Introducing CoinSparrow, a Crypto-Concierge Service
Flights, hotels, dry cleaning… you name it, now you can buy it using crypto!
CoinSparrow is a crypto-concierge marketplace that allows people to conveniently access a wide range of product and service providers (Sparrows) on demand, and pay with Ethereum safely through our escrow-based smart contract.
Need a business class flight to Bangkok? A hotel, ride from the airport, your suit dry-cleaned before your big meeting? Want to trade some of your ETH for some Thai Baht with a local Sparrow? You can do it all right from the CoinSparrow platform, efficiently and safely.
Why
I’ve long been enamored by the philosophical ideology behind crypto-currency, but the two specific things I think about most within this space is trust and usefulness.
On Trust in a Trustless Ecosystem
One of the central ideologies of blockchain technology is eliminating the need for trust. But this mostly refers to eliminating institution-based trust, because within the blockchain, there is no longer any need for a central authority to verify transactions. But there is still this layer of personal trust. The reality is, I still need to trust that if I send you something of value (ETH for example) for a service, you can actually fulfill your obligation to deliver that service as advertised. Worst part is, after you send your cryptocurrency to another wallet out of your control, there is essentially no way to get it back if the person you sent it to doesn’t deliver.
On Usefulness
The rise of cryptocurrency has created a digital economy worth $250 billion. While it’s fun to buy, own, or #HODL your tokens, there is a pretty serious limit on what you can do with crypto right now, though things are slowly changing.
Nowadays, it’s much easier to make investments or transactions, then later withdraw your funds to your local fiat, though that kinda defeats the purpose of the core philosophy of the blockchain to begin with.
Only at a point where we can use our cryptocurrency in major aspects of our everyday lives, will it be considered truly useful, and not just a trendy social experiment.
Attempting to Solve Both Issues of Trust and Usefulness.
First, lets talk about usefulness. We are still a long way off from daily grocery shopping, grabbing a quick taxi ride, or having a wide variety of restaurant options using our stash of crypto. Though as I write this, there are thousands of services and service providers out there who will happily accept crypto in exchange for providing you pretty much anything you desire, and our goal is to get as many of them as possible operating as Sparrows on our platform.
The second issue we are focused on is trust. At the core of CoinSparrow, is how we eliminate the need for trust between the buyer and the seller by implementing a decentralized escrow platform on which transactions are managed.
How it Works
For example, you want to buy a first class flight to New York. You would choose one of our travel agency Sparrows and provide them with the information about your departure, destination and flight dates. If you come to an agreement on a price, the Sparrow will send you a link to enter into the smart contract to begin the transaction. At this point, you are not paying the Sparrow yet. You are simply depositing the funds in escrow, where they will be held while your service is being processed. When the Sparrow delivers your flight confirmation, and you are happy with the service they provided, you can rate them and release the funds.
Over time, our service providers are vetted and peer-rated, but on the off-chance the Sparrow doesn’t actually deliver, or delivers an unsatisfactory service, you can raise a dispute. A dispute will trigger an arbitration process and pull in a 3rd party arbitrator (from CoinSparrow) to review the complaint. In most cases, when it’s clear the Sparrow didn’t meet expectations, your funds will be released back into your wallet in less than 24 hours. You can read more about our Dispute Policy here.
We are hoping to give unprecedented access for cryptocurrency holders to start using their Ethereum in everyday use cases to make life easier, and give service providers (Sparrows) an outlet to offer their services through this exciting crypto marketplace. Ready to give it a try?
