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🔥🔗 Match Chain 🔥🔗
With a testnet exceeding 100 million transactions and attracting over 6 million monthly active users, Match Chain has emerged from its stealth mode to scale its user base, which exceeds 700k+ SBT users.
Match Chain is an interoperable middle layer that bridges Web2 and Web3, accelerating mass adoption. It simplifies building user-friendly protocols with MatchID, a low-barrier DID system. MatchID lets users import from Web2 and move between blockchains (Ethereum, Solana, Cosmos, Aptos) without creating new accounts. MatchHub, a unified login platform, grants seamless access to protocols with a single sign-in using DIDs.
Discover more here.
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Monthly Theme: SocialFi
What is SocialFi?
SocialFi, or social finance, is Web3ʻs tokenized solution to the problems of Web2 social media. It leverages DeFi, social interaction, and blockchainʻs censorship resistance. Creators directly monetize their influence and follower engagement, while users earn rewards for their attention and achievements.
Current Problems with Web2
In Web2, tech giants like Facebook, Apple, and Google hold immense power. They store user data on their servers, dictating how it can be used on their platforms. By controlling “social graphs” (the network of social interactions), these companies mine interactions and sell user data to advertisers. This allows them to:
Control Monetization: Tech companies keep the majority of revenue from user-generated content.
Data Control: Users have no ownership of their data or social networks, hindering platform switching.
Censorship: Companies can censor user content or ban users based on internal policies.
SocialFi Solutions
SocialFi leverages DeFi and the blockchain to solve the above problems by:
Control Monetization: Creators can issue social tokens and directly monetize their content and engagement.
Data Ownership: Users control their data and social graphs, allowing them to switch platforms and leverage their audience across dApps (decentralized applications).
Censorship Resistance: Decentralized moderation reduces censorship, offering freedom of expression.
More importantly, users can migrate their social graph to different applications and SocialFi platforms allowing them to compound their social capital.
Web3 Advantages
SocialFi builds upon Web2 with unique blockchain features:
Exclusivity: Content creators can use NFTs to create gated communities or provide exclusive experiences to NFT holders.
Community Recognition: POAPs and NFTs help identify followers who participate in events or programs.
Token Incentives: With social tokens, content creators can incentivize and reward community members for actions, behaviors, and engagement.
Enhanced Privacy: Users control their data exposure and can choose anonymity.
Market Size & Growth
Source. Grand View Research
Grand View Research estimates that the total global market for social networking applications is $60.81 billion for 2023 with an expected CAGR of 26.2% from 2023 to 2030.
The largest region was Asia capturing 44.5% of revenue share in 2022. Chinaʻs growth was driven by video reel-based apps while Indiaʻs growth was from AI-based social networking applications.
Source: Friend.tech Dune dashboard
Since its inception, Friend.tech has generated over 16,700 ETH in trading fees through the trading of user “keys”.
SocialFi Landscape
The SocialFi landscape is comprised of social graph networks and the applications built on them. These networks, like Farcaster, are decentralized protocols with blockchain and data layers. SocialFi applications leverage this infrastructure, offering familiar Web2 interfaces (e.g., Warpcast provides a Twitter-like experience).
Source. Farcaster explained simply (Web3 Social)
Social Graph Networks
Lens Protocol (Polygon): Enables building social media apps on Web3.
Cyberconnect (Optimism): Supports features like account abstraction, seedless self-custody, and gasless transactions.
Farcaster (Optimism): A social layer that discourages bots through an annual subscription fee.
Blockchain Networks
ThetaNetwork (L1): Rewards users for contributing resources to video streaming.
Steem (L1): Scalable blockchain with zero gas fees and fast transactions built to scale social content.
Hive (L1): Scalable blockchain with zero gas fees, fast transactions, an algorithmic stablecoin, and readable wallet addresses.
SocialFi Applications
Link3 (Cyberconnect): Allows users to purchase and own their social profile.
Lenster (Lens): A decentralized, permissionless social media app.
Cheelee - A Web3 video content platform that rewards users for watching videos.
Friend.tech (Base): Platform for buying and trading token-gated access to creators.
Warpcast (Farcaster): A Twitter-like experience.
Orb (Polygon): A decentralized professional networking app.
An in-depth listing of Web3 SocialFi applications can be found here.
Spotlight Project: Match Chain
Summary
Match Chain is an EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain built on Cosmos SDK. It focuses on user data sovereignty through an interoperable middle layer. Their flagship product, MatchID, is a low-barrier DID registration system that allows users to import their Web2 identity and utilize it across various blockchains (EVM, Solana, Cosmos, Aptos).
Match Hub, their second project, is a dApp aggregator enabling single sign-on with MatchID for accessing and interacting with different protocols.
Intoverse: A SocialFi Success Story
The first dApp on Match Chain, Intoverse, is a social media platform inspired by WeChat. It integrates an encrypted wallet, SocialFi features, and SBTs to provide a familiar experience for Web2 users. Intoverse utilizes the $TOX token for user rewards, in-app purchases, and tipping, creating a vibrant in-product economy.
After six months, Intoverse boasts over 5.7 million monthly active users (MAU), with roughly 5 million transitioning from Web2 and 700k native to Web3. The $TOX token sees daily trading volumes of $10-15 million on major exchanges like Huobi, NXC, and Gate.io. Additionally, Intoverse users maintain a high engagement rate, averaging 7.4 daily transactions.
Business Model
Match Chain utilizes a $MAT token for gas fees, powering transactions and services on the network. Applications built on Match Chain, leveraging their data layer and DIDs, also contribute to the ecosystem through $MAT payments. Notably, 80% of gas fees are distributed back to validators for network security, with a portion allocated to public goods initiatives.
Traction
Launched in June 2023, Match Chain has achieved significant traction, particularly among Web2 users. Here are some key metrics:
Over 120 million transactions processed
200,000 - 300,000 Daily Active Users (DAU)
Over 9 million Monthly Active Users (MAU)
10 million registered accounts
Over 900,000 SBT users
Strategic Partnerships
Match Chain has secured partnerships to bolster its infrastructure and team:
AWS incubation program: Provides up to $100,000 in credits for Match Chain projects.
Google Cloud Platform: Supports AI and data analytics needs.
Renowned advisors: Include former executives from Citibank, Saxo Bank, and Cointelegraph.
Team
Petrix Barbosa, CEO. Former professional athlete, crypto investor since 2016.
Anastasia Drinevskaya, CMO. Founder of AMG Productions, ex-CEO of Cointelegraph.
Tomasz Wojewoda, Chief Strategy Officer. Ex-Binance head of growth.
Ricky Zhou, COO. Former b2b consultant for Dynovel, Daydream, and Bekaert.
Jessie Xiao, Chief Commerical Officer. Founder of BubbleDAO with a background in private equity and government affairs.