcoin kind of the the

debasement of fiat currency CES and how

you know initially you know Bitcoin was

not seen as super valuable in your eyes

when you were looking at it and then

Fiat was obviously higher you look more

into Bitcoin the Fiat they start to

become more or less even maybe Fiat

being a little bit higher so you're

working at the fund and let's get let's

get to presearch so how did we how did

how did presearch come about and yeah

how did you guys get involved in that at

the same time I was working for this

fund I was in the process of shutting

down a fund of funds I have that was

focused on Eastern

Europe and during the last year I had I

thought you know while I'm stting this

down let me it's a fun of funds I can

invest in other funds if I want to so I

put some money in this cleverly name

fund the Bitcoin fund and Bitcoin went

nuts that year and so my fund of funds

just before I shut it down still has as

far as I know the alltime annual

performance record of a fund of funds

and the alltime monthly performance

record of a fund of funds because I put

a little slice into the Bitcoin fund and

it you know went up like 50x anyway I

still shut I

still shut down the Eastern European

fund of funds but I kept the legal

entity and so really converted it into a

trading fund because as I said this was

a essentially an ETF it was monthly

liquidity so it's different in that

regard but basically it was just you

want to invest in Bitcoin you can invest

in this fund instead

so with the other fund I turned it into

a trading fund and as far as I know it's

the first at the time Bitcoin now crypto

trading Fund in the world I call it the

cryptocurrency fund and that ran for

several years did really well I decided

to leave Eastern Europe move back to the

US I hadn't been here in like 25 years

and when I got here I started another

fund 2017 called crypto asset fund still

exists now doing really well was the

best performing hedge fund in the world

in 2021 not best performing crypto fund

best performing hedge fund in the world

in 2021 and I started investing in icos

and I saw this project research and

thought well that's kind of cool and

then about the same time I had seen BC

contact me and said we'd like you to do

a broadcast with you because again I was

one of the early serious adopters of of

crypto said look we'd like you to

recommend three tokens to invest in I

said great I'll I'll recommend one large

capap one midcap and one small cap and

they said no no no no we want three

major ones that everyone's heard about

and I said no sorry then I'm not going

to do your your broadcast and cnvc is

not used to having people tell them no

and so the the editor of this program

calls me up and said look what is this

and I explained how there was enough

breadth in crypto even 17 to have large

mid small caps and they explained a lot

when the conversation went on for half

an hour this woman doesn't talk to

anybody for half an hour she goes this

is really fascinating please do what you

want to do and do it on our program so I

read in a program I recommend a large

cap and a midcap I don't remember what

they are at the moment but the small cap

I recommended was

presearch and so then suddenly I get

contacted by Colin P who is the the head

of the or CEO or head of it called

himself something else program lead or

something at the time and said would you

be an advisor to us this is great and so

I said yes and in

September in October of that year August

September of that year for six weeks

there was a banner that advertised

presearch had my ugly face on it with a

a a uro to the CNBC interview and so you

know the the face that launched a

thousand ships was uh uh was uh helped

me out here at ancient history then in

Turkey invaded the from uh Achilles

attack oh never mind anyway the F Helen

thank Helen of Troy thank you Helen of

Troy launs a thousand chips I launched I

launched one presearch anyway uh my face

in the interview attracted a lot of

people to it then they did the same

thing in November as the Ico was

shutting down and uh then fortunately I

didn't see my face on CMC anymore but it

was

really serendipitous because I was not

an advisor I had no relation with

presearch at the time but I thought the

idea of getting pay the search that was

really what attracted me at the

beginning was just a fabulous idea

and after four years I got tired of the

company because it really wasn't making

the progress it should have and I

stopped being an advisor and so for two

years I did nothing I sort of became an

outside critic for a while and then in

July of last year Carin just begged me

says please take this over I can't I

can't do this he's he had run out of Ico

money he was selling tokens to make the

the project work it was just dying and

he knew it uh smart enough to realize it

just before it was dead he said would

you take it over and I said well be I

don't want to really take it over I'll

be I don't really have time I said I'll

be the CEO or something goes oh no you

have to take it over and so I took a lot

of negotiation I finally agreed so I

took the thing over uh salion ven Salan

Venture Capital which is a San's a group

of companies that I founded and I'm the

managing partner of PS it runs a VC or

has a VC arm so I put some of that money

into and I recuse myself from the

decision Partners agreed though put the

money into into presearch to save it and

we just God it was just a basket case

and we just flipped it all around really

really there's good good foundation

there but no execution no organization

changed all of that discovered that most

of the searches that they were reporting

were fake like 80% of them were fake got

rid of all of those by January of this

year we're down the point where searches

are like 500,000 or

450,000 no Revenue into the company uh I

refus to sell tokens we're running out

of VC capital and we developed our own

kind of AD what we call a free search

takeover ad where the homepage

background or the search page background

just blank every place else except Bing

I think Bing do some with it no one was

using it and we tried all sorts of

advertising but we're privacy focused we

will not collect any data and everybody

that we talk to you know placement ads

that you see all over oh we're privacy

Focus we don't collect any information

they've all got pixels they've all got

cookies they all load J it's horrible

that just polluted we control the the

background ads completely and there's

absolutely nothing there it's just a

picture what it says you can click on it

that's all and so we went from zero

Revenue absolutely nothing in January to

breaking even in May it did take a lot

to break even it's a small organization

like 50$ 60,000

but it's recurring Revenue now and it's

this revenue is coming in so we've the

existential threat to presearch is gone

we've made all sorts of technical

improvements uh we're we're about to

we're actually technically live on base

the the coinbase um you know blockchain

with Aerodrome on it we're in both of

those and I think this is what got you

interested in the interview the next

step is to activate for everyone to

activate their own wallet on base

because presearch has three kinds of

staking search staking so when you do

search you can get real rewards

significant rewards node staking so if

you run a node where all of the searches

are not run centralized they run through

a decentralized network that's got

880,000 nodes on it it's one of the

biggest node networks in the world and

we have keyword staking which is kind of

like ad staking you know keyword ads and

um and so people can stake those that

they're all done on a centralized basis

now that we have everything done with

base The Next Step which will start a

couple weeks here is to give everyone

their own wallet on base and we actually

can't give them the wallet because we'll

have keys they'll have to create their

own wallet so they have the keys and

then we're going to move all that

staking and this will be the fun part

move all that staking from being web two

right centralized to web

totally decentralized and once that

happens presearch hits the the modern

crypto age if you will absolutely let's

talk about some of the the difficulties

in doing this because from a a marketing

perspective I think like okay you're

selling advertisements on the the

background that sounds great but if I'm

like an Advertiser I'm like how do I

attribute my campaign to any kind of

attribution if I can't use pixels or I

can't use any kind of maybe they only

run one campaign on presearch and then

they to bu that campaign conversion into

into just the presearch yeah I'm curious

how how that like decentralized

advertising works when you have the ad

it's a really good question by the way

you have the

ad we don't know who clicks through

let's say you click on it right it's an

ad for what's a good we have q coin

Cloud bet we have all kinds of in

um Nord what's the

uh so I'm looking up I forgot the name

of my more VPN thank you uh we have so

we have some very serious companies

advertising you click on that we don't

know who clicked on it because you don't

track that we don't know anything about

that person but we do know that that do

know that there was a click on it

someone clicked on that ad and then

let's take example of cloud bet it's a

really good example so you know web

betting platform you click on it we know

you've clicked through it

Cloud bet will know somebody arrived and

they'll know the IP address it's

arriving from that won't tie to the

person who clicked because we have this

this decentralized network and searches

are done from random points so the

origin IP address will change but it

will be a pre one of 880,000 presearch

IP addresses so they'll know it's from

presearch and we know somebody clicked

on and so then when you go to Cloud

BET's a really good example you look at

Cloud bet you click you don't like it

you go you shut it down go on something

else or you look at Cloud bet and say

hey this is pretty cool let me make uh

deposit and so you put in $100 using

your credit card and you start doing

whatever you want to do in a Cloud B so

they have they have in this case there's

something that cloudbed NOS called an

FTD a firsttime deposit so how does it

work you end up the funnel is you end up

with this enor you start with this

enormous you know 500 00,000 Searchers a

day out of that half a percent will

click on Cloud on any app and half a

percent is pretty good actually you know

statistically it's five out of a

thousand people but it's still pretty

good because most people don't care and

that's good makes sense so they click on

those five in an hour or in a day sorry

will go through and maybe one out of 10

will actually do an FTD a first time

deposit which means you get one FTD two

days and that statistically is actually

really quite good and so you go from

five out of a thousand to half out of a

thousand right if it's one out of every

10 so out of 2,000 people that that get

the impression one will make a firsttime

deposit and so you know when when you

make a first time deposit you have to

put up put in nominal information and

various things and they've tracked um

once you get on cloud met they track

everything okay I mean it's at that

point in time it's not our website so

it's not our privacy and if you want to

make a deposit you're going to have to

give them all kinds of information

anyway so that's the that's the general

flow through so we know the it when you

was a phone right your your dollar

number people don't generally you know

sometimes do depending how cynical you

are track all the information they don't

record your conversation but the phone

company will know what number you dialed

where you were uh what um

how long the conversation lasted it's

metadata it's not information about the

conversation itself it's information

surrounding the conversation this is the

same thing we can't collect collect

nothing about anybody's privacy uses or

anybody who uses presearch it's

completely private but we have the

metadata so how many people clicked 550

who are those people we have no idea

it's not that we record it and don't

look at it we don't record it we have no

record of it whatsoever

so it's enough information for

advertisers to work with they want more

believe me they want more they want

everything there are some cookies where

they will literally track every movement

of the cursor on the screen

every uh keystroke that you make it's

frightening what some people will track

or actually most people track that most

ad and most search engines track that we

do zero zils absolutely none of that and

that has its own appeal to certain

advertisers because they know they're

then appealing to a demographic that

likes that sort of privacy concern and

that group has a tendency to be young

has a tendency to be computer literate

has a tendency to be wealthy or at least

have some disposable

income and they have

time and so that that demographic is

super super attractive

yeah it's it's quite interesting so

let's talk so we talked a little bit

about the the advertising let's talk

about I know you guys have some new key

features so people come on to presearch

I think there people if they haven't

already been there they might be

visualizing a Google search you know a

command prompt where they just type in

what they're they want to search for I

know you guys are rolling out some

additional features like a preg gbt some

decentralized AI Solutions unless I'm

mistaken about that could you talk a

little bit about we the we have the same

we have the same uh bar if you will but

unlike any other search engine you can

you pick the search engine you would

like to use from a range of I think it's

120 different search engines right now

from AIA you can use Google if you want

you can use the major ones you can use

minor ones you can use really Niche ones

you can use multiple ones if you want

some people are very very

active in terms of which search engine

they

pick or they elect to use depending on

the nature of their search so there are

some specialty search engines that

people will use a corresponding search

for and some people just put it on one

and that's what they that's what they

use forever in addition to that we

launched preg gpt1 about six six weeks

ago as far as we know it's the only

generative AI

search engine that's decentralized we

partnered with a company called salad

salad is a very interesting business

they have set up a massive network of

about

25,000

gpus and their target to get a hold of

the gpus so if you have a GPU you have a

laptop computer with a GPU you download

a program that allows that GPU to be

part of a larger Network they're

focusing on College because they

generally you know you go to college you

get a new laptop because you need you

need more than what you need for high

school the GPU has a tendency to be very

very powerful in new laptops and it

spends about 99% of its time doing

absolutely nothing it's completely idle

so they harness the GPU time uh Behind

These 25,000 computers they have and

then they've been looking for

applications for it it's was a bit of a

build- it name will

come uh one of our guys Brendan who

actually reached out to you Brendan tone

found these guys and said hey we would

like to build a generative AI search

engine using your decentralized network

and they said oh my God what a great

idea and so it took a couple months of

devil work to be a on our side and on

their side to be able to do it and so we

launched chat

gpt1 and it costs I think $3 a month so

it's much cheaper than any other uh

gener you know paid generative AI

service and we're just about to launch

preg gpt2 we're going to use a different

decentralized network here and there the

trick

is when you do generative AI there are

lots of guard rails around what you can

do the rather Grim um phrase in the

industry for it is killing bunnies so

you you you don't want to if someone's

looking up how do I kill a bunny uh

you'll be stopped from the results will

be prevented from generating so that's

sort of the the mildly humorous or or

mildly Grim depending on how you want to

look at it phrase that use it's you know

that's used to apply to the general

restrictions you put on generative AI

because inherently there are no

restrictions and you may say oh that's

awesome I don't want any restrictions

but if you start looking up you know Nai

propaganda uh child

pornography uh racist or misogynist

videos there are things that nobody has

any business looking up or generating or

creating and putting out

there there's some clear examples of

that right here's your your flat surface

is Genera of AI and you want some guard

rails around it and there are some

things like the examples I mentioned

like some people even fight about you

know dispute whether Nazism should be on

that list but I would put all four of

those things I listed right so racism

misogyny uh child pornography Nazism so

those four the rail is this high and it

deals with those four if you de if you

look at the larger generative AI search

engines that are available out there

just generative AI engines search or not

their guard rails are way up here right

they're very very very high guard rails

there are a lot of things about politics

there are a lot of things

about the Anarchist Cookbook which has

been around for decad Ates may may uh

maybe not allow it to appear uh how to

cook medam fetamines you know there's a

really good example should you be able

to look that up or not reasonable people

non-drug addict reasonable people would

uh very much disagree on that the more

libertarian you are the lower you want

those guard rails to be and our idea is

to put out preg GPT we'll have the

minimum guard rails possible

and you know people are going to

disagree people are going to argue with

us and it's actually a really healthy

discussion what should be permitted what

should not be

permitted and it'll probably generate

some a fair amount of publicity we'll

see but the the guards that are

available on widely

available generative AI engines are

really really high and most people you

could point out examples or they

disagree with say no that's way too high

give you a really good example nude in

our preg

gpt1 nude was was not a

permitted word it would not generate and

it's like wait a minute you know you

have nude could apply to not people it

doesn't have to be pornography new

doesn't mean pornography it can mean art

it doesn't have to apply to people it

can apply to all sorts of different

things it's just not a word

that by you know ipsofacto by definition

is a horrible thing in anything

Affiliated to it with it should be

prevented but hey we discovered it was

so we had to address we had to address

those guard rails that's what we're

going to do with preg gp2 it's going to

be the lowest guard rails that we think

are reasonable and it's very consistent

with the ethos of research which is

privacy individual freedoms individual

rights yes a very interesting topic I

used to work at Google so I'm familiar

with many of the rails in place let's

talk a little bit about you know why you

guys chose to pick the base layer two

and build on that

stack

H

the the odd thing about presearch is

there are days it is the most used

crypto project in the

world there are days when it's second or

third and I don't know if it ever really

Falls below third but very few people

have heard of it and when we say most Ed

I mean we get millions of searches some

dayss

there is there AR any other product

projects out there that I know of that

get even ether Millions every day and

maybe it's in first place we're in

second

so but that's our internal that's what

we tell people and it really

doesn't pardon me it really is a bit

inconsistent with the crypto ethos ethos

which is transparency so we're going to

have to stop for a second

CU you get to cut this part out yeah

absolutely all

good so the the transparency really is

missing from presearch and has been

since its origin and centralization was

you know not so much of a sin in 17 but

it certainly is today so what we wanted

and what the prior we've been looking at

for a while is

hey what can we put information of each

and every search and each and every

reward award people get for a

search where can we put that

because gasp on ethereum the ethereum

blockchain are insane we're doing

millions of searches a day we we'd run

out money in an hour so the prior team

had looked at Cosmos and hadn't done any

execution

we did some execution we paid for

commissioned a study so we had this

great detailed road map for Cosmos but

it's insanely

expensive and Brendan as I mentioned he

was the one who discovered base and he

said hey we can do some of what we want

to do on base we can do the what three

aspect so that you know the

the cooking in the kitchen the secret

sauce whatever that will still be

centralized for now until we put that on

Cosmos but every person who holds

presearch tokens they can go on base all

of the guys who are doing staking

hundreds of millions of tokens are being

staked with presearch it's really really

a popular staking system they can stake

from their own wallet and why not right

you know self- custody as long as it's

in that wallet it's just as staked as it

is if it's centralized except you

control it you pull it out you stop

staking no problem problem so what we

realized is that we didn't have to have

a Panacea we didn't have to have

something that solved all of our

problems immediately or all the issues

immediately but we wanted web three and

we could do base for 2% of the cost

because we could do do that internally

we cost hundreds of thousands of dollars

to do the cosmos integration or Cosmos

addition so we went to base instead

we're just about we're just about ready

to give you know for people start

putting their own wallets and staking

from their own wallets and honestly if

you look on social media for presearch

they run a number of criticisms over the

over the past they've gone they've

gotten they've gone down significantly

since I took over and we s changed the

team some of the old team is still

there but the biggest criticism

remaining and I agree with it 100% I

made it myself during this period after

I stopped being advisor before I took

over the

project was web free you we have no it's

centralized where are the tokens what's

going on it's just horrible very very

centralized and very opaque so two

massive problems I fixed the opaqueness

we're now very transparent we filled

everybody where everything is that's not

an issue but we still aren't web three

so we solve that and we'll have a lot

more flexibility than to address the

other issue which is let's put the

record of every search not what the

search was but how much somebody earned

not by name just as wallet so you know

all the users all the stakers will be

completely Anonymous but you'll

literally be able to watch money going

into your wallet to pre- tokens going in

your wallet as you do more searches as

you do more staking as you do more

activities that's what people want

that's what I want it just took a little

bit of time to get there and we're right

on the verge now which for me for

everybody on the team and for most of

the community is really really exciting

yeah absolutely so let's talk about some

of the because you guys are working on

base you are have some interaction with

Cosmos so what are some of the notable

Partnerships and collaborations you guys

have

formed well we're working with solid

very

importantly uh on the PTA side so

presearch takeover ads on the

advertising front when we started

advertising we started trying to

generate Revenue we had zero experience

so literally starting from scratch

because there's no Revenue in the

project and so went through all sorts of

takeover ads and all sorts of other

things and we realized two things first

of all most ads are just fatal to any

sense of privacy whatsoever and secondly

you really can't go to individual

companies to try to Pedal your ad you

need to go to agencies or what I call a

funnel so when you get an agency that

likes you then they've got 50 clients

and So you you're touching all 50 of

those clients with one Rel relationship

so that's what we've done and the

relations we set up like coinzilla we

have a fabulous relationship with

coinzilla because they brought a number

of good clients to us Q coin as I

mentioned they uh have advertised with

us we trade on qoin uh they've done

marketing campaigns for us it's it's a

it's a centralized exchange obviously

but it's a really really strong

relationship CMC and coin gecko we have

Partnerships with either with both of

those uh we have Partnerships with a

number of other Fiat ad agencies which

yeah I won't bother listing here because

they didn't mean anything to me before I

started this it won't mean anything to

to the vast majority of people and so

we've got a lot of these relationships

all around the ecosystem right now and

some of these people have actually

invested or in the process of investing

in presearch because say oh my God you

guys are at the beginning of this you

invented an entirely new ad format which

like never happened

and you've turned you bling even now on

a financial standpoint the token is

really more abundant because we haven't

focused we had to you had to make sure

the company could survive first and then

start taking care of the token with a

and a token was crazy inflationary

because the prior regime was just

selling tokens all the time and not

tracking it so now we do balance sheet

income statement for dollars we do

balance sheet income statement for pre

and we track how many we put out and

what we're putting out is plunging and

we have a 12mon plan to turn it

deflationary so we'll be pulling more

presearch tokens or pre-t tokens out of

the ecosystem than we're putting in

there are times over the past ye well

more than a year ago um before before we

you know changed the management if you

will when 20 million tokens were being

sold per month to finance the project

we've already got that down to like 4

million right now and it's going down

roughly half a million a month and once

it becomes deflationary there's only one

direction for the price to go at that

point in time but we had to fix a lot of

other problems before that could get

started and that's happening as we speak

so there are a lot of people heck we've

had two buy art offers in the last month

I've had offers to buy millions of

dollars with a tokens which would be

just an insane number of tokens

presearch is because of its execution

because we've turned into a healthy

company is starting to appear on a lot

of screens you know the horizons of

early investors and they like what they

see and they want to get involved yeah I

think it's a very interesting case study

in one turning we'll say like a web 2.5

company into a web three and then also

taking over our company and being like

okay this is the current management

let's fix up some operations and and

make it a little bit better now I know

where're uh the running out of time so

where can listeners learn a bit more

about presearch kind of get involved

with the the

movement well prese search.com or

presearch doio they both work you can go

there there are number of of uh channels

on telegram plus we do a bi-weekly live

stream just did one this morning lasts

about an hour frankly I'd put it on one

and a quarter speed and and listen to it

more quickly or one and a half even if

your ears work that fast um but there's

a there's a lot lot of good uh

information that came out particularly

about the stuff you and I are talking

about where the project project is going

in the in the future a lot about Bas oh

it's very interesting because Brendon

tone the guy mentioned who found Bas Bas

is sponsoring an all expense paid

five-day trip in Idle Wild California

including paying airfare and shuttles

and everything else they putting

hundreds of thousands of dollars into

projects that they want to feature

prominently in base and Brendan

representing presearch has been invited

so he's going up there for 5 days I

think it's end of next week so again the

the profile of presearch is going up in

the minds of people so you can look on

the base actually better look on the

aerodrome Community you'll find it there

uh but really telegram Discord to some

degree but telegram is probably the best

way just do a search on pre-search and

you'll find all sorts of of different

threads there different channels amazing

so I'll put all the links in the

description you have like a Twitter you

want to call out or anywhere people can

get involved with you LinkedIn you know

there's in if you look in telegram

there's a list of all of the social

media ones social media links you'll see

you'll see them there I don't actually

have them all memorized now they're like

12 or 14 of them you'll get them um but

otherwise I can have Brendan send them

all to you to to slap somewhere in on

the bottom of this interview perfect

absolutely well Tim thank you so much

for for joining the building web 3

podcast and all the Builders out there

everyone that is you know interested in

the future presearch go get involved put

all the links in the description yeah

Tim thank you again for joining

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