The Inevitable Rise of User-Owned Recommendation Engines

Platforms like TikTok and Instagram optimize for engagement, not user utility, creating addictive loops that trade attention for ads.

• ~70% of user time is dictated by opaque, non-consensual algorithms.
• Zero economic alignment: Users generate the data and content but capture none of the $500B+ digital ad market value.
• Permanent lock-in: Your social graph and preferences are non-portable silos.

Protocols like Lens and Farcaster decouple social identity from applications, enabling user-owned networks.

• Sovereign data: Your followers, posts, and interactions are NFTs or on-chain attestations you control.
• Composable reputation: Build a verifiable history (e.g., Gitcoin Passport, EAS) that any new app can permissionlessly read.
• Market for curation: Algorithms become competitive services bidding for your attention, not default monopolies.

EigenLayer AVSs and Succinct's SP1 enable trust-minimized, specialized recommendation engines that execute user intents.

• Provable algorithms: Use zk-proofs to verify an ad-free, unbiased feed was delivered as promised.
• Intent-centric flow: Users post a goal ("find best crypto news"), solvers (UniswapX, CowSwap model) compete with bespoke algos.
• Micro-payments & staking: Pay ~$0.01 per high-quality recommendation; stake to slaw bad actors.

Current DeFi and NFT aggregators are black boxes. They capture ~50-100 bps of user value through hidden order flow auctions and MEV, with no alignment between user outcomes and protocol incentives.

• Value Leakage: Users pay for suboptimal routes and hidden fees.
• No Portability: Your transaction history and preferences are locked to a single interface.
• Zero Stake: Aggregators have no skin in the game for your financial result.

Shift from transaction execution to outcome declaration. Users state what they want (e.g., "best price for 100 ETH to USDC"), and a decentralized solver network competes to fulfill it.

• MEV Resistance: Solvers internalize value, turning extractable value into better prices.
• Composability: Intents become a standard, portable data layer for any frontend.
• Guaranteed Outcomes: Users get the promised result or the transaction fails, eliminating slippage surprises.

The competitive layer for intent fulfillment. Projects like CowSwap's CoW DAO and Across' UMA-based oracle create a marketplace where solvers stake capital and build reputation for reliable execution.

• Economic Security: Solvers post bonds, slashed for malicious or failed execution.
• Dynamic Routing: Leverages all liquidity sources (DEXs, private pools, bridges like LayerZero) atomically.
• Credible Neutrality: No single entity controls the routing logic or order flow.

Recommendation requires context. Protocols are enabling user-owned data pods (e.g., using Ceramic, Tableland) that store encrypted preferences and transaction graphs, enabling personalized suggestions without exposing raw data.

• Sovereign Data: You control access; apps request permissions via tokens or ZK proofs.
• Monetization Flip: Earn fees or rewards for allowing your anonymized intent-stream to improve public routing.
• Cross-Dapp Identity: A persistent, portable profile of your DeFi/NFT behavior and preferences.

Aligned economics are critical. Next-gen engines will direct profitable order flow to their own liquidity pools or partner LPs, capturing fees that are shared back with users and data providers.

• Value Recirculation: Fees from routing and MEV capture are distributed to token stakers and active users.
• Sticky Liquidity: Becomes the most economically rational venue for both swappers and LPs.
• Sustainable Flywheel: Better prices attract more volume, which improves data and attracts more liquidity.

User-owned engines evolve into agent operating systems. Your on-chain persona, governed by ZK-provable rules, can autonomously execute complex strategies across DeFi, gaming, and social based on personalized recommendations.

• Agent-Fi: Your wallet becomes an active economic entity, earning from micro-opportunities.
• Trustless Delegation: Delegate specific intents (e.g., "manage my LP positions") to specialized agent protocols.
• Network Effects of One: The more your agent acts, the better its unique recommendation model becomes.

Centralized algorithms optimize for engagement, not user value, creating a $100B+ annual arbitrage opportunity.\n- Zero user sovereignty: Data and attention are locked in walled gardens.\n- Developer tax: Apps pay ~30% fees to access users via ads and APIs.\n- Inefficient discovery: The best products/services lose to those with the best ad spend.

User-owned graphs (e.g., Farcaster, Lens Protocol) decouple social data from applications.\n- Composable identity: A user's followers, likes, and history become a portable asset.\n- Permissionless indexing: Any app can build a custom feed algorithm on the same open social graph.\n- Monetization shift: Value accrues to the graph and users, not the intermediary app.

Systems like Ethereum Attestation Service (EAS) and intent-based architectures (e.g., UniswapX, CowSwap) formalize preferences.\n- Explicit intents: "Find me the best yield" or "Show me trending devs" become executable queries.\n- Verifiable credentials: Trust is modularized via on-chain attestations from curators you choose.\n- MEV becomes MEV: Miner Extractable Value transforms into Maximal Extractable Value for the user.

Recommendation engines will capture value via fee switches on curated flows, not ads.\n- Yield-bearing graphs: Staked tokens signal curation quality and earn protocol fees.\n- Anti-fragile data: Usage improves the model, creating a network effect moat.\n- VC play: Invest in the base layer protocols (the graph) not the top-layer apps.

Closed AI platforms (OpenAI, Anthropic) aim to become the ultimate recommendation engine, controlling both model and interface.\n- Existential threat: They capture the entire stack from intent to execution.\n- Counter-strategy: Open, modular stacks where users own their agent's memory & preferences.\n- Key battleground: Who controls the user's intent layer—a centralized API or a user-owned wallet?

Focus on infrastructure, not applications. The winners will be protocols for intent expression and fulfillment.\n- Build the pipe: Create systems for composing and settling user intents (see Across, LayerZero).\n- Index the graph: Build the best-in-class indexer for a specific vertical (DeFi, social, gaming).\n- Monetize curation: Design token models that align stakers, curators, and users.