Origin DApp: A decentralized marketplace on Ethereum mainnet aims to disrupt gig economy platforms like Airbnb and Uber

The Origin DApp is a decentralized marketplace on the blockchain mainnet. It launched last week and is in the beta stage.

Purpose of the Origin DApp

Large organizations like Airbnb or Uber often charge 20-30% as commission for providing a service. One of the goals of Origin mainnet is to host such services that are peer-to-peer. This will eliminate the middleman and the cost of services will go down. Think of it like Craigslist, but Ethereum based and decentralized on a blockchain network. Your account would be your Ethereum wallet.

To transact on the Origin DApp, a crypto wallet needs to be attached to your browser. For doing this, the Metamask extension is a good option which available for both Chrome and Firefox. Also, communication is done via Origin Messaging directly between the seller and the buyer.

Features of Origin DApp

Some of the important features of this DApp are:

Smart contract for the marketplace

The marketplace contract implements transactions in multiple steps, dispute management, and optional affiliate commissions. It uses ETH and/or any ERC-20 tokens as currency.

The Origin token

OGN is an ERC-20 token integrated with the marketplace smart contracts. The token is meant to incentivize behaviors that will bootstrap the network and also protect against negative behaviors. The Origin token is meant to reward behaviors that will help the network flourish and safeguard against bad actions.

Search

You can use the search bar at the top to query listing data by keyword, category, and price. The listings are loaded directly from the blockchain.

Resolving conflicts

In case of a conflict between a seller and buyer, there is a workflow for dispute resolution. As of now, Origin is the only arbitrator on the platform, but more decentralized solutions are expected in the future.

Future work

Currently, listings like rentals, ticketing, and e-commerce are not supported. There is no mobile app, advanced search, and no JS SDK for third-party developers to build DApps on the platform. Future plans include enabling third-party developer partners to build on Origin, improving user experience, launching a mobile app/wallet, support for more types of listings, and hardening the infrastructure for greater security and scalability.

Since Origin is in the beta stage, currently there are no push or email notifications available. There is a team to resolve any disputes. There needs to be enough abstraction to hide away the complexities of using a service on a blockchain to see mainstream adoption. It can take years for that to happen, for a regular cabbie or hotel owner to understand and use a ‘decentralized marketplace’.

For more details, visit the Origin post on Medium and the beta website. To get started, here’s a demo video.

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