Hey everyone! For the first ICO that my project will enter I wanted to share with you some information about Matchpool followed by my own thoughts on it at the end of the post!
Some information from their announcement thread:
Matchpool is a decentralized dating and matchmaking protocol, which uses group dynamics in order to help as many participants as possible to find love. It can also be used as a more generic platform for any kind of paid membership community, which can clearly define two sides of a desired interaction or market.
Our platform will consist user generated Pools of individuals. These Pools can be visualized as a cross between Slack channels and Meetup groups, invite-only groups owned and run by devoted users who act as matchmakers. Upon joining the platform, the user will be asked to provide a number of describing factors. This data is encrypted, and will be used for the user profile and for the purpose of offering the user with preferable custom pools.
The Matchlock
By using our Matchlock feature, which keeps a 50:50 ratio between X and Y, every Pool in the platform remains attractive. If a certain number of X users enters the pool, then the matchlock will stop more X from entering until the same number of Y’s arrive. These Matchlock rules can also be parameterized to any use case where any arbitrary market polarity is required. Also there is no restriction for the X and Y side of the matchlock to be opposites in order to serve any community whatsoever. It is up to the Pool's founder to configure the matchlock parameters according to the kind of community they wish to create.
Matchpool App
Matchpool will implement a front-end interface, which will allow users to search for favorable pools in different areas, matched with different interests. Users can search various factors to see if something fits. In the on-boarding process, they will also be shown a list of pools in their area, which fits their particular demographics and interests.
GUP Tokens & Matchpool Rewards
Matchpool users will divide into two catagories – Joiners & Hosts.
Joiners who wishes to enter a pool of their choice, will have to pay the pool's requisite entry fee, which will be defined at the creation of that Pool by the Pool's Host. In addition to this one-time registration fee, a monthly membership fee will be paid to the Pool. All payments will be held in an Ether based smart contract and will be processed using Matchpool's network own token Guppies (GUP). While in the Pool, nature will take its course and all members would be able to interact publicly on private channels in a way resembling Slack's interface.
On the other side, users can also play the role of Hosts and Matchmakers.
The host will be the one who opens a custom Pool and gets dividends from its revenues.
Matchmakers or Helpers as they are defined in the system can propose matches between two other joiners who they believe would be good partners. Those two joiners are then notified and in case they both accept, the event is added to their public notebook, and the Matchmaker get rewarded.
Both the Host of the pool and its matchmakers are entitled for shares of the Pools subscription and monthly fees, paid with GUP.
Matchpool first 200,000 Users will get rewarded with GUPs upon registration enabling them to make their first steps in the platform.
Dapplets
Dapplets are another way Matchpool users can get rewarded. These are basically add-ons created by developers who want add to the Matchpool protocol. In practice, Dapplets work similar to Slack plugins but can enhance the experience in a number of ways. One example would be a Dapplet, which implements “Tinder” functionality: users can swipe through other users. If one of their apps creates a match of some kind for example: if a "Blind Date" game creates a real match, then the Dapplet developers are rewarded similarly to Matchmakers.
Issuance & Distribution
Guppies tokens created in Matchpool ICO will be allocated as follows:
Matchpool's Road Map
The MatchPool Team
Matchpool Advisors
For more information go their official site: http://matchpool.co/
A demo of the app (old design)
Their Promotional Video
My first thoughts were "finally" a well thought-out matchmaking app which utilizes the block-chain technology. Considering how much I like Steemit and how it brings the technology to the every day user and introduces them to it, this will be a very good next step in that direction.
I also like that they have a cap on their ICO, although I hope this won't let a few entities own most of the stake if they grab all of it at once before anyone else has the chance to, but that might be a bit hard considering the awareness the project and crowd-sale are getting.
The Crowdsale was postponed for 8 days to ensure the security of the code, I'm guessing they either don't want to make the mistake the DAO did or at least let people know they are doing everything for something similar not to happen again.
All in all this is one of the upcoming projects I am very excited about and it will be interesting to see how it develops.
Disclaimer - the content in these posts is of a speculative nature and should not be taken serious for your own personal investments. As with all block-chain technology and their assets, the markets are very volatile. I am not liable for any losses you might make if you follow any advice in these posts. My SteemFolio is backed by the content I write and the Steem platforms posting rewards giving me an edge on the starting income and a guarantee that you will only be able to benefit by participating in it.
