I Am Pleased to Announce a Working Release of the Drop Zone Protocol - a Decentralized Marketplace Layer Written Fully on top of Bitcoin

It is a command line client written in Ruby. It allows for the selling, buying, and facilitation of secure messaging between buyers and sellers using nothing but the Blockchain and testnet. For those unfamiliar with the project, I released the original paper on the cryptography mailing list.

Github Link

Rubygem Link

It is a command line only client for now, but it is perfectly functional, written in Ruby, and tested to the hilt.

The immediate application for Drop Zone is as a nationwide marketplace. However, it is my hope that as adoption increases, Drop Zone will provide instantaneous, convenient hyper-local market services as well.

I hope for active community participation. I would like to see users push for Drop Zone integrations in their preferred mobile wallets, and I hope that those interested in decentralized markets will take up the torch and begin building interesting applications on top of this protocol. All at once, Drop Zone solves the problem of disappearing marketplaces and their associated exit scams w/o need for running any additional supporting infrastructure. Drop Zone is Bitcoin.

Please recognize, in the midst of this blocksize debate, that fungibility is truly the biggest problem facing Bitcoin. Please use the software and begin issuing bug requests. Also, while the Drop Zone release is at the forefront of everyone's minds, I ask that the r/dropzone subreddit be created. Feel free to make me a mod, though I will be moving on to other things as soon I feel like the project is in good hands.

If you are the owner of the following wallets please contact me on Drop Zone:


Comments


[10 Points] Vendor_BBMC:

I think this is well-intentioned, and important.

However, the GUI to make this command line protocol useable for most people will be written by a verto or some other scumbag who doesn't publish the code, and escrow currently requires the marketplace's staff to arbitrate. Make it as multi-key as you like:- Somebody has to rule on disputed transactions.

How does a decentralized market get around this?

By charging a small commission on every transaction, and awarding it to three "jury members" selected at random from a pool of "escrow volunteers" on the site.

The vendor and the customer state their case, and upload supporting evidence like tracking numbers. The 3 randomly chosen arbiters click a button marked "vendor is right" or "customer is right". They get paid a share of the site's commission.

A certain % of escrow disputes would trigger a vendor's account to be frozen. An odd-numbered jury would vote on removal of the vendor.

Who would run this marketplace?

Nobody. Maybe some non-profit trustees and somebody who reboots it occasionally. Or there could be one hundred of them launched, with hosting for 18 months pre-paid, on the same day. Users buy shares, and vote on the laws of the market.

You know how most marketplace forums are just built using the same standard forum software? Markets will be kind of like that. The developer can offer bug fixes and upgrades, and each site can vote to buy them or ignore them.

Think of each market like a county or an italian City state. Some will succeed. some will fail. They all shut automatically after 18 months, and the successful model consortium's models will be copied and inspire others.

Economic Darwinism will ensure the survival of the fittest ideas. Laissez-faire markets. weed-only markets. Markets which are tough on vendors. Communist. Liberal. Authoritarian. Hungarian language.

Don't ask me what model built on this protocol will win. I don't know. All I know is that Decentralized marketplace Darwinism will outpace LE's ability to react or grow.

All it needs is 100 copies of a moderately modifiable marketplace website template.

You buy shares with your bitcoin wallet. You vote with your bitcoin wallet eg 0.0001 btc for "yes". 0.0002 btc for "no". Shareholders get their share of the takings to their bitcoin wallet. Or you can just vote to elect me, or Grandwizzardslair, or Top_Gear_UK, or Hacks4Crack to make the decisions on your marketplace.

Are you getting the idea?

Boy, I'm on a roll today.


[1 Points] iseeeeeeeeeee21:

Cool idea for doing a decentralized market for deaddrops!

One major disadvantage for buyers is that they open themselves up to stings as there is no longer any "i didnt order that" deniability that comes with mail.

A disadvantage for vendors is that instead of driving around to a few bins to drop their packs they are driving all over town looking for a place to hide their packs and hoping no one finds them first.

FYI dead dropping doesnt work on a retail scale which is the majority of what DNM's offer, this is really for bulk buys and assumes there some trust between the buyer and seller that the seller is not a cop. Thats not touching the issue of scamming which requires some level of arbritration.

This isnt what the market needs right now unfortunately. What we need is something closer to bitmarkets but with network persistence so a vendors store remains online without them having to keep their computer on. I dont believe bitmarkets or any decentralized market does this yet.


[0 Points] RosyPalm:

So there's no dispute resolution, no real buyer protection, and instead of just waiting for the magic to appear in my mailbox you want me to climb trees?

I guess it's an interesting use of the block chain but it seems like I can do what drop zone accomplishes with less work already.


[-2 Points] None:

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