In this episode of The Token Warrant, host Mike Zajko dives into the recent launch of Grass’s token with Polychain investor Josh Rosenthal and Grass co-founder Andrej Radonjic. GRASS (GetGrass.io) is a crypto-AI project built on Solana, designed to scrape and validate internet data for AI training. The discussion explores Grass’s mission to democratize data access by addressing the scarcity of high-quality data and the monopolization of web data by a few tech giants. Grass operates a decentralized network of over 2 million devices, enabling users to share their internet bandwidth in exchange for rewards, while simultaneously cleaning and validating web data in real time. Josh shares his journey from traditional finance to Polychain, and Andrej discusses his unconventional path into crypto and the creation of Grass. The conversation highlights Grass’s rapid growth, the crucial role of real-time data in AI development, and the ethical considerations surrounding data sharing. 

02:05 Josh provides his career background and his experience at Polychain.

03:51 Andrje shares his early experiences with crypto starting from a Dogecoin faucet in 2015 to Nuclear Physics to Traditional Finance. 

06:24 Andrej explains how a sports betting project led to the idea for the Grass network with the challenges of web scraping and the need for proxy networks.

10:19  Andrej discusses the unethical practices in existing proxy networks and Grass’s commitment to avoid these pitfalls and the Brave browser inspired the creation of Grass.

13:53 Andrej describes the evolution of Grass from its initial concept to its current state with millions of users around the world and how users can get started. 

16:04  Josh recounts the initial connection between Polychain and Grass and the evolution of the Grass concept over time and Polychain’s thinking. 

20:42 Highlights the importance of real-time data access for AI models in differentiating their performance along with current demand for multimodal data and its future potential compared to text-based models.

22:46Josh discusses Polychain's strategy and interest in AI-related investments and their evolution over time.

28:02 Andrej shares the difficulties of fundraising during a challenging time for crypto and AI startups.

37:58  Exploration of AI's need for real-time data and the limitations of traditional search engines and how Grass can enable AI companies to access real-time web information efficiently.

45:28  Insights into the recent token launch and the influx of new community members.

50:11  Upcoming features and beta launches planned for Grass, enhancing user participation.

Links:
https://www.getgrass.io/

Twitter Links:
www.x.com/jreedr
www.x.com/0xdrej
https://x.com/getgrass_io
https://x.com/polychaincap

Token Warrant
https://x.com/tokenwarrant
https://x.com/MikeZajko
https://x.com/reganbozman

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