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*prelude: All of these apps could/will launch as Farcaster mini apps too Need good consumer crypto dealflow? I was a judge (representing Social Graph Ventures) at World Build Demo Day (hosted by FWB and Worldcoin). Sixteen teams pitched. These are the ones that made me lean in. But first, why World? Anay from Blockchain Capital: “What makes World so unique is that it provides a net new primitive for developers to build around: proof of personhood. This enables novel types of applications in crypto like undercollateralized lending and new forms of token distributions.” My personal favorites (not the official winners): Lucas and Sami Robinhood-style RWA app on World. Using Backed Finance for stocks today, permissionless tomorrow. This one feels inevitable. Derik and Henrick – Undercollateralized loans (still in stealth, ex-AWS team) Upload business documents → AI writes the plan → raise from friends, family, or platform. “An AI company that happens to use crypto rails.” Risk engine is the moat. Henry – Ground Truth + Skywalk Skywalk wraps Polymarket/Kalshi bets into tokens for arbitrage and DeFi composability. Ground Truth runs geo-verified, human-only polls (e.g., “Will X win this zip code?”). Real sentiment data at a fraction of the cost. Ivan and Ilya – Madson Watch one ad per day → get paid. Publishers bid for tomorrow’s slot. A simple attention market. I’ve been saying this model was needed for years; talked it through with Nick Grossman from USV and Alok Vasudev from Standard Crypto back in the day. Jayden – Zero-fee marketplace Facebook Marketplace but with no cut. Buyer deposits USDC (escrow), chat unlocks, deal closes, seller gets funds. Revenue comes from yield on idle deposits. Clean. Ryan – Vaults (official winner) Vaults already powers yield and PnL data for Gauntlet, Steakhouse, Kraken and others. The earn mini-app brings that infra to World users so they can actually chase the best yields without leaving the app. Big thanks to Will Smercer, Mateo Sauton, Lay and the whole World and FWB teams for a great event. Also judges: the Protocol Labs crew, David from Circle Ventures, Leandro from Kalei Ventures, Anay from Blockchain Capital, and Jack Simison from Nascent. P.S. Jack’s top three were Ryan from Vaults, the Robinhood-style RWA app, and the zero-fee marketplace. Solid taste.

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