Continuum.Social Inc., headquartered in Toronto, Canada, develops and manages geosocial apps that use Web3 technologies. The company entered the Japanese market in 2023, led by CEO Ikuya Izumi. He talked to us about their app, CyberTrophy, and their ambitious vision of the future.
Please tell us about your app, CyberTrophy. What is it about?
CyberTrophy is a geosocial app built on Web3 technologies and geolocation data. Users can collect digital rewards, or “trophies,” by visiting sightseeing spots, attending events, or participating in charity activities. These trophies serve as users’ records, providing proof that they were present at a location or took part in a program.
Users can also create their own trophies and award these to others. The app also features a social networking function that allows users who appreciate specific content or locations to form a community. As a user collects more trophies, their “popularity” within the community increases.
A recent in-market example is our collaboration with the Nightwalk Kitsune-no-Yomeiri event, held at Yutoku Inari Shrine in Kashima City, Saga, in September 2024. Participants had fun hunting for event-themed, limited-edition trophies. They also received local coupons according to the number of trophies they collected.
We were also a part of the Senri Festival 2024 at Senri Newtown in Toyonaka City, Osaka, in November 2024. For this event, we customized CyberTrophy and turned it into the “Senri Festival Go!” app. Trophies were placed at the event venue, various shops across Senri Newtown, and safety facilities. We created a program that allowed users to receive services or information by presenting their trophies on their phones.
As these cases show, CyberTrophy can attract people to a location, generate new communication and connections, and thereby boost tourism or revitalize the local economy.
Please tell us about the effectiveness of blockchains.
Today, we are all inundated with questionable information on social media or BBS’s. However, data in blockchains are managed within the network, making them highly transparent and resistant to tampering. By leveraging this technology, we aim to tackle societal issues that are significantly influenced by data validity.
Before I joined Continuum.Social, I worked for an industrial blockchain developer on a project that conducted investigative field surveys to prevent child labor associated with cacao production in Africa. Although the cacao production industry has complex supply chains, initiating blockchain technology improved its traceability. I realized how blockchains enabled the production of safer foods, manufactured in sound labor environments and delivered to the end consumer at a fair price, can ultimately change consumers’ purchasing habits.
Blockchain technology can store, provide proof of, and accurately recognize transaction data of items or events, as well as behavioral data. CyberTrophy is an app that forms one step of this big picture, but with an added entertainment angle.
Please tell us about your current challenges and where you are headed.
On Web 2.0, online personal data is centrally managed and exploited by colossal tech companies, exemplified by GAFAM. The value of personal data rises with the volume of data, and this value has fueled the growth of these tech companies.
However, users who provide the data do not receive anything in return. “How can each user be compensated?” We are addressing this quandary, which even economists have struggled to solve.
The key is “community ownership”: when users earn trophies in CyberTrophy, the fact of trophy acquisition is considered personal data which also includes location and time. Any profits or gains generated belong to the user community. Community ownership is a concept we strongly believe in. To distribute profits within the community, we currently issue tokens that are calculated based on users’ engagement levels in community activities as a form of compensation.
Through CyberTrophy, we want to foster a more transparent and equitable society, empowered by Web3 technology.
