What is ivault?
New Blockchain-based Social Network App
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The world’s first Blockchain-based social network to find lost items both on a local and on a global scale at the same time? But why use the Blockchain Social Network concept for a lost & found platform? Could it be that there is much more to it?
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What is ivault? And why use a new Blockchain Social Network concept for a local lost & found platform, that can be used on a global scale? You will find out in this blog entry…
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Our blockchain solution for the B2C market will be officially available in just a few months. You can then conveniently download the ivault app from the App Stores or preregister now on ivault.app to be one of the first users to receive and test the app yourself.
On this occasion, we also want to answer some more questions about our B2C product:
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- What is ivault? What is the ivault app?
- How does it work?
- How does the ivault Lost & Found platform work?
- How does it work as a Blockchain-based social network?
- And why is ivault based on a Blockchain Social Network Concept?
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With the ivault app, we want to address 3 global challenges. You will also find out more about these below. Lastly, you will also learn, why it is much more than a convenient application to find lost items, and what benefits the ivault app offers its users.
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I. What is ivault?
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Have you ever heard of one of those spectacular lost & found stories online? Of people finding lost treasures and the most valuable items accidentally in the most ridiculous places, like gold bars in sewers or huge archaeological finds on their own private property.
There are quite a few amazing stories out there. And there could even be an invaluable treasure hidden in your neighborhood, right next door, waiting for you to be discovered. But, well, what does this have to do with the ivault app? What is ivault now?
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Lost & found.
Reinvented.
Protect your valuables and earn rewards with our award-winning blockchain solution.ivault is the world’s first lost & found app based on Blockchain, to search and find lost or stolen items on both a local and a global scale. Our patented technological innovation helps protecting assets and valuables: Users can register all kinds of items that mean something to them, and in case of a loss or theft, they can report their belongings as missing in a fast and easy way.
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At the same time, ivault is a Blockchain-based social network, that brings people together. As Users can do much more than merely help each other search and find lost items…
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II. How does ivault work?
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As a blockchain-based social network and lost & found app in one, the ivault app can be used both globally and locally. It all depends on the preferences of each individual user. One can use it as a neighborhood app to connect with people next door, to organize a barbecue or a garden party. Or one can use it as a convenient local service platform to offer tutoring or babysitting, to lend and share things or to simply borrow a tool from a neighbor.
Globally, users can use the ivault app, for example, when traveling or moving, to connect with people and instantly find a connection when arriving at a location anywhere in the world. Or, of course, to search for a lost laptop that must have gone missing somewhere on a business trip between Zurich and New York.
In addition, any public facility, from gyms to restaurants to the booth around the corner, can instantly set up their own little digital lost-and-found office with the ivault app. If something gets left behind, staff has to do nothing more than upload a photo or a brief description of the item. The owner can then easily retrieve lost items after identifying it in the ivault lost & found database on the smartphone.
The ivault app thus offers a benefit to absolutely everyone.
Note: The ivault app will be available in 5 languages in order to make the app accessible to as many people as possible right from the start. Our languages: English, Spanish, French, German and Italian.
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Protect, Connect, Share & Give Back – all-in-one! The ivault app is a social network that realizes the vision of “Blockchain for Social Impact” both for local communities and on a global scale.
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Main app features
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1. Asset management: Protect what’s yours
“Register an item to my vault” is the first main function of the ivault App. This feature is completely private and secure: Users can register an item in their “private vault”, which is securely encrypted thanks to Blockchain Technology. Registering means that the user stores data about an important asset: As detailed a description of the asset as possible and at least one picture. This makes searching for it in case of a loss much easier, as it can be reported as missing with just a few clicks.
Data safety is guaranteed. No one except the user himself has access to the data entered in his or her private vault. Read more about this below.
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2. Lost & found: Report lost or stolen items
The public features include the main function “Report a lost or stolen item”: Reporting a lost item means that it will be seen by many other users within a certain radius, the owner can adjust individually. This allows much more eyes to help users search and increases the chances of finding a lost item. To incentivize people to help on the spot and increase chances of getting back a lost item, users can set a finder’s reward (see below).
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3. Community features: Never miss a thing
Users can use the ivault app as a social engagement platform to help out others, update them on happenings around them and be socially engaged. ivault is nothing like a common social media platform, not just for the Blockchain architecture. “Never miss a thing” refers to ivault as a valuable instrument to stay up to date and get all relevant local news.
There are therefore 4 main social network features to our local community app — however, users have a lot of flexibility as these can be utilized in many ways:
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- Alert your hub: Users can inform each other about certain happenings in an area, such as construction sites or accidents, as well as special offers or occasions close by.
- I found something: Reporting a found item that someone nearby might have lost, to find the rightful owner, and to return it to him or her.
- Lend an item: Help out others by lending and sharing things with people next door.
- Ask the community: … to find what you need and never miss a thing.
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A social network for lost & found and more: What is ivault, and how does it work? This is an overview of the ivault app’s main features, both as a Blockchain-based social network and a lost & found app.
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III. ivault as a lost & found app
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Why do we need a solution like ivault? Why is ivault a really useful innovation? There are 3 main reasons why we developed the ivault app. We want to target these 3 global challenges with ivault:
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- Numbers are rising: Countless items get lost or stolen every day.
- Finding lost or stolen items should be much easier these days.
- We need honest finders who turn in found property or search for the rightful owner.
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After that, we are going to tell you why ivault is a social platform and why it is a Blockchain-based social network.
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1. Countless lost items and theft crime.
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Numbers are rising: Every day, countless objects are lost or stolen – the little treasures of our everyday lives. Things that may not even be of particular material value, but are full of memories. A teddy bear, for example, that fell out of a stroller during a walk – for the screaming child who can’t fall asleep without its plush friend, the world collapses. A friend’s gift or a grandfather’s heirloom doesn’t have to be particularly valuable, but it can mean the world to someone.
Theft crime, of course, is a much more serious problem than the lost teddy. The clearance rate for bicycle thefts is around 10%, for example.
Bicycle thefts are simply unfair. Not everyone has taken precautions to protect a bike against theft – with simple insurance, for example. And not everyone who has a bike insured against theft can afford a new bike if the insurance doesn’t pay. As that may happen.
Here are a few more figures on lost items and theft crime:
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The sad truth: Numbers of lost and stolen items: (1.) In the U.S., 500 million lost items are reported each year, (2.) In Germany, about 100 million lost items. (3.) Bicycle theft statistics: Worldwide, 3 million bicycles are stolen per year. (4.) Burglary statistics: Worldwide, 6 million burglaries are committed per year. Can a blockchain-based social network lower these numbers?
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Our solution: Register and protect assets – with ivault.
With ivault, users can securely store their assets and everything that is important to them on their smartphones. Encrypted and secured in the private vault that ivault offers as a kind of “digital safe”. Blockchain guarantees the highest level of cybersecurity: no one can view or manipulate personal data of users.
Registered valuables are thus anonymously recorded in the ivault blockchain, ideally with a picture and detailed description. This way, users have prepared for the worst: In case of loss or theft, assets can be reported as lost or stolen with just one click.
Of course, previously unregistered items can also be quickly and easily reported as missing. If a user can provide a photo and a detailed description of the lost item, it will increase the chances of finding it again.
The big problem, however, is that the one who found a key, for example, cannot be sure whether I am the rightful owner (anyone could claim that!). Preregistered assets offer a great advantage in this case, as thanks to Blockchain users already have a verified and time-stamped, immutable, mobile proof of ownership ready at hand. Finders can therefore be 100% sure that they are handing over the key to the rightful owner. More details on the special features of blockchain technology can be found here.
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2. Finding lost items should be much easier
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If we take a step back and think about how difficult it usually has been to find lost items despite all the technical possibilities we have, we can definitely say: In the digitally connected world of today, it has to be much easier!
But it’s still the same: If we want to find lost things, we ask friends, acquaintances, half the neighborhood, contact establishments where we were last, or the lost and found offices of cities or their public transportation services. To reach as many of our fellow human beings as possible, searchers even place paid ads in regional news or on well-known online platforms such as Facebook.
The effort involved in such a search campaign can take on gigantic proportions… And this is exactly where our innovative lost & found app comes in.
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Our solution: Search and find lost items – with an app.
This is how easy it is to report missing items with the ivault app: Via smartphone from the comfort of your home.
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Find lost items with our Lost & Found App for asset protection and asset recovery, while providing the best and most secure foundation for a Social Network for people to interact with each other in a meaningful way.
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Our app is much more than just a digital lost & found office to search on a local and global scale. That’s because ivault is powered by the people, in that it enables millions of users to help each other find lost and stolen items. Instead of having to search on your own, users can potentially reach thousands of other app users in one location with a single post. Even if the lost message was sent from the other side of the globe. Just the way a social network works.
A traveler, for example, who is not sure where exactly he lost his carry-on luggage can set the radius so that the post reaches users from the vacation spot, the hotel, and the airport. Someone there could also have already found the lost luggage and reported it in the app. The global search engine can also be used to search directly for lost items within a certain radius.
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3. We need honest finders who return lost property
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Anyone who has lost their cell phone, wallet, or keys is especially hoping for honest finders who turn in the lost property. And honesty pays off because there is a legal entitlement to a finder’s reward.
Most owners voluntarily reward finders generously and above the minimum entitlement. They are often just happy to get their lost property back. That’s not surprising because they are saved a lot of effort, hassle, time, and money: replacing locks and keys, reapplying for all cards and ID – we don’t even want to get into that.
Especially not when it comes to a lost cell phone and the data stored on it, such as beautiful children’s photos and other memories that are gone forever… if you haven’t previously entrusted your personal data to some central cloud provider.
Far too often, however, things that someone has obviously lost are simply left lying around. We need honest finders who turn in lost property or even take the trouble to search for the rightful owner. And maybe what we could use is an easy-to-use digital solution that
- minimizes the effort for finders and
- can offer rewards to motivate more people to help.
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Our solutions: Add a finder’s fee.
As an ivault user, you can add a finder’s reward to your lost & found posts to incentivize more people to help you find a lost item. A finder’s fee thus increases your chances of recovering a lost item.
Also, it has never been that easy for finders to report a found item. Our little mobile lost-and-found office fits in every purse or pocket, and users can simply snap a picture on the spot and upload the found item right away.
To report found items, a photo can be uploaded immediately on the spot. Alternatively, finders who like to go the extra mile for their fellow human beings can use the search engine to search directly for the rightful owner, who may have already reported their loss. A social network through which users can collect a finder’s reward can further increase the motivation to go through this minimal effort. This, in turn, also increases the chances of recovering lost items.
Our app is a handy application that makes it easier for us to search and find lost items (or their rightful owners). Thanks to the ivault app, it takes almost no time – compared to what it was like before. Combined with the prospect of rewards, it can also succeed in motivating more people to help each other.
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IV. ivault as a Blockchain-based social network
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If the Corona crisis has shown us one thing, it is probably that we can be there for each other. We stick together, no matter what and especially in times like these. Thanks to our digital devices that prompted us to “Support your locals,” a great sense of community emerged in many places during the crisis – despite lockdowns and social distancing.
This also shows, that even if we only act locally to help out our neighbors, for example, each individual can make the world a little better. And where better to start than right next door, in our neighborhoods? Where we are at home. Where social interaction is most important to us. And where we ourselves could be dependent on the help of our fellow human beings.
In general, social networks are nothing new, and they are also used locally in many places. Examples include local Facebook groups, which served to find lost items as well. However, Facebook and others have unfortunately often made negative headlines in the past regarding the handling of personal data of their users.
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Why a Blockchain–based social network?
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Why make ivault a social network at all? Our platform works not only locally as a (cosmopolitan) neighborhood app, but also globally to connect with people in other places when traveling, for example.
The ivault app is a social innovation that can not only simplify finding lost or stolen items, but also aims to strengthen honesty and trust. Most importantly, ivault is designed to support those who care about others, who want to be socially engaged, and who want to support their fellow human beings.
And why use Blockchain Technology for a social network? Unlike most social media platforms, we use Blockchain Technology to combine solidarity and social proximity with drastically increased security. Blockchain guarantees data protection and data security (cybersecurity) at the highest level possible to this date – a security standard that none of the common social media platform can match so far. Criminal activities have no place on such a platform.
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A Blockchain-based social network can handle sensitive data: It is the best solution for real data protection, privacy, and data security. With a Blockchain-based social network, Vault Security Systems AG stands for the highest level of cybersecurity: The ivault app protects user data with the highest security standard available to date.
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V. What does it cost?
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And lastly, a question we are all particularly interested in: the prices. And we’ve mentioned it before: The ivault app is free. Both registering (an unlimited number of) items and using ivault as a social network is free.
The feature to report items as lost or stolen is also provided for free, of course. In addition, we offer in-app purchases that allow users to gain better visibility for the posts they share. This gives users the ability to indicate a priority to the community when it comes to particularly important items, or a lost pet, for example.
However, the app is no platform for advertisements. Corresponding contributions are not tolerated and will be deleted. And by the way, we have also specified one of the most important concerns for us in our terms and conditions: We do not provide a platform for illegal, malicious, offensive, or discriminatory content. Users respect and treat each other in a friendly and peaceful manner.
We certainly do not want to offer another place to the darker sides of humanity, but to contribute to making the world a little better. We want to show that there are, in fact, many good people all over the world whom we can rely on when we need help from our fellow human beings.
Note: You might also want to read this article on the official website of the ivault App: What is ivault, and how does it work?
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New Blockchain-based Social Network App