FAQ

💬 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: What exactly is the Butterfly protocol?

A: Butterfly is a decentralized SocialFi protocol. In short, it innovatively combines an "offline Bluetooth Mesh network" with a Web3 economic model. It lets you chat with nearby people via Bluetooth in environments without internet (like subways or music festivals), and for the first time converts your real-world offline connections into valuable on-chain digital assets through "Proof of Connection (PoC)".

Q2: What core problem does the Butterfly protocol solve?

A: It addresses the large gap between "virtual socializing" and "real connections." We swipe past thousands of avatars on apps every day but miss the people right in front of us. The Butterfly protocol uses incentives to encourage you to be present, discover, and connect with people around you, and assigns proper value to those precious real-world interactions.

Q3: Do I need to be online to use Butterfly?

A: No! This is one of Butterfly's core advantages. The protocol is built on a decentralized Bluetooth mesh network. Even in "offline" environments without Wi‑Fi or cellular service, you can still discover nearby Butterfly users, establish connections, and send messages via Bluetooth.

Q4: What is a "Proof of Connection (PoC)?"

A: PoC is the core technical innovation of the Butterfly protocol. When you and another user are physically close, your phone apps perform a secure "physical handshake" over low-energy Bluetooth (BLE) and use the Ed25519 cryptographic algorithm to mutually sign, generating an unforgeable "connection credential." This credential is anchored on the blockchain and becomes part of your social assets.

Q5: How does PoC ensure security and prevent cheating (Sybil attacks)?

A: PoC has robust anti-forgery design:

1. Distance constraint: Uses Bluetooth RSSI (signal strength) to ensure both parties are physically near each other.

2. Timestamp + Nonce: Credentials include a timestamp and a random nonce, effectively preventing attackers from performing "replay attacks" after intercepting packets.

3. Physical presence: PoC inherently resists Sybil attacks because a single cheater cannot forge a large number of genuine physical "handshakes" occurring at the same time in different places.

Q6: Will keeping Bluetooth on drain a lot of battery? Is my privacy safe?

A:

• Power consumption: We use Low Energy Bluetooth (BLE), which is specifically designed to minimize power consumption while maintaining connections.

• Privacy: Your privacy is a top priority. We adopt military‑grade security architecture, including Noise protocol framework (for key exchange) and AES-256-GCM(for message encryption), achieving end‑to‑end encryption. PoC only proves that a "connection" event occurred and does not expose your exact location or sensitive personal information on-chain.

Q7: How can I earn $Butterfly tokens?

A: Butterfly designs an "X-to-Earn" incentive model that rewards your real contributions to the network:

1. Connect-to-Earn: This is the core of SocialFi. You earn $Butterfly rewards by creating real offline connections with others (generating PoC).

2. Relay-to-Earn: This is part of DePIN. By keeping the app running, your phone becomes a mesh node that helps relay messages and strengthen network coverage, earning you passive $Butterfly rewards.

3. Explore-to-Earn: Incentivizes you to "seed" the network in new geographic locations (like your regular café or new event venues) and rewards you as a "network pioneer."

Q8: What are $Butterfly tokens used for?

A: $Butterfly is the native token of the Butterfly protocol (total supply 1 billion). It has four core uses:

1. Incentive medium: Serves as the primary reward for the aforementioned X-to-Earn behaviors.

2. Staking yield: Users can stake $Butterfly tokens to share in network growth and protocol revenue (APR).

3. Ecosystem utility: Used to redeem on‑chain reputation credentials, NFT badges, unlock premium app features, or as a payment method for B2B customers (such as event organizers) using the SDK.

4. Community governance: $BF holders will be able to participate in the protocol's decentralized governance in the future.

Q9: How will early users (like Farcaster users) receive an airdrop?

A: 8.05% of our total supply (80.5 million $BF) is allocated to the "Airdrop GENESIS" for early airdrops. This will reward the earliest community builders, including Genesis‑NFT holders, active Discord users, participants in Galaxy quests, and retroactive Farcaster users, among others.

Q10: What is the difference between Butterfly and Farcaster or Lens Protocol?

A: Farcaster and Lens are purely online DeSoc protocols; they rely 100% on the internet. Butterfly fills in two critical gaps they lack:

1. Physical transport layer: We achieve true "offline" communication via a Bluetooth mesh.

2. Real‑world interface: They can only handle "online" data, whereas we tokenize real offline interactions for the first time through PoC.