Harnessing Ethereum Blockchain for peer-to-peer Marketplaces.
What is Ink Protocol (XNK)?
Ink Protocol is an up-and-coming blockchain project that aims to provide a decentralized payment and reputation system for peer-to-peer marketplaces. This project allows users to securely buy & sell anywhere with decentralized reputation & escrow using the XNK token. It seeks to enhance trust between buyers and sellers based on the reputation they have built across platforms.
Ink Protocol is developed by the team at Listia, a marketplace with more than 10 million registered users for selling and buying secondhand goods online. Listia was launched in 2009 with VC backings from YCombinator, Andreessen Horowitz and a few other VC firms. Recently, ConsenSys Ventures announced their investment in Ink Protocol.
Benefits of Ink Protocol
Buyers
Buyers can view any seller’s global reputation, pay with escrow, and leave feedback for completed transactions. The Ink Pay app is also in development, which will greatly simplify the way people buy and sell with XNK.
Sellers
Reputation is decentralized, independent, and available anywhere. All reputation gained across platforms counts toward your overall reputation! Bring it with you and never worry about rebuilding it from scratch.
Any marketplace
Ink Protocol can be integrated into new or existing marketplaces and can also be used in marketplaces that don’t directly handle payments. Currently, Ink Protocol has been integrated into Listia.com, EverydayCarry.com, Sharetribe.com, QRYPTOS.com…, with more to come!
Any transaction
Ink Protocol doesn’t require a marketplace. It can be used for any peer-to-peer transaction, regardless of its whereabouts. After 2.5 months of integration on Listia, Ink Protocol has already reached the 1 millionth XNK listing milestone!
Roadmap for 2018
Remember that Ink Protocol itself is already completely finished and available for anyone to use, so this roadmap only pertains to complementary features and applications that the XNK team is actively looking to work on. Anyone can and is encouraged to build additional or even competing apps. A more complete roadmap including 2019 and beyond can be found here.
Q2 2018
- Launch Ink Pay App and Ink Pay partnerships
- Launch Ink Protocol transaction explorer/browser (like “Etherscan for Ink”)
- Marketplace partnerships
- Consumer app partnerships
- Shipping and logistics partnerships
- Launch first live integration with consumer app partners
- Create a developer community around the Ink Developer Portal and Gitter
Q3 2018
- Launch Ink Protocol public API for easier partnership integration
- Launch first reputation score aggregator
- Launch feedback and reputation importer for existing marketplaces
- Launch reputation and payment widget for 3rd party web sites and apps
- Start work on fiat payments integration
- More marketplace, consumer app, and other partnerships
Q4 2018
- Start work on marketplace plugins for forums and message boards
- Start work on marketplace plugins for online stores
- Start work on accepting additional cryptocurrency payments
- Launch additional live integrations with consumer and marketplace partners
- More marketplace, consumer app, and other partnerships
- Integrate local marketplaces and other marketplace verticals into Ink Pay
- International growth for Listia and Ink Pay
Why should we keep an eye on Ink Protocol?
For the past 4 months, the Ink Protocol team has been focusing on both front- and back-end developments of the technology, along with securing strategic partnerships with the likes of ConsenSys, EverydayCarry.com, or Sharetribe… Due to a lack of substantial marketing, XNK is still relatively under the radar, despite being a finished product and being adopted and supported by several big players in the Blockchain and eCommerce space.
Now that they are about to release their Ink Pay app in June, the XNK team is about shift some of their focus to the PR front. They have a lot of experience and connections in the Business and eCommerce sectors through years of running Listia, so we can expect their marketing efforts will be quite effective. We should definitely keep an eye on Ink Protocol in the near future!
Disclaimers: This article is for educational purposes only, not a financial advice!
For those who want to learn more about Ink Protocol:
Medium: https://medium.com/@PayWithInk
Website: https://paywithink.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PayWithInk