Werate

weRate is a mobile review app built on Solana. It pays users for checking in at restaurants, cafés, bars, gyms and other local venues and for reviewing them, and it gives more weight to reviews backed by proof of a real visit.

The project describes itself as "a new kind of review platform that focuses on real experiences verified in the real world." Its whitepaper argues that review platforms like Yelp and Google have a trust problem. Fake and AI-written reviews are getting harder to spot, and people who write honest reviews get little in return. weRate responds with two ideas. First, reviews are scored by how much evidence supports them. Second, useful contributions earn in-app credits, experience points and progress in a collectible game.

How it works

The basic flow, per the product overview, is: download the app, check in at a venue, leave a review, earn rewards, then find new places through reviewers you trust. The app has map-based venue discovery and lets you follow other contributors. Its Google Play listing describes the same loop: check in, add ratings, photos, text and receipts, and earn points, credits and avatar upgrades while competing on seasonal leaderboards and weekly quests.

Check-ins. A check-in proves you were physically at a venue. The app uses GPS to confirm you are nearby, blocks check-ins from too far away or from spoofed locations, and can require phone biometrics. Check-ins don't pay XP, points or credits directly. Instead, they raise the TrustScore of any later review of that venue, which increases the reward for that review.

Reviews and TrustScore. A basic review is just a star rating and takes less than a minute. Users can add ratings for six sub-categories, written comments, photos and receipts, and can confirm a check-in. Each of these signals feeds the review's TrustScore, which decides how much XP, leaderboard points and credits it earns. The documentation says receipt uploads give the biggest boost.

Proof-of-Authenticity. The TrustScore sits inside a wider Proof-of-Authenticity framework. It combines location evidence (check-ins, GPS, geotagged photos, AI checks for spoofing), light personhood checks (device consistency, phone verification, optional wallet linking), optional purchase evidence, and behavioral patterns such as how often someone visits and how much time passes between reviews. All of these signals are optional. The docs say users "are never punished for sharing fewer signals. They simply earn more when they provide more proof."

On-chain proof-of-review. weRate plans to record parts of this authenticity data on Solana. The records would hold encrypted proof of a visit and timestamped contributions, while personal data stays in the app. In the docs' words, "the chain stores proof, not personal data." The documentation says this feature is still in development, is not yet in the mobile app, and is planned for release in 2026.

Terries and the game layer

Every account gets a Terry, a collectible avatar that levels up as its owner visits places, writes reviews, completes quests and ranks on leaderboards. Each Terry has six trait slots, which can be cosmetic or can change gameplay. Terries also carry multipliers for experience and leaderboard points and four skills: Ambition, Focus, Luck and Influence. A user can own several Terries, but only one is active at a time, and that one sets how rewards are calculated.

The docs list seven rarity tiers:

A planned "Fusion" feature will let users combine two Terries into a rarer one. According to the docs, rarity changes how much a user can earn but does not lock anyone out of basic play.

Rewards and marketplace

The app pays out three kinds of rewards: XP to level up a Terry, leaderboard points (LP) for competitive rankings, and a spendable "Rate" credit. Each activity has a base payout, which is then raised by the active Terry's rarity, level and skills.

The in-app marketplace has three parts. The first is a wallet that shows credit balances with an estimated USD value. It is backed by a built-in non-custodial wallet using Web3Auth, so users don't need to know anything about crypto. The second is a Deals section, where credits can be swapped for raffle tickets, brand gift cards and seasonal perks. The third is an assets store that sells Terries, trait packs and boosts.

The $RATE token

The whitepaper describes $RATE as an SPL token on Solana with a maximum supply of 1 billion. The docs say 2.5% of in-app transaction value will be burned daily, up to a cap of 250 million $RATE (25% of supply). The planned allocation is:

• 30% reward pool
• 20.5% seed round
• 15% team
• 14.5% strategic investors and VCs
• 12% foundation
• 10% external activities and marketing
• 5% advisors
• 5% liquidity
• 4.5% pre-seed
• 2% KOL round
• 2% public sale

The reward pool is designed to release 2.5% of its balance each month to weekly, monthly and quarterly leaderboards. Leaderboards are split by overall ranking, rarity, category and country. The payout rate starts lower and scales up as the user base grows.

The Romanian exchange TOKERO listed a $RATE presale on its launchpad. It offered a $100,000 allocation at $0.0125–$0.015 per token, with a three-month cliff followed by 18 months of linear vesting. Registration for that sale is now closed. We could not confirm from official sources whether $RATE is trading, so this profile does not give a contract address.

Business model

Besides token-based rewards, weRate plans to earn revenue from venues through a Verified Venues subscription. Subscribers get a purple verification badge and more visibility on the map, promotion to nearby users, analytics on check-ins, reviews and competitors, the ability to reply to reviews and message customers, and tools for running offers and events. The model also includes cost-per-click listings and cost-per-impression ads. The docs rule out "scrubbing," meaning businesses cannot pay to remove negative reviews.

Team and background

weRate is based in Brussels, Belgium. A Solana Jobs listing for a web3 CTO describes it as an early-stage startup with a live beta. The same listing says it won the Dutch Blockchain Days competition and season 2 of the Solana Founders Villa competition. The TOKERO launchpad page says weRate is backed by Solana's Superteam network. The official materials we reviewed do not name the founders. We found no published security audit.

Status

The Android app is live on Google Play, and the whitepaper is kept up to date. weRate's X account (@weRate_Official) has posted about an upcoming "V2" of the app. The main marketing site at werate.io did not return content when we checked. On Solana, weRate is a consumer app, part of a group of projects trying to use on-chain incentives and verification to reward real-world activity, which here means honest local reviews.