In the Web2 era, to "apply" meant to submit a static collection of personal data to a centralized authority for approval. Whether applying for a job, a loan, or a grant, the process involved filling out a form on a web portal, thereby transferring control of your information to the receiving institution. Your qualifications were represented by documents like résumés or financial statements which the central party had to manually verify. The process was fundamentally permission-based, often opaque, and your application's fate was decided behind closed doors based on criteria you could not audit. In the Web3 and Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) paradigm, to "apply" is to programmatically prove eligibility using verifiable, on-chain credentials that you control. Instead of submitting a CV, you present your crypto wallet, which acts as a transparent and immutable record of your skills, contributions, and reputation through tokens or NFTs. Applying to a DAO for a grant, for example, might involve a smart contract automatically verifying that your wallet meets predefined on-chain criteria, such as having voted on a certain number of proposals. The act of applying thus transforms from a subjective request for permission to a transparent, automated, and self-sovereign claim of qualification.
**Use Cases for the "Apply" Primitive:**
When "Apply" is captured as a verifiable primitive, it creates an immutable record of an intention or action. This is crucial for auditing, compliance, and building trust in automated systems, ensuring that an "application" was indeed made by a specific entity at a specific time.