Overview
SmartPlaces is a social network tied to real-world places, where what you post and where you go can earn you rewards. People interact with neighbors, events, and local businesses on a map of the world split into hexagonal plots, and they earn the project's SPXT reward token for taking part. The team frames the experience around three words: connect, explore, thrive1.
SmartPlaces runs on Cardano. Each hexagonal plot on the map is a Cardano NFT (a digital collectible held in a regular wallet), and SPXT is a Cardano-issued token used to reward activity and pay for partner services like advertising. A wider mobile app is documented as a later phase on the SmartPlaces roadmap2.
Key Features
- Owning a piece of the map pays you. The world map is divided into hexagonal plots, and each plot is a Cardano NFT held in a regular wallet. Owners earn SPXT every time someone posts, places a business listing, or interacts on their plot1.
- Get rewarded for being social, not just for trading. Posting near you, attending events, opting in to share data with advertisers, and other social actions all pay out, either as in-app SmartPoints (no wallet needed) or as SPXT tokens on Cardano. The whitepaper calls this the Connect2Earn model3.
- Choose how crypto-native you want to be. People who don't want to set up a wallet can still earn and spend SmartPoints inside the app, while crypto-native users hold SPXT in a Cardano wallet. The two are designed to bridge, so SPXT can be swapped into SmartPoints to unlock more of the platform4.
- Local discovery for businesses. Businesses can place a listing on a plot, run promotions, and reach people nearby. Plot owners earn a cut when businesses set up on their land, which gives the directory a built-in reason to grow.
- Public on-chain proof for the SPXT token. The SPXT token is registered on Cardano with a fixed 30 billion supply and a verifiable history on Cexplorer5. The project was also funded through Cardano's Project Catalyst, receiving 83,250 ADA in Fund 10 to build out the location-based side of the platform6.
What to Expect
If you're a casual user, the entry point is the SmartPlaces app and the land plot map at map.smart-places.io. You sign up, see what's happening near you on the hex map, and start collecting SmartPoints by posting and engaging. If you'd rather not touch crypto, you never have to, since SmartPoints stay in-app. If you do want the on-chain side, you connect a Cardano wallet and your activity earns SPXT instead.
If you're a plot owner, you sit upstream of the activity. Every post, event, or business that lands on your hex earns you a share of the rewards, so the value of a plot tracks how lively that part of the world is. Plots from the original Pioneer mint can change hands on the secondary market on Cardano NFT marketplaces.
A note on momentum: the web platform, FAQ, token, and Catalyst proposal materials are all live, and a wider mobile app launch is described as a later phase on the SmartPlaces roadmap2.
