Launched in 2014, ride-hailing app, Ryde now boasts over 200,000 active users monthly. As part of its efforts to grow and strengthen its community of users, Ryde will be launching the first NFT project launched by a ride-hailing company in Asia.
It also will expand the range of crypto payment options for its users to top up their in-app Ryde wallets.
In line with their mission to “make every ride a better one”, this community-oriented approach extends the efforts Ryde has put in place to reward and support their drivers – For instance, Ryde’s commission from drivers is 10 percent of each ride’s fare – lesser than what competitors typically take from drivers’ earnings.
The focus on building a strong community around its platform has paid off thus far. Instead of spending millions on aggressive advertising, about 70 percent of Ryde’s users come from referrals.
In its search for new ways to strengthen the sense of community among its users, Ryde will be launching an NFT campaign, aimed at members of its Ryde+ subscription plan.
Unveiled in December 2021, Ryde+ provides exclusive perks and additional savings on subscribers’ rides, with exclusive monthly cashbacks of up to 20% on selected trip types, and more.
To be eligible for the chance to receive a RydePal NFT, the first 3,350 people must hold an active Ryde+ subscription by 31 May 2022, 2359 hours, Singapore Time.
Each RydePal will be built using generative art – a combination of different design elements such as gender and age, color, and accessories, representing the diversity of the users in the Ryde community.
The RydePal NFTs have real-world utility. They give NFT holders access to exclusive reward tiers in the Ryde app. Rarer NFTs represent access to even more exclusive, enhanced rewards.
Outside of this token sale, RydePal NFTs can only be earned through in-app activity like accumulating rides, or staking RydeCoins in the Ryde wallet. The RydePals can also be traded on secondary NFT exchanges like OpenSea.
In 2020, Ryde became the first ride-hailing company in Singapore to accept crypto payments through Bitcoin. From Q3 2022, Ryde users will have the flexibility to choose from a growing list of over 70+ different currencies, and 10+ different blockchain networks or to top up their in-app wallets.
Mr Terence Zou, Founder & CEO said: “Since 2020, we have accepted crypto payments, but only in Bitcoin. Today, we are expanding the range of crypto payment options available to our users, thanks to an integration with web3 startup, Request Finance”.
“Ryde will join many notable names in the web3 space like The Sandbox, AAVE, and MakerDAO who use Request Finance to manage over US$190 million in enterprise cryptocurrency payments.”
“Request Finance is proud to support forward-thinking web2 companies like Ryde in adopting new payment technologies in a secure and compliant manner”, said Mr Ludovic Gilbert, Business Development Manager at Request Finance.
As a tech startup, Ryde has always been eager to observe, and learn from the exciting innovations in the web3 space. Observing the tremendous potential of NFTs in rallying online communities around exclusive social clubs, creator fanbases, and more led Ryde to think about how it could do the same for its community.
“But despite the promise the technology holds, few NFT projects today have real-world utility. We want to deploy NFTs in a way that generates more real world value, especially for the rapidly growing market segment of Singaporeans who hold crypto”, says Terence Zou.
NFTs also offer greater operational efficiencies in administering a membership program than traditional systems. It does not rely on Ryde as a central authority to maintain a ledger of its members, and the Ryde community is free to trade the NFTs as they see fit.
The RydePals will be hosted on the Polygon blockchain network to ensure that everyday Ryde users can easily and cheaply mint their RydePals. In keeping with the ethos of web3, the NFT metadata will be content-addressed, and stored on the decentralized file storage platform, Filecoin using NFT.Storage.
“The combination of the NFTs being hosted on a public ledger like Ethereum, and the metadata on Filecoin ensures complete ownership. When you purchase a RydePal, you own the token, and the associated artwork, and the benefits which it confers”, says Nitin Dolli, CTO at Ryde.