There are very few channels by which content creators are able to monetize their work, as current social platforms offer no real payment or reward functionality. This has resulted in a system where giant, centralized social media companies have built multi-billion dollar valuations on the network contributions of content creators who receive little to no reward. While there have been attempts by platforms like Reddit and Steem to enable tipping, there is a clear need for more pervasive reward systems that function across platforms.

One blockchain project that aims to accomplish just that is GIFTO, a decentralized virtual gifting protocol that can be deployed on various existing content publishing platforms, including YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. GIFTO is developing a protocol, which is built on the Ethereum blockchain, as a complement to conventional revenue streams that are commonly derived from advertising and sponsored posts. GIFTO will leverage its parent company’s mobile app, Uplive, which has an existing userbase of 20 million that actively gifts over 60,000 content creators, to test and launch the GIFTO protocol. Ultimately, GIFTO hopes to build an ecosystem where content creators are adequately rewarded for their contributions across social networks.

Interested in GIFTO? Here’s a quick rundown of the project:

Platform & Development

In short, GIFTO is building a virtual gifting and tipping protocol that functions across social media platforms. This protocol is built on top of the Ethereum blockchain and sets a series of rules and incentives for a self-governing and self-sustaining ecosystem for virtual gifts to be created, curated, purchased and exchanged across any content platform. These gifts are implemented as smart contracts, and the main transactional unit of the GIFTO protocol are the GIFTO Tokens (GTO). These tokens are used to buy and sell gifts, as well as an incentive currency to promote contribution to the larger GIFTO ecosystem.

Fundamental to the GIFTO protocol is the ability to unify all social networks underneath a single reward system. Towards this goal, GIFTO has created a broad HTML5-based gifting interface, which means that only a simple URL link is needed to send virtual gifts to content creators on any platform. This works to eliminate the need for plugins and other integration tools that are difficult to incorporate on top of established platforms.

The process is very simple for content creators:

Content creators select the gifts appropriate for their content project A Web link is created for the content creator that will show the gifts to her fans The content creators can paste the link in their Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube channels Fans click on the link, which opens up the customized Gift Store, allowing the use of GIFTO tokens to purchase and send a gift Once content creators receive virtual gifts, they are stored in inventory with two options: a) redeem the gift and convert it into GIFTO tokens or b) keep the gift, which can be sent to others at a later time. The value of each gift is tied to scarcity and demand.

The underlying utility of content-reward gifting has already been validated through the Uplive platform, which has been generating millions of dollars of income for over 60,000 content creators every month. GIFTO plans to leverage Uplive’s established user base to initially roll-out the decentralized protocol prior to expanding to their social networks.

It’s important to note that GIFTO has inked partnerships with multiple top cryptocurrency companies, including Binance and TRON. Through the partnership with Binance, Uplive will feature a special virtual gift created especially for Binance’s token BNB, Uplive’s users will have the opportunity to send this special gift to the platform’s more than 60,000 broadcasters. Uplive will also offer its users the ability to use BNB in addition to GTO tokens in its in-app crypto wallet

Additionally, GIFTO has partnered with TRON to will leverage its underlying technology to help facilitate massive transactions of users using virtual gifts.

As highlighted in the GIFTO roadmap, 2018 should be a big year with the much-anticipated roll-out of the full GIFTO protocol.

Team

GIFTO’s team strongly represents the Asian markets, and the project’s parent company, Asia Innovations Group, has significant experience with social networks and app development.

Token Financials

GIFTO (GTO) currently has a market cap of ~$118 million with a circulating supply of 338,449,359 GTO and a total supply of 1,000,000,000 GTO.

Final Take

GIFTO is targeting a very serious, but solvable, problem facing content creators across social networks. Similar to the new blockchain project Mithril, GIFTO’s protocol is being built with the support and resource of a well-established social media app. The race is on to create the premier cryptocurrency for social networking, and total success will ultimately be achieved through western market penetration.

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Disclaimer: The author(s) of this article may have a position in one or more of the securities mentioned above. This article is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. Always conduct your own due diligence before making investments.