SPKZ: Your decentralized community platform

For the past 10 years, the benefits associated with blockchain technology have been rehashed and debated, and even those with only a hint of curiosity about blockchain took a deeper dive into the technology as a result of the crypto craze earlier this year.

We’re big believers, so our blockchain benefits list is long. We’ll name a few that are central to the technology we are building :

1) Blockchain technology is all about the true ownership of digital assets.

2) On-chain code is auditable and data is freely accessible.

3) There is no single point of failure so long as one remains on chain.  

IN THE MEANTIME, THE SOCIAL NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE USED BY THE WEB3 COMMUNITY REMAINS CENTRALIZED.

It’s how the architecture was built at the start. Concretely, this means that while you might hold a token or an NFT on a decentralized infrastructure, you still must connect with the issuer or the community on a centralized infrastructure storing and monetizing your data. One of the main hurdles is that it can become difficult to trust sources, and even encrypted conversations and content remain on a centralized system. This creates misaligned incentives.  

The last 18 months have seen two consecutive waves of token distribution and Web3 adoption that resulted in coalescing communities of token holders. The DeFi Summer 2020 and the NFT craze of 2021 have created strong communities united around tokens, whether fungible or non-fungible. The communities of fans gathering around NFT projects and DeFi protocols have quickly come to look for solutions to create exclusive communication channels. Mass chatting apps such as Telegram or Whatsapp have traditionally been the place where such informal communities have congregated. However, these tools lack any web3 connectivity and are therefore not suited to the way these communities are starting to organize themselves.

We need a communication platform that is as decentralized as web3 projects. SPKZ is the solution we propose to  solve this discrepancy.

TELL ME MORE!

We’re excited to launch the future of social networking: SPKZ (pronounced SpeakEasy). It’s the first Decentralized Community Platform, where  users can identify themselves natively with their web3 wallet and join channels based on what they truly own in their wallet. Take a look!

Communities can gather in token gated lounges where they are sure to discuss with fellow on-chain verified community members. They are now able to start private discussion channels wallet to wallet. Communities can also organize themselves around token holding conditions they freely define.

Digital freedom. Conversations verified.

HOW DOES SPKZ WORK?

Strap in, we’re about to get a little bit technical. Feel free to jump ahead if you get overwhelmed.

The SPKZ Protocol is a repurposed version of the Arianee Protocol and deployed on the Polygon blockchain.

The SPKZ protocol is built with three core components:

• SPKZ core: a set of smart contracts to manage the access conditions to the lounges and private rooms. They are the on-chain registry of Lounges and Private rooms. A SPKZ Lounge or Private room is an NFT, owned by the administrator of the lounge or private room, with linked metadata that sets its structure. This metadata is formatted as a JSON. This JSON set four main characteristics of the room: General information, RPC endpoints for SPKZ Nodes, Notification endpoints and token gating strategies.
• SPKZ nodes: an RPC server standard that can be deployed by the lounge or private room owner to distribute messages. While the structure of the room is stored on-chain, messages need to be stored off-chain. The NFT defines an RPC endpoint redirecting to the server hosting the messages of the room. These RPC servers, or SPKZ nodes, can be self hosted by any lounge or private room owner. When a node is self-hosted by the owner, nobody is able to read the content unless they meet the token criteria. SPKZ nodes are fully open-sourced and can be hosted on any hosting platform.
• SPKZ SDK: an SDK to interact  with the SPKZ protocol in particular when it comes to  login, wallet management, and user profile management (to learn more: github.com/Arianee/spkz-sdk).

IS SPKZ REALLY CHANGING OUR COMMUNITY INTERACTIONS ONLINE?

Existing social networks are highly centralized, nebulous, and opportunistic with users’ personal data. We believe in decentralization, transparency, and personal data security and privacy. SPKZ embodies these values in a new way -- it’s a native web3 platform. Digital assets are a part of your identity which connects you with others. Your digital asset is a project, it’s an object, it’s a community. A Decentralized Social Network makes this possible. SPKZ makes this possible.