Dmitrii Lunin Founder & CEO @ Shegby, Inc. (Web3 KYC SaaS & Network State). MBA, JD in Digital Forensics, Certified e-commerce consultant. My LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmitrylunin/

I'm Dmitrii and I've spent the last 20 years building digital products, working in search technology and digital forensics. I also travelled for work a lot, and it was during those trips that something changed.

When I was somewhere new, I was always helped by people I didn't know. The locals, often with little to gain, went out of their way to offer support. From late-night rides to personal introductions, those acts of trust really stuck in people's minds. It made me realise something:

But when you go online, it's not working properly. If you're looking to hire someone, offer your skills, or build a community, you'll probably find that trust is still a bit of an issue. It can be centralised, bureaucratic, or even totally missing. It's so easy to buy any KYC on OTC these days, even a biometric one. You just have to take a leap of faith.

That's how Shegby started out in 2019: as a peer-to-peer concierge marketplace, where anyone could offer or request services all over the world. But I hit a wall pretty quickly. The thing was, it wasn't the features that were missing - it was trust. Trust that's real, you can check it's there, and it's at human level. It's not dependent on governments, big tech or gatekeepers.

So we built it.

Shegby is a decentralised identity and trust layer powered by a protocol we call HumanRank - a PageRank-inspired algorithm that allows users to verify each other without relying on third parties. It lets anyone earn and give trust, one connection at a time.

You decide how much to reveal, and when. You can choose whether to stay anonymous or build a rich public profile. You own your own identity and the value tied to it. You can even sell your data, which is something you couldn't do before.

No data is stored on the blockchain. There isn't a global KYC registry. It's basically just a growing network of people who vouch for each other - because they know each other.

We're really inspired by the idea of Network States by Balaji Srinivasan. We think the future of governance, citizenship and services will come from decentralised communities. But these communities need foundations – tools for identity, trust, and coordination.

That's where Shegby comes in.

We think that sovereign identity and sovereign money go hand in hand. Shegby is perfect for the Bitcoin world, where users care about privacy, self-custody and freedom. Instead of trying to replace what Bitcoin does well, we focus on what's missing: trust between people in a decentralised context.

We don't want to "KYC the blockchain." We're keen to get people vouching for each other, and we'll reward them or hold them to account when they do.

- Built the core of the HumanRank protocol;

- Designed the first P2P marketplace of services;

- Formed a team across Estonia, Eastern Europe, Asia and Australia;

- Launched conversations across nostr and Bitcoin communities.

I've got an MBA, I'm a certified e-commerce consultant and I've got a JD in digital forensics, but more importantly, I believe in what we're building. I'd like to get the ball rolling on this project with anyone who's keen to get more self-owned trust in the digital world.

I don't see the state as a fixed territory. It's a service layer. The best public services might be provided by your neighbour or someone halfway across the world.

A borderless network state is totally possible, and trust is the first step.

We're currently raising a pre-seed round of $100,000 to:

- Finalize the protocol and MVP;

- Launch public testing;

- Spread awareness across sovereign tech and Bitcoin circles.

If you're on the same page as us, we'd love your support. Any amount is welcome. Every satoshi helps us move closer to a world where trust is earned, not given.

Let's build the future of identity – together! Dmitrii lunin.btc: bc1qjlynnng85n6wlyfl8dykyzulamtr57vrhzfmeq shegby.btc: bc1qpcxf8l8c9w6ms7vhl9cgc0xja7k7qrq79gc96n