https://themerkle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/open-bazaar-logo.png
OpenBazaar has anounced a few hours ago that it will be launching it's own token in 2018. For those who haven't heard about OB here's a description of it from their blog and wiki:
> OpenBazaar is an open source project to create a decentralized network for peer to peer commerce online—using Bitcoin—that has no fees and no restrictions.
> Using the OpenBazaar client (a program you download), you create a new product listing on your computer with details just like you would on any ecommerce site.. When you publish that listing, it is sent out to the distributed p2p network of other people using OpenBazaar. Anyone who searches for the keywords you’ve used—laptop, electronics, etc—will find your listing.
> The new version of the software relies heavily on the InterPlanetary File System to ensure distribution of data, and since February 2017 it also supports Tor integration.
The team behind it recently launched the 2.0 version of the program and it looks really great. As I said in a previous post, I tried OB back in February and aside from some bugs I was pleased with the experience of using it. I intend to reopen my OB shop by the end of the year.
https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/2000/1*IAiy07az3sg9xu6JVjfoHA.png
A few hours ago I found out that an OpenBazaar token will be launched in 2018. About the announcement
> Vendors on the platform have requested the ability to promote their listings in order to drive more sales, but not be reliant on a third party search provider. The OpenBazaar Token will allow for premium placement of listings in a fully decentralized manner. Premium placement for listings is the first token utility that will be implemented into OpenBazaar.
> OpenBazaar tokens (OBT) will be created on the Ethereum network. The token itself will have a fixed total supply. OBT can be transferred between accounts, or used as inputs for the execution of OBT smart contracts.
> To monetise a channel, an OpenBazaar smart contract can be deployed on the Ethereum network to auction off, in OBT, premium content positions within a channel. Advertisers can target popular channels to purchase ad space, paying the channel author in OBT.
> A more experimental proposal is to support a decentralized advertising network using OBT. OBT can be spent to associate certain words to an OB-IPFS address for a listing. When OpenBazaar users search for goods or services using these keywords, listings with the highest OBT spend appear at the top of the search results as ‘premium’ listings. While not a complete solution to the challenges of decentralised search, OBT enables Vendors to advertise their content in response to specific search terms.
If you're interested read more about this here: https://www.openbazaar.org/blog/openbazaar-tokens-smart-contracts/
An eBay and Amazon functional alternative is really needed in the cryptosphere. What I'm a bit worried about is that OpenBazaar has launched too early. I think a decentralized solution like OB is a few years away from mass adoption and I'm not sure the team behind it has the resources and motivation to continue working on this project for that long. I really hope they are.
I watched a few interviews with the CEO of OB, Brian Hoffman, and he really seems like a guy who knows what he's doing and who has a long-term vision on things.
This has the potential to be a massivelly successful project.