By
Kofi Ansah
September 20th, 2022
While data brokers invade the privacy of consumers to get their data, Opiria is creating a decentralized marketplace that offers companies the opportunity to buy personal data directly from consumers, without middlemen and with consumers’ full consent.
Now in the era of Big Data, the amount of data being collected is increasing exponentially. Reinhard Clemens, Board member for T-Systems and Group IT, explains that the total amount of data collected in the entire year 2000, is now collected in a single day and it is known that for every effect there is a corresponding cause.
Technology has advanced at such a rapid pace that companies can now develop almost any imaginable product and their success directly depends on how well they meet the deepest human desires of their target customers. To better serve customers and mitigate the cost of failures, companies pay for data brokerage as middlemen so they can have an insight into consumer’s behavior and come up with products and services, and even marketing strategies that will suit these behaviors.
The downside and bitter truth of this approach is that according to a recent study, up to 17 percent of the global online population falls victim to identity theft every year and nearly 30,000 websites every day become infected with some kind of malware.
Eventually there is simply unfair that large companies can make billions every year manipulating and monetizing private consumer behavior while common people have little power over information of theirs is publicly available, and they are not able to benefit from their personal data themselves.
The Opiria Solution
The Opiria platform, which runs on an Ethereum-compliant token called PDATA, was conceived as a conduit for private data monetization. By creating a blockchain-based marketplace for data, customers can put their personal data up for sale to buyers of their choice. From health information, demographics, personal information, shopping behavior patterns, social media use, internet usage, and mobile-device data, Opiria can be used to curate personal data and sell it to the highest bidder.
For providing personal data, consumers receive the PDATA tokens that are transferred into their account on the Opiria platform. When a specific amount of tokens is reached, they can cash out and will receive the fiat value worth of the tokens they hold based on the current market price and thereby profiting from marketing their own personal data.
Data buyers are incentivized to participate in the marketplace because of the legitimacy of the data. Since the data swaps that occur on the platform are logged in transparent and verifiable smart contracts, buyers know that they have the legal right to use the information they purchased, thereby protecting themselves from lawsuits and criminal proceedings of any sort related to stolen or improperly used data.
The ultimate goal of the Opiria platform is to create an ethical, trustworthy, and transparent global marketplace for personal information where companies can buy personal data directly from consumers without any intermediaries. This initiative has been expedited by a private sale that is to be followed by a public sale of PDATA tokens to further fund the project and to allow public and private concerns to participate in Opiria’s data market.
Tech Team
The team behind the Opiria platform has expertise in multiple areas including entrepreneurship, technology, business development, and sales and marketing. In addition, all members have prior experience in either founding or working for startup companies.
The project’s co-founder and co-CEO, Dr. Christian Lange holds a Ph.D. in Human Factors and Ergonomics and a Master’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering. A serial entrepreneur, he built his first company from scratch and grew it to more than $5 million in sales in more than 20 countries in roughly ten years.
Marlene Gaesch, who is also a co-founder and co-CEO, has a Master’s of Science degree and years of hands-on experience including software development at Siemens and the development of an internationally successful data acquisition and analysis platform that has more than 1,000 B2B customers.
The Roadmap
Opiria is more than just a novel concept on a drawing board: by now, there is an actual Opiria app that can be downloaded from the App or Play stores. Some of the world’s most prestigious brands including Proctor & Gamble, Audi, Freightliner, Mercedes Benz, General Motors, Nissan, Volkswagen, Intel, BMW, and other Fortune 500 companies are already using data on Opiria for everything from marketing and collecting real-time feedback from customers for R&D to evaluating customers’ driving habits.
The project has already raised $1.5 million, and a public sale is scheduled to start on April 10, 2018. With 4000 current consumers using the platform alongside 50 data customers and 4 sales partners who ensure the growth and scope of the project, the next wave of the project’s expansion is set to target China, South Korea and beyond.
