Rent Mates: Decentralized Student Rental Sharing with Blockchain, AI & DeFi

International students often struggle to find affordable rental spaces due to financial constraints, rental fraud, and the lack of shared accommodation options. Existing rental platforms are primarily designed for families and do not support shared rentals, nor do they provide financial assistance, forcing students to rely on high-interest bank loans that are often difficult to access. As a result, students face barriers not just in securing housing but also in managing the associated financial burden. Rent Mates is a dedicated rental-sharing platform that enables students to bid on rental spaces while offering a built-in blockchain-powered loan system to provide fair, decentralized financial support. It leverages NLP algorithms to detect fraudulent listings and uses blockchain smart contracts to ensure secure, tamper-proof rental agreements. Currently, no rental platform combines secure rental processes with integrated financial assistance, leaving a critical gap in supporting international students. Rent Mates addresses this by implementing fraud-proof smart contracts, AI-driven dynamic rent pricing to ensure fair market rates, cost of living estimation tools for informed financial planning, AI-powered roommate matching for better shared living experiences, and rental scam detection to protect users throughout the search process. By combining blockchain security, AI-powered rent optimization, and decentralized financial support, Rent Mates creates a transparent, affordable, and trustworthy rental ecosystem tailored to the needs of international students.