Recently, a web 3 product called TEKKON has caught the attention of BBC. Multiple channels in Asia have reported on this product, which has not received much attention from the crypto world. This web 3 project has unexpectedly gained popularity.

TEKKON is a popular web 3 product in Japan. It is operated by the Whole Earth Foundation and has its own WEC token. Currently, it has over 130,000 users worldwide.

Socially-Contributing Web 3 Game

In TEKKON's Twitter introduction, this project uses an interesting concept to define itself - a socially-contributing web 3 game. How does this project contribute to society?

Players can earn game rewards by taking photos of eligible infrastructure in real-world cities. The rewards are distributed in the native game token, WEC.

Specifically, players need to take photos of damaged infrastructure, such as utility poles. The project will share this information with local authorities and infrastructure companies in your city. This helps relevant parties obtain information about damaged infrastructure and enables them to repair it in a timely manner.

When players create a TEKKON account, they will receive a free pet dog NFT. The game rewards can be used to help the dog grow, and they can also be redeemed for LinePay points. LinePay is a popular payment feature supported by the SMS app in Japan, and each LinePay point can be used to deduct 1 yen during payments.

(Dog NFT can be upgraded with WEC)

Apart from taking photos personally, there are other ways to obtain rewards. In order to filter out invalid data, the infrastructure photos uploaded by players need to be reviewed by other players, and players who conduct the review can receive game rewards.

(Photo review requirements provided by the official)

Is the impact on the real world too ideal?

TEKKON is a Web 3 application that works in the real world, unlike previous Web 3 applications where the value is completely on the chain. The team believes that this application has a practical positive impact on society.

For example, there are about 15 million sewage wells related to sewers in Japan, of which about 3 million have exceeded their service life. However, the maintenance department cannot timely grasp the latest information of these sewage wells.

With the help of the TEKKON application, citizens successfully captured photos of all 10,500 wellheads in Tokyo's Shibuya district in just three days using their smartphones. If this speed continues, it will be possible to take photos of all 15 million cases. And based on the latest information, timely maintenance of infrastructure can be carried out. TEKKON expects that such timely maintenance can reduce facility update investment by 30% to 40%.

(Sewer shooting case)

Looking ahead, through the daily activities of TEKKON players, TEKKON will have infrastructure data from around the world. The collected data will generate valuable insights for global infrastructure maintenance.

In this simple economic model, how does TEKKON profit to support the distribution of rewards to players?

The data obtained by TEKKON enables infrastructure companies to optimize their maintenance efficiency, making the data valuable to them. TEKKON sells it to these infrastructure companies, and the amount paid by the companies becomes TEKKON's source of income.

For this reason, they have made a rough calculation: There are approximately 7.9 billion people in the world, with around 3 billion households. Assuming that each household spends 500,000 yen per year on infrastructure-related expenses, the annual funding scale in this field is approximately 15 trillion yen. If 10% of this funding can be used to improve infrastructure maintenance efficiency through widespread adoption of TEKKON, the potential scale of the economic system built by TEKKON would be around 15 trillion yen.

But did TEKKON's expectations start out with utopian fantasies? Based on the current exchange rate, 500,000 yen is approximately 350 dollars. Is it unrealistic to consider such a level of investment as the benchmark? According to United Nations data, currently 10% of the world's population (700 million people) still live in extreme poverty, with less than 1.90 dollars per day for their living expenses. Even among employed individuals, 8% and their families still live in extreme poverty.

And even in areas that are not impoverished, there are many regions with inadequate infrastructure investment. The benchmark for household infrastructure expenses may be too idealistic. Many developing countries face a scarcity of infrastructure investment due to fiscal, policy, administrative, judicial, and other reasons. The theoretical market size of TEKKON is far from its estimation.

WEC Ecosystem

WEC is the native token of TEKKON. According to the official description, this ecosystem consists of four parties: citizens, Whole Earth Foundation, infrastructure companies (or public institutions, other companies).

WEC token was initially issued on Ethereum and has been migrated to the Solana network since July 2022.

However, its token economics design differs from common cryptocurrency projects. At the time of issuance, the total supply of WEC is fixed at 300 million coins. But after the migration to Solana, it has been changed to a variable quantity without clear explanation. The official statement says, "The exact quantity will be determined by the foundation based on the future usage of the platform, the need to maintain business operations, and other factors."

TEKKON incorporates a wallet system within the application, but its design is relatively closed. The game has two types of points: reward points and binding points. Reward points can only be used within the game and if users transfer them to other EOA wallets from within the application, they will no longer be exchangeable for WEC tokens. Currently, WEC has planned a staking program, but the specific rules are still under discussion.

From its mechanism design, this project's model seems more closed and centralized. However, its unique real-world utility has indeed generated significant influence, perhaps taking a different path in the cryptocurrency entrepreneurial landscape. What lies ahead for TEKKON and WEC? Odaily will continue to follow.