What are Soulbound Tokens? 🧐

I have a confession…

I’m the Queen of Losing Things.

One minute I’ll be holding my keys in my hand, and the next minute I’m running around my apartment trying to figure out where the heck I put them. Oh, and don’t let me need to find more important things like my birth certificate or my social security card. Somehow, when I need them most, they’re never where I thought I left them. (Mom, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry to let you down 🙃)

Now enter Souldbound Tokens.

When I learned about Soulbound NFTs a few weeks ago, I instantly became intrigued with the concept. Partially because the word “souldbound” is a little…eerie…? Lol. But mainly because I believe this type of token could drastically change how records are kept and how we, as humans, start to identify.

Let’s dive in!

What are Soulbound Tokens (SBTs)?

SBTs are tokens that cannot be transferred from one wallet to another.

Once you receive this token, it forever lives in your wallet. Unlike NFTs or event cryptocurrency, which can be traded and sent an infinite number of times, SBTs are permanent.

What are some use cases for SBTs?

NFT Now gives an excellent breakdown of how SBTs may show up in every day life. Check it out below:

“Some SBTs may act like real-life achievement badges, similar to the badges you get in a video game when you complete a specific task or make it past a set milestone. However, instead of receiving a badge for defeating a foe or saving the princess (or prince!), you get an SBT for completing a degree, earning a professional certification, winning an award, and so on. Even if it’s for something as niche as being the world’s leading expert on kickball, your corresponding SBT would serve as a way of verifying that achievement to others.

But SBTs aren’t just about achievements. They can be tied to a myriad of other traits, features, and personal information. For example, an SBT could be used to verify your name, birthday, political affiliations, charitable giving, criminal record, medical history, nationality, religious upbringing, military history, and more. The possibilities are literally endless.

The thing to remember is this: Soulbound tokens are every bit of factual information about you broken down into individual NFTs and stored in your private blockchain wallet.”

Soulbound NFTs & Identity

This concept of having your personal information, especially as it relates to identity, on the blockchain is an interesting one. As I think about the visible and invisible identities that make each of us up, I wonder what the impact of having these listed publicly on the blockchain will have? Will we have a choice in what parts of ourselves become public information vs. what parts we’re able to keep private? How do we ensure discriminatory practices don’t get even worse?

According to authors of the SBT whitepaper, SBTs won’t be available until the end of the year. So I guess we have a little ways until we get to see how this plays out. Even with some of my skepticism around identity being on the blockchain, I surely could use SBTs for my license, birth certificate, social security card, diploma… all that! Overall, it’s a cool concept that, if executed well and with regulations, could transform a lot of current processes.

What are your thoughts on SBTs? Let me know in the comments or message me directly!

See ya :)

Kendall