Debank proudly defines itself as the real Web3-native messenger and the best web3 portfolio tracker that covers all your tokens, DeFi protocols, NFTs across all EVM chains. Their new Debank Stream service promises their users to credit them for their every action on the platform, including posting, reading, commenting, and reposting. By the looks of it, Stream can metamorphose itself into a Web3 social platform, but one question is raised when it comes to that: is it for the people or just for making the rich richer? And as I've tried myself to start my journey on it, I can say that while there's buzz around it, there is a steep access threshold for common people to participate.
Wallet assets value
Basically I had a MetaMask wallet that I've used for playing on different blockchains without too many assets on it and just worth about $2. Reading around about the Debank Steam, I've decided to connect my wallet to it and start posting to try it out. But as the joke says "Ninja, do you see that it's not like in the movies?!?!", I face a wall that stopped me from doing that: You'll need a net worth over $100 or a Web3 ID to post or comment!
Web3 ID
Well, I don't have $100 worth of assets in my wallet, but maybe I can grab a Web3 ID in order to get involved in the Debank Steam. I went right away to Settings and another wall was put in front of me: Pay $96 to mint a Web3 ID! That's not something easily affordable to throw away $100, so probably this channel doesn't suit me at all (and probably many others).
So it seems that Debank Steam left me high and dry with these thresholds that are quite unreasonable for a web3 social feature. I don't know what they were thinking about, but putting a $100 threshold one way or the other, it simply makes it a feature accessible by richer people that probably will get richer simply milking the platform with all their influence. This is another proof of centralization and that even if it is call a web3 messenger or social feature, it surely is not as it is not easily accessible and decentralized. Maybe that's just my opinion after failing to join the party, but I wonder what are you thinking about it?