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I wanted to do a follow up review of Request Network and share my original research, with what they've accomplished Lately.
My usual disclaimer is I do not own any of this coin. I do love what they're doing, but during my inital research I felt that there were many hurdles they needed to jump before their project would be really viable, and because of that I opted not to invest. I was, and still am, impressed by how ambitious their white paper is, and what they’re trying to accomplish. They’re essentially attempting to redefine how our payment systems work.
“The future of Commerce”
Request Network is a decentralized network that allows individuals to request payments, and receive payments in a secure way. The overall goal of REQis to replace the current payment systems, ones that come to mind are paypal and venmo.
Request is utilizing blockchain technology in a way that allows them to store all of their data/transactions on a distrubted ledger. And because of this REQoffers a cheaper, easier, and more secure way to handle payments, and opens up the door for a wide range of automation possibilities; think online payments, invoicing, accounting, and auditing.
Some facts about REQduring its ICO stage:
It is an ERC20 token which means it runs on the Ethereum blockchain. Their conversion rate for the ICO was 1 ETH = 5,000 REQ. There was so much interest in the project that their white list was closed early on September 25 as their Slack channel hit 21,000 users.
There are many use cases for Request Network:
Online payment
- Online shopping currently requires payment by credit/debit card, thereby exposing sensitive information. With Request, the user’s data remain protected.
- Cost-effective for the merchant because no third party is involved such as Paypal which charges huge fees for a money transfer.
- Simple because you do nothing but validate a payment request that you have received on your phone. You do not need to initiate a payment and you do not share your financial information with Amazon.
B2B invoicing
- Many invoices between companies are still being sent by way of paper or email and have to be manually copied. With Request, companies can share these bills directly via the ledger; there will be no more duplication or fear of losing the invoice, as accounting systems will be updated
- You connect your invoicing to the payment (vs now: your invoicing software is disconnected from the payment of your sales invoices).
- The payer detects a payment request immediately and chooses to pay now or to be reminded about this request later (at the due date for example).
Transparency of institutions
- Blockchain brings transparency and trust to our governments and institutions by opening and publishing their data to the public. Most citizens would be in favor of this transparency.
- Obviously the institution can choose the level of transparency that is allowed, but the concept of showing x amount of money raised from this fundraiser went to, a, b, and c, budgets as promised. That’s an amazing possibility.
Accounting and Audit
- They also go one step further in terms of accounting automation as the Request Network acts as a unique source for accounting systems. An invoice isn’t recorded separately in two independent accounting systems but in one location for ease of use.
Continuous Payments? What?!?!
- The team states that the fact that we manage our finances on a monthly basis was what motivated them to introduce Continuous Payments — there’s always a gap between our paycheck and all our expenses. They'd like to change that.
- For example, we receive our paycheck at the end of the month whereas our rent is generally debited at the beginning of each month. This results in a gap because we have to wait for our salary of March to sustain our expenses of April.
- With Continuous Payments, your rent would be debited bit by bit every day instead of the entire amount being charged every 1st of the month.
- Similarly, instead of receiving your paycheck at the end of the month, you would be paid every day or even every minute you work.
What are the tokens used for and how can token value appreciate?
- REQ tokens are required for the operation of Request contracts and especially the extension layers for advanced features such as Escrow, Tax, Down Payment, and Late Fees.
- The fees are distributed between REQ token holders (70%) and the extension developer (30%).
What have they accomplished so far?
- In November of 2017 we saw the launch of “Continuous Payments”. This is a huge component of the Req ecosystem and is extremely useful feature for invoicing and other payment requests. This allowed requestors to be paid continuously – by the minute, day or hour – rather than the way we receive payments tradtionally, at the end of a certain timeframe in one large disbursement.
- On Janurary 5th 2018, they released their Java Script library which encourgaes develeopers to utilize the Request Network.
We are very happy to release the JS library to allow everyone to build on top of Request. The repository was already published without any official communication or documentation, and we are now adding all the information and support that is needed to develop on top of Request. Here is the requestNetwork.js project and documentation: https://github.com/RequestNetwork/requestNetwork.js.
- On March 30, 2018 Request's beta main net went live on the Ethereum network. And with that it offers a handful of features in its first version, including: connecting your wallet with Metamask or the Ledger hardware wallet, creating, sending, and paying requests in ETH, paying the same request multiple times, updating a broadcasted request and checking all outstanding and incoming requests associated with an ETH address.
A quote from the Request medium article:
The Request Network mainnet release is an important milestone to enable blockchain adoption. It is the start of our protocol working on top of the Ethereum mainnet. With this beta version, builders and developers can now create, launch and use their own products on top of the Request Network protocol, without needing the permission of any third party. As we keep making the protocol better each day, more features will be available over time for developers to integrate into their applications
It is important to note that this version of the network is a basic one – it's useable, but will be subject to future updates and upgrades. It performs a key function in that it allows users to interact with smart contracts on the Ethereum network. The plan is to tack additional features and improvements onto this protocol over the coming months.
- You can now accept crypto on your shopify webstore via request network!
Partnerships
What To Look Forward To?
- The Request team stated they will develop three dapps on their network: a payments app, a crowdfunding app, and an accounting app. They see it as a good marketing opportunity with real use cases for the public, as well as the easiest way to get people on and using their platform. The work is already in progress, and these applications are being developed simultaneously. The payments app, as we mentioned, has already been launched but will see further improvements in 2018.
Pros:
- Request is trying to re define how people send and receive payments. If you take a step back and really thing about what their goal is, the project makes a lot of sense.
- The team has been hard at work developing this project and creating noteworthy partnerships.
- The ability to integrate crypto payments into existing websites is a huge step forward to assist crypto as a whole receive more adoption.
- More secure transactions without sharing any financial information.
- Improved financial audits on the blockchain with smart algorithms.
- Opportunity for machines to pay each other in a standard framework.
Cons:
- The biggest hurdle I see with this project, and I mention it in the video, is adoption. Request is trying to redefine our payment systems, and that is going to take a while to catch on. Culturally we are all accustomed to getting paid in one lump sum and making it last, or paying bills on certain days. Relearning a new way of sending and receiving payments could prove cumbersome for some people.
- Since peer to peer payment is the backbone of cryptocurrency, the project faces competition from many blockchain projects in one way or another: Status, Metal, Monetha, OmiseGO, TenX, Monaco, BitPay, and many others.
- 20,000 Ether was sold to early investors and strategic partners with 20% bonus (this is not part of the 100,000 ETH hard cap). This may have been the initial cause of the selling pressure when REQ was listed on exchanges.
Where to buy REQ?
- Binance
- Huobi
- Kucoin
- Many more..
Conclusion:
Overall the ICO would probably have been a good flip, but it is definitely more of a long term hold coin based on the fact its currently still in development. Their goals, and plan are very specific but if they're successful they’ll certainly change the way transactions are handled entirely.
Important Links:
Website
Whitepaper
Smart-audits yellowpaper
Blog
Sources:
Crushcrypto
Article
Whitepaper
Medium
