FAQ
About UTU
What is UTU?
UTU is building the trust infrastructure of the internet to help businesses and consumers engage and transact in an easier, safer, and more trustworthy way.
Our AI-based API products collect and analyze data to create trust signals and personalized recommendations that help consumers and businesses make the best decisions for their situation. And the UTU blockchain protocol rewards users for trustworthy actions and compensates them for sharing their data while protecting their privacy.
UTU changes the economics of trust, ensures trust can’t be bought or manipulated, and leverages data to help people make better decisions.
UTU is the Swahili word for “humanity” and reflects our roots in Nairobi, Kenya.
What problem is UTU solving?
In any online marketplace, establishing trust between parties who would like to engage in business with each other is a prerequisite for that business to actually happen. But the current trust and reputation mechanisms such as anonymous star ratings and reviews are often flawed and easily manipulated. Consider, for instance, the fake restaurant that reached #1 on TripAdvisor London and widespread review fraud on Amazon.
How are we solving this?
We are building the trust infrastructure of the internet with our AI-based APIs. The UTU Trust API replaces typical rating and review tools and uses AI to adapt to users’ unique preferences and context. This allows businesses to provide personalized recommendations to increase conversions and sales. Additionally, the UTU protocol uses blockchain to ensure reviews and ratings can’t be manipulated. The protocol compensates users who provide accurate ratings and allows full control of data privacy.
What are the advantages of UTU over other review systems?
Current online trust systems feature anonymous ratings and reviews that are often manipulated. Trustpilot, Google and Amazon are constantly working to remove millions of fake reviews. Furthermore, current trust mechanisms don’t reflect how we trust in the real world. Most people trust friends and family recommendations over strangers online. UTU’s Trust API replaces typical rating and review tools, and uses social connections and artificial intelligence to provide users with the most trusted recommendations from people they know.
How UTU helps businesses and customers
By bridging the gap between how we trust in real life and how we are asked to trust online, UTU eliminates the problems that fake reviews present — poor purchase decisions for consumers, and harmed reputations and lost sales for online businesses.
By offering personalized recommendations, online businesses enjoy the following benefits:
Increased conversion rates.
Decreased customer acquisition cost.
Improved retention, satisfaction, lifetime value, and viral acquisition.
Increases revenue from improved upsell and cross-sell capabilities.
Increases brand value around transparency, privacy, and respect for user data.
Customers are more informed about their purchases and can make decisions in a more trustworthy environment, improving their experience and general well-being.
What is the UTU Roadmap?
You can find our public roadmap here.
How can I contact UTU?
Reach out to us on trust@utu.io or on any of our social media channels.
You can also check out our website for more information about the team and vision.
Products
Trust API
The UTU Trust API replaces typical rating and review tools and uses AI to adapt to users’ unique preferences and context. This allows businesses to provide personalized recommendations to increase conversions and sales.
Browser Extension
The UTU Browser Extension allows users to view feedback from their network about any website they’re visiting, and to leave feedback and make staked endorsements to earn UTU tokens for their contributions. Learn more about it here, or install it directly in Chrome (coming to Firefox soon, or import it from your Chrome installation).
Knowledge Base
UTU Trust allows its users to get and give trust signals on any uniquely identified resource, from within their connected networks. We value information more from people we trust, and the people who trust us value our information more than that coming from a stranger.
Some uniquely identifiable assets include:
A wallet address
A website URL behavior
FAQ
Q: Is a UTU Trust Chrome Extension using Token Economics? A: Yes, the UTU Trust Chrome Extension is indeed using Token Economics. UTU Trust has 2 kinds of Coins:
UTU Coin
UTT Coin
UTU Coin is transferable and can be redeemed for Fiat Currency. As part of giving a signal on a uniquely identified asset, such as a wallet address, the user can earn UTU Coin. More specifically, if the user spends some UTT (see below) on endorsing the asset, then if someone else later also endorses the same asset, they can earn some UTT and UTU Coin for having been one of the first people in the network to endorse the asset.
UTT is non-transferable. It is tied to the User who owns the UTT. The owner earns UTT by connecting their social media network accounts to UTU Trust. In order to endorse an asset, the user needs to spend some UTT. UTT is a measure of how much a User is participating in the UTU Trust Network. UTT is also a measure of Trust.
UTU Trust Snap
UTU has built a Snap (basically a MetaMask plugin) to let you get UTU signal inside your MetaMask Wallet right at the moment when you’re about to confirm a transaction.
Knowledge Base
The Snap is a component that can be deployed to MetaMask. The UTU Trust snap can provide insights on the “to” address part of a transaction before the transaction is confirmed. A user performing a transaction in Metamask can check whether anyone in their network has given any signal on the “to” address of the transaction. i.e., they can get metrics from their network on whether the “to” address can be trusted or not.
More specifically, the snap checks whether there is any signal on the “to” address or not. If there is some, it provides a link to take you to the web3 UTU Web Application, where you can view the signal.
Signals can take various forms:
Written Text
Thumbs up and down
Badges
A video
The snap also provides a link to go and give a signal should you wish.
FAQ
Q: What is a MetaMask Snap?
A: MetaMask is a browser extension-based Wallet. It is the guardian of your public and private keys, and it allows you to transfer Ethereum-based crypto from one wallet address to another. It also interacts with Web3 Apps.
A Snap is a software component that can run in the MetaMask browser extension and provide enhanced behaviour. More specifically, it allows insight to be provided on the “to” address of a transaction. The user is allowed to read the insight before proceeding to click “Confirm” to carry out the transaction. The Snap can also have its own mini website shown in the MetaMask browser extension.
Note that MetaMask Snaps run in a security sandbox so that they cannot compromise the security of MetaMask.
Q: Is a UTU Trust MetaMask Snap using Token Economics?
A: Yes, a UTU Trust MetaMask Snap is indeed using Token Economics. UTU Trust has 2 kinds of Coins:
UTU Coin
UTT Coin
UTU Coin is transferable and can be redeemed for Fiat Currency. As part of giving a signal on a uniquely identified asset, such as a wallet address, the user can earn UTU Coin. More specifically, if the user spends some UTT (see below) on endorsing the asset, then if someone else later also endorses the same asset, they can earn some UTT and UTU Coin for having been one of the first people in the network to endorse the asset.
UTT is non-transferable. It is tied to the User who owns the UTT. The owner earns UTT by connecting their social media network accounts to UTU Trust. In order to endorse an asset, the user needs to spend some UTT. UTT is a measure of how much a User is participating in the UTU Trust Network. UTT is also a measure of Trust.
When using the UTU Trust Snap in MetaMask, the user has the opportunity to see an insight into the “to” address part of the transaction before clicking Confirm to carry out the transaction. The insight includes the UTU Trust Signal on the “to” address, which has been provided by people in one’s social media networks. More specifically, the user is provided with a link to go and see or give a signal on the “to” address of the transaction.
Q: Can I install the Snap directly from here into the developer flask version of MetaMask?
A: Yes, you can.
MetaMask Flask is a developer version of MetaMask. It is best to put MetaMask Flask in a separate browser profile so it does not interfere with any production version of MetaMask you have installed.
[Install MetaMask Flask](https://metamask.io/flask/)
Login / Connect above
Install / Reinstall Snap into the developer Flask version of MetaMask
Creditworthiness API
The UTU Creditworthiness API that is now available for lenders in traditional and decentralized finance platforms. This API leverages machine learning to continuously improve the accuracy and precision of credit assessments, identifying customers that are trustworthy and those that have a higher risk of default. Learn more about the Creditworthiness API here.
M-PESA Parser API
The M-PESA Parser API allows clients to easily extract data, such as name, phone number, and account payment activity, from their customers’ M-PESA statements. Clients will be able to view this information on a dashboard and incorporate it into our Creditworthiness API or the credit scoring model of their choice.
DeFi Portal
The DeFi portal MVP helps you identify DeFi protocols that are trustworthy to interact with. After you enter your Ethereum wallet address into the portal, our trust engine scans the Ethereum network for the last 100 transactions that you’ve executed with your address. Then it will identify addresses that you’ve interacted with in the past, scan the last 100 transactions for these addresses, and display the protocols that you have in common. Learn more about the DeFi portal here.
The UTU Protocol
Where is the UTU White Paper?
You can find the UTU White Paper here.
How does the UTU Protocol work?
Fake and inaccurate reviews can lead to poor purchase decisions. The UTU protocol leverages blockchain to ensure that reviews can’t be manipulated.
The UTU protocol uses blockchain to reward trustworthy actors and ensure reviews and ratings can’t be manipulated. You can earn from the reviews you create and the data you share with apps that you use. With UTU, you have full control over the data you share.
Tokenomics (UTT and UTU)
You earn UTU Trust Tokens (UTT) for providing your reviews and data to the protocol. UTT is non-transferable but can be converted into UTU Coin, but not the other way around. This prevents people from “buying” trust.
UTU Coin (UTU) is the currency of the UTU protocol and is used as a form of payment within the UTU app ecosystem. It is required to use our trusted recommendation service and has a max supply of 1 billion.
UTU Coin
How can I buy UTU Coin?
What exchanges is UTU Coin listed on? You can buy UTU Coin ($UTU) on:
Visit CoinGecko or CoinMarketCap to keep track of the price and access more information.
Are you listing on more exchanges?
Yes, we’re continually working to list UTU coin on more centralized and decentralized exchanges. Listing on exchanges costs money, so we have to work through it carefully.
Cross-chain interoperability
UTU Coin is available on both Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain and you can also port your UTU in both directions.
You can use Meter Passport, Meter’s bridge application, to port your UTU on Ethereum to BSC 1-to-1, and vice versa. You’ll then be able to trade UTU on BSC or add liquidity to our UTU-BNB pool on PancakeSwap. Learn more here.
We have also partnered with many other protocols such as Elrond, Polygon, Oasis, Harmony, and others to deploy UTU Coin and our trust infrastructure on their blockchains.
Tokenomics / Token Release Schedule
Learn more about the UTU Coin release schedule here.