Commerce, Raised to the Power of Web3

More equitable commerce is inevitable — and blockchain will make it a reality

Boson Protocol

Published in

BosonProtocol

6 min readOct 21, 2021

By Patrick Degenhardt

I joined Boson Protocol last month as the first VP of Marketing. And I did so for a cause: to help make commerce more open and fair, where people share in the value they create.

Our vision at Boson Protocol is to provide the network upon which all commerce will run. But not the way it has been done until now. Not the way whereby a few players extract inordinate amounts of value from the market, by creating closed-off marketplaces that demand from buyers and sellers a high proportion of the value of their transactions, limiting innovation and customer choice.

No, that is not the way forward. Thanks to blockchain technology, and a team of brilliant minds that managed to solve some of the hardest problems in tech, we are now very close to a much more equitable, fair, and transparent way to enable buyers and sellers to exchange pretty much any goods, and even services.

Creating this new way for brands and their customers to do business is not an easy task though. There are numerous technical challenges that need to be overcome. However, by harnessing the power of Web3, with its triad of smart contracts, decentralization, and immutability, and adding elements of game theory and platform creation to the mix, a transparent solution is within reach.

It has been years in the making, and now the Boson Protocol team has the answers. Our Mainnet will launch early November, and that will be just the beginning. With Mainnet live, our MVP (minimum viable product) can be made available for brands to start using in Metaverse commerce, to have their products delivered in the real world.

Blockchain meets the Metaverse

Metaverses are virtual worlds which, unlike games, do not necessarily have a storyline. This is where people can let their imaginations fly with their avatars, in incredibly immersive experiences.

While these Metaverses have originated in fiction, they are quickly becoming a reality. Think of the success of Fortnite recently, where musicians are hosting concerts for millions of people and companies are offering new brand experiences for Millennials and Gen Z consumers. Pretty much as in any world, people will need to buy and sell goods there. Enter Metaverse commerce.

And this is where one exciting application of our vision for a more equitable commerce can be (relatively) quickly achieved — open Metaverse commerce. Even Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games — the makers of Fortnite — agrees that we should pursue open metaverses.

So how would it work? Let’s say you want your digital and real self to wear the same pair of sneakers. Boson will enable you to make the purchase, with the actual shoes arriving on your doorstep while your avatar in a Metaverse like Decentraland sports the same pair.

Tech solves it

Unlike traditional intermediaries, Boson extracts minimal fees, and is owned by the participants in the system, so that we all share in the value that we create. Instead of having to trust a retailer to be the intermediary of your purchase, the smart contract — that is, computer code — is holding buyers and sellers to their commitment of… buying and selling. There is no need for an Amazon or eBay. Boson Protocol solves it.

There is so much to talk about on this… I have previously given talks in blockchain events about how Web3 solves a 4,000 year problem — that of trust between participants in a transaction. It is absolutely fascinating how clay tablets from ancient Mesopotamia, written in Akkadian, have surfaced with the same problem we face today: lack of trust between buyers and sellers. In the British Museum one of these tablets is a letter from a buyer complaining bitterly about the product that he had received (copper, to make bronze — yes, it was the Bronze Age!).

We are now in the Fourth Industrial Revolution era, so it’s about time we solved this problem!

So, why did I decide to join Boson?

Why was I drawn to Boson? For a start, I like working with bold and pioneering brands that have a meaningful purpose. Marketing plays an active role in helping new concepts that help society to be more equitable and fair to take root. That is hugely challenging and satisfying at the same time.

Besides, Boson is building a dream team, with serious technical experts for developing the protocol and a talented team on the engineering, compliance, product, and community sides. Initiatives such as the Grants or Ambassador programmes will foster a range of applications, due to the open nature of the protocol.

Being a blockchain protocol, it is not only decentralized, but people can also actually take part in the ownership of the protocol itself! The end goal is to become a DAO — a Decentralized Autonomous Organization, which I think is a tremendously inspiring new way for people to come together and contribute towards a common, positive goal.

Next frontier

I am pumped about the incredible potential of Boson. The protocol sits at the nexus between Blockchain, the Metaverse and decentralized commerce. It involves NFTs, DeFi applications and even Game Theory! My mission is to help broadcast a new paradigm in commerce, or should I say, culture? Boson has the potential to enable people across all corners of the world to have agency in a new, digital life. That’s the kind of brief I find hard to turn down!

It is fundamental to work with a purpose, and I share the vision of our CEO Justin Banon for a platform that democratizes commerce, and where all participants share in the value they create. We cannot allow the total capture of commerce and its value chain by a few extractionary oligopolies. To that extent, we are at the vanguard of technology, but also the rearguard of free commerce, ensuring people’s rights to own their own data.

The technology is still nascent, but I have no doubt in my mind that the future of Web3 is inevitable. Decentralized commerce is inevitable. Getting into it now will bring the biggest returns over the next 10 years. For anyone who loves metaverses like Minecraft, Roblox or Fortnite, the move forward into a full, open Metaverse will feel intuitive. Now is the perfect time to start shaping this pioneering vision for blockchain technology. It’s good to be onboard and I look forward to working together with the ecosystem in the months and years ahead.

By the way, we are hiring! Check out our vacancies here.

About Boson

At Boson Protocol, we are creating a decentralized commerce ecosystem that everyone can use and anyone can trust.

Boson Protocol is a decentralized infrastructure for enabling autonomous commercial exchanges of anyThing, specifically off-chain items. Boson is a peer-to-peer system which replicates the benefits of a market intermediary, without the disbenefits of centralized systems.

Keen to learn more?

Enjoy the dCommerce Stack outlining the services we’ll need to build a dCommerce ecosystem.

Want to get involved?

Apply for a Boson Ecosystem Grant today
See our live job openings
See our Boson Portal website

Where are we going?

See our Q4 ROADMAP and embark with us.

Got more questions?

Our FAQs ought to have you covered.