Focus, the new decentralised SocialFi app by DeSo, has made a bold statement in the market with its $20 million fundraising in less than 24 hours. The DeSo team is no stranger to large-scale funding rounds., having successfully raised $200 million from leading funds like Sequoia, a16z, Social Capital, and Coinbase in the past.
X, Onlyfans, and Patreon are all part of the trillion-dollar social media industry, and according to DeSo, Focus plans to introduce revolutionary features to compete with them. Focus has certainly plunged headfirst into a market with a high potential, as OnlyFans is projected to have processed roughly $8 billion in 2023, charging 20% per transaction.
Nevertheless, creator profits are severely cut by the high fees on centralised platforms such as Onlyfans and Patreon, which making a strong case for a fairer alternative. Built on the DeSo blockchain, Focus is driven by characteristics that are natural to cryptocurrencies and are permissionless.
Offering services at levels possible in web2, Focus integrates the finest features of Onlyfans, Patreon, X, and other billion-dollar social platforms into a single app. It opens up new avenues for users to earn money through decentralised ad re-posting, paid messages, subscriptions, paid content, and Creator Coins, which enable users to directly invest in the income streams of other creators.
What makes Focus stand out?
Focus users can now transact in USDC, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, DeSo, and Focus tokens—among others—on the DeSo blockchain using Revolution Proof of Stake. Furthermotre, transaction fees for all of these cryptocurrencies, including cross-chain assets, are less than 1/10,000th of a cent.
Comparatively, Solana costs around $1 per post and Ethereum costs over $100 per post. In contrast, DeSo allows content storage directly on-chain for 1/10,000th of a cent per post. Because of this, Focus stands a good chance to be an industry leader in content monetization and introduce mechanics that are impossible with slower, more censored fiat payment rails or older, higher-fee blockchains.
Users can reserve tokens on Focus and use HeroSwap to choose from a variety of supported currencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, SOL, USDC, and DESO. In addition, all fees are distributed directly to the holders of $FOCUS tokens, which makes distribution more democratic than traditional social networks.
Incentives and rewards
Airdrops are central to project success, and Focus is launching a its airdrop strategy called The Social Airdrop. This model distributes $FOCUS tokens to users proportionally based on their impact on external social networks.
Members of the Social Airdrop community can participate in a referral programme that gives them a cut of the referee’s earnings (5% of all platform revenues) and a 10% bonus when they bring in new users. FOCUS intends to launch with support for X, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, some email domains, DeSo, and OnlyFans.
Viewers interested in reserving tokens can do so at Focus.xyz until January 18th at 11:11 am EST, and they will receive a 100% bonus in $FOCUS. The bonus will drop weekly until the app is launched.