Are there any thoughts about storing username on chain?

Moralis General
#1

Hi all,

Currently Moralis stores its username on each project MongoDB database.

I think the reason is probably it is easier to avoid duplication this way than with an expensive Smart Contract. But are there any thoughts / common practices on this?

Should we favor ENS/unstoppable domain or similar approaches?
I also saw polygon is working on their own identity system.
In many ways converting (back and forth) the wallet address to a username is at the heart of decentralized/crypto issues and we perhaps should converge to a shared approach to do this.

What are you all doing on this?

#2

Not more interest in decentralized identity/username? Really?

#3

Well the username could be something user inputted, and it could be anything. I don’t see the issue with that. And the issue with ENS/Unstoppable are the fees required.

#4

It bothers me a bit that we have a database per DAPP storing unique usernames. Doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of having the blockchain in the first place? Fees on polygon are ridicule so I don’t see why that should be a problem.

#5

You could store usernames on chain. It’s up to the developer if they want to implement things this way. One of Moralis’s main features is Web2 to Web3, so standard databases are used. I guess the idea as an infrastructure provider is to not make too many assumptions.

#6

Perhaps my perspective is tented by my own approach of web3.

I view the role of the blockchain/ipfs as storing the user data. This way I can guarantee their ownership of it. I view web2 as a “caching layer” to facilitate access. I am using this principle to guide my design.
If my DAPP would disappear, they would still “own” the underlying objects.

Otherwise, I feel like we lose a bit of potential downstream.

Moralis is particularly in a position to foster this decentralized identity because lots of DAPP are built on top. I actually thing this specific design choice have tons of downstream cascading effect on how the ecosystem of DAPP built with Moralis can work together.

#7

The very thumbnail that is associated with this post (from gravatar) is a testimony to this. It comes from the Wordpress foundation that attempted to enable an ecosystem of blog that shares image identity.
Those ideas are not new.

Username and wallet could enable this.

#8

I definitely get that. Some tutorials about it would definitely be a good idea.

I know there’s things like Lens Protocol which are trying to bridge that gap, maybe there could be some integration there.

#9

Great. This is what I was after. I didn’t see the point of reinventing a username system. I will look into this protocol