Building Decentralized Marketplaces — A Hybrid Approach
Marketplaces are all about trust, and blockchain technology is particularly well suited for transacting in trust-less environments.
We recently wrote about some of the main issues with existing centralized marketplace platforms and the main reasons why a decentralized system makes so much sense in peer-to-peer marketplaces. If you haven’t read it yet, it’s definitely worth checking out on BlockTribune:
BlockTribune: Decentralized Peer-to-Peer Platforms — The Case For Implementation
At Ink Protocol, we are working to build the future of decentralized marketplaces, where buyers and sellers can meet and transact without the need for a central authority. However, we are taking a multi-step, hybrid approach that all starts with the basic transaction flow and the concept of self-sovereign identity and reputation. So, we designed Ink Protocol to handle secure p2p transactions at a low level. We purposely don’t handle things like listings, photos, hosting, chat, and instead we built a system that can be used on any platform.
The first iteration of decentralized marketplaces will be more about giving buyers and sellers the freedom to use ANY marketplace, rather than trying to build a single decentralized marketplace platform.
This hybrid approach is key in maintaining a great user experience, while allowing the infrastructure and technology to catch up. It’s hard enough to build a regular centralized marketplace from scratch. So, getting users to jump directly to a decentralized platform will require a transition period with tools like Ink Protocol, hybrid marketplaces like Listia, and standalone marketplace apps like Ink Pay that you can use across platforms right away. Once fully decentralized marketplaces are here, Ink Protocol will be in the unique position to become the glue that binds all transactions and reputation together.
We are extremely excited about the prospect of transacting with a stranger across the globe in a safe way, without the need for any intermediaries. This will completely transform both p2p and traditional e-commerce, and we think is one of the best and easily achievable use cases for blockchain technology, and in our case the Ethereum platform.
