CoinMarketCap takes a deep dive into a protocol that aims to decentralize e-commerce.
Intermediaries. Right now, they’re a necessary component in most commercial transactions — after all, when money is on the line, a trusted arbiter is needed to ensure deals go through without a hitch.
But they can be costly and inefficient, posing a barrier to getting a deal done, while sometimes adding additional hurdles to jump over.
Boson Protocol, a decentralized platform that aims to revamp the way we purchase and sell goods and services, might just be set to make e-commerce a whole lot more efficient. Here, we take a look at how.
What Is Boson Protocol (BOSON)?
The protocol has set out to eliminate the intermediaries that generally make e-commerce a complicated, expensive process. It achieves this through a novel commercial interface that uses tokenized futures contracts (wrapped as stateful non-fungible tokens) to represent a commitment to purchase and sell goods or services at a later date.
Beyond this, Boson Protocol is also looking to disrupt how customer and user data is used and monetized, by providing what it describes as a "planetary-scale Web3 commerce data marketplace" — essentially a marketplace for user data, in which sharing is completely voluntary, and users receive an equitable reward for contributing their data.
How Does Boson Protocol Work?
As we previously touched on, Boson Protocol provides the infrastructure for DeFi commercial transactions and data transfers. It achieves this through the use of tokenized exchange vouchers, known as commitment tokens.
These NFTs employ a type of game theory that incentivizes both sides of a transaction to complete their respective roles. Both buyers and sellers (or service providers) must transfer to escrow a deposit that is forfeited to the counterparty if they renege on their agreement to complete an exchange.
These tokens accrue value which is derived from the "minimally extractive" fee generated when each transaction is processed. They also benefit from the fee that third parties pay when purchasing data from Boson Protocol's Web3 data marketplace.
As of April 2021, Boson Protocol is still in the earliest stages of its roadmap. The platform completed its final token raise through a Gnosis auction, selling a total of 6 million tokens. By the end of 2021, Boson Protocol aims to be capable of supporting e-commerce transactions for NFT art, gaming, DeFi and CeFi loyalty reward schemes.
The full Boson Protocol marketplace and dCommerce ecosystem are slated to launch in 2022.
Fungible vs. Non-Fungible: What’s the Difference?
In general, cryptocurrencies can be divided into one of two classes — they’re either fungible or non-fungible. This distinction is based on whether the cryptocurrency can be replaced with another equal and identical unit or not — similar to the way in which one dollar bill has equal spending power to any other.
What Makes Boson Protocol Unique?
Boson has set out to build a bridge between real-world commerce and user provided data with the burgeoning decentralized finance (DeFi) space. It incorporates several unique features which help it fill this gap. Some of which include:
dCommerce DAO
The dCommerce DAO is a community-governed organization tasked with deciding how to develop Boson Protocol’s dCommerce product stack.
The community will vote on which projects building core applications, tools and integrations on/for Boson Protocol should receive funding, as well as on changes to growth policies among other things. The dCommerce DAO is funded through a fee derived from transactions and data monetized on Boson Protocol.
Web3 Data Marketplace
Boson Protocol wants to change the way users think about their individual data by providing a solution where they can voluntarily share select data in return for economic incentives.
Boson leverages Ocean Protocol, a platform that unlocks the value of data, to provide a Web3 data marketplace where data buyers can purchase data collated from voluntary participants.
Thing Tokens