Guest blog from Gordon Povey CEO & Founder at Kin
Kin is a Web3 ad-free search engine built around community, transparency, and privacy. The prototype has been operational for over a year and on 1 May 2023 we launched the Kin beta https://searchkin.com.
Our aim is to be a disruptor and so we are highly differentiated from incumbent search engines like Google.
We are building a community of users that believe in Web3 principles. We use blockchain and a smart contract for transparency. We will use multiparty computation (MPC) technology to ensure maximum privacy for users at all times.
We have thrown out the traditional advertising business model where the user is the product to be sold to advertisers. Instead, we become a broker of both information and also online products.
So metaphorically, if you want to go to the library for information, we become your personal librarian and try to find exactly what you are looking for without trying to sell you anything or distract you along the way. Then, if you do want to go to the shopping mall (metaphorically) to buy something, we are like your personal shopper trying to find exactly what you want and can even uncover local or artisan products that are usually difficult to find online.
We generate revenue as a broker only when we find what you really want. By taking this approach, we find information that is less skewed by large commercial SEO budgets, and we can discover online products that are often hidden by advertising and brand dominance.
We knew we needed to work with a Layer 1 blockchain so that we could mint our own tokens. We also knew that we needed a secure way to process user data while maintaining complete privacy. The fact that Partisia Blockchain was offering not just a blockchain, but also MPC capabilities made it a front runner.
We have just launched the Kin beta. The organic search (for web, news, images and videos) is working extremely well. We believe it provides better results than the incumbent search engines (try it for yourself and compare our results to other search engines).
We still have work to do on the shopping searches, which are limited and UK-centric at present. We will also be turning on the user rewards system very soon. To fund future developments, we are opening another token pre-sale, which will allow early supporters of our project to buy tokens at a discounted price. The funds will be used for the product launch and marketing, and for ongoing developments such as the implementation of our community-based training (using xAI methods) which is included in a patent we recently had granted.
Learn more about us: Search engine, Website, Email, Telegram, Twitter, LinkedIn
Your opinion matters. It matters so much that the global online data market estimate is to be over US$270 billion dollars, all focused around buying and selling of your data to the highest bidders. It is a very complex web of transactions that ferry your data from one place to another and many times, your data is used in ways you never realized could be used for. From Cambridge Analytics’ controversial use of data to TikTok’s alleged aggressive data harvesting, there is a large market for your information and how it is used is very unclear.
The current Web2 market for surveys is in the exchange of your data. This means your opinion is collected, filtered, analyzed, sold and bought. The data may be collected anonymously, or it may be tied to your identity. Either way, this data is collected and managed by a centralized system, which has control over the data they purchased. There is also the ever growing concern of bots and AI scripts that automate and duplicate fake data leading to data integrity issues.
One of the ways a decentralized blockchain can help change the landscape of the survey market is through dissolving the centralized control problem. Because the data can be made public, and with no single point of control of the data, you can be sure that the data can reside on-chain and has no central ownership or control. However, this can create problems with privacy. All data is now public and this creates two issues.
A unified public and private smart contract, like the one Partisia Blockchain supports, enables the best of both worlds and solves the two issues above, where you now have a decentralized blockchain that eliminates any controlling entity while still being able to privatize your data. Not only does this retain the data marketplace but redefines it in a way where the user now has control over the data.
The online survey industry is large and is continuously growing. And this is because surveys hold a lot of valuable data. As reviewed in our earlier article on privatized voting, we use multiparty computation (MPC) on the blockchain to hide your data on-chain, but still allow for computing of the data.
While the private voting use case reviewed a very simple computation on who the winner of an election was, Partisia Blockchain’s programming language allows full algebraic equations to be used to calculate any number of computations using the hidden data. This means not only being able to compute on a single category, but also combine results of the computation from multiple categories.
This change in privacy of your survey data creates a new change in how the data marketplace can be viewed. By allowing the survey participants ownership of their data, but still allowing for the computation of it, the marketplace of the data has now shifted from buying and selling of your data to buying and selling of the “use of your data”. You now still hold ownership of the data and you are now selling the use of your data while still keeping your data private. This paradigm shift creates new opportunities for a different marketplace where you are not just selling your data one time, but rather allow for the possibility of both updating of the data in real time as well as being rewarded each time your data is used. And through privatized authentication, the data quality improves as well leading to better accurate analysis.
For additional insights on this use case, we recommend viewing our Q&A session.
By creating a programming language that allows for developers to use MPC in a generic way, Partisia Blockchain has made the creation of applications that can harness the power of MPC for different use cases a possibility. Partisia has been at the forefront of providing private MPC solutions since 2008. And by layering this technology on top of an interoperable and scalable blockchain, Partisia Blockchain is now paving the way for anyone to create solutions that can balance privacy and transparency to build trust.
To learn more about different use cases or partner with us for solutions, please visit partisiablockchain.com, check out our Medium articles, development documentations or email us at build@partisiablockchain.com.
ZÜRICH, 29 March 2023. Partisia Blockchain Foundation announces the appointment of Tiago Fernandes Serôdio as the Head of Community, effective immediately. This strategic move underlines the fourth generation blockchain’s firm commitment to optimizing community engagement and aligning with growth objectives. His appointment is a testament to Partisia Blockchain’s pledge to quality leadership and top-notch talent acquisition.
Tiago brings over 10 years of experience building and running communities, as well as marketing campaigns, including his notable work at the Cardano Foundation where he designed and implemented the flagship Ambassador Program, expanded its global reach and introduced the first self-governance program.
In his new role at Partisia Blockchain, Tiago will collaborate with the senior leadership team to provide expert guidance on scaling and diversifying the community. He will focus on implementing a community engagement strategy that will enhance the management, growth, and diversification of the community, with an eye on future adoption and use cases. Tiago is poised to streamline the community management function and set on a path to further success.
Kurt Nielsen, President of Partisia Blockchain Foundation, is confident that Tiago’s appointment will take the community to new heights. He remarked, “Tiago’s extensive skills and expertise will serve as a catalyst for Partisia Blockchain’s growth by reinforcing our community and pivoting focus towards adoption and use cases. With Tiago’s valuable insights, we look forward to expanding and diversifying our community profile, paving the way for a brighter and more prosperous future.”
Before joining Partisia Blockchain, Tiago held several senior management positions at various organizations, including Zilliqa, HUMAN Protocol and Occam Group, where he implemented and refined community-driven initiatives. He was instrumental in turning less known altcoin to Top Five market cap in 2017 as part of the original Dash team. Tiago is also one of the founding partners of Syyx, a Web3 marketing agency built by former Cardano ecosystem executives and domain experts.
Tiago’s distinguished academic credentials speak to his deep commitment to professional development. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Clinical Neuropsychology from the University Institute of Maia (Portugal) and an Audio Engineering certification from the SAE Institute of Technology in Barcelona (Spain). He is currently pursuing his Master of Science degree in Blockchain and Business Applications from the prestigious Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Spain).
Partisia Blockchain is privileged to have Tiago Serôdio as the Head of Community and looks forward to his contributions to growth and success. His appointment is a significant milestone in the journey towards achieving ambitious goals and continuing to serve as a leading fourth generation blockchain.
About Partisia Blockchain Foundation: Partisia Blockchain brings unparalleled opportunities by empowering privacy-preserving, interoperable and sustainable innovation for fairness and transparency. It fuels the most secure and efficient networks to solve global problems. Distilled with more than 30 years of rigorous research, Partisia Blockchain future-proofs solutions, solves tomorrow’s challenges by powering fair, secure, distribution of benefits. While preserving privacy and confidentiality, it brings accountable, transparent and decentralized governance. Learn more: www.PartisiaBlockchain.com
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