This episode of Untangling Web3 features Piero Bassa, senior software engineer at VeChain and founder of Mugshot, for an in-depth look at X-2-Earn models that use Web3 infrastructure to reward sustainable real-world behavior.

With a background in building scalable decentralized systems, Piero outlines how DApps can enable new paradigms of user engagement by combining crypto incentives with everyday actions like choosing reusable items.

Key highlights:

• What makes a DApp different from traditional apps? DApps operate on blockchain infrastructure instead of centralized servers, which decentralizes control and gives users true ownership of data and digital assets. Smart contracts replace opaque backend logic, allowing users to trust that rules, incentives, and governance are transparent and immutable. This model removes reliance on single points of failure, enables permissionless participation, and shifts power away from centralized platforms like Facebook and Google.
• The logic and value of X-2-Earn models X-2-Earn flips conventional engagement by turning user actions into valuable contributions. These models provide incentives for users to take actions like exercising, recycling, or drinking from reusable cups. By anchoring incentives to smart contracts and crypto rewards, X-2-Earn enables immediate, scalable compensation without intermediaries. It also ensures transparency in how and why rewards are distributed, building trust in the system’s fairness and intention.
• The Mugshot use case: Rewarding reuse with Web3 Mugshot incentivizes sustainable behavior by rewarding users for uploading photos of themselves using reusable mugs instead of disposable cups. Through AI validation and smart contract logic, users receive tokenized rewards that can be redeemed for products like sustainable coffee. In under a year, Mugshot has reached nearly a million users, showing that simplicity and fun UX, combined with meaningful incentives, can drive mass adoption—even without complex onboarding or referral systems.

X-2-Earn models powered by blockchain offer a new path for rewarding socially and environmentally beneficial actions. By combining transparency, composability, and tokenized incentives, apps like Mugshot are proving that Web3 can deliver real-world impact at scale.

Rather than chasing speculative hype, the future of decentralized apps lies in utility, habit formation, and trustless engagement—empowering users and aligning incentives for a more sustainable digital ecosystem.

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This episode is sponsored by the VeChain foundation. Learn more about VeBetterDAO here:

https://vebetterdao.org/

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Learn more about Web3 at:

https://untanglingweb3.com/

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Untangling Web3 is brought to you by hosts Jack Davies and Alec Burns, with music by Daniel Paigge. Got a question or topic suggestion? Send us an email at [email protected].

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The views we express here are our own, and do not represent the views of our employers. Nothing discussed or stated in the show should be considered advice.