BBVA Calls Blockchain Tech The 'Ultimate Disruption'

By James Gray·2 November 2018·2 min read

Key Points

Tapatalk, a startup whose mobile app aggregates forum discussions from across the internet, is launching a blockchain platform to overhaul how online communities operate.
The project, called TAPx, lau

Tapatalk, a startup whose mobile app aggregates forum discussions from across the internet, is launching a blockchain platform to overhaul how online communities operate. The project, called TAPx, launches its first phase in spring 2019, Eric Sternbach, the company's chief operating officer, told MiningPool. By incorporating blockchain, Tapatalk aims to shore up user anonymity, build portable reputation systems, verify transactions between members, and strengthen community platforms.

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Forum operators face recurring problems: spam, trolls, and the difficulty of onboarding trustworthy new members. Sternbach argued that blockchain addresses these issues. "We believe that blockchain can be used to help forums thrive by providing improved anonymity of individual users, and reduce the forum owners' challenges, including the ability of keeping out spammers and trolls, and improving member engagement," Sternbach said. He described how blockchain could enable a reputation system that follows users across platforms. "Blockchain can also be used to develop a decentralized, immutable reputation system for individual users that can be used by forum owners to welcome new members, and reduce the friction created by the current safeguards used to keep out the bad guys."

The company centers its strategy on three core ideas: identity, reputation, and reward. In Sternbach's view, these form the basis for what could function as a "decentralized Reddit"—forums stay independent but share common systems. Enhanced privacy was another priority for the platform. "Blockchain can be used to build these solutions that will help increase forum's users privacy, and reduce risk of inadvertent hacks/disclosures," Sternbach said. "And for forum owners, these solutions will help reduce the likelihood of spammers/trolls, and improve retention and frequency of visits. This leads to a more active and robust community, and for those for-profit forums, increased revenue with no associated costs."

Internal engineers at Tapatalk are developing TAPx in partnership with undisclosed collaborators. The company established a blockchain advisory board made up of three industry figures: Jeff Atwood, who co-founded Discourse; Sam Kazemian, co-founder of the blockchain encyclopedia Everipedia; and Sanjay Sabnani, founder and CEO of CrowdGather.

Tapatalk operates in more than 200,000 forums spread across 186 countries. The company counts 300 million users across its platform. The company is based in the United States.

MiningPool content is intended for information and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice.

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