SolDate - Find your Mate through your Date
I first heard of SolDate from Solana's founder Anatoly Yakavenko on Coindesk TV. He pointed out how it is important for crypto projects to provide solutions beyond trading and finance in order to get more people to understand crypto. I was immediately sold to the idea of a dating platform which was an innovative shift to real life use case. Blockchain solutions need to solve real life problems beyond the financial world for people to take notice and understand the underlying technology. One such solution is finding love, where the value lies beyond money. A project aimed at revolutionising a whole industry which accounts for 3 billion dollars a year and that's just US.
Is it worth compromising your safety and paying a premium to find love?
Love is a fundamental human need. And in search of a potential partner, more and more people are switching to online dating leaving behind traditional ways. These platforms have been instrumental in forging meaningful connections that have culminated into the most beautiful relationships.
However, one can’t ignore that while these platforms provide excellent opportunities to find romantic partners, they come with some caution that people need to be aware of. To be honest and in all fairness, there are pitfalls and shortcomings in every sphere of life but this is particularly true in the case of online dating.
There a number of online scams doing the rounds apart from the usual problems that include misleading profiles, recurring payments for advanced features, privacy violations, data leaks, etc. Anyone who remembers the infamous "Ashley Madison data breach" knows that online dating doesn't come without the inherent security risks that a centralized system faces.
ENTER SolDate - the first-ever community-owned online dating platform powered by Solana which aims to provide a solution to all the existing problems and at the same time intends to bring more users to the blockchain ecosystem. I call it, "A solution with a deeper purpose". Difficult times call for innovative measures and that's how the idea was born with Covid bringing our social lives to a halt. The team has chosen to stay anonymous. The team claims to have over 6 years of blockchain involvement and more than 3 years of combined experience in building web 3.0 apps for clients across the globe.
What is SolDate? How is it different? What problem is it solving?
SolDate has a perfectly crafted name. It rhymes with Soulmate, doesn't it, and also defines its origin 'Solana' and function 'Date' so well. DATE also happens to be the native token and a means of finding a partner without the high gas cost of Ethereum.
While one can’t deny what technology has done and how digital match-making services have succeeded in turning singles into couples- the convenience and ease provided by these apps comes at a high cost.
With rising concerns ranging from scams to harassment to ghosting to data tracking, checks are required to ensure users a transparent and efficient matchmaking ecosystem.
Let's go through some of the issues associated with existing apps.
UserData - One of the major problems associated with the existing apps is that they keep your information in centralized data storage solutions that are prone to attacks. Additionally, the makers of the app can benefit by selling your information to third parties (data misuse/data tracking and data leaks) thereby putting you in a vulnerable position. SolDate will provide you with a decentralized, transparent digital dating platform built on the Solana blockchain. If you want to know why Solana, do click on my article linked here to know more. SolDate aims to collect only minimal information in the form of first name, profile picture, and birth date of a user.
Privacy Violations - None of the dating sites/apps you enroll with advertise the associated privacy risks. Research confirms these apps/sites collect a significant amount of consumer data and where there is data, privacy breaches are highly likely. Trackers are common on many online dating websites, including third-party companies. The precise geolocation or swipe history, and details that you may be unaware of are collected, stored, or shared outside the context of the dating app. SolDate assures it has no advertising and no privacy-violating trackers essentially emphasizing no hacks and no data breaches.
Lies and Fake profiles - Genuine and authentic profiles are somewhat of a rarity on the internet. It is very common for people to lie on such portals and misrepresent themselves. Dishonesty is a pervasive issue and one that needs the most attention. SolDate’s use of on-the-spot photos as profile pictures instead of photos from camera roll will ensure fake photos and profiles are restricted. Moreover, their AI-based live verification will also help corroborate users’ identity thus eliminating the creation of multiple accounts. A short 15 sec video will be captured and used.
Personal Safety issues - Unlike other social media platforms, dating sites and apps are platforms where one ends up sharing sensitive information with complete strangers. And that makes it prone to information being compromised. SolDate will have an inbuilt messaging app with end-to-end encryption and a messenger for calling without the need of sharing a phone number. Falling victim to creeps who end up taking screenshots of your intimate conversations is a real possibility. These screenshots can be used against you or to harass you. Currently, there exists no solution to this violation. SolDate aims to restrict screenshots while using the app to prevent sensitive information from being leaked. If a user is not sure about going on a date with a stranger they met online for the first time, a Virtual Date solution is provided to ensure that the person you matched with is the same person you are planning to meet. For scheduling, a date users can choose SolDate's trusted parties to travel and stay. And in case of any emergency or misconduct, they will be ready to help. Reservations will be facilitated through SolDate app. It also has the buddy system where the details of the date(time, location and contact info) can be shared with a trusted buddy. This is not it, users can block and report suspicious users which the moderation team will take pretty seriously. Finally, SolDate will also have an understanding of the user's nature and behavioral threat assessment towards other users through various psychological tests thus identifying any possible red flags.
Recurring Memberships - The current online dating industry is driven by profitability over other factors. In order to extract maximum profits from users most of the advanced features come at a price. Moreover, their primary goal isn’t to help you get a match but to help themselves get memberships. Also, these subscriptions come with an expiry date on them so that when it expires you have to pay again in order to renew your membership. SolDate offers no membership plans.
With the number of users on dating apps exploding with each passing second, SolDate provides the most effective solution to resolve the uncertainties and gaps in the system. It focuses on transparency and prioritizes privacy standards.
SolDate will be a decentralized, transparent digital site backed by the powerful technology of Solana blockchain.
Tokenomics & Roadmap
One of the most interesting features of SolDate is the introduction of its own utility token rightly called DATE. Based on Solana, this token is a vital component of the app and will function as the governing token of the entire system. Users will be able to access all features offered by the SolDate app by simply holding these tokens in their wallets. Unlike other apps that offer memberships with expiry dates, DATE will have NO expiry date and will be available for use as long as you hold them. It is designed as a fixed supply, deflationary token as one of its functions involves a burn mechanism.
The total supply of DATE is 1 billion where the majority of the token supply will be locked early on and then released quarterly thus safeguarding against early investors and team members selling a large number of tokens at once.
The project aims to onboard users especially with little or no crypto experience through the Match Rewards program. Consider this a little surprise for the users as, unlike other apps SolDate will not match users on a random basis instead it will give them control with whom they want to be matched and it will reward them for these matches.
Moreover, this token will enable users to vote on multiple upgrades and how the platform should develop further. Why this is being done is so that SolDate is responsive to the requests and feedback of active users thereby getting closer to its goal of being a public service operated by what it values the most- its community members. Their ultimate goal is to evolve towards a Decentralized Autonomous Organization, where all decision rights will belong to platform users.
Summarising the uses of Date token:
- Incentivising users through Match Rewards
- Maintaining governance through voting on system upgrades, moderating users on the platform, etc.
- Ensuring SolDate is a self-sustaining platform - each Matchreward claim will be charged a 3.33% fee which will be used to pay platform bills.
- Loyalty program - your reach will be directly proportional to the number of Date tokens you hold, the higher the tokens, the higher the reach, higher the probability of you finding a match.
- Fuel for NFT marketplace - Users can mint or buy NFT (making your gift immortal and on the blockchain forever) with the inbuilt NFT marketplace on SolDate. Minting will be free of cost (only gas fees will need to be paid). Essentially, Date will be used as a currency to trade NFTs in the marketplace.
- Swipes and Invites- recognizing swipes as the backbone for navigating on dating portals, SolDate gives users 20 daily swipes for free, however, if a user needs to avail more swipes they need to hold a minimum of 30 tokens in their wallet. For every 30 tokens, they get additional 50 swipes. This feature sets them apart from other apps as they are free from any sort of membership plan. Moreover, if you like somebody you can invite them (by utilizing one Date token) and if they accept your invite, you will get matched and receive your Matchrewards.
Matchmaking Algorithm
SolDate will be deploying Artificial Intelligence to improve the overall experience on the platform. Just like Youtube and Netflix, SolDate will show you recommended profiles that will be brought about by their use of AI to find users that are most similar to each other.
The overall philosophy behind this concept is that people are more likely to fall for someone similar to themselves rather than their polar opposite.
SolDate will be utilizing machine learning algorithms - These will help to dynamically rank users based on different traits and provide the most fitting profiles to choose from. To know more about how this will work you can go through their article on medium linked here.
Preference will be based on past searches and profile data, interests, lifestyles choices, food habits, love for pets, etc. The main goal here is to create an appropriate system that will somehow filter users and match only the ones who have the biggest chances for a mutual interest.
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