Make Blockchain Work (Ch 3): Navigation
In this Make Blockchain Work series, I discuss how blockchain technology could be best applied to financing and investment in nine chapters. It is from these reflections that we devised the world’s first marketplace for tokenized real-world assets, IdeaFeX. I prefer not to touch on ideological or debatable subjects, because a strong business model must be built on resources, including technologies, available now while thriving on agility to adapt to future developments. In this series, I will insert some of the posters that we have published on our social media platforms.
Navigation
One quality that is not an inherent strength at the moment in blockchain technologies is navigability. While transaction records and technical details are usually kept open, finding the exact pieces of information can be tricky, especially in absence of a precise address or keyword. This omission is understandable, because all functionalities need not and should not be put on-chain. For financing and investment purposes, however, this requires an additional layer that makes blockchain works with improved navigation.
Navigability is highly valuable in financing and investment because better navigation leads directly to improved discovery and matching between fundraisers and investors. Assuredly, this is less of an issue if all assets are cryptocurrencies. Once we extend to real-world assets in general, ranging from collectibles to business assets to infrastructure to valuable goods and beyond, each fundraiser has a certain set of target audiences; each investor also has a certain set of investment preferences. The efficiency at which investors on an investment marketplace can identify specific assets that interest them the most largely determines the maximum efficiency achievable. In other words, by improving navigation, we can raise the maximum efficiency that blockchain can deliver in financing and investment.
It is for this reason that we have designed IdeaFeX to work with e-commerce-level navigation. E-commerce has gone through some of the fastest developments the business world has ever seen. Throughout this process, digital marketplaces have become exceedingly efficient in discovery and matching, in large part thanks to adaptive search and filtering. Machine learning has also been applied to further facilitate navigation.
The unique e-commerce-style presentation of assets gives IdeaFeX a distinctive edge in efficiency ceiling.
Beyond efficiency, such enhanced navigation has two additional advantages. First, it makes for a more familiar investment experience. With a single site, IdeaFeX allows investors to browse through numerous asset classes in an interface that they frequently use when shopping online. With existing alternatives, they would have to jump through hoops just to access a single type of assets, if not just a single asset. This potentially further broadens the audience for fundraisers and underpins a vibrant market.
Second, it helps the community achieve higher transparency and trust to financing and investment. Today’s era, unfortunately, is an era of fake news. Major news networks broadcast opinions first, rubbish second, and news third. Tipsters crowd the investment space. In cryptocurrency, one need not have an acute eye to see the flooding of misinformation. When “news articles” and “expert reviews” are all paid services, the underlying information is worthless. With e-commerce-style presentation, IdeaFeX allows official information to be indexed together in once place. Our audit, custody, and KYC practices ensure that information released on our marketplace are as complete and accurate as can be. This also reduces the burden on fundraisers, who would otherwise face the labyrinth of fake news investment media at great cost and tremendous distraction.
This article is written by the CEO of IdeaFeX, Dr Jiulin Teng. You can follow him on Twitter or LinkedIn.
