Ever since blockchain technology and the very first cryptocurrency that was built on top of the blockchain, Bitcoin was brought into existence back in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto, there have been major growth in the cryptocurrency market. A noticeable number of cryptocurrency and blockchain startups keeps joining the ecosystem from time to time. Taking into consideration the fact that blockchain technology and cryptocurrency is slowly but surely taking over the race, it is only common and practically inherent to see companies and developers build and launch their own blockchain-based community startups for various fields, professions, and industries. Quite a good number of economic-based terminologies have being threading through that path, and the Sharing Economy won't be an exception.
Let's take a look at what Sharing Economy mean as defined by Wikipedia
Sharing economy is a term for a way of distributing goods and services, a way that differs from the traditional model of corporations hiring employees and selling products to consumers. In the sharing economy, individuals are said to rent or "share" things like their cars, homes and personal time to other individuals in a peer-to-peer fashion.
No doubt, the term sharing economy have been existing from time past even before blockchain technology and cryptocurrency was invented. However, its enormous benefits and unique features has made it to be widely significant and prevalently long-standing even in this modern era of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.
The Sharing economy has been growing and evolving rapidly to the extent that more and more people keeps abandoning the traditional economic model of commerce to join a modernized economic model of commerce which gives them easy access to goods and services via peer-to-peer transactions on a community-based on-line Marketplace. In addition to that, a growing number of projects and startups are choosing to join the sharing economy. The drastic growth evolving within the global sharing economy has made the economy unwieldy or difficult to carry, handle, manage and operate. The global sharing economy is still being tainted by some grey areas which has rendered the whole system to be unproperly organized. And as such, the transaction fee paid by buyers and sellers is very high due to the presence of rent-seeking middlemen. In light of that, most of the existing peer-to-peer marketplaces and e-commerce applications does not have effective and efficient measures in place for transactions to be done without the use of middlemen, which in turn leads to high transaction fee. Also, the the longer time it takes to execute a transaction is yet another major challenge.
Hence, the need for a better and more advanced approach which can be integrated into the global sharing economy to facilitate the creation of an exceptional sharing economy marketplaces to help give comprehensive solution to existing problems. The sharing economy marketplaces will give room for buyers and sellers from anywhere around the world to leverage on its consequent features to make their global sharing economy experience worthwhile.
This is exactly what a zealous team of brilliant individual thought of and decided to come up with a new and unique peer-to-peer marketplaces and e-commerce application called "ORIGIN".
What is ORIGIN?
Origin is an open-source platform with unique peer-to-peer marketplaces and e-commerce application which provides comprehensive solution to the problems of existing sharing economy marketplaces so as to create an enabling environment where buyers and sellers can transact efficiently and achieve their goals.
ORIGIN As a Game Changer in the Global Sharing Economy
Just as I said earlier, Origin is an open-source platform with the best peer-to-peer marketplace and e-commerce approach towards making sure that normalcy is brought upon the global sharing economy sector. Origin is a blockchain-based marketplace that is developed to help buyers and sellers perform transactions swiftly and efficiently in the absence of rent-seeking middlemen.
Origin has been built and designed in such a way that it enables their users to experience simplicity and uniqueness in a global sharing economy that seems difficult to capitulate. Buyers and sellers on Origin will be able to enjoy low transaction fees and a free and transparent commerce. The Origin platform have some incentives in place, that serves as encouragement for other businesses, technologists and consumers to build and add value to the origin ecosystem. Origin has been built and designed to enable the creation of a large-scale commerce network that helps in the implementation of the the following:
The transfer of direct financial value from large corporations like Craigslist and Airbnb to individual sellers and buyers.
The transfer of authority over personal and transaction data from corporations to the entire ecosystem.
The creation of new and improved financial value for people that contribute to the growth of the marketplace at large.
The promotion of transparency and collaborations.
The fast and easy-to-use method of payment for buyers and sellers across the world.
The facilitation of personal liberty in comducting businesses between buyers and sellers without any central authority tampering with the rules.
The Problems of Existing Sharing Economy Marketplaces
Exorbitant Fees: Most of the existing sharing economy marketplaces such as Airbnb charges users exorbitant fees for their matching services. For instance, guests and hosts using the Airbnb platform are required to pay as high as 5-15% and 3-5% respectively on services done on the Airbnb platform, which automatically cut down their income on services offered.
Users Data Not Safe: Since most of the existing sharing economy platforms are not decentralized, users run the risk of jeopardizing their own personal data to hackers and fraudsters. In addition to that, some corporations also tend to have too much control over the accessibility of users' own personal and transaction data just for their own benefit.
Centralization and Censorship: Since most of the existing marketplaces are controlled or governed by a central authority or individual corporations, these central authority or individual corporations have the full power to change policies and rules on a whim without considering how positively or negatively it will affect the community.
Lack of Competent Competitors: Lack of competent competitions sometimes have a way of stifling innovations. This is because the winning company tends to maintain a monopolistic position and they seem to see no reason to up their game in order to improve on the quality of services offered to their users.
Slow Transaction Throughput: Since most of the existing sharing economy platforms operate mainly on major debit, credit and prepaid cards, Google Wallet and Paypal as the accepted methods of payments, there are delays in transaction processing unlike the use of cryptocurrencies especially when it is an international transaction, which in turn reduces their global reach.
Rent-Seeking Middlemen and Third Parties: The presence of rent-seeking middlemen on existing sharing economy marketplaces tends to lower the revenue generated by users on their investments.
The Solution of ORIGIN to the Problems of Existing Sharing Economy Marketplaces
Reasonable Fee Structure: Origin has been designed to tackle the issue of "work more, earn less" as their marketplaces has been efficiently built to take less fees when users carry out transactions. The absence of rent-seeking middlemen or third parties also assist in the effective management of the fee structure.
Decentralization: Origin is a blockchain-based marketplace, and its decentralized feature is a guarantee that the Origin platform will never keep or sell its users personal and transaction data since transparency is a default feature of any blockchain-based platform. With Origin, everything is made public and immutable, and this is by large one significant feature that most if not all of the existing sharing economy marketplaces lacks.
Adequate Competitor with Better Incentives: Origin has brought in what the global sharing economy ecosystem has been lacking in time past, which is competition. Origin have come in full force to build an open, decentralized network that incentivizes everyone to work together and innovate for the interest of the entire community. Origin have all it takes to form a competitive market with existing marketplaces, which will in turn help to build a future where innovations are made in an incessant manner to underlying business mechanics, infrastructure and product features to the benefit of the whole network of buyers and sellers across the globe.
Trustless, Private and Secured: Origin has been designed to help people carry out transactions in a trustless, distributed and secured fashion. Origin have readily available tools that can be leveraged by users to maintain their privacy while carrying out transactions. With Origin, quality goods and services will be able to trade freely at their fair market quantities and prices without any third parties tampering on it.
Improved Transaction Throughput: Performing all forms of transactions takes shorter time to complete on the Origin marketplace since payment can be done more faster with less transaction fees using cryptocurrencies such as ETH, DAI and OGN, which has a higher transaction speed compared to that of credit cards, Paypal or Google Wallet.
Increased Usability and Accessibility: With the presence of Origin platform, activities pertaining to e-commerce can be done by millions of people across the world due to the borderless nature of cryptocurrencies accepted as a means of payment on the Origin platform. Also, the proliferation of affordable mobile devices is an added advantage since Origin platform can be accessed right from a mobile device.
Getting Started on ORIGIN Platform
To get started on Origin, you will have to access the Origin platform on any of your browsers using this web link or by downloading the mobile app here.
If you are going to use the web browser, then you will need to connect a Metamask wallet, while using the mobile application gives you opportunity to create your own wallet or connect an already existing ETH Wallet. If you are creating a new wallet, make sure to back up your wallet recovery phrase.
Step 1: Once you are in, click profile icon on the top right corner, input your email and approve it.
Step 2: Fill in your name and profile picture and choose Publish. This is only necessary because it makes your profile appear real and would attract people to want to transact with you.
Getting started on Origin platform is as simple as that, whether you are a potential buyer, a seller or you are willing to create a marketplace on Origin.
How ORIGIN Platform Works
For Sellers
Step 1: Click the icon on the top left corner of your homepage.
Step 2: Add your own Listing.
Step 3: Choose whether you are listing for sale, rents, services or just for announcement. In this case, I choosed "for sale" which I believe will most likely be the common case.
Step 4: Choose the category of product you are listing.
Step 5: Input the Listing details and Click continue.
Step 6: Input pricing which includes the accepted currency and the amount the product or services you are listing would cost.
Step 7: Input Pictures, click continue and then Publish your listing.
For Buyers
Step 1: Click on the product or services you would like to buy or rent on the homepage.
Step 2: If you are renting, you will be required to check the availability, select and save your check-in and check-out date and then book. If you are buying, you will be required to click on purchase directly.
Step 3: Make a deposit of your payment via the list of accepted means of payment by the seller into an escrow.
Step 4: The seller will get a notification for your booking or purchase once payment is completed, and you will be issued a tracking number for your order.
Step 5: Once the goods or services has been delivered, you will need to confirm the order on your dashboard so that the payment will be released to the seller.
For Marketplace Operators
One of the most interesting things about Origin is that it has efficient tools in place for users to build their own marketplace on the Origin platform. You can get started with creating your own marketplace by navigating through the Origin platform.
Step 1: Click the icon on the top left corner of your homepage.
Step 2: Choose "More"
Step 3: Click on "Create a Marketplace"
Step 4: Click on "Get Started"
Creating your own marketplace is as simple as that. You can customize the appearance or configure the settings of your marketplace to soothe your taste. Don't forget to install the Metamask browser extension to be able to create your own marketplace on the Origin platform.
The Major Components of ORIGIN Platform
Origin-enabled End-user Applications: The Origin decentralized marketplace application is the marketplace product that have been designed to allow buyers and sellers on the origin network to do business. Just as I said earlier, this consumer marketplace app is available on the web at shoporigin.com and on both Android and iOS mobile devices at originprotoco.com/mobile. All activities including buying, renting, booking and selling on the Origin platform can be done via the Origin flagship marketplace app. Payments for products and services can also be done via the app.
Origin Developer Infrastructure: Origin have the intention of building a developer ecosystem that is robust enough to lead to the successful creation of many thriving third-party applications. Origin intends to come up with easy-to-use developer libraries that will help third parties through the development phase for them to be able to thrive in this emerging ecosystem of blockchain technology. They also plan to implement an easy-to-use abstraction layer that will help attract a large number of developers that have experience in mobile technologies and traditional web, but may not be conversant with blockchain programming. Some of the libraries include Javascript GraphQL library and mobile libraries for various mobile operating systems. Origin also have an early version of their Marketplace Creator in place which gives marketplace operators the opportunity to launch their own marketplaces with little or no programming knowledge required.
Origin Protocols: Origin protocols is a major component of the Origin platform that encompass the underlying technology that gives the Origin marketplace its unique features which includes peer-to-peer transactions, user identity, user privacy, publishing listings and security. The Origin Protocols also encompass an open and shared data layers of users and other available data on the Origin marketplace contract.
The Positive & Negative Attributes of ORIGIN Platform
The Positive Attributes
It is completely free to join Origin platform
Origin platform promises less fees on services.
Origin is available and accessibility by a wider range of people across the world due to the borderless nature of cryptocurrency payment.
Users personal and transaction data are safe since the platform is decentralized.
Notable reputation in the form of ratings and reviews
Transactions on the Origin platform are done quickly with little transaction fees.
Everyone is granted an equal opportunity to be a part of the global sharing economy.
Secure and encrypted messaging
All parties inluded in a transaction are protected since payment are pre-charged upfront and launched into an escrow.
Buyers tend to get cheaper rate for products and services since the problem of egregious fee is solved.
Also, you dont have to bother about rent-seeking middlemen or third parties.
The Negative Attributes
Sincerely, I tried hard to search for any negative attributes to using the Origin platform, but I couldn't find any that I may aware of.
The ORIGIN Token (OGN)
The Origin Token, otherwise known as OGN is the native utility token that powers and controls the entire network of the Origin platform. The OGN token performs several important functions on the platform. The token is used in incentivizing various ecosystem participants inluding end-users, market operators and developers with the intention of encouraging them to do more for the platform. Also, OGN token can be used to comduct payements between buyers and sellers on the Origin platform. It is also intended that OGN token will serve as a major component in the governance model of the Origin platform in the nearest future.
Use-Case
Miss Mary is a passionate shoe seller who have been leveraging the sharing economy and e-commerce sector for a while. She joined the sector because she needed to expand her customer base and at the same time bring in more revenue while at that. She was enjoying her e-commerce experience, but always get furious whenever she receives payment for shoe sold and end up getting a lesser amount from what she ought to get. She knew there is nothing she could do about this owing to the fact that she still makes her gain and the shoes sells faster despite the egregious fees she pays on selling them.
On a faithful Saturday, Miss Mary was lucky to bump into Origin while surfing the internet. Origin is an open-source platform with unique peer-to-peer marketplaces and e-commerce application which provides comprehensive solution to the problems of existing sharing economy marketplaces so as to create an enabling environment where buyers and sellers can transact efficiently and achieve their goals.
She noticed all the unique features the Origin platform have in place for buyers and sellers and decided to sign up and give it a try. With Origin, she was able to take home more revenue from her shoe business since she was paying a very low transaction fees as against that of existing marketplaces such as Airbnb. In addition to that, she was able to carry out her sales without any tampering from rent-seeking middlemen and third parties.
After trying out the Origin platform for some weeks, she stamped it to be a tested and trusted platform that does exactly what they say. Hence, she's not been using any other sharing economy marketplaces apart from Origin since then.
Evaluation/Rating of ORIGIN
Even though Origin is still relatively new to the sharing economy ecosystem, Origin is definitely a promising project that has all it takes to take over the sharing economy and e-commerce industry in the nearest future. Its decentralization, transparency and low fees feature is a great selling point.
My own personal evaluation of Origin based on various parameters are given as shown in the image below. After conducting a rigorous assessment of the various parameters one after the other, I will be giving Origin an overall rating of 4.8/5.
Conclusion
Origin as a sharing economy marketplace has enormous potential and lots to offer buyers and sellers in the sharing economy and commerce sector in general. The fact that Origin is a sharing economy marketplace that is decentralized and offer buyers and sellers low transaction fees is a great improvement to the sector. The built-in components and escrow feature on the Origin platform is a spot on for buyers, sellers and marketplace operators looking for a sharing economy and e-commerce platform that is highly efficient, capable, decentralized and secured. With the dedicated team and investors behind the Origin platform, I see the Origin platform becoming one of the best global sharing economy and e-commerce marketplace in the nearest future.