Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Accept That "AI-Native Blockchain" Sounds Made Up
Last Saturday, I made a catastrophic social error. I agreed to attend a dinner party with "interesting people," which in my experience means "people who will ask what you do for fun, and you will have to explain that your fun involves reading whitepapers about semantic compression."
The host, a lovely woman named Patricia who runs a boutique candle business, turned to me mid-appetizer and asked the question that would seal my fate: "So, what's new and exciting in your world?"
I had a choice. I could say "not much" and discuss the weather. Or I could tell the truth.
Reader, I chose violence.
The Opening Gambit: "It's Like a Blockchain, But With AI"
"Well," I began, "there's this project I've been following called Vanar. It's an AI-native Layer 1 blockchain designed for mainstream adoption."
Patricia's smile didn't waver, but her eyes did that thing where they briefly look to the exit. The man next to her—let's call him Brad, because he was absolutely a Brad—leaned in with the confidence of someone who once read an article about Bitcoin in 2017.
"Oh, crypto stuff? I'm into crypto. I have Dogecoin."
I felt a physical sensation in my chest. It was either a heart attack or the overwhelming urge to correct him. I chose the diplomatic approach.
"Great! Well, Vanar is a bit different. It's not really a speculative coin—well, I mean, it is, but that's not the point. The point is the technology."
The "What Does It Actually Do" Question
Brad, now emboldened by his Dogecoin credentials, pressed further. "Okay, but what does it do? Like, can I buy things with it?"
"Eventually, yes! But the real value is in the infrastructure. They have this thing called Neutron—"
"Is that like a crypto mining rig?" Patricia asked hopefully.
"No, it's AI-powered compression. See, normally storing data on a blockchain is expensive. But Neutron uses AI to compress files up to 500 times smaller, so you can store things permanently—"
"You can store files permanently?" This from Linda, who had been quiet until now but perked up at the mention of file storage. Linda is a photographer. Linda has lost photos to three different external hard drives. Linda was suddenly very interested.
"Yes! Exactly! Like, you could store your photos on-chain and they'd be there forever, unchangeable, completely yours."
Linda looked at me with an intensity that suggested I had just offered her the holy grail. "How much does it cost?"
"Right now, the consumer app MyNeutron is free to—"
"FREE?! I can store my photos for FREE forever?!"
"Well, the basic tier is free, and then for power users there's a subscription model that uses the $VANRY token, which creates deflationary pressure through—"
I lost her at "deflationary pressure." Linda was already on her phone, presumably downloading the app. I had accidentally converted my first normie.
The Skeptic: "This Sounds Like a Pyramid Scheme"
Enter Mark. Mark is a lawyer. Mark has made skepticism his entire personality.
"So let me get this straight," Mark said, swirling his wine like he was about to deliver a closing argument. "There's a digital token. Its value depends on people using it. The people who already have it want more people to buy it so the value goes up. That's... literally the definition of a greater fool theory."
I took a deep breath. This was the moment.
"Mark, that's true for speculation. But Vanar has actual revenue models. Companies will pay subscription fees to use the AI and storage. Those fees buy and burn tokens. It's not just 'more people buy = price up.' It's 'more people USE the product = more fees = tokens burned = supply decreases.' It's a utility token with a built-in buyback mechanism."
Mark paused. He hates when I make sense.
"So it's like... a SaaS company... that happens to run on a blockchain?"
"YES, MARK. THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT IT IS. THANK YOU."
The Aftermath
By dessert, three things had happened:
1. Linda had indeed downloaded MyNeutron and was asking if she could compress her entire wedding portfolio.
2. Brad had attempted to explain how this was "just like Dogecoin but with extra steps" and was gently corrected by Patricia, who had surprisingly retained the phrase "AI-powered permanent storage."
3. Mark was quietly Googling "Vanar chain tokenomics" on his phone under the table.
As I drove home, I realized something. I hadn't convinced them with buzzwords or price predictions. I had convinced Linda with a solution to a real problem. I had engaged Mark with a logical economic model. I had even briefly made Brad question his life choices.
Vanar isn't an easy project to explain. But when you strip away the jargon, the core is surprisingly relatable: permanent storage for important stuff, and smart automation for complex tasks, all powered by a token that actually has a reason to exist.
Patricia texted me this morning: "Can you send me that link? My candle recipes deserve to be immortalized."
I have created monsters. But they're monsters who understand utility.
#Vanar #MyNeutron @Vanarchain #RealWorldAdoption #BlockchainForNormies #VANRY
