What is Bumble doing with Web3?
Bumble is looking for a “Head of Crypto and Web3,” Why?
On November 10th, 2021, the world’s second-largest dating app, Bumble, created a job listing on LinkedIn for “Head of Crypto and Web3”. What does this mean for the future of bumble? What do they see in the union of Web3, Cryptocurrency, and Dating?
Bumble’s views of Web3
Shedding light on the companies new direction, executives from bumble have elaborated on what their view is for the future of the platform.
“What we really think is really interesting in the near term is the application of blockchain and crypto in general to the experience that our communities have. Fundamentally, we are not just an ecosystem, but we are a community of people.”
“… this means new engagement, participation, and creator models. But longer-term, it becomes a way for members to own their experience on Bumble. This could happen through the communities they build, the virtual goods and experiences they acquire, or through new ways of owning their identity as they navigate the metaverse.”
“This is something that is going to evolve. We want to make sure we’re setting the technical engineering foundation for whatever emerges in the metaverse and in the Web 3 world.”
“On the metaverse, we’re really taking a Web 3 lens on this. I’m sure somebody will build a more virtual experience, and we will happily engage and be there when they do that with avatars, etc. But what we really think is really interesting in the near term is the application of blockchain and crypto in general to the experience that our communities have,”
From these quotes, it seems bumble is following Facebook’s (Meta) lead and embracing a future crypto-metaverse for their users. Taking a broader look at their application as a “community of people” may seem a bit broad. Pushing for a more engaged creator economy like more traditional social media may be a stretch from their dating app origins, but they clearly see value in it.
Even bumble is likely unsure of the form these changes will take. The job listing is very much an exploratory role, one destined to bring in an expert to inform executives and illuminate the platform’s possible blockchain future, but we can look to other platforms to understand how these changes may be implemented.
Tinder’s Excursion into Web3
Tinder, currently the world’s largest dating app, is also experimenting with web3 and crypto through a feature called “Tinder Coins.” These coins are still an experimental feature, and not much is known about them, but if rumors are correct, they are not a cryptocurrency but rather a token managed by tinder that is available for in-app purchases. Effectively making them “as good as cash” while on the tinder app.
Furthermore, these tokens are both purchasable and earnable, allowing active users to be rewarded for spending time on the platform with tokens to buy more swipes, super likes, and boosts. This is intended to pair more with the platform’s “explore” feature that mirrors Snapchat’s feature by the same name. In this section, users are able to partake in digital adventures that are pre-filmed and scripted in a choose your own adventure structure.
Blockchain Dating
This discussion would not be complete without an acknowledgment of some blockchain-native dating apps that have seen stumbling in recent years. There seems to be no shortage of this application, but none seem to find any traction. A sampling of them are below:
Ponder — 2016, the website now seems to be owned by someone else
Viola.AI — 2018, website is live by all links seem to be Dead
Luna — 2018, website live, last update January 2019
Hicky — 2018, can’t even find a website anymore and no modern news
Loveblock — 2018 — Website dead and no updates since ICO
Matchpool — 2019 Website and app are alive, but the last update from December 2019
SolDate — Alive! In development with updates from last month
Clearly, it’s not such an easy feat to be a pure web-3 dating app. But of course, neither Tinder nor Bumble is trying to become blockchain-native. Their applications will be the gateway for their users to access these features, for most users, there will be no need to even know of the blockchain behind the scenes.
In recent years, both Tinder and Bumble have reported an increase in the willingness of users to pay for premium features on the application, opening up the door for more features and more integrations. Both apps seem to see this as a potential springboard into a crypt-metaverse future. Time will tell if they are right.
Check out our new platform 👉 https://thecapital.io/
https://twitter.com/thecapital_io