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Dmitrii Lunin Founder & CEO @ Shegby, Inc. (Web3 KYC SaaS & Network State). MBA, JD in Digital Forensics, Certified e-commerce consultant. My LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmitrylunin/
Shegby is a peer-to-peer identity and trust protocol for people who want to keep their identity private.
I'm Dmitrii and I've spent the last 20 years building digital products, working in search technology and digital forensics. I also travelled for work a lot, and it was during those trips that something changed.
When I was somewhere new, I was always helped by people I didn't know. The locals, often with little to gain, went out of their way to offer support. From late-night rides to personal introductions, those acts of trust really stuck in people's minds. It made me realise something:
Trust between strangers is one of the most powerful forces in the world.
But when you go online, it's not working properly. If you're looking to hire someone, offer your skills, or build a community, you'll probably find that trust is still a bit of an issue. It can be centralised, bureaucratic, or even totally missing. It's so easy to buy any KYC on OTC these days, even a biometric one. You just have to take a leap of faith.
That's how Shegby started out in 2019: as a peer-to-peer concierge marketplace, where anyone could offer or request services all over the world. But I hit a wall pretty quickly. The thing was, it wasn't the features that were missing - it was trust. Trust that's real, you can check it's there, and it's at human level. It's not dependent on governments, big tech or gatekeepers.
So we built it.
What is Shegby?
Shegby is a decentralised identity and trust layer powered by a protocol we call HumanRank - a PageRank-inspired algorithm that allows users to verify each other without relying on third parties. It lets anyone earn and give trust, one connection at a time.
You decide how much to reveal, and when. You can choose whether to stay anonymous or build a rich public profile. You own your own identity and the value tied to it. You can even sell your data, which is something you couldn't do before.
No data is stored on the blockchain. There isn't a global KYC registry. It's basically just a growing network of people who vouch for each other - because they know each other.
Why now?
We're really inspired by the idea of Network States by Balaji Srinivasan. We think the future of governance, citizenship and services will come from decentralised communities. But these communities need foundations – tools for identity, trust, and coordination.
That's where Shegby comes in.
Why Bitcoin?
We think that sovereign identity and sovereign money go hand in hand. Shegby is perfect for the Bitcoin world, where users care about privacy, self-custody and freedom. Instead of trying to replace what Bitcoin does well, we focus on what's missing: trust between people in a decentralised context.
We don't want to "KYC the blockchain." We're keen to get people vouching for each other, and we'll reward them or hold them to account when they do.
So, what have we done so far?
- Built the core of the HumanRank protocol;
- Designed the first P2P marketplace of services;
- Formed a team across Estonia, Eastern Europe, Asia and Australia;
- Launched conversations across nostr and Bitcoin communities.
I've got an MBA, I'm a certified e-commerce consultant and I've got a JD in digital forensics, but more importantly, I believe in what we're building. I'd like to get the ball rolling on this project with anyone who's keen to get more self-owned trust in the digital world.
The Vision
I don't see the state as a fixed territory. It's a service layer. The best public services might be provided by your neighbour or someone halfway across the world.
A borderless network state is totally possible, and trust is the first step.
How you can help?
We're currently raising a pre-seed round of $100,000 to:
- Finalize the protocol and MVP;
- Launch public testing;
- Spread awareness across sovereign tech and Bitcoin circles.
If you're on the same page as us, we'd love your support. Any amount is welcome. Every satoshi helps us move closer to a world where trust is earned, not given.
Let's build the future of identity – together! Dmitrii lunin.btc: bc1qjlynnng85n6wlyfl8dykyzulamtr57vrhzfmeq shegby.btc: bc1qpcxf8l8c9w6ms7vhl9cgc0xja7k7qrq79gc96n
Howdy @DmitriiLunin and welcome to SN
Just want to introduce you to the ~AGORA territory, a place to buy or sell your products and services with other stackers and obviously use bitcoin P2P as a medium of exchange.
Read this intro guide whenever needed, and if you have any feedback or suggestion on how we can make this space more useful, please do get in touch!
Wish you great and prosperous times around this wonderful corner of the internet!
Stay humble, stack sats ;)
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Welcome aboard!
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Welcome to the Final Frontier!
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Welcome. Stay humble, stack sats.
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Could you drop me a link to CoinMarketCap with SATS and contract? It's interesting and I have found a number of SATS there for some reason(
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LOL. You're funny.
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Thank you 🙏
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Welcome!
Stack sats, stay humble
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Welcome🙋🏼 Stay humble, Stack SATs.
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I have just discovered the project https://stacker.news/r/DmitriiLunin (this is a referral link, if I understand correctly). What struck me about the project is that it is very similar to the decentralised media we have heard so much about. At least I hope so, and I will study the project more closely 🙏
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And the immediate conclusion is that ANY good idea is killed by implementation! As we say, "you can't figure it out without a bottle of vodka" 😉 StackerNews uses Lightning (which I'm not familiar with), for payments/rewards etc. The winner will be the one who makes everything simple, convenient, understandable and manages to get funding.
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Welcome!
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Wow! Thank you!
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Welcome aboard!
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Hey, happy to be here!
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Welcome dmitry_lunin !
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Hey! It's so cool to be welcomed here! This is my first time on stackernews and I'm still studying the project, I want to try to post something as soon as I figure out the lightning wallet (as I understand it's bitcoin, but I'm more into metamask and erc-20 before that)
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I warn you right now that the overwhelming majority of stackers don't like cryptocurrencies at all.
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I warn you right now that the overwhelming majority of stackers don't like cryptocurrencies at all.
Thank you, but I wonder if SATS is the cryptocurrency used in this project for its functioning? Or are you talking about something else?
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If I may ask, I'm interested in your opinion on why bitcoin is not a cryptocurrency, here are a few possible reasons that I know of:
No central authority: Bitcoin was created with the idea of complete decentralisation. Some crypto users may believe that because bitcoin has no central control, it is more "crypto" than alternatives.
Technical features: Some communities may focus on the technical aspects of blockchain and smart contracts. For example, Ethereum offers greater opportunities for building decentralised applications, and some may consider it more "crypto" in this context.
Focus on use: Some communities may focus more on cryptocurrencies that are actively used in everyday life (for example, to pay for goods and services), rather than simply as a store of value, which is more typical of bitcoin.
Historical perspective: Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency and, for a long time, the only significant representative of this asset class. Some communities may use the terms "cryptocurrency" and "altcoins" to distinguish bitcoin from other coins.
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