A new decentralized reputation and payment system Ink Protocol set to disrupt traditional marketplaces allowing users safely send and receive payments in P2P marketplaces while earning a public reputation for every completed transaction.
If you are an entrepreneur with goods/services and want to expand to new marketplaces, you’ll find that would not be an easy thing to do as trust would need to be built over several transactions. That’s understandable because buyers would need to know your “reputation” and “good” reputation is usually attached to traditional marketplaces. You need to be accredited with such marketplaces to be reputable, and that comes with a high price. It took all of 9 years before this monopolistic system is about to be disrupted by Ink Protocol.
To break the monopolistic practices of centralized marketplaces, Listia built Ink Protocol on the Ethereum blockchain. Sellers can publicly share their reputation on any marketplace and transact with buyers, who rely on their reputation record as seen on the decentralized payment and reputation system. The platform also holds the XNK token as security until the goods or services are delivered to buyers in satisfactory condition.
Sellers earn their “portable reputation” in every transaction in the form of feedback from buyers which are then aggregated from multiple marketplaces and stored on the Ethereum blockchain. Aside from eliminating the practice of monopoly by traditional centralized marketplaces, Ink Protocol supports a decentralized escrow service for more secured payments and an independent dispute resolution.
Features of the Ink Protocol Platform
Seller Benefits – Ink Protocol System can be integrated with new or existing marketing platforms such as Craigslist and Facebook which do not regularly take in payments directly. By using Ink Protocol in every transaction, a seller’s credibility builds up across all marketplaces.
Portable or Transferable Reputation – Since the seller’s reputation is carried over to any marketplace using Ink Protocol, buyers are able to see a particular seller’s reputation aggregated from several marketplaces.
Seamless exchange – Ink Protocol uses XNK and could easily convert fiat money to XNK.
Standalone Payments App – In order to process payments for transactions made over marketplaces that do not normally handle direct payments like Craigslist, Listia has developed a payment app that would work for this.
Listia Marketplace Integration – Listia already has 10 million users registered on its Ink platform and has raised more than US $11 million in venture capital from trading over 100 million items. This could help Ink Protocol in its initial stage.
Problems Solved by Ink Protocol
Aggregated Feedback in Blockchain- history of transactions and feedback from recent marketplaces are recorded and views in smart contracts. It allows buyers to interpret the seller’s reputation based on the blockchain records.
Decentralised escrow with independent third-party dispute resolution – Ink Protocol’s decentralised escrow ensures safe transaction between the buyer and the seller. The contract holds Ink Protocol Tokens until the buyer confirms receipt of the items.
Independent Smart Contract Mediation – third-party smart contract mediators help resolve transactions between the buyers and sellers. Individuals are also able to create own contracts and mediate for others as well.