Origin Protocol was founded on the audacious goal of replacing the myriad of centralized online marketplaces into one open source protocol. Instead of hundreds of proprietary data silos, marketplaces can now store listings on the decentralized blockchain. These marketplaces range from simple transactions like someone selling a used bicycle as on Craigslist to complex transactions like connecting a rider with nearby drivers in real time like Uber.
Our DApp was launched on the Ethereum Mainnet at the end of last year with a basic feature set roughly comparable to a decentralized eBay or Craigslist. (Read our announcement) While this was a huge accomplishment, it was just laying the foundation for the development of all kinds of marketplace transactions. We are proud to announce the addition of two small but powerful additions to Origin listings: editable listings and support for selling multiple items.
Data on the blockchain is notoriously immutable — it can never change. But we all know the real world is messy: things change and people make mistakes. In online marketplaces, sellers will make mistakes in their listings, or need to update them with more info in response to questions from prospective buyers, or want to add more photos.
Editing a listing seems like a simple thing normally, but there are huge non-obvious ramifications when dealing with the blockchain. For example, in arbitration, it is critically important to know what the listing contained at the exact time the buyer made a purchase. Imagine a home for rent that includes a description about having a sauna, but once a booking is made the seller deletes the sentence about the sauna. When the buyer complains, the devious seller might point to the current listing description and say the buyer is imagining things. However, with Origin’s new system all versions of the listing are preserved and can be traced to the exact version that the buyer purchased. Our buyer could take their case to arbitration, and the buyer, seller, and arbitrator would all see the listing details exactly as they were at the time of purchase—including the sauna!
A typical Craigslist transaction is one person selling one item. However, most online marketplaces are more sophisticated, with a typical storefront merchant having a large inventory for any particular item. The Origin DApp now allows sellers to indicate the number of units available and ensure that buyers cannot buy more items than the seller has in stock.
Again, while this seems like a small change, this feature introduces a lot of subtle complexity. How do you handle when the inventory has run out? What if the seller has sold items on another platform? These and other edge cases are now handled smoothly by the Origin DApp and our underlying protocols.
Try creating a multiple-unit listing now on our DApp to see how it works . We’re excited to see how this simple change will enable new usage by power-sellers and store owners.
What’s Next?
Even more powerful transaction types are under development now. Fractional usage transactions will empower Origin’s users to rent out resources over time. For example, sellers will be able to rent their home for a period of days or offer tutoring services paid for by the hour. This will bring us closer to our original goal of enabling truly peer-to-peer versions of the rental service marketplaces (e.g. Uber, Airbnb, Fiverr, GetAround) that are widely used today and creating the “Sharing economy without intermediaries”.
Check out our DApp today and be one of the early buyers or sellers on the platform.
