Decentralized Search with Presearch: Base, Privacy, and the Future
Summary
TLDRIn 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
- đ 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.
- đ Presearch is a decentralized search engine platform aiming to revolutionize internet exploration with a focus on privacy and individual freedoms.
- đ Presearch has grown to over 1 million active users and offers a unique advertising model that respects user privacy by not tracking personal data.
- đĄ Tim's background includes managing a nine-digit family office and his experience spans various areas including stocks, bonds, real estate, and crypto.
- đ Presearch introduced 'Preg GPT', a generative AI search engine that is part of their suite of innovative web 3.0 technologies.
- đ ïž The platform allows users to choose from over 120 different search engines, providing a customizable search experience.
- đŒ 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.
- đ Presearch is transitioning from a centralized model to a decentralized one by building on blockchain technology, starting with Binance's Smart Chain.
- đ They are working on giving users their own wallets for staking and rewards, enhancing transparency and aligning with the ethos of web 3.0.
- đ€ Presearch has established partnerships with companies like Coinzilla and Q Coin, and is engaging with the broader crypto community for growth.
- đ 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
đ 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.
đ 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.
đŒ 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.
đ 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.
đ 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.
đïž 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.
đ€ 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.
đ 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.
đ 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.
đ 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.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄWeb 3
đĄDecentralized Search
đĄPresearch
đĄCrypto
đĄFiat Currency
đĄM1 Money Supply
đĄBlockchain
đĄStaking
đĄPrivacy
đĄDecentralized Advertising
đĄBase Layer
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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