An unserious plan with serious stakes
Author’s note: This is a thought experiment. The legal process is still unfolding, and nothing here should be read as investment advice or a literal bid. It’s a sketch for how a different kind of internet could work.
With more than three billion users, Chrome is the most widely used browser in history. It decides how we access the web, how information is discovered, and how billions of dollars move online. For years, it’s been welded to Google’s empire — tied to search and ads in a loop so profitable it turned Chrome into one of the most powerful products on Earth.
But now, that loop is cracking. A landmark U.S. antitrust ruling found Google guilty of illegally maintaining a monopoly in search. One remedy regulators are weighing? Forcing Google to sell Chrome.
If Chrome is ever separated from Google, the real question will be who gets to shape its future. Will it end up with another trillion-dollar corporation or could it be reimagined as community-owned infrastructure?
Our proposal is that Web3 should consider stepping up to make that case.
Breaking Google’s Loop
Google’s playbook has always been brutally simple:
Chrome sets the defaults. When you type in the search bar or open a new tab, it directs you to Google Search. This is where most users begin their journey online.
Once you’re on Search, Google captures your intent, i.e; what you’re looking for, what questions you’re asking, what products you’re considering. This intent data is enormously valuable.
Google then sells access to that intent. Advertisers bid to appear in front of you at the moment you’re most likely to act, whether that’s buying a product, booking a flight, or clicking through to a service.
The more you use Chrome, the more valuable Google Ads become. The more valuable the Ads, the more money flows back into keeping Chrome dominant. It’s a flywheel that’s made Google hundreds of billions every year — and put a chokehold on competition. And the antitrust ruling is a crowbar jammed into that flywheel. For the first time in decades, there’s a chance to break it apart.
Here’s the wild idea: what if Chrome didn’t go to Apple, Microsoft, or Perplexity, but to a foundation, owned by its users? More specifically, what if web3 bought Chrome?
What if we rebuilt Google’s structure — access, discovery, monetization — but flipped the incentives on their head?
Access (Chrome): Community-governed, stewarded like a public utility, not a corporate funnel.
Discovery (Sentient and other open LLMs): Modular, user-controlled AI instead of a single locked-in search monopoly.
Monetization (Intents Protocol): An open marketplace where intent is broadcast anonymously, sellers bid transparently, and value flows back to the people who create it.
Same architecture. Different values. Google proved the model works. Web3 can prove it doesn’t have to be built on user surveillance and exploitation.
Funding the Bid: $CHRM
Acquiring Chrome would require significant capital — analysts suggest anywhere from $15 to $50 billion. That number might sound out of reach, but Web3 has already shown it can coordinate funding at massive scale, from DAO-led acquisitions to multi-billion-dollar ecosystem treasuries. The same collective playbook can apply here.
The proposal: $CHRM, a token as the coordination layer.
Governance: $CHRM gives ownership and votes in a Chrome Foundation. No boardrooms, decisions are made in the open.
Funding: Contributions pooled from L1s, wallets, DAOs, protocols, individuals. Everyone with skin in the game.
Incentives: If Chrome makes money through Intents Protocol, revenue is shared. Users, apps, and even token holders participate.
Safeguards: Guardrails to prevent capture — no whales quietly seizing control.
In this way, $CHRM isn’t just another speculative token. It’s the coordination layer that makes collective ownership possible.
Monetization Without Surveillance
Running Chrome isn’t free. Google pays for it by selling your data through a black-box ad machine. That’s why Chrome is “free.”
The bet here is that Intents Protocol makes a better trade.
Instead of hidden auctions, intents are broadcast openly. Instead of Google taking the lion’s share, revenue is split across users, apps, and the browser itself. Instead of no choice, users decide if and how their intents are monetized.
Ads aren’t the problem. Surveillance is. Intents Protocol can fund Chrome without spying, while keeping the value flow transparent
The Future of Web
The way we use the internet is already changing. Search is shifting from keyword lists to conversational answers. Commerce is shifting from banner ads to AI-driven agents that act on our behalf.
If these changes are controlled by the same giants, they’ll inherit the same misaligned incentives. An AI that quietly pushes the highest bidder’s product is worse than Google’s ad engine ever was.
A community-governed Chrome could help ensure this next phase of the web evolves differently: modular, transparent, and user-aligned. Open LLMs could compete side by side, and monetization could flow through Intents Protocol instead of surveillance.
The point isn’t to replace Chrome’s dominance, but to redirect it.
A Browser for the Open Internet
Chrome has been the crown jewel of Google’s empire. Now the cracks are showing.
We can let it pass to another giant, or we can do something unprecedented: make the world’s most important browser community-owned, transparently monetized, and aligned with its users. With a Chrome Foundation, $CHRM, Intents Protocol, and open search powered by modular LLMs, the blueprint is clear. The choice is whether to act.
The moment is rare. It may not come again. Now is the moment to act. If you believe in an open, user-owned web, join the conversation and help turn this vision into reality.