Ponder Review – Decentralized Dating App with Human Matchmakers

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ponder app

Dating apps like Tinder have proven immensely popular, but they’re not perfect. They tend to rely on a giant centralized database that – like all centralized databases – can be vulnerable to hacks, leaks, or just being taken offline.

And they also tend to rely on AI to make matches between singles. Sometimes that works out great, but as anybody who’s been on a few Tinder dates can tell you, sometimes you’re left wondering if there might be a better way.

The folks behind Ponder think they have just that: a way to make matchmaking a little more human and put the power back in the hands of the people.

Ponder 101: How Does Ponder Work?

Right now, Ponder is a dating app that’s also a matchmaking game. Singles can sign up, create profiles, and browse and talk to matches just like you’d expect in any dating app.

But it’s not AI that’s making those matches, it’s other users. Anyone can sign up for the app as a “Matchmaker” and pair up users that they know, or just people who seem like they’d be compatible. The users take it from there, of course, but if the Matchmaker was right and they like each other, the Matchmaker’s rewarded with $10. If they end up getting married, the Matchmaker gets another $100 (these rewards are funded via payments singles make for successful matches).

Ultimately, Ponder plans to expand to matchmaking beyond the romantic, allowing Matchmakers to match up potential business partners (for example). But for the moment, the focus is on people helping singles find dating partners.

This user-to-user interaction philosophy also extends to the app’s tech base, which Ponder is currently working in integrating with blockchain technology.

Specifically, it’s using blockchain to secure and transfer user data in a distributed way, meaning that your sensitive dating preferences and other data aren’t available on some central server for a hacker to steal.

But that’s not the only way Ponder’s using blockchain. It’s also in the middle of a token sale for a new ERC20 token called Ponder Gold.

Ponder Gold

Ponder Gold won’t be a replacement for the app’s existing fiat-based economy. Rather, it’ll be a separate, optional cryptocurrency token that will confer benefits for Ponder users who hold it. Singles with Ponder Gold will be shown to the most successful Matchmakers, and Matchmakers with Ponder Gold will be shown the most active singles, increasing the chances of success on both sides. Ponder Gold holders will also be able to participate in matchmaking groups (interest groups that should offer a higher likelihood of successful matches), and they’ll be able to offer their own unique services – like dating advice – and charge Ponder Gold tokens for payment.

Ponder Gold holders will also be held to a higher standard of veracity thanks to blockchain-based identity verification methods.

Of course, like any token, Ponder Gold could be held speculatively. But Ponder sees the new crypto token as a way of helping decentralize dating while increasing the rewards of success for singles and matchmakers alike. And the token may or may not become available via cryptocurrency exchanges; it’s safe to say that creating an investment market for Ponder Gold isn’t the company’s primary goal for the token.

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For the interested, Ponder Gold’s token sale runs through April 20. It’s priced at 1 Ponder Gold coin per $0.20, with a hard cap of $24 million. Payments in BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH, NEO, and USD (wire transfer) are all accepted.

There are 480 million total Ponder tokens. 25% have been allocated for the token sale. Another 40% are reserved for direct sale via the app. 5% will be distributed to some existing users, and the remaining 30% are being held in reserve by the Ponder team.

Ponder Gold is currently available only via the token sale, but it will be available for direct purchase via the Ponder app beta in the near future.

Ponder’s Early Traction

It’s still early days for Ponder, but a beta version of the app has already achieved some success. A beta version of the app has already racked up 70,000 users in the US – not bad for an app that’s been around less than a year. And Ponder has already set up a joint venture in China that will allow it to offer Ponder in the Middle Kingdom, the world’s largest internet market.

It also impressed VCs enough to raise a $1.5 million seed round prior to the current token sale, and has been covered everywhere from CNBC to Forbes.

That doesn’t mean that Ponder doesn’t still have a long way to go, of course. Matchmaking apps in particular must trade off both the size and the activity level of their userbase, so Ponder will need to attract lots of new users while remaining and engaging existing users to stay viable. But it does have a promising model, and since it offers users a variety of ways to make money, it shouldn’t be too difficult to convince people to jump on board.

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Promising Executive & Management Team

It also helps that the team behind Ponder has experience that inspires confidence.

CEO, Manshu Agarwal

At the helm of the app is CEO Manshu Agarwal, a Cambridge-trained engineer with a Columbia Business School MBA and nearly a decade of bizdev experience and another five years as CEO at another mobile app company before co-founding Ponder.

Other positions are filled with similarly experienced pros: CTO Chris Imani has a half-dozen years experience as CTO and many more as a software architect, Creative Director Patrick Maxwell has 17 years of high-profile corporate design work, etc.

This is a team that can get things done; a team that already has gotten things done.

Their next challenge is growing Ponder, but it certainly seems like they’re up to the task.