Relation is a decentralized social graph protocol for representing and hosting the connections and interactions information between individuals in web3 social in a decentralized manner that is fully on-chain, built on EVM chains and Arweave. Relation has launched Web3 social Dapp Relation ONE and the Semantic SBT standard which will create a chain native data layer that is easy to query, share and reuse with lower friction.

Relation Labs is pioneering this third way by analyzing the social relations of individuals in a decentralized way. This makes it possible for individuals to mint programmable NFTs called SBTs that are metadata linked and interconnected in a way that is machine understandable and interpretable (called Semantic SBTs). These represent proof not only of their identity but also of their friendships, affiliations, memberships, qualifications and even employment, on the chain.Relation ONE Chat Plugin is an extension offering Web3-native IM features including Chatting, Transfer, Open Search, NFT Sharing, Friends Management, etc.

With Relation, people can create their personal data space, called the Soul Bound Journal, to maintain their social identity and the evolving-over-time identity-related information among Semantic SBTs without relying on centralized intermediaries. Semantic SBTs are SBTs with semantic web technologies to capture the meaning on-chain in a machine-interpretable way.

By minting semantic SBTs, Web3 navigators can create a framework for representing and sharing information in a way that allows machines to understand and interpret the relationships between different data sources. This can improve the efficiency and accuracy of data analysis and enable new applications and services that require a deep understanding of the underlying data. In this way, semantic SBTs and SBJs are likely to be important tools for advancing the capabilities of Web3.

The individual is sovereign in that their SBTs are held in their own wallets and written on public chains. The information can be kept private but the SBTs can be used publicly. Each SBT consists of a series of what are known in data science as “semantic triples.” This is a statement with three attributes, usually a subject, a predicate and an object such as “Jill knows John,” or “Jon attended a Web3 summit.”  

While each semantic triple, or SBT, can be used as an individual proof point, their utility grows exponentially when collected. How does this work? In Relation’s model, these SBTs are all collected into what are called “Soulbound Journals,” or SBJs, which list all the identifying information of the account through its constituent Semantic SBTs. In turn, other accounts list mirrors of those Semantic SBTs. So if John knows Jill, then Jill knows John. 

Semantic SBTs could help resolve issues surrounding trust in the emergent decentralized social structure by providing the means to verify reputation. Each account creates and maintains their own SBJs, which are essentially personalized distributed ledgers. These SBJs evolve over time as new SBTs within them are added or taken away or interact with other SBTs. In the same way that the semantic triples are the primitive building blocks in SBT, so the SBTs are primitive building blocks in SBJs. And these then become the basis for activity in Web3. 

There are several ways that SBJs can unlock decentralized Web3 activity by serving as identifiers and verifiers. They provide proof of attendance, proof of skill set and proof of personhood. They can provide protection against Sybil cyberattacks, where hackers create a large number of pseudonyms to exert control over a platform or protocol. People with shared slices of data, triples in SBT, can help to verify when there is a query. Furthermore, services can be target-marketed, based on the attributes or interests proved by SBJs to precisely match user needs and interests. They also help with social recovery wallets, as they allow you to assign your guardians based on the diversity of your social circle to avoid collusion.

By minting semantic SBTs, Web3 navigators can create a framework for representing and sharing information in a way that allows machines to understand and interpret the relationships between different data sources. This can improve the efficiency and accuracy of data analysis and enable new applications and services that require a deep understanding of the underlying data. In this way, semantic SBTs and SBJs are likely to be important tools for advancing the capabilities of Web3.

In this case, everyday Web3 users accessing and maintaining their social identities improves people’s experience in the on-chain world by creating immutable trust and verifiable data. Communities are solidified to be more equitable because users can trust who they are speaking to, knowing who sits on the other side is who they claim to be. Their identity has not been stolen, and their claims are verified.

Jessica Chang, the founder of Relation Labs and an active builder in Web3, is taking what bitcoin did to money and applying it to social identity to build the web of trust. Jessica’s background is in Mathematics, Quantitative Finance and Graph Theory. She was a crypto and commodity derivatives trader, and the visiting Data Scientist at Imperial College London, before found Relation Labs.

Being a woman entrepreneur, Jessica is personally a democracy and pluralism advocate. Besides founding Relation, she also works in the Parliament Secretariat of Progress Singapore Party to support the legislation and policy-making of Parliament Singapore based on the principles of inclusivity and non-discrimination.