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There are over 320 million people on online dating apps today, and this number is growing faster than ever as Internet penetration continues to rise. In the U.S., over one in three couples in the past three years say they met online. However, despite this growth, online dating continues to be a risky affair for many who end up being ‘catfished,’ lied to, or scammed (remember the Tinder Swindler?). Kirsty Barany is out to make online dating safe again and she’s doing it all on the Bitcoin SV blockchain.
Barany is the founder and CEO of Clear Sparrow, a company that allows online daters to easily exchange their verifiable information before or even during a date. This gives anyone a better picture of who they are going on a date with, providing them a sense of security and allowing them to enjoy their date.
Barany was in Dubai for the BSV Global Blockchain Convention, and CoinGeek Backstage’s Becky Liggero caught up with her on the sidelines of the event to talk online dating, the BSV blockchain, and more.
It all started when Barany, a seasoned cybersecurity expert, was invited by a friend to a BSV event. She learned about BSV’s infinite scaling, stable protocol, and very low fees and by the end of it, she was convinced that this was the best network to build her application on.
The use of blockchain is essential for Clear Sparrow, allowing users to share their sensitive data without compromising its integrity. It also allows the users to be the ultimate owners of their own data, most of which is available to corporations like healthcare providers and government institutions.
“One of the things I love about this technology is the ability to give the data back to the real owner, [and that is] the user,” she said.
Honesty, trust and integrity are not the virtues that have gone hand-in-hand with online dating for a long time. One study found that a staggering 57% of online daters have lied on their profiles; another discovered those using dating websites are twice as likely to fall victim to a cybersecurity incident; while yet another found that romance scams are the most popular type of scams in the United States.
Barany believes that for any blockchain network to power the online dating world, “it needs to scale, it needs to be fast. This is what this technology [BSV] does for us.”
And while she came for the technology, she stayed for the people. Barany pointed out that the BSV ecosystem has been very welcoming, and most of the people she has met have offered to help in any way they can.
“It’s a nice ecosystem. They’re very welcoming and they will welcome your idea and then make it better,” Barany noted.
Barany’s company is based in Miami, a city that’s quickly gaining the reputation of a tech hub. BSV is prominent in the town, with quite a few leading apps building from Miami, and with the upcoming Florida Citadel, the BSV community will only get stronger.
Barany has been around all through the transformation of Miami into a tech destination, and as she told CoinGeek Backstage, the last four years have marked the fastest growth.
“We’ve been receiving talent from New York, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area. It’s incredible the amount of talent that’s congregating in Miami…Everybody is working on something cool,” she stated.
While the talent has been there for years, this wave of growth is also attracting financiers who are flocking to Miami to spot the next big thing.
This combination of serious investors, talented entrepreneurs, and an enabling environment “enable the creation of really great technology. You’re going to be seeing a lot of very cool stuff coming out of Miami.”
Watch: The BSV Global Blockchain Convention presentation, Blockchain for Data Integrity & Business Process Management
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