Clear Sparrow’s Kirsty Barany uses the BSV blockchain to make online dating safe again
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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 increase. In the US, over one in three couples in the past three years say they met online. But 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 scammer?). 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 verifiable information before or even during a date. This gives everyone a better picture of who they are going on a date with and gives them a sense of security and allows them to enjoy the 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 about online dating, BSV blockchain and more.
It all started when Barany, an experienced cyber security 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 to Clear Sparrow, allowing users to share sensitive data without compromising integrity. It also allows users to be the ultimate owners of their own data, most of which is accessible to companies such as healthcare professionals and public institutions.
“One of the things I love about this technology is the ability to give the data back to the rightful 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 that those who use dating sites are twice as likely to be victims of a cyber security incident; while yet another found that romance scams are the most popular type of scam in the United States.
Barany believes that for any blockchain network to power the online dating world, “it has to scale, it has to be fast. This is what this technology [BSV] do 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 people she has met have offered to help in any way they can.
“It’s a nice ecosystem. They are very welcoming and they will welcome your idea and then make it better,” noted Barany.
Barany’s company is based in Miami, a city that is quickly gaining a reputation as a technology hub. BSV is prominent in the city, with quite a few leading apps building out of Miami, and with the upcoming Florida Citadel, the BSV community will only get stronger.
Barany has been around the entire transformation of Miami into a tech destination, and as she told CoinGeek Backstage, the last four years have marked the fastest growth.
“We’ve received talent from New York, Los Angeles and the Bay Area. It’s amazing the amount of talent coming together in Miami…Everyone is working on something cool,” she said.
While the talent has been there for years, this wave of growth is also attracting financiers who are flocking to Miami to see the next big thing.
This combination of serious investors, talented entrepreneurs and an enabling environment “enables the creation of really great technology. You’re going to see a lot of cool stuff coming out of Miami.”
See: BSV Global Blockchain Convention presentation, Blockchain for Data Integrity & Business Process Management
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