Take a date out on Tinder

The Future. Like every other digital platform these days, Tinder is preparing both an in-app currency and a metaverse platform — two features that mean you won’t have to worry about leaving Tinder to go out on a date. If its plans come to fruition, Tinder could transform what it means to “buy someone a drink.”

What a dime
Tinder wants users to show themselves off.

• Next year, Tinder is rolling out its in-app currency, Tinder Coins, worldwide. The coin is already being tested in some markets in Europe.
• Players can either purchase Tinder Coins or complete tasks to earn them and then use them to buy features like “Boosts” and “Super Likes.”
• Eventually, users will also be able to purchase virtual goods in a soon-to-be-released Tinder marketplace.

Match Group CEO Shar Dubey notes that these virtual goods will be “something users will be able to collect, as well as give and gift to others.”

Be the bar
But virtual goods are only the start for Tinder. Parent company Match Group teased that it may have plans to build an entire dating metaverse for its family of apps using Hyperconnect — a South Korean social-app maker it recently acquired. Hyperconnect beta-tested an avatar dating platform (perfectly) called “Single Town,” which allowed users to interact with each other using real-time audio… essentially allowing people to meet in a virtual bar.

With COVID dinging Match Group’s business, creating a digital platform to meet and date is a bulwark against future declines. Dubey predicts that the next phase of online dating will be “richer, more organic and more akin to real-life ways of discovering, meeting and getting to know people.”