So this is my first article on the steemit platform and thus I wanted to bring to light a project that I believe has the potential to change the way future businesses structure themselves and raise needed capital, if it can successfully be implemented of course.
That project is DCORP, or the decentralized corporation. The goal is to try and build a decentralized and democratic corporation where the power and direction of the company rests with the token-holder. Based on an ERC20 token and powered by Ethereum smart contracts, DCORP's flagship move is trying to revolution the way derivatives fundementally operate. First by bringing them to the cryptocurrency space, and later into more traditional financial markets. The former is a 100 billion dollar market and the latter is estimated to be in the quadrillions of dollars. These are huge markets in which any new technology that allows traders even a slight edge could see said technology become very successful.
DCORP plans to overhaul the derivatives market by combining it with the blockchain. By implementing a contract based derivatives system, contracts could be come completely automated. This would allow a quick execution of a contract at a very low cost for the participants. Contracts would be run on the Ethereum blockchain and would require no third party mediation. Incremental increase of stake towards contract completion would insure a party does not abandon their obligations while still being able to leverage a postion.
By bringing derivatives to crypto-currencies the goal is to also bring stability in price, and thus wider adoption. One of the big impediments towards the use of cryptos by the wider community is it's extreme price volatility. It is hard for even small businesses to except Bitcoin if before they can even spend it on expenses or convert it to fiat currency the value drops by 5-10 percent. Such quick swings are not conducive to growth. Yet allowing more liquidity and complex hedging strategies could result in stability which in turns attracts adopters and users.
And the interesting thing about DCORP is it is not limited to just this derivatives project. It is a democratized company, where voting for proposals is done in a tokenized fashion. So anyone who holds tokens can submit a proposal for a new project. If this proposal is received well, it will be voted on by the rest of the company. If this vote is successful then capital will be allocated to the project and a manger appointed to oversee it.
The team behind DCORP appears do be a professional and highly motivated one.
Frank Bonnet, the founder and lead developer of DCORP, is very active both online and in the real world. You can regularly find him on Slack engaging with investors and giving out helpful advice, answering questions, and laying out his vision for the future of the company. Frank has years of experience in the information technology field and co-founded DS Verzekeringen, an insurance company in the Netherlands.
Hansco Leek is also on board with DCORP and sits on the Board of Directors acting as service manager for the project. Leek co-founded Autodealers in the Netherlands, a successful automotive listing firm. He certainly brings refined experience to the table with many past accomplishments to his credit.
The rest of the B&D have many decades of combined experience in fields ranging from IT to Communications and Financial Services. The legal team consists of experienced lawyers who have practiced for over 17 years, specializing in corporate and securities law. This plethora of knowledge and success gives DCORP the tools needed to navigate the often complex financial and legal obstacles that may arise in the crypto and traditional financial securities markets.
The ICO began on June 1st, 2017 and closed Jun 29th, 2017. The cap of the crowdsale was 9.5 million Euro in Ether but ended up raising about half of that (16451 Ether.) This value is now lower since the price of Ethereum has halved from it's previous high around 400 USD. In my opinion they asked for a modest amount in comparison to other ICO's, which to me shows that they plan on actually delivering a product cost effectively or that even a prototype has already been built as supposed to just raising money and seeing what happens afterwards.
The community that has sprung up around DCORP is quite an active one. On many platforms like Reddit and Slack, the confidence surrounding the future success of the project is quite palpable. Questions are answered and topics debated as many individuals try and figure out ways in which they can help DCORP achieve it's potential. Currently, the subreddit has 358 readers and the Slack has 1222 members. This, however, is expected to grow.
So overall the future is bright for DCORP. The market for derivatives is quite appealing to say the least. On the one hand cryptocurrencies suffer from a lack of them and traditional securities are so saturated with them that investors are looking for the most cost effective systems they can find. If they can pull this off a valuation in the billions of dollars within a decade is not out of reach. But the challenges are there. Recently LedgerX, a direct competitor in this field, was given the go ahead by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to exchange and clear any number of cryptocurrency derivatives. That was after striving for 3 years in order to finally procure the required derivatives clearing organization (DCO) license that was needed to begin trading these derivatives.
However, DCORP will not solely be a derivatives company. This is just the first project. Other projects are being discussed by token-holders and we will likely see them come to fruition given the will of the collective and the success of the proposal. Only time will tell if DCORP can make it into the big leagues, but with the current team and community behind them I think that they've got what it takes.
