LIKE TOKEN LIGHT PAPER
Universal Basic Attention for the AI Era
Last updated
Universal Basic Attention for the AI Era
Last updated
"In a world where attention is the new currency, freedom is the power to direct it yourself." — Yuval Noah Harari
In today's digital landscape, we stand at a critical crossroads. Artificial intelligence algorithms increasingly dominate our information consumption, quietly deciding which voices deserve to be heard and which remain silent. Every scroll, click, and second of engagement is meticulously tracked, analyzed, and optimized—not for human flourishing or social benefit, but for engagement metrics and profit maximization.
This shift represents more than a technical evolution; it marks a profound transfer of power. As algorithms advance, human attention—once the cornerstone of social discourse—has become a commodity controlled by a few technological gatekeepers. The content we see, the ideas we encounter, and the voices we hear are increasingly determined not by collective human judgment, but by proprietary algorithms optimized for engagement, regardless of quality or truth.
Behind every algorithm stands human architects with their own interests, biases, and commercial imperatives. These invisible decision-makers shape our digital experience, determining:
Which creators receive visibility and which languish in obscurity
What types of content dominate our feeds and influence our thinking
How our attention is monetized and by whom
Which values and perspectives are amplified or suppressed
As AI becomes more sophisticated, this power imbalance deepens. Individual human opinion, attention, and mindshare—the currency of democracy and cultural evolution—diminish in importance while the architects of these systems consolidate control over our collective consciousness.
Like an old kingdom's centralized power structure, this new digital hierarchy concentrates influence among platform owners and algorithm designers, leaving everyday users with diminishing agency over their digital experience. We have unwittingly traded the messy vibrancy of human curation for the efficient but often sterile judgment of machines.
This transformation comes with profound human costs:
Creative voices struggle to emerge without conforming to algorithmic preferences
Communities fragment into echo chambers reinforced by engagement-maximizing algorithms
Nuanced human dialogue gives way to algorithmically-optimized content
The attention economy rewards polarization over understanding
Our collective attention—perhaps our most precious resource—is harvested and directed without our meaningful consent
This is not the democratic digital future we envisioned when the internet promised to connect humanity. Instead, we face a future where a few entities control the flow of information and attention that shapes our culture, politics, and society.
Inspired by Worldcoin's concept of Universal Basic Income (UBI) for humans, the Like token introduces a parallel innovation: Universal Basic Attention (UBA). While Worldcoin aims to provide economic resources to every human, Like provides something equally valuable—the capacity to direct and receive social attention in the digital realm.
The Like token is designed to be distributed fairly to humans, ensuring everyone has a baseline share of attention in our increasingly AI-mediated social spaces. By creating a decentralized mechanism for valuing and directing attention, Like establishes a new paradigm for social interaction—one where humans, not algorithms, determine what matters.
This represents more than a technical solution; it's a reaffirmation of human dignity in the digital age. It recognizes that each person's voice and attention have intrinsic value that should not be subject to algorithmic gatekeeping or corporate control. Through tokenized democracy, Like aims to return the power of curation and discovery to the hands of real people, creating a more equitable and human-centered digital ecosystem.
Like is a chain-agnostic utility token designed for attention-based transactions on social platforms. Built on Vly's social payment infrastructure, Like enables frictionless transactions between social identities without requiring traditional wallet addresses and gas fees. Users can send Like tokens to any social media handle (e.g., @username) without the recipient needing to create a wallet first - a significant advantage for mainstream adoption.
The Like token serves multiple functions within the Vly ecosystem:
Social Tipping: Reward valuable content directly through social handles with zero gas fees
Voice Generation: Stake Like to generate Voice (non-transferable influence points)
Attention Direction: Signal interest and direct collective focus
Protocol Governance: Participate in platform decisions and algorithm tuning
Gasless Transactions: Execute token transfers without paying blockchain gas fees
At the heart of Like's utility is the Voice system—a Web3 social reputation mechanism where Like tokens are staked to generate Voice, a non-transferable point attached to user accounts.
Voice characteristics:
Generated through staking Like tokens
Non-transferable and account-bound
Used for all voting and influence mechanisms
Available in both positive and negative forms
Subject to time-based cooldowns after use
By separating economic value (Like) from influence (Voice), the system creates a more nuanced and manipulation-resistant reputation mechanism.
This circular economy creates sustainable value by tying token utility to real social outcomes. Unlike many social tokens that lack fundamental utility, Like's value derives from its ability to direct attention—an increasingly scarce resource in the digital age.
The gasless transaction capability is particularly important for mainstream adoption, as it removes a significant barrier to entry for new users. Traditional blockchain tokens require gas fees for every transaction, making microtransactions economically unfeasible. Like tokens can be sent with zero gas fees, enabling true microtransactions for social tipping and engagement regardless of transaction size.
Total Supply: 100,000,000,000 (100 billion) Like tokens
The token allocation follows a community-first approach:
85%: Public distribution through various mechanisms
10%: Founding team and early backers (subject to vesting)
5%: Treasury for early adopters and marketing efforts
The 85 billion tokens allocated for public distribution will be released over an 8-year period, with a decreasing emission rate to reward early participation:
1
25%
21.25B
2
20%
17.00B
3
15%
12.75B
4
12%
10.20B
5
10%
8.50B
6
8%
6.80B
7
6%
5.10B
8
4%
3.40B
Like tokens will be distributed through multiple channels to ensure fair and widespread allocation:
Onboarding Rewards: New users receive 200 Like tokens when connecting their X (and later other social platform) account to Vly wallet (amount decreases as user base grows)
Social Engagement Rewards: Active participation in the ecosystem generates token rewards
KOL and Influencer Distribution: Tokens allocated to verified influential accounts based on social metrics and AI-validated contribution
Community Airdrops: Targeted airdrops to active members of aligned Web3 communities
Proof-of-Human Distributions: Integration with verification systems to ensure human recipients
This multi-faceted approach ensures tokens reach genuine humans engaged in social discourse rather than speculators or bots.
Voice represents a user's influence within the system and is generated by staking Like tokens. The relationship between staked Like and generated Voice follows key principles:
Time-Weighted Staking: Longer lock-up periods generate proportionally more Voice
1 week: 1x multiplier
3 weeks: 1.5x multiplier
6 weeks: 2x multiplier
12 weeks: 3x multiplier
Quadratic Voice Generation: Voice generation follows a square root curve to balance influence between large and small holders. This quadratic approach, pioneered in the Ethereum ecosystem, ensures that users with larger stakes have meaningful influence while preventing excessive concentration of power.
With a Base value of 10, this creates the following relationship between staked tokens and generated Voice:
100
100
300
1,000
316
948
10,000
1,000
3,000
100,000
3,162
9,486
This creates a balanced system where someone with 10 times more tokens will have approximately 3.16 times more Voice (√10 ≈ 3.16). The table also demonstrates how commitment duration significantly amplifies influence, allowing users with smaller holdings but longer commitments to achieve meaningful Voice in the system.
Voice Cooldown: Voice spent on voting cannot be reused for 7 days, preventing single users from dominating multiple decision processes
Voice enables a form of tokenized democracy across various use cases:
Content Curation: Use Voice to promote or demote content, creating community-driven feeds
Agenda Setting: Allocate Voice to determine which topics deserve attention and discussion within communities, ensuring conversations focus on matters the community deems important
Creator Rankings: Vote on leaderboards for different content categories, ensuring visibility is merit-based
Algorithm Governance: Direct Voice toward preferred content discovery algorithms and feature development
Community Decisions: Determine priorities in social discussions, project development, and resource allocation
Reputation Ranking: Contribute to dual positive/negative reputation systems that provide nuanced creator evaluation
Unlike simplistic "like" systems, Voice can be applied both positively and negatively, creating a more nuanced measure of social contribution:
Positive Voice: Elevates content and creators
Negative Voice: Identifies problematic or low-quality contributions
This dual system allows the community to recognize both exceptional contributions and problematic content, creating a more balanced evaluation mechanism than traditional social metrics.
Any system that tokenizes influence faces potential manipulation. Like's design includes multiple safeguards against common attack vectors:
To prevent multiple account creation:
Social identity verification through established accounts
Progressive Voice capabilities tied to account maturity
Network analysis to identify suspicious connection patterns
Integration with proof-of-humanness protocols
To reduce coordinated manipulation:
AI-powered anomaly detection for voting patterns
Time-delayed voting impact to allow community review
Reputation scoring that includes network diversity metrics
Randomized voting weight application within certain bounds
To prevent wealthy entities from dominating the system:
Non-linear relationship between token holdings and Voice
Activity requirements to maintain Voice potency
Time-based factors that value consistent participation
Community review mechanisms for large-scale Voice deployment
The security system will evolve through:
Regular security audits
Ongoing AI monitoring for emerging attack patterns
Community-based threat identification incentives
Phased implementation of critical features with feedback periods
Phase 1: Foundation (Q1 2025)
Vly wallet design and testing
Integration with X platform for social tipping
Design and testing of @vly_agent for simplified tipping experience
Phase 2: Launch (Q2 2025)
Initial Like token distribution to early Vly adopters
Basic Voice staking mechanism implementation
KOL and community mobilization campaign
Expanded social tipping functionality
Phase 3: Expansion (Q3-Q4 2025)
Extended social platform integrations
Advanced Voice mechanics and voting systems
Leaderboard and content curation mechanisms
Phase 4: Maturity (2026)
Full algorithmic governance capabilities
Cross-platform attention direction
Advanced reputation systems with AI validation
Phase 5: Evolution (2027+)
Community-driven feature development
Integration with broader Web3 attention economy
Protocol expansion based on community needs
Like token governance follows a progressive decentralization model:
Initial Guidance: Core team implements base protocol with community input
Progressive Decentralization: Gradual shift to community governance with Voice
Full DAO: Complete transition to Voice-based governance for all protocol decisions
The community will vote on critical protocol parameters:
Voice generation rates
Cooldown periods
Distribution mechanisms
Feature prioritization
Treasury allocation
The Like protocol commits to:
Public documentation of all distribution algorithms
Regular reporting on token distribution progress
Open-source code for core protocol mechanisms
Community calls for major protocol decisions
In an AI-dominated world, human attention risks becoming commodified and controlled. The Like token represents a fundamental shift—returning the power of attention allocation to humans through a fair, accessible, and manipulation-resistant system.
By creating a Universal Basic Attention mechanism, Like ensures that every voice has the opportunity to be heard regardless of algorithmic preferences. This represents not just a token but a movement toward a more equitable digital future where human agency remains central to our social fabric.
Like empowers users to define what deserves attention rather than having that decision made by profit-driven algorithms. It is a step toward tokenized democracy—where the value of social participation is recognized, rewarded, and, most importantly, directed by the humans who create it.
Vly Project Information:
This light paper is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. The Like token is a utility token for voting and is not intended to be a security or investment product.
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