Last week, we hosted an AMA on X Space to discuss our upcoming mainnet launch on Base Appchain, our Web3 mobility ecosystem, and what’s ahead.
This recap will be shared in a 6 parts series. Series 1 covers:
- MVL’s initial vision
- Real-world mobility applications
- Why launch a mainnet now? Why Base Appchain?
Stay tuned for upcoming parts where we will dive deeper into the details!
Q: MVL has been building its web3 mobility ecosystem since 2018. What was the initial vision behind this project?
A: Back in 2016-2017, the ride-hailing market was dominated by a few major players like Uber, Grab, and Didi, backed by billions in funding. This resulted in limited competition, high platform fees, expensive fares, and significant barriers to entry.
Recognizing that replicating the same business model would not solve these industry challenges, we set out to create a new approach using blockchain technology. MVL’s vision was to build a decentralized mobility ecosystem where value is fairly distributed among all participants—including drivers and users—rather than being concentrated within a centralized platform.
Q: So to make such a vision come to reality, MVL has been building real world services like TADA and Musubi. Can you walk us through what these services are?
A: When we first introduced our concept in 2017, it was met with skepticism, as blockchain was mainly associated with speculative cryptocurrency pump and dump investments. So, to prove our vision, we needed to build real-world applications with tangible impact.
Our strategy was simple and straightforward. Driven by the philosophy of sharing value with ecosystem participants, we developed a business model that ensures both users and drivers benefit fairly from the platform's success. This led to the launch of TADA, the first ever “0% commission” ride-hailing service, ensuring drivers earn more and users enjoy reasonable fares. As we expanded in Southeast Asia with this model, we saw significant growth over the past 7 years, with the number of drivers increasing each year.
While growing TADA, we also identified a challenge for drivers in Southeast Asia—vehicle ownership. Many struggled to buy or own a vehicle due to limited financing options, with bank loans often coming with high interest rates. To solve this, we created Musubi, a cross-border vehicle ownership platform. By tokenizing vehicles into onchain assets that represent ownership, Musubi connects investors with drivers globally. This allows investors (vehicle owners) to earn income through leasing the vehicle, while drivers in developing countries get to provide ride-hailing services at lower capital costs.
Q: Why is now the right timing to launch the mainnet? What is the reason behind choosing Base Appchain?
A: Since the beginning, we knew we will need our own mainnet to bring our vision to life. While many blockchain projects at the time focused on scaling and improving performance metrics like transactions per second, we took a different approach. Our priority was to create real-world, impactful services such as TADA and Musubi, laying a strong foundation and ensuring a direct connection to real-world users from the start.
Over the past seven years, our TADA service has grown significantly, becoming the 2nd ride-hailing platform in Singapore, with 20% market share, and expanding to four countries across Southeast Asia. The number of transactions generated by users and drivers has reached hundreds of thousands. With a successful real-world application in place, we are now ready to integrate our services with the blockchain network. However, as recording these transactions on-chain becomes increasingly costly and complex, the need for a scalable and secure blockchain infrastructure solution is critical. This is where Base’s Appchain technology comes into play.
Base’s L3 Appchain, built on top of Base chain, optimizes scalability by handling large amounts of transactions and offers customizable solutions specific to each dApps —exactly what we need for the next stage of growth. Base’s Appchain allows custom tokens, meaning MVL tokens will be used for transactions and gas fees within our mainnet, streamlining the entire process.
This partnership is particularly meaningful as both MVL and Base share a common mission of achieving "Mass Adoption." We’re not building a meme coin. We’re delivering functional, working products that provide real value to users and drivers. This is especially important in an industry where dominant players charge exploitive commissions—sometimes as high as 70-80%—leaving drivers with less than minimum wage earnings.
Last week, we hosted an AMA on X Space to discuss our upcoming mainnet launch on Base Appchain, our Web3 mobility ecosystem, and what’s ahead.
This recap will be shared in a 6 parts series. Series 1 covers:
Stay tuned for upcoming parts where we will dive deeper into the details!
Q: MVL has been building its web3 mobility ecosystem since 2018. What was the initial vision behind this project?
A: Back in 2016-2017, the ride-hailing market was dominated by a few major players like Uber, Grab, and Didi, backed by billions in funding. This resulted in limited competition, high platform fees, expensive fares, and significant barriers to entry.
Recognizing that replicating the same business model would not solve these industry challenges, we set out to create a new approach using blockchain technology. MVL’s vision was to build a decentralized mobility ecosystem where value is fairly distributed among all participants—including drivers and users—rather than being concentrated within a centralized platform.
Q: So to make such a vision come to reality, MVL has been building real world services like TADA and Musubi. Can you walk us through what these services are?
A: When we first introduced our concept in 2017, it was met with skepticism, as blockchain was mainly associated with speculative cryptocurrency pump and dump investments. So, to prove our vision, we needed to build real-world applications with tangible impact.
Our strategy was simple and straightforward. Driven by the philosophy of sharing value with ecosystem participants, we developed a business model that ensures both users and drivers benefit fairly from the platform's success. This led to the launch of TADA, the first ever “0% commission” ride-hailing service, ensuring drivers earn more and users enjoy reasonable fares. As we expanded in Southeast Asia with this model, we saw significant growth over the past 7 years, with the number of drivers increasing each year.
While growing TADA, we also identified a challenge for drivers in Southeast Asia—vehicle ownership. Many struggled to buy or own a vehicle due to limited financing options, with bank loans often coming with high interest rates. To solve this, we created Musubi, a cross-border vehicle ownership platform. By tokenizing vehicles into onchain assets that represent ownership, Musubi connects investors with drivers globally. This allows investors (vehicle owners) to earn income through leasing the vehicle, while drivers in developing countries get to provide ride-hailing services at lower capital costs.
Q: Why is now the right timing to launch the mainnet? What is the reason behind choosing Base Appchain?
A: Since the beginning, we knew we will need our own mainnet to bring our vision to life. While many blockchain projects at the time focused on scaling and improving performance metrics like transactions per second, we took a different approach. Our priority was to create real-world, impactful services such as TADA and Musubi, laying a strong foundation and ensuring a direct connection to real-world users from the start.
Over the past seven years, our TADA service has grown significantly, becoming the 2nd ride-hailing platform in Singapore, with 20% market share, and expanding to four countries across Southeast Asia. The number of transactions generated by users and drivers has reached hundreds of thousands. With a successful real-world application in place, we are now ready to integrate our services with the blockchain network. However, as recording these transactions on-chain becomes increasingly costly and complex, the need for a scalable and secure blockchain infrastructure solution is critical. This is where Base’s Appchain technology comes into play.
Base’s L3 Appchain, built on top of Base chain, optimizes scalability by handling large amounts of transactions and offers customizable solutions specific to each dApps —exactly what we need for the next stage of growth. Base’s Appchain allows custom tokens, meaning MVL tokens will be used for transactions and gas fees within our mainnet, streamlining the entire process.
This partnership is particularly meaningful as both MVL and Base share a common mission of achieving "Mass Adoption." We’re not building a meme coin. We’re delivering functional, working products that provide real value to users and drivers. This is especially important in an industry where dominant players charge exploitive commissions—sometimes as high as 70-80%—leaving drivers with less than minimum wage earnings.