Grass Offers a Decentralised Approach to Public IP Address Pooling

What is Data Scraping

In the dynamic landscape of the AI industry, fueled by vast internet data, companies utilize sophisticated data scraping techniques to extract valuable information from diverse websites. This involves employing automated bots or crawlers to navigate web pages and collect data points crucial for enhancing AI algorithms and building advanced data models.

As the demand for data scraping surges, websites adopt various strategies to protect their content due to ethical concerns, increased server load, and the intrinsic value of their web content. Measures such as rate limits and CAPTCHA challenges are implemented to deter scraping activities. Some websites have updated their terms of service to explicitly forbid scraping without prior consent, though enforcement remains challenging.

What is Grass?

Imagine a world where your internet connection isn't just for browsing or streaming, but a service that can earn rewards. This is precisely what Grass is proposing as a possible solution to the challenges faced by AI models in accessing public IP addresses.

The Problem

Access to public IP addresses is vital for data scraping as it makes it harder for websites to detect and stop scraping activities. However, acquiring and managing a diverse pool of public IPs presents a significant challenge for AI labs engaged in data scraping operations.

The Solution

Grass addresses this problem by providing AI labs with access to a pool of public IP addresses distributed across various geographic locations. This enables Grass to dynamically rotate data crawlers across different public IP addresses during scraping operations. By doing so, Grass effectively bypasses CAPTCHA challenges and avoids detection by websites, facilitating seamless and efficient data scraping for AI models.

How to get Grass?

An Android application is in the works but for now, you need to install a plugin which works on Chromium-based browsers such as Chrome, Brave and Edge.

If you are interested in signing up please consider using my affiliate link https://app.getgrass.io/register/?referralCode=x9WEjTze87lO5q1 . I’ll earn myself a commission which you can read more about further down. 

If you are curious to learn more continue reading and don't forget to utilise the convenient content icon on the left for easy navigation throughout this article.

User Experience

While the application is still in beta, you may experience occasional connection issues and fluctuating rewards due to real-time adjustments. If you run into any problems it is usually best to try again after some time. 

Earning Potential with Grass

You might be tempted to hook up multiple devices onto the same network connection to boost your earnings. However, grass has emphasised the importance of each device having its own unique public IP address to maximize earnings. Using the same public IP across multiple devices dilutes earnings and contradicts Grass's offering to AI labs. You are capped to a maximum of 2400 points in 24 hours per public IP address. 

This means hooking up PCs to the same broadband connection may not yield you any additional income and may even end up spitting the rewards. But that doesn’t mean your newfound dream of setting up a broadband monetising farm is over. 

Please note in the image above that the system has not been active 24/7 and has been switched off for long periods so the daily earnings are much lower than expected if the system is running 24 hours a day. The maximum potential earning I have with this setup, if the network quality is at 75% is 5400 points. With this new setup going now, It should be possible for me to maintain 100% uptime so I'll check back in a month and see how it is holding up.

Getting multiple grass connections on a single computer

Utilizing multiple SIM cards can significantly increase earning potential. However, it's essential to be aware of fair usage policies and other terms and conditions set by SIM card providers or network carriers. These policies may impose limits on data usage or network speed. Violating these policies may result in penalties, including throttling of network speeds or termination of service.

Until the app is released, there's a fun alternative to enhance earnings. Drawing from my experiment, I utilized three separate 5G hubs, each equipped with its own SIM card featuring an unlimited data plan. These hubs were connected to my Mini Router PC via Ethernet ports. With some Linux configuration, I successfully routed each network to separate instances of Chromium, effectively providing me with three distinct IP addresses to earn from, with the possibility of expanding further — all from a single PC!

For those unwilling to invest in dedicated 4G/5G hubs, an alternative method involves using older phones that support USB tethering. By inserting a data SIM into these phones and connecting them to a single PC, users can still explore the potential of multiple connections.

A review of the Mini Router PC I used for this is available here . This honest solution is not for everyone as it involves investment in hardware or devices to get it going as well as multiple data plans for the SIM cards.

If anyone does want to experiment, with lower-cost hardware check out these Aliexpress affiliate links below for a mini router PC as well as some low-cost 4G hubs which should work too and cost significantly less than 5G hubs. You will need to get your own Data SIM cards.

4G Hub - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DERigNj

cheaper 4g Hub - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DB4kqbn

Intel N100 4 Lan Port Mini Router - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DmnsOdx

Some 5G hubs (expensive) https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Ddylnol & https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DBPTo0Z

If there is a demand for it, I'll create a guide on setting this up on Linux. The way I've thought of this hardware investment is, if it doesn't work out after a month or so I can resell and recoup my hardware investment. I am using 5G hubs, not 4G so my network quality, and therefore earning potential might be higher.

Getting paid

Currently, grass earnings are virtual tokens with no immediate cash-out option. However, plans are in place to make these tokens redeemable at a later date, with listings on cryptocurrency exchanges (CEX) planned. This allows users to sell their grass for dollars and withdraw their earnings when convenient.

There are also plans in the work for a fiat withdrawal option that would increase adoption as it could allow for direct withdrawals to your bank. We will have to wait to see how this is implemented but this should help with adoption.

Who is the Team behind Grass?

Limited information is available about the team behind Grass. However, Wynd Network, the parent company, has identifiable employees listed on LinkedIn. Job openings indicate a remote working environment, which is common in the cryptocurrency industry. According to their Wellfound page, Wynd Network reportedly has 2-10 employees, while Grass has a team of 11-50 individuals.

The Co-Founder of Grass, Andrej Radonjic is a doxed individual and was featured as a guest at an interview with Build with DIMO over at YouTube. You can also find Andrej in a more recent three-way call if you would love to research more and get some quotes down.

For those interested in learning more, LinkedIn profiles for Wynd Network employees can be found here , and additional information about the team can be accessed here .

Wynd Network has demonstrated significant financial backing, having raised a total of $3.5 million in a seed round led by Polychain Capital & Tribe Capital, and an additional $1.5 million in a pre-seed round led by No Limit Holdings. This substantial investment not only provides financial support but also enhances the credibility of their endeavours, contributing to their legitimacy in the industry."

Security concerns

During the installation of the Grass plugin, users grant it access to their internet connection, allowing it to harvest web pages and read web data. Currently, the source code is closed-source, with plans to transition to an open-source model upon the plugin's exit from the beta phase.

As a precautionary measure, it is recommended to install the plugin on a spare computer that is not actively in use. Alternatively, users can choose to install it on an alternative browser such as Brave or Edge, specifically designated for the plugin's operation, while using a separate browser for general browsing activities. This segregation helps isolate the plugin's functions from regular internet usage, ensuring the separation of personal web browsing data.

For more detailed information, refer to the Privacy Policy available here and if you have any questions you find the answers in the Q&A here .

Affiliate Program

Grass offers an affiliate program that presents various benefits for both participants and the company itself. For individuals or companies looking to participate, the affiliate program provides an opportunity to earn commissions by referring new users and getting them connected to Grass. Participants can benefit from additional income streams through commission earnings based on successful referrals. 

They’ve recently made updates to their affiliate program that allow you to gain bonus points for successful referrals. This is a tiered system for earnings based on the referrals and points you’ve earned. 

• Referrer Bonus: Anytime you refer a friend, you’ll get 2,500 points when they reach 100 hours of uptime.  This is an incentive to get your friends to sign up, but also to make sure they’re actually on the network after downloading. 

• Referral Bonus: Along the same lines, all of your new referrals will get a 5000-point bonus when they hit 100 hours of uptime. So tell them this when they sign up to encourage them to keep the app running!

• Uptime Commission: You’ll be earning a commission when your referrals use the network. This commission will be based on their total uptime as opposed to their total rewards.

Full details can be read in the blog post available here .

Conclusion

There is a chance to be an early adopter and monetise your available bandwidth with the potential to pay out higher depending on the market conditions when the token drops and gets listed on CEXs.

At this stage, it is all very speculative and protecting your data is vital so running this on a spare or isolated system, or a separate browser if you must is advisable. If you want to get very serious you could buy a couple of 4G/5G data hubs of some old phones and make a multi-broadband harvesting station.

If you’ve gotten to the end and you’re still interested in signing up, please consider using our affiliate link https://app.getgrass.io/register/?referralCode=x9WEjTze87lO5q1 .

Grass offers a user-friendly dashboard where you can track your grass earnings, referral bonuses, rewards tier, and more. The layout is aesthetically pleasing, featuring an integrated dark mode toggle for added convenience.

Your grass earnings are based on the quality of your network performance. For every hour of high-quality network performance (100% network quality), you earn 100 grass. If your network quality is at 85%, you'll still receive 85 grass per hour. While it might be tempting to connect multiple devices to the same network to boost earnings, there's a limit of 2400 points per 24 hours per public IP address to ensure fairness and optimal rewards.

It is still possible to establish multiple connections from a single PC as intended by the Grass platform. This process will become simpler with the release of the upcoming Android app. The app will streamline the setup by allowing users to connect multiple mobile phones, each linked to a 4G/5G network utilizing Network Address Translation (NAT) to assign private IP addresses, which in turn are mapped to a pool of public IP addresses managed by the network provider.