WONO Review: an Open, Community-Controlled P2P Ecosystem.
In a nutshell, WONO is a decentralised peer-to-peer marketplace for both goods and freelancing services. The platform aims to bring about a ‘reliable environment for sharing, rentals and earning’ by capitalising on the benefits of blockchain technology; their native token, WONO, will be the cryptocurrency which powers the WONO engine which together will utilise the security, efficiency and utility features of the blockchain within the WONO marketplace ecosystem. But how does this translate in practice, and how do the team plan on making the project a success?
Overview & Vision
WONO occupies the massively popular peer-to-peer (P2P) economy, which essentially allows for the direct exchange between persons of any desired asset or service and provides a variety of benefits over similar B2C (business to consumer) alternatives such as cheaper rates. Current P2P solutions for reference include giants such as Airbnb in the home rentals market and Upwork in the freelancing space. The space is surely booming, yet it is far from perfect.
Current P2P solutions are not optimal by any means and suffer from various issues such as high fees, lack of trust and risk of fraud/cancellation. WONO’s solution is to tackle these problems of the P2P space by utilising the benefits of blockchain within their platform; inherent utility, security and smart contract features will bring about a more secure, efficient and community-empowering generation of P2P platform. WONO is shooting to be the solution, so what have they identified as target areas to improve and upgrade?
Current Problems
The current notable problems in the space which are crying out for modernisation are the high commission structures, value loss in the form of taxation and currency exchange, and the inherent risks involved in a trust-based P2P platform.
High Commissions
Platform commissions of traditional existing solutions can be extortionately high, as much as 30%. Thorough their streamlined token-based system, WONO are able to offer just 1-5% commission which makes the ecosystem more profitable for owners and participants.
Taxation & currency exchange loss
Using current systems and traditional fiat money, asset owners and freelancers are classed as entrepreneurs and are liable for taxes as an entrepreneur. WONO claim to have provided a solution as ‘ a token payee doesn’t pay taxes since tokens are non-taxable digital assets’.
Further, utilising a single currency for earning and spending solves the issue of currency conversion fees; the WONO token structure allows parties in different countries to retain the money previously lost during currency conversion.
Lack of Trust & Inherent Risks
Unlike WONO which offers an open, community-controlled system, centralised P2P platforms do not provide transparent ratings and reviews. Users also have no guarantee that the party involved in their transaction will actually fulfil their role and complete the deal, in which case the user is compensated (and disappointed) after cancellation.
This is where WONO’s smart contract system shines: WONO smart contracts guarantee that the conditions of the transaction will be met, and in the case of a cancellation crowd insurance and crowd arbitrage systems provide compensation to the user.
WONO’s Solution
WONO’s token-fuelled ecosystem, then, has inherently provided solutions to many of the problems regarding high usage fees and inconvenient experience. WONO thus pride themselves on being the only blockchain designed for the minimization of spending and earning in fiat money, producing its own ecosystem with inherent financial incentives and benefits.
Taken from the WONO Lightpaper: https://wono.io/assets/i18n/en/lp.pdf
More broadly, WONO’s solution is driven by the fact that it’s an open, community-controlled system. Within the WONO ecosystem users of the platform simultaneously fulfil four roles:
- Vendors: rent a property or perform jobs as a freelancer.
- Customers: rent your property or post jobs on the platform.
- Guarantors: make stakes for successful deal termination and earn bonuses. If the deal is cancelled, the stakes are used as compensation for the affected party
- Arbitrators: Determine the affected party in disputes.
All of these elements working effectively together provide a healthy, balanced decentralised ecosystem which is self-driven and self-sustaining. The community really is put in the driving seat, which is an inherent feature of the blockchain providing a much more community-controlled solution as opposed to centralised systems.
Crowdsale Details
• Total Tokens: 79,166,667 WONO Tokens,
• Public Sale Tokens: 47,500,000 (60%)
• Token Price: 1 WONO = 0.5 USD
• Token Pre Sale Start Date: 29th June 2018
Taken from the WONO Lightpaper: https://wono.io/assets/i18n/en/lp.pdf
Verdict & Summary
P2P solutions are booming in developed countries- just think about how quickly Uber has exploded over the past year or so. By utilising the security and efficiency enhancing features of blockchain such as smart contract technology into such a platform to be used with decentralised applications, the uses in the P2P space are truly immense. Plus a trust-less system allows for the mitigation of middlemen, which means minimal fees, so that’s a win all round for users.
Will WONO be this seminal P2P solution? Well one thing’s for sure: they are confident of their understanding of the issues in the industry and what’s required to bring about these solutions via the newly emerging opportunities in blockchain technology. Competitors in the blockchain space (such as Bee Token for realty and Develop[crypto] for freelancing) are all relatively specific in their service area and are not aiming to become a generalised platform to be used by a wide variety of developer applications, as WONO is intending to achieve.
The token metrics for the crowdsale are strong with a relatively low hard cap of $20,000,000 and a healthy 60% segment of all tokens available in the public sale.
It’s going to be very interesting indeed how the revolutionary applications of blockchain will be utilised within the P2P space, with many obvious benefits and much scope to improve user experience in various ways. WONO are envisioning achieving big changes to the space through their solution alone, and if the team can deliver then it’s going to change the way we understand and interact with P2P networks.
Learn more at their website, https://wono.io or dig in deep and check out their whitepaper here: https://wono.io/assets/i18n/en/wp.pdf
There seem to be a lot of these platfotms for freelancing, but I like the idea of P-2-P item rentals through blockchain- imagine the value of items locked up in items which could be monetized e.g. Surf board if you live by the beach- many tourists or visitors would want to rent it from you. I like!