Courted Protocol
A deposit-backed dating protocol powered by the $COURTED ERC-20 token. Real accountability. Real earnings. Real growth.
Executive Summary
Courted is a next-generation dating platform that fundamentally realigns incentives in online dating. At its core, men pay a refundable deposit—set by the woman—before a first date, held in smart contract escrow and released upon date completion. This simple mechanism eliminates time-wasters, signals genuine intent, and for the first time allows women to earn real income from the value they bring to dating platforms.
The entire ecosystem runs on the $COURTED ERC-20 token on Ethereum. Every in-app transaction—date deposits, tips, paid content, wealth display features—requires $COURTED, creating persistent buy-side demand tied to real human activity, not speculation.
User acquisition is powered by the Queen Bee Network, a multi-level incentive program that pays women up to $7,000/month to recruit other women to the platform. Unlike paid advertising ($15–25 per user), the Queen Bee Network drives organic, trust-based growth through real social connections—at a fraction of the cost, with dramatically higher retention.
The $COURTED token captures value through a demand flywheel: more users means more dates, more dates means more token demand, more demand means price appreciation, and appreciation makes the USD-denominated Queen Bee payouts cheaper in token terms—extending the sustainability of the growth engine indefinitely.
The Problem
The online dating industry generates over $5.6 billion in annual revenue, yet user satisfaction is at an all-time low. The fundamental business model is broken: dating apps profit from engagement, not outcomes. The longer you stay single and swiping, the more money they make.
Women waste time on unserious men
Over 63% of women report being stood up or ghosted after matching. Men send hundreds of low-effort messages with zero investment, treating dating apps like a numbers game. Women bear the emotional and time cost of filtering through unserious prospects.
Men face a pay-to-play attention economy
Without premium features, men's profiles are buried. They pay for boosts, super-likes, and subscriptions just to be seen—yet receive no guarantee of meaningful interaction. The average male user gets matches on less than 2% of right swipes.
Existing apps profit from keeping you single
Engagement-based monetization means dating apps are financially incentivized to keep users on the platform. A user who finds a partner is a lost customer. Features are designed for addictive swiping, not genuine connection.
Women provide the value but capture none of it
Women are the scarce resource on every dating platform. They drive engagement, content quality, and user retention. Yet they receive nothing in return—no compensation for their time, attention, or the risk of meeting strangers.
User acquisition is unsustainably expensive
Dating apps spend $15–25 per user on paid advertising (Instagram, TikTok, Google). Churn rates exceed 80% within 90 days, meaning most of that spend is wasted. No dating app has solved organic, viral growth at scale.
The Solution
Courted introduces a deposit-before-date model that fundamentally shifts the economics and incentives of online dating. Every mechanism is designed to filter for seriousness, reward women’s time, and create a self-sustaining growth engine.
Deposit-Based Dating
When a man wants to take a woman on a date, he pays a deposit in $COURTED tokens. The deposit amount is set by the woman—she determines how much her time is worth. A typical deposit might range from $20 to $200, with the average expected around $50.
The deposit is held in a smart contract escrow (CourtedEscrow.sol) for the duration of the date. Twenty-four hours after the scheduled date, the tokens are automatically released to the woman. If the date doesn’t happen (no-show, cancellation), the man can initiate a dispute. Disputes are reviewed by platform administrators, and funds are returned if the claim is valid.
If both parties confirm the date happened early (mutual confirmation), the payout is released immediately—no 24-hour wait needed.
Women Earn Real Income
Beyond deposits, women can earn through multiple revenue streams on the platform:
- Date deposits — earned for every completed date
- Tips — men can send tips at any time to express interest or appreciation
- Paid content — women can gate premium DMs, images, or profile content behind a token paywall
- Queen Bee Network commissions — earn from the activity of users they recruit (see Section 8)
Female-First Messaging
Courted uses a Bumble-style messaging model: women initiate conversations. However, men can “tip to initiate”—sending a tip along with a first message to stand out. This creates an economy around attention: men who invest more signal more genuine interest, and women are compensated for the attention they give.
Token Mechanics
$COURTED is an ERC-20 token deployed on Ethereum. It is the sole medium of exchange within the Courted ecosystem. Every in-app transaction—date deposits, tips, paid content unlocks, and wealth display features—is denominated and settled in $COURTED.
Buying $COURTED
Men (the primary buyers) can acquire tokens through two channels:
- Fiat on-ramp (in-app) — credit card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay via MoonPay integration. No crypto knowledge required. Tokens are delivered directly to the user’s in-app custodial wallet.
- DEX (Uniswap) — for crypto-native users, $COURTED is tradeable on Uniswap. Swap ETH or any ERC-20 for $COURTED and use within the app via wallet connect.
Cashing Out
Women (the primary earners) can withdraw their tokens in two ways:
- Fiat off-ramp (Stripe Connect) — convert $COURTED to USD and withdraw directly to a bank account. 2% withdrawal fee applies.
- Crypto wallet — transfer tokens to any external Ethereum wallet. Trade on Uniswap, hold, or use in DeFi.
Supply
Total supply is fixed at 1,000,000,000 (1 billion) tokens. There is no inflation mechanism. The contract owner can mint only up to the max supply cap. A burn function is available for future deflationary mechanisms (buyback-and-burn from platform revenue).
Tokenomics
The 1 billion $COURTED token supply is allocated across six pools, each designed to serve a specific function in the ecosystem’s long-term health and growth.
| Pool | % | Tokens | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public / Community | 30% | 300M | Public sale, partnerships, airdrops, marketing |
| Queen Bee Network Pool | 20% | 200M | MLM rank bonuses, matchmaker bonuses, city launch rewards |
| Engagement Rewards | 15% | 150M | Quests, achievements, streaks, leaderboards |
| Team / Treasury | 15% | 150M | Vested over 2–4 years with 6-month cliff |
| Liquidity | 10% | 100M | Uniswap DEX liquidity provision |
| Platform Operations | 10% | 100M | Token pack sales, on-ramp fulfillment, infrastructure |
Sustainability Safeguards
To ensure the token economy remains viable over the long term, three safeguard mechanisms are built into the protocol:
Pool Auto-Reduction
When the Queen Bee Network Pool drops below 10% of its original allocation (below 20M tokens remaining), all new rank bonus amounts are automatically reduced by 25%. This prevents a sudden depletion event.
Halving Schedule
Rank bonus amounts for newly promoted members reduce by 20% every 12 months. Existing earners are grandfathered at their current rates. This creates urgency to rank up early while naturally tapering emissions over time.
Revenue Buyback
Once the platform achieves positive fee margin (fees exceed Queen Bee payouts), a portion of revenue is used to buy $COURTED on the open market and replenish the Queen Bee Pool. This creates a self-sustaining loop where the growth engine funds itself.
Smart Contract Architecture
Courted’s on-chain infrastructure consists of two primary smart contracts, both deployed on Ethereum mainnet (currently on Sepolia testnet during development).
CourtedToken.sol
The $COURTED token contract implements the ERC-20 standard with additional features:
- Max supply cap — 1,000,000,000 tokens. The
mint()function reverts if it would exceed the cap. - Owner-only minting — only the contract owner (platform multisig) can mint new tokens, up to the max supply.
- EIP-2612 permit — gasless token approvals. Users sign an off-chain message and the backend relayer submits the approval transaction, eliminating the need for users to hold ETH for gas.
- Burn function — any holder can burn their own tokens. Enables future buyback-and-burn mechanics from platform revenue.
CourtedEscrow.sol
The escrow contract handles all financial interactions on the platform:
- Date deposits — tokens locked in escrow, released to the woman 24 hours post-date or immediately on mutual confirmation.
- Dispute resolution — men can dispute within 24 hours. Admin reviews and either releases funds to the woman or refunds the man.
- Tips — instant token transfers from men to women with a platform fee applied.
- Paid content — gated content unlocks with automatic creator payout minus platform fee.
- Per-type fee schedule — 5% on escrow deposits, 3% on tips, 10% on paid content. Fees accumulate in the contract and are withdrawable by admin.
Gas Optimization
To ensure a seamless user experience (most users will never need to understand blockchain), Courted employs several gas optimization strategies:
- Backend relayer pattern — the platform backend submits transactions on behalf of users, abstracting away gas fees entirely.
- Batched operations — multiple small transactions (tips, content unlocks) are batched into single on-chain transactions during low-gas periods.
- EIP-2612 gasless approvals — users never need to send a separate approval transaction before interacting with the escrow contract.
Security Audit
All smart contracts will be audited by a reputable security firm prior to mainnet deployment. Audit scheduled for Q3 2026. Report will be published publicly upon completion.
Platform Revenue Model
Courted generates revenue through fees on every transaction type within the ecosystem. The fee structure is designed to be low enough to not deter usage while generating meaningful revenue at scale.
| Revenue Stream | Fee | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Date deposits | 5% | Applied when escrow releases to the woman |
| Tips | 3% | Applied on each tip transaction |
| Paid content | 10% | Applied when content is unlocked by a buyer |
| Wealth display | Weekly fee | Recurring token fee for premium profile badges |
| Token packs | Markup | Fiat-to-token conversion includes platform spread |
| Fiat off-ramp | 2% | Applied when converting $COURTED to USD |
Launch Strategy: 100% Fee Redirect
At launch, 100% of platform fees are redirected to the Queen Bee Network to maximize early growth. The platform operates at zero margin during this phase, prioritizing user acquisition and network effects over short-term revenue. This redirect will be scaled back gradually as critical mass is achieved in each market, typically when a city reaches 10,000+ active female users.
Queen Bee Network (MLM Growth Engine)
The Queen Bee Network is Courted’s primary user acquisition engine. It replaces traditional paid advertising with a multi-level incentive structure that rewards women for recruiting other women to the platform. Because dating apps live and die by their female user base, this approach targets the exact demographic that creates platform value.
Rank Structure
Members progress through five ranks, each unlocking higher monthly earnings potential:
| Rank | Monthly Earnings | Perks |
|---|---|---|
| Honeybee | Variable | Base commissions from direct recruits' activity |
| Queen Bee | Up to $250/mo | 2-level deep commissions, profile badge |
| Hive Builder | Up to $750/mo | 3-level deep commissions, priority support |
| City Queen | Up to $2,000/mo | 4-level deep commissions, city launch eligibility |
| Crown | Up to $5,000/mo + Rev Share | 5-level deep commissions, revenue share, advisory access |
Commission Structure
Commissions are earned from platform fees generated by users in your network, up to 5 levels deep:
All payouts are USD-denominated. The token quantity adjusts at the current market rate at time of payout. This means as $COURTED appreciates in value, each payout costs fewer tokens from the pool—a key sustainability mechanic.
Special Bonuses
Matchmaker Bonus — $50
Earned when a date occurs between two users who are both in your network (you recruited both the man and the woman, directly or indirectly). This incentivizes Queen Bees to recruit men as well as women.
City Launch Bonus
When a Queen Bee recruits 50 women in a new city, that city is "activated" on the platform. The launcher earns 1% of ALL platform activity in that city for 12 months. In a mid-size city with 5,000 active users, this can exceed $2,000/month.
Trust Circles
Members of the same Queen Bee network see mutual badges on profiles, creating social proof and trust. "You and Sarah are both in Jessica's network" — this mimics real-world social vouching and increases match confidence.
Anti-Pyramid Safeguards
The Queen Bee Network is designed to avoid the pitfalls of traditional MLM structures. Critically, there is no recruitment-only income. Commissions are paid exclusively from real platform activity (dates, tips, content purchases). If a recruit isn’t actively using the platform, their recruiter earns nothing from them. Rank maintenance requires an Active Qualification Rate (AQR)—a minimum percentage of your network must be actively dating, not just signed up.
The Demand Flywheel
The Courted protocol is designed around a self-reinforcing demand flywheel. Each component feeds the next, creating compounding growth that accelerates over time. Here is the virtuous cycle:
Men buy $COURTED tokens to fund date deposits, tips, and content
Dates happen on the platform, deposits are released, tips are sent
Platform fees are generated from every transaction (5% escrow, 3% tips, 10% content)
Commissions from fees are paid to Queen Bees in $COURTED tokens
Queen Bees recruit more women (and men) to earn higher commissions
More users = more dates = more transactions = more demand for $COURTED
Increased demand drives token price appreciation
The Sustainability Loop
As the token price appreciates, Queen Bee payouts (which are USD-denominated) cost fewer tokens from the pool. A $250/month bonus at $0.01/token costs 25,000 tokens. At $0.10/token, the same bonus costs only 2,500 tokens. The more successful the platform becomes, the longer the incentive pool lasts—creating a self-sustaining growth engine that gets cheaper to maintain over time.
Roadmap
Courted’s development is organized into four phases, each building on the foundation of the previous:
Phase 1: Foundation
- MVP app launch (iOS + Android)
- Smart contracts deployed on Sepolia testnet
- Initial city launches (2–3 target markets)
- Queen Bee Network beta with founding members
- Whitepaper publication and community building
Phase 2: Token Launch
- Mainnet $COURTED token deployment on Ethereum
- Uniswap liquidity pool launch
- MoonPay fiat on-ramp integration
- Stripe Connect fiat off-ramp for women
- CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap listings
Phase 3: Scale
- 10-city rollout across major US metro areas
- Premium subscription tier (enhanced profile, analytics)
- In-app video calls for virtual dates
- Advanced matching algorithm with behavioral signals
- Brand partnerships with date venues (restaurants, bars)
Phase 4: Ecosystem
- Token staking for platform governance
- Venue partnership marketplace (earn $COURTED for dining)
- DAO governance tease — community voting on platform features
- International expansion (UK, Canada, Australia)
- Cross-chain bridge for L2 scaling (Arbitrum/Base)
Team
Courted is built by a team of dating app veterans and blockchain engineers with experience shipping consumer products to millions of users. The team includes alumni from leading dating platforms, DeFi protocols, and Y Combinator-backed startups.
Full team profiles and advisory board will be announced in Phase 2.
Legal Disclaimer
This whitepaper is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice, an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, tokens, or digital assets. The $COURTED token is a utility token designed for use within the Courted platform and should not be considered an investment vehicle.
The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. Courted makes no representations or warranties, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information presented. Forward-looking statements, projections, and estimates are inherently speculative and are based on assumptions that may not materialize.
The $COURTED token may lose some or all of its value. Cryptocurrency and digital assets involve significant risk, including the risk of total loss. Token prices are volatile and can fluctuate dramatically based on market conditions, regulatory changes, and other factors beyond the control of Courted or its team.
The regulatory landscape for digital assets and tokens is evolving rapidly. There is no guarantee that $COURTED will not be classified as a security or otherwise regulated in any jurisdiction. Purchasers and users of $COURTED are responsible for ensuring compliance with all applicable laws and regulations in their jurisdiction.
The Queen Bee Network is a referral incentive program. Commissions are earned exclusively from real platform activity, not from recruitment alone. Courted is committed to compliance with all applicable consumer protection and multi-level marketing regulations.
By purchasing, holding, or using $COURTED tokens, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this disclaimer, that you are not relying on any statements made by Courted or its representatives as financial advice, and that you accept the inherent risks associated with digital assets.
© 2026 Courted Protocol. All rights reserved. This document may not be reproduced or distributed without permission.