Zalate — Crypto Marketplace & Real-Time Chat Platform

Problem

Crypto marketplace users needed deal posting, buyer/seller matching, real-time chat, document uploads, payments, and a reusable messaging layer for socket-based conversations.

Solution

Built Zalate as a React Native and Node.js marketplace with Socket.IO chat, matching workflows, AWS S3 uploads, Braintree payments, and a standalone Socket.IO chat SDK/service for real-time messaging.

How it was built

• Built React Native mobile app using React Native, NativeBase, React Navigation, and API client libraries
• Developed Node.js/Express backend with MongoDB and Mongoose
• Implemented deal listing APIs with buy/sell type, country, position, quantity, gross/net values, escrow, crypto currency, and proof fields
• Created user matching workflows connecting buyers and sellers around deals
• Built real-time chat with Socket.IO, conversations, message acknowledgements, typing events, and online user handling
• Integrated AWS S3/file upload utilities for documents and media
• Added Braintree, JWT, Passport authentication, coupon/referral, PDF, QR code, and scheduler-related backend modules
• Built standalone Node.js/Express service
• Used Socket.IO and Socket.IO Client for real-time messaging
• Implemented chat initialization, message send events, acknowledgements, ping/status, typing, and socket error handling
• Added client HTML/JavaScript examples for SDK testing
• Structured it separately from the main Zalate backend so it can be identified as SDK/service work

Metrics

• Crypto buy/sell marketplace workflows
• Real-time Socket.IO chat
• Buyer/seller matching system
• AWS S3 file handling
• Payment and QR code support
• Standalone chat SDK/service
• Socket.IO real-time messaging
• Reusable communication layer

Tech