October 5, 2017 at 09:58The uneven distribution of labor and customers and reducing the "temperature difference" between them
Customers live on the left, performers on the right and bottom:
In Indonesia or India, an freelancer receives an average of $ 13 per hour of work, and in the US - $ 30 (according to eLance). Customers from the United States posted 2.6 million projects, and from India - only 0.1. And while in America there is a distinct trend for Gig Economy - an unlinking from the usual methods of work for a salary in the office and the transition to remote options. For 10 years, the number of “alternative” workers has grown by 66%.
Taking into account the “ Next Billon Users ” factor - the rather quick appearance of another billion people on the network that only the mobile Internet reaches - definitely, a new market is opening up here.
We have been preparing for this since 2015, but then the project had to be put “on the table” due to insufficiently converging stars. And now, everything seems to be going as it should.
So here is what we thought up:
Bottom line - we were thinking about a freelance exchange for "new people." But they came to a more interesting model. We do not need another exchange as such, we need infrastructure that will allow us to quickly and easily conclude labor transactions. It’s like an ad site for ease of learning - and a ton of technology around.
The most difficult and unnecessary place in the world of freelancers is the centralized control of transactions. Experience already verified by many states shows that transactions between private individuals are extremely convenient to store on the blockchain using smart contracts. This reduces the commission of the system, speeds up the process of concluding a transaction and gives approximately the same level of control.
Hence the use of blockchain. A couple of years ago it was not mainstream, and the project with such words looked suspicious, somewhere on the edge of the law. Today, almost everyone even understands (especially after Gref’s speech) that this is the future, and there’s no getting away from it.
The second aspect is that they will not have bank accounts (for many) and the usual education of an Internet user. They have never seen desktops, and their very first and most popular application is one of the messengers. Therefore, we seriously thought about the messenger-style interfaces. And they tried to simplify them to the limit. Everything in the prototype is built on “soft registrations” and the gradual refinement of data, if required by the user. Here is an example:
A serious drawback of blockchain as a core technology is the inability to track the correct execution of a contract by purely technical means. We had to invent a new arbitration system. The solution is as follows:
1. Each user has a reputation (like Habr’s karma):
2. Users with a high reputation in the region and skill have the opportunity to become judges in a dispute for a small portion of the payment of the transaction amount. That is, when the contractor or the customer suddenly decides that one of them is wrong, at first they can exchange offers - (they say, 20% less payment - and forget it). If after 3 offers back and forth they did not agree, about a small percentage of the amount of the transaction to pay the “arbitration” is withdrawn.
3. The arbitration is as follows: three random experts in this matter are appointed. The higher the expert rating and the more often he agreed to judge, the higher the chance to choose him. Then each of them determines the distribution of money between the parties - for example, they can decide that the shares will be 0/100, 40/100 and 90/100. As a result, the contractor will receive an average - in this case, about 40% of the payment (without the commission, it would be 43.3%).
These two points - smart contracts and auto-dispute system - form the basis of the system. There are still a lot of whistles and frauds such as auto-exchange of any payment to and from Critotoken, moderation of drug trafficking by specialists within the system, and so on.
But all this is a complete zero without the speed of distribution in the markets of Indonesia, India and the Philippines. Most importantly, we got another final step as a result of all this - the ability to give local people, in fact, options for their promotion in local markets. This is the so-called bounty system, well known to those who follow the bitcoin. The story is very simple: if you do something for the project, you will get a token, the value of which directly depends on the success of the project. That is, there will be some fixed price for the work - and a chance to hit the jackpot if the project shoots. As practice shows, the second aspect allows you to work wonders in local markets. Recall, at least, the speed of Uber’s spread - and after all, the referral code there just gave a free trip.
In the end, it seems to me that the puzzle has developed. Of course, I may be wrong and not see any obvious threat, but it seems to me that such a service is simply necessary. If the details are interesting and you want to break my builds to dust, here is a little more data: ( WP ).
And most important, of course, are the risks. But about their analysis - a little later.
In Indonesia or India, an freelancer receives an average of $ 13 per hour of work, and in the US - $ 30 (according to eLance). Customers from the United States posted 2.6 million projects, and from India - only 0.1. And while in America there is a distinct trend for Gig Economy - an unlinking from the usual methods of work for a salary in the office and the transition to remote options. For 10 years, the number of “alternative” workers has grown by 66%.
Taking into account the “ Next Billon Users ” factor - the rather quick appearance of another billion people on the network that only the mobile Internet reaches - definitely, a new market is opening up here.
We have been preparing for this since 2015, but then the project had to be put “on the table” due to insufficiently converging stars. And now, everything seems to be going as it should.
So here is what we thought up:
- Since unemployment is the main problem for these people, they will use the Internet to find work.
- Since their work is amazingly cheap by the standards of Europe, the USA and Australia (the latter is important because it is located next to the main place of residence of the next billion - Asia and Oceania) - they will be hired for a variety of simple tasks that can be performed remotely.
- It will be difficult for these people to use the familiar freelance exchanges because of their complexity. And a little different positioning.
Bottom line - we were thinking about a freelance exchange for "new people." But they came to a more interesting model. We do not need another exchange as such, we need infrastructure that will allow us to quickly and easily conclude labor transactions. It’s like an ad site for ease of learning - and a ton of technology around.
The most difficult and unnecessary place in the world of freelancers is the centralized control of transactions. Experience already verified by many states shows that transactions between private individuals are extremely convenient to store on the blockchain using smart contracts. This reduces the commission of the system, speeds up the process of concluding a transaction and gives approximately the same level of control.
Hence the use of blockchain. A couple of years ago it was not mainstream, and the project with such words looked suspicious, somewhere on the edge of the law. Today, almost everyone even understands (especially after Gref’s speech) that this is the future, and there’s no getting away from it.
The second aspect is that they will not have bank accounts (for many) and the usual education of an Internet user. They have never seen desktops, and their very first and most popular application is one of the messengers. Therefore, we seriously thought about the messenger-style interfaces. And they tried to simplify them to the limit. Everything in the prototype is built on “soft registrations” and the gradual refinement of data, if required by the user. Here is an example:
A serious drawback of blockchain as a core technology is the inability to track the correct execution of a contract by purely technical means. We had to invent a new arbitration system. The solution is as follows:
1. Each user has a reputation (like Habr’s karma):
2. Users with a high reputation in the region and skill have the opportunity to become judges in a dispute for a small portion of the payment of the transaction amount. That is, when the contractor or the customer suddenly decides that one of them is wrong, at first they can exchange offers - (they say, 20% less payment - and forget it). If after 3 offers back and forth they did not agree, about a small percentage of the amount of the transaction to pay the “arbitration” is withdrawn.
3. The arbitration is as follows: three random experts in this matter are appointed. The higher the expert rating and the more often he agreed to judge, the higher the chance to choose him. Then each of them determines the distribution of money between the parties - for example, they can decide that the shares will be 0/100, 40/100 and 90/100. As a result, the contractor will receive an average - in this case, about 40% of the payment (without the commission, it would be 43.3%).
These two points - smart contracts and auto-dispute system - form the basis of the system. There are still a lot of whistles and frauds such as auto-exchange of any payment to and from Critotoken, moderation of drug trafficking by specialists within the system, and so on.
But all this is a complete zero without the speed of distribution in the markets of Indonesia, India and the Philippines. Most importantly, we got another final step as a result of all this - the ability to give local people, in fact, options for their promotion in local markets. This is the so-called bounty system, well known to those who follow the bitcoin. The story is very simple: if you do something for the project, you will get a token, the value of which directly depends on the success of the project. That is, there will be some fixed price for the work - and a chance to hit the jackpot if the project shoots. As practice shows, the second aspect allows you to work wonders in local markets. Recall, at least, the speed of Uber’s spread - and after all, the referral code there just gave a free trip.
In the end, it seems to me that the puzzle has developed. Of course, I may be wrong and not see any obvious threat, but it seems to me that such a service is simply necessary. If the details are interesting and you want to break my builds to dust, here is a little more data: ( WP ).
And most important, of course, are the risks. But about their analysis - a little later.