UCHAIN: IMPROVING THE SHARING ECONOMY THE BLOCKCHAIN WAY!

in #bitcoin6 years ago (edited)

One of the earliest TED talks I watched a few years back before crypto became a fulltime endeavor was the ‘Rachel Botsman: The Case for Collaborative Consumption’. Back then, I used to watch TED talks for my regular dose of inspiration and encouragement to change the world. I had not joined campus, where I am now studying something unrelated to blockchain, and had not the slightest idea about Bitcoin. Back to topic, in the TED talk, Rachel says we’re ‘wired to share’, and the recent successes of applications such as Uber, Airbnb, Zipcar, and Swaptree seemingly lend credence to this statement. Rachel goes on about how there are many people who have lots of devices that they still own but they cannot quite bring themselves to ‘dispose’. The emergence of the collaborative economy has led to the growth of platforms which facilitate strangers with matching needs to meet and transact in an online marketplace.

What is the sharing economy?

The sharing economy is a commonly used term nowadays. Used as an umbrella term for digital platforms which bring together prosumers(consumers who are also producers), allowing for exchange of value between them. While initially, items of exchange are idle or non used resources most of the sharing platforms have evolved to creating an economic activity for people. No longer are they an afterthought but right now they afford a money making opportunity to sellers and a unique convenience to buyers that cannot be found in mainstream similar businesses.

Affordability and convenience

One might say that the sharing economy for the purposes of ‘sharing’ is a bit utopian and reaching. I believe the sharing economy serves another purpose which carries more weight and is more realistic and that is ‘affordability and convenience.’ One of the reasons that has enabled Uber to penetrate adoption around the world is the ease and assurance of delivery. One can say the buyer derives more benefit even though at a small monetary cost, while the Uber driver has to make themselves available at beck-and-call for any customer who might need the service. For the Uber driver though, is the financial assurance of customers who need a convenient mode of transport in the hustle and bustle of modern cities.

Ownership not as consumption but as access

What is happening with the sharing economy is something deeper. For a long time now, humans have been able to identify with what they own. They are able to make fashion and status statements by what they own, what they drive, where they eat and so on and so forth. We have grown up and taught in the world of mass production and mass consumption: Fordism. It may be impossible to attribute to one reason the shift towards mindset of ownership as access. Right now, it is no longer flashy to ‘own’ things. Perhaps because technology is evolving so rapidly and if you want to keep up you have to update frequently. Or maybe the world is smaller, with people able to move around easily, you do not need the extra baggage. Or maybe the nihilistic perspective of YOLO popular in the millennial generation that fuels the drive for adventure. People seeking as many new experiences as they can and evading the comfort of the normal.
Recent innovations in transport autonomy continue this trend. Now we have a lot of research for autonomous vehicles for instance. I am not sure how soon we will see that but so far it is a possibility. It is possible that in the next decade, we’ll be using vehicles to go to and from work as public utility.

History of the sharing economy

The sharing economy is nothing new. Initially, trade was being effected through barter which although it had its limitations, enabled people to interact and gain real value in return. The introduction of money created a faulty solution to the same with a lot of trust needed to maintain trustworthy relations. The digital age has restored some of the trust between peers. Recently we have seen the growth of companies such as Uber, Airbnb and other sharing economies. They have empowered individuals but they still retain the core characteristic of Internet 2.0 projects, most of the wealth is unfairly distributed to few individuals and a lot of data breaches. Blockchain technology will be able to improve and make it possible for users of the ecosystem to reap more benefits at the pleasure of their data security.

Uchain

Uchain is a public blockchain with a robust smart contract ecosystem tailored for the sharing economy. The current sharing economy is disjointed due to a number of reasons:
📌Lack of trust
📌Lack of data privacy
📌Reward asymmetry
📌High running costs
To be able to function effectively, the smart contracts eliminate the number of middlemen and paperwork involved in transactions. This optimizes the functioning of the network and reduces cost of running, which is reverted as rewards to network users. The blockchain technology enables a tamper-proof record distributed record keeping. Since nodes are distributed no longer can the network be susceptible to data breaches. Not to mention the ability to create unchangeable records for credit rating of individuals what is known as the user credit passport. The user credit passport will make it possible to effectively verify users’ previous behavior.
The Uchain blockchain will be usable by both individuals and enterprises. Participation in the network is incentivized by earning the UCN token.

Important links:
Website: https://uchain.world/
Telegram: https://t.me/UchainEcosystem

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