In Brief (the section for those too lazy, or busy, to read on)

Brainchild of founder Alexander Esaulov, Wono is an integrated community driven environment where you can rent… well anything really. I do mean anything, from apartments to cameras, asset or service you name it, you can lease it.

It’s all secured via smart contracts on the Ethereum network to ensure no quibble compensation for non-fulfilment of obligations, and obviously your reward being paid in a digital currency could also be a tax advantage in some jurisdictions.

What are the specific problems Wono are looking to tackle?

Market analysis for such an all-encompassing project is somewhat difficult, as in theory Wono could occupy a space not unlike that of air BnB for property, whilst simultaneously straddling the ‘gig economy’ and pushing the envelope of what we can share. Reflecting a general rise in the popularity of participating in the space, the influence of ‘freelancers’ who operate within the gig economy is growing, up roughly 30% from 2016-2017.

Indeed, the potential social ramifications of such a project are profound and it is this fusion of tapping into two huge and growing markets whilst seemingly creating a third socially conscious revenue stream that has got The Cryptographer most excited. If executed correctly this project should eliminate many of the issues currently facing the sharing economy- from high ‘middlemen’ fees, to contractual uncertainty and centralisation.

How does Wono intend to use blockchain to solve these issues?

Ok so for all of you battle hardened crypto-naughts out there, Wono will be a decentralized P2P application running on the Ethereum network. It will incentivise service/ asset providers by creating bonuses for early adopters, as well as by using its streamlined solution to keep fees as low as 1.5%.

There will be a finite supply of 79,166,167 Wono tokens broken down in the following ways:

(From the Wono website: https://wono.io/)

The basic Wono token price will be $0.5 and the project has a soft cap of $7,000,000 & a hard cap of $20,000,000- if funded the Wono team will be allocating the money generated from their ICO in the following manner, depending on the amount raised:

(From the Wono whitepaper: https://wono.io/assets/content/en/wp.pdf)

Following their ICO period the Wono team is aiming to have their protocol published and launch their technical support service by Q4 of 2018, their API being published in Q1 of 2019 and the beta version of the platform coming online in Q2. Of course more detail on their roadmap can be found on the https://wono.io/ website.

The Cryptographer's verdict

In general, the idea seems like a good one- there is no doubt that the markets which Wono aims to revolutionise are growing thriving markets. The project’s goals are ambitious, however their solution seems logical and solves a genuine problem.

Personally, I would have liked to see a little more crypto-relevant experience from the senior team, as while they are experienced in a variety of start-ups, web based business’ and large scale operations there is no one who has dealt with the hurdles and challenges that face start up crypto companies. They compensate for this with a variety of expert advisors, so it is comforting to see that the team is taking this seriously & recognises this skill deficit.

It is particularly interesting to note the way in which Wono aims to marry a few new industries- from short term rentals to gig work, they are certainly on the cutting edge and it is this future focused approach that is likely to allow them to tap into growing societal trends. If well executed there is no doubt that this project is one to watch.

Read more about the Wono project at their website: https://wono.io/
Check out the Wono white paper: https://wono.io/assets/i18n/en/wp.pdf

and if you have any questions the best place to ask is their Telegram group: https://t.me/wonoworld

Happy hunting!

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE. YOU MUST ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH AS WELL AS READING OTHERS’ OPINIONS, ESPECIALLY IN THIS SPACE.