Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)

Author｜jk

"As long as you chat about your dog on Luffa and share some training tips, you can earn a bag of dog food for free." Esra, the product lead of Luffa, told Odaily; a dog trainer friend in New York opened a channel on Luffa, which eventually turned into an online dog park: pet owners share photos of their dogs, exchange training insights, form small teams and secondary communities, and ultimately benefit from it.

She told Odaily that Luffa aims to change the core competitiveness of the creator economy: transforming the engagement and loyalty in the virtual world into real value that both creators and fans can possess.

Two years ago, when Luffa's CTO Michael conceived the idea of creating a secure communication tool due to a friend's account being hacked and receiving scam messages, he probably didn't expect it would lead to this point today. Two years later, Luffa has accumulated 1 million users and 2 million downloads, evolving from a niche privacy tool into an ambitious "creator economy operating system." The two core members of this team, Michael and product lead Esra, both have impressive backgrounds from major Web2 companies: Esra has worked at Meta, Uber, and Zillow, while Michael has been deeply involved in the AI field for many years. Why did they choose to jump into the uncertain realm of Web3?

After Luffa held a creator conference in Madrid, Odaily had the opportunity to have an in-depth conversation with Michael and Esra. We tried to find their answers from this dialogue: what kind of chemical reaction occurs when the creator economy meets Web3?

Here is the full interview:

Odaily: From an overall perspective, Luffa has just announced reaching 1 million users and over 2 million downloads. What does this milestone mean for the team? What has surprised you the most in the journey to today?

Michael: For us, 1 million users is not just a simple number in the creator economy. It feels more like proof of a significant event: the migration from Web2 to Web3 is genuinely happening. Our first batch of users is quite diverse, not just creators, but also Web3 players who value sovereignty, early adopters willing to try new things, privacy-conscious individuals, communities tired of being led by algorithms, and those looking for alternatives to centralized communication tools like WeChat and Telegram.

What surprised me the most is not the number itself, but a phenomenon. These users came for various reasons, but they all converged on the same point: they want more control than Web2 offers, but they also hope for more stability and reliability than the current Web3. You know, many Web3 products have a high barrier to entry, especially in terms of user experience. Seeing this convergence is indeed quite surprising.

Odaily: You describe Luffa as the "operating system" of the creator economy, rather than just another social platform. What does this mean for creators and fans in practical terms?

Michael: We call it an operating system rather than a social platform mainly because Luffa is essentially a foundational infrastructure. It integrates DID, wallets, communication, communities, and mini-programs into one; it's like a super app where everyone can customize various things based on their needs. All modules are interconnected, and everything is programmable.

For users, it feels like social and payment systems are completely integrated. For developers and partners, it's an open environment where they can build various interoperable things within the ecosystem. Whether it's applications, communities, or services, just like an operating system can run multiple applications simultaneously, Luffa allows creators, fans, and brands to establish value and trust in the digital world.

Odaily: Esra, the creator economy is indeed quite popular now, but the problems are also very apparent. What do you think is the most core and urgent issue that existing platforms have not addressed?

Esra: The core issue is that the creator economy is currently entirely a rental model. Creators spend years building their fan base, but it doesn't actually belong to them; it belongs to the platform. Traffic, data, monetization rules, and even the relationship with fans are all controlled by an algorithm that they cannot influence.

What we aim to do at Luffa is to rebuild this underlying logic, allowing creators to transition from renting traffic to owning their identity. The real problem is not the lack of monetization tools, but that creators fundamentally lack the infrastructure to truly own their fan networks, to directly establish fan identities and loyalty, to switch platforms with their communities, and to genuinely hold the value they create instead of letting it flow into the pockets of algorithms.

Luffa provides creators with a portable fan identity layer and various tools to activate it—posting, building worlds, live streaming, launching sales, creating memberships, and organizing offline events—all tied to the fan passport that creators own. What the creator economy truly needs is not another information stream, but an operating system centered around a sense of belonging. This is what we are working on.

Odaily: In the process of building Luffa, are there any memorable stories or experiences you can share?

Michael: The most interesting challenge is actually not on the technical level, but on the psychological level. We found that there is a deep cognitive gap between Web2 and Web3 users. Web2 users want stability; they don't care whether the system is centralized or decentralized; what they care about is: can it be used continuously, will their accounts disappear, is it easy to recover, and does the system have frequent issues.

Web3 users want something completely different; they want verifiable control: transparency, immutability, clear boundaries, and self-control. As long as the underlying system is reliable, many people can accept complexity.

The question arises: how to create a system that satisfies those who fear trouble while also reassuring those who fear losing control? To be honest, we are still exploring and do not have a perfect solution. Our current approach is a hybrid architecture: providing Web2 users with the stable experience they are accustomed to while retaining the transparency and control that Web3 users desire, all running on a unified infrastructure. This directly influences how we design DID, recovery mechanisms, channels, and the integration of AI in the future.

Esra: I want to talk about something more forward-looking, regarding the loyalty infrastructure we are building and how we think about "owning influence," which we call the ownership economy.

When considering how to enable creators to truly own their communities and fan relationships while allowing fans to have a portable identity with access rights and rewards that can be used across platforms, brands, and creators, we first researched who is already doing this.

Successful creators no longer view fans as mere numbers; they see them as a network they can control. Mr. Beast has built a complete studio and consumer goods company, completely detached from platform ecosystems. Taylor Swift re-recorded her masters and set up a system to monetize fan loyalty, allowing fans to truly participate. Brands like Skims and Prime have proven that creator-led networks can earn money through engagement rather than exposure.

Although these are often seen as exceptional cases of celebrities, they actually illustrate how the future will be played out. Influence is no longer just about reach; the key is whether you can own it. This requires new infrastructure that considers portability, transparency, and control. Creators need portable fan identities, direct communication free from algorithm interference, programmable loyalty systems that incentivize participation, and transparent mechanisms to know who is contributing and how value is distributed.

Treating creators as networks with their own internal economies rather than mere content providers is the core competitiveness. What we are doing at Luffa is providing creators with the identity and loyalty infrastructure they truly own, transforming influence from a fleeting number into a long-term, measurable asset.

Odaily: Esra, you have just launched live streaming, short videos, and the "World" feature. Can you introduce how these features work together? What is the overall experience for creators and fans on Luffa?

Esra: Everything we do revolves around one logic: identity brings connection, and connection brings loyalty.

Short videos serve as a discovery entry point, a lightweight, fun place for self-expression. Live streaming establishes a real-time presence, bringing emotional closeness. Worlds are where communities truly come alive, with structure and sustainable micro-communities where fans can level up, gain status, and be recognized.

Together, they create this experience: fans do not just watch and leave; they go through a complete process, from discovering creators, participating, gaining recognition, to finally belonging to a circle. Creators finally have a full set of tools, where attention can be transformed into identity, and identity can be transformed into long-term fans. This is why we say Luffa is an operating system, not a platform. Everything is interconnected, not disjointed.

Odaily: Web3 platforms often lag behind Web2 applications in user experience. How do you ensure that blockchain technology is "invisible" to users while still providing the core advantages of decentralization and user ownership?

Esra: Our philosophy is very simple: encryption should drive the experience behind the scenes, but it shouldn't take center stage. On Luffa, users can register without a wallet, participate without touching tokens, and do not see the blockchain unless they want to.

But in the background, every action of fans maps to their owned identity, portable data, and on-chain proof, all of which belong to the users, not the platform. We use blockchain where it is needed: for fan identity and reputation, digital asset ownership, proof of participation, and transferable loyalty between creators. All of this should be as smooth as using Web2.

For Web3 to truly gain popularity, it needs to be hidden in the background. What we are doing is allowing creators to focus on creating and fans to connect, with ownership naturally present.

Odaily: Michael, you recently held a creator conference in Madrid. How did creators react to using Luffa for the first time? What excited them, and what were they concerned about?

Michael: The creators' reactions are quite different from our existing Web3 users. Web3 users see Luffa as a tool for sovereign identity and community, while privacy users view it as an encrypted communication software. Creators see it as a way to run a digital business within a single app, with a more reasonable monetization model.

What excites them is that they can truly own their fans, use loyalty and community tools, and monetize not just based on whether algorithms push them, but also on their own influence and interaction with fans. Their fans can gain a more coherent and gamified experience through Web3 technology.

They are also concerned about very realistic issues: "Will my fans understand this?" Because most fans are Web2 users, not from the crypto world. "Is this safe for my brand image?" "Will the registration process be too complicated and lengthy?"

These are all grounded feedback we collected at the Madrid Creator Festival. We are iterating based on this to create what creators and users truly want.

Odaily: Let's talk about monetization models! How do creators make money on Luffa? How does this revenue model differ from traditional platforms?

Michael: On Web2 platforms, creators make money within someone else's system. On Luffa, they earn money through their own identity, community, and value cycles. This is the essential difference.

But value comes not only from content but also from verifiable ownership and portable identity. For privacy-conscious users, value means trust and encrypted communication. We see all these as different parts of an economic system.

Creators can earn money through memberships, personalized channels, NFTs as digital collectibles, as well as through loyalty programs, community economies, AI-driven interactive gameplay, online and offline events, and access control. The gameplay is completely different from current apps.

Esra: Michael is right. We are also exploring exclusive content payments, paid channels, and helping creators organize offline events, just like we did in Madrid. Stay tuned, monetization for creators is a top priority for us.

Odaily: Esra, you have worked at major Web2 companies like Meta, Uber, and Zillow; Michael, you have worked in AI at top global enterprises. What prompted you to choose to start a business in Web3, especially in the creator economy?

Esra: Because we are crazy! [laughs]

Michael: The world is splitting in two directions. On the Web2 side, there is the existing system, large-scale and convenient, but everything relies on the platform. On the Web3 side, it emphasizes sovereignty and transparency, but the barriers are high and it can be complex, relying on early users to support it.

AI is enhancing productivity and will accelerate development on both sides. If we don't rebuild the underlying structure, AI will concentrate power faster than any previous platform. Luffa, or the OS we are building, aims to prevent this from happening.

Our idea is: identity must be your own, data must be under your control, AI must be owned by you and personalized, value must be portable, and communication must be encrypted by default. This is a high-risk turning point, but the transformation must start from the underlying architecture—laying the groundwork for the next revolution of the internet at the intersection of AI and Web3 with a sovereign OS.

Esra: I spent many years in large Web2 companies and clearly saw the ceiling of centralized systems from the inside. These platforms scale up significantly, but their value model is essentially blood-sucking. Creators create value, but the platform decides who can see it and who can profit.

When I saw the trend of the ownership economy, I realized that in the next decade, the focus will not be on how many people you reach, but on whether you can take it with you. Web3 gives us the tools to finally align the interests of creators, fans, and platforms. It’s not about speculating on coins in Web3; it’s about providing a healthier structure for connections between people.

The creator economy is the best testing ground. Cultural iteration is fast, interactions are frequent, and emotional intensity is high. If we can solve the issues of identity and loyalty here, it won't be a problem elsewhere.

Odaily: What does your current user profile look like? Who is using Luffa? How does their usage differ from traditional social platforms?

Michael: Our user base is quite diverse. First, there are Web3 natives who value DID, sovereignty, encrypted communication, and on-chain activities. We have integrated DEX, so they can engage in DeFi within Luffa.

Secondly, there are privacy-focused Web2 and Web3 users looking for safer communication methods. The third group consists of early adopters and digital communities willing to try something completely different.

The fourth group includes creators and fans who want to build their own micro-economies and communities, using different monetization methods. They seek better interaction between creators, fans, and communities, aiming for a closed loop with a healthy economic cycle, rather than a blood-sucking model.

The creator line is our growth engine, but the foundation is broader—all users who want control, privacy, and future-oriented identity layers can find better monetization methods within the Luffa ecosystem.

Odaily: If we fast forward to 2027, what will Luffa look like? How will the platform evolve? What impact do you hope to have on the creator economy?

Michael: Simply put: the platform becomes the framework, and users become the system and flesh. This is our goal. We hope to break 100 million users. More importantly, we want users to find successful business models—not just what we provide, but what they create using our tools. Because we provide the OS, users can develop new gameplay within the Luffa OS. That is Luffa's greatest success.

Esra: The situation will be different for creators and fans, but Luffa will not just be an app; it will become the identity and loyalty infrastructure of the creator economy.

Creators will own their fan networks, directly monetizing through loyalty, carrying their communities with them at all times, running online and offline events on a single OS, and establishing a long-term cultural micro-economy that does not rely on information flow.

Fans will gain status, reputation, access rights, and rewards. They will establish identities within the creator community, using a portable fan passport that flows between creators, truly participating in experiences rather than just consuming content.

The entire industry will shift from platforms owning attention to creators owning identity. This is the future we are building.

Odaily: In your upcoming product planning, what features are you most looking forward to launching? What updates can the community expect in the coming months?

Esra: There are two things I am particularly looking forward to. The first is the fan passport—a lasting identity layer that records all fan activities in posts, worlds, live streams, and offline events, allowing creators to reward fans based on real engagement rather than vanity metrics. This is where Luffa transitions from an app to infrastructure.

The second is the integration of online and offline. We are building tracks for creators, enabling them to activate fans in both spaces: digital tasks, offline gatherings, loyalty levels, co-creating content, pop-up events, and even future ticketing. This is where the sense of belonging becomes tangible.

These boil down to a big idea: creators should not have scattered fans across ten different apps. They should have a fan identity map that can be used anywhere.

By downloading Luffa now, you are helping us build this in the early stages. We look forward to the day when fans can truly share in the creator economy's pie, which is currently valued at over $200 billion. We hope everyone can be patient, and as Michael said, provide feedback on the current features, and continue to let us hear your voice when new features come out, because ultimately, we are building products for the users.

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