A new application of social messaging is the goal of disrupting the social media business model established through the power of 2.0 encryption technology. If large social media companies make money by monetizing the data, the Gem project calls in case of non-users also benefit from this service?
Today's launch inside Bitcoins Tel Aviv, Gems is trying to discover whether consumers may be forced to change how they see their relationship with the media and in the process, cryptocurrency embrace.
While noble in its ideals, principal developer Daniel Peled CoinDesk said users should find theGems social service, family messaging. Gems Peled compared to Whatsapp, with one addition, the user name is an alias for your bitcoin address, an innovation that allows users to send gems and gems bitcoin both a token of in-app to effectively decentralize property of the network itself.
Unlike with Whatsapp, users are encouraged to grow the network, receiving gems to certain actions. Gems can be redeemed for bitcoin and finally sold for fiat dollars, Peled said, means users are paid mainly for network broadcast:
"Everything we do on Facebook or Whatsapp, [companies are] making money with it.'re Using our information, they are selling it to advertisers and see nothing out of it. Believe that users should be rewarded much more to use the application. So anything we can do for the incentives people do with gems. "
Gems will soon be available for both iPhone and Android users.Empowered Counterparty
Technically, the gems is built on top of the protocol counterparty decentralized exchange of peer-to-peer that enables the issuance of and trade assets.
By registering, Peled said, users receive a passphrase for your account Gems, which actually is working with Counterwallet wallet web of theproject. However, for users, all this technical maneuver happens behind the scenes, Peled and his team hope will encourage more users in the bitcoin ecosystem.
"Password, and integrated into the social messaging and because his name is an alias to your phone number and your bitcoin wallet, which makes it very easy to send Gems and bitcoins within the application portfolio It obtained.'s Like sending a text message to a friend, "Peled said. "You need not know much about public address or private key, which makes everything very, very simple."
Peled added that the gems do not save or maintain user passwords on their servers. Users concerned about privacy also not have to provide a phone number, although Peled said that, as with Skype, this makes it easier for users to identify other gems in the network where they may want to post .
Broadening the appeal of bitcoin
Peled said the protocol was critical counterpart to the Gems platform, as it allowed the development team to create assets without having to worry about the mining infrastructure, as this function is provided by the Bitcoin network.
However, disagree that the gems is perhaps no turning Bitcoin to not create your own block chain, arguing that new users Gems increase the size of the Bitcoin network.
"At the end of the day, trying to bring new people on board, for every person I speak, I have to open the bitocin wallet to him, explaining the user experience, explain the private key and the public key and cold storage, "Peled said, noting he expects Gems issues resolved. "It's very, very difficult and an hour or two is needed."
Sending messages in your own Bitcoin block chain, instead of a cloud service, he said, would slow the gems, making it less attractive to consumers.
"I have not seen a good social application built on top of bitcoin that works as well as Whatsapp," Peled said. "Therefore, the messaging part is like any other messaging application, server infrastructure is used, but the ownership and reward model is constructed using technology block chain."
Building Value for Gems
Of course, there remains the question of why users might want to collect gems, as can fluctuate and even fall in value. However, as Peled sees Gems altcoins more convincing than others on the market, as the strength of base platform users add value to the asset.
"There are two things that will give real value to the gems, is users, 40% of the gems will be distributed in a couple of years to invite people into the network," Peled said. "The second thing is that we are trying to build a social network that is fairer to the user."
In particular, users can also choose to earn gems to see ads on the platform. Publishers, meanwhile, will have to use the gems to the market for application users.
"Sending messages to your friends for free, but if you want to send unsolicited messages or if advertisers want to send messages to a specific target, then have to spend Gems" said Peled.
Users can choose to view advertising and be rewarded with gems, or opt out of this part of the service. However, the difference with gems, Peled said, is that unlike Facebook and other alternatives, the platform provides the best choice for the user.
In the long term, Gems try to encourage the development of applications on its platform, allowing entrepreneurs to build features that leverage in-app currency.
"I can not think of a lot of things you can do when you have a social network that is monetized," said Peled.
Pre-sale soon
Like many other projects Encryption 2.0, Gems is also trying to promote the initiative through an initial pre-sale of its native currency into what he described as an attempt to build a community of dedicated users, but the process has proven be a point of contentionfor other notable projects in the sector.
However, Peled said Gems believes there is real appeal to the bitcoin community instead of relying on VC capital advantages.
"We're basically building a small community. Lot of us are already trying to add people to ecosystems so if we give them a tool to demonstrate that they can download this app, it's fun, it's basically a tool that people are looking "Peled said.
