Forgotsudo monero marketplace
Introduction
Hello, we are the Onionr team from VoidNetwork LLC and we would like to propose funding for the development of the Onionr marketplace.
Onionr, started by Kevin Forman in 2017, is an experimental decentralized messaging network/platform similar in design to Bitmessage that is built to provide high security and privacy. Through the use of Dandelion++ and node aging, the user’s privacy is preserved. It is also flexible, in that it can run over I2P, Tor, LAN multicast, and sneakernet, with extensibility for more transports and application plugins.
What
The goal of this CCS is to continue the funding that is needed to build out a P2P Monero marketplace.
The purpose of the Onionr marketplace is to allow for a censorship resistant, private, and secure way to use your Monero. There are many websites that try to fill this role but are inherently centralized and prone to an assortment of attacks, puting the users' privacy and security at risk. The Monero community doesn’t have a decentralized P2P marketplace and that is what we want to achieve here. In the age of market manipulation and regulations, it is necessary to push for a remedy to this issue. No central authority controls the Onionr network or marketplace. Onionr achieves this goal by returning the free market to those using XMR as a true currency/means of exchange.
Technical overview
The Onionr marketplace will work without any centralized servers, relying on epidemic propagation to advertise encrypted storefronts, product listings, and most operations. Stores will be private by default, but can be made publicy discoverable via a searchable index. Using a web of trust system, users can review stores and products. Monero wallet RPC integration will be used to process payments for orders on the merchant end. All messages and orders between customers and merchants are end to end encrypted. Optionally, merchants can open ephemeral onion service tunnels to permit relatively low latency access to their stores.
Why does Monero need this?
I believe Murray Rothbard said it best, “freedom can run a monetary system as superbly as it runs the rest of the economy.”, “There is nothing special about money that requires extensive governmental dictation. Here, too, free men will best and most smoothly supply all their economic wants.”
The Onionr team believes that this marketplace will provide economic freedom, liquidity, and strengthen the Monero-centric economy. We want to encourage the exchange of Monero for goods and services and this is a necessity for Monero to thrive in an ever increasingly authoritarian world. As regulations surrounding privacy and, more specifically, private cryptocurrencies become more and more detrimental, there needs to be a haven for true P2P communications and transactions. Onionr is the solution to this problem.
A bit of history
The original plan set out was that I (ForgotSudo) would fund the development of Onionr. This involved firstly implementing VDFs and the Dandelion++ protocol, and then start on the marketplace. Recently Kevin completed the implementation of VDFs and Dandelion++ and was going to start to work on the marketplace. But due to the recent economic conditions, we would like to ask for help funding this part of the project. I am the only source of funding and the current economic conditions are greatly affecting the originally planned funding duration. We need help getting the marketplace off the ground and would like some assistance.
Milestone 1 - Implement a web of trust system (23 XMR)
As part of the marketplace, there will be a web of trust system for the reviews of items and merchants on the marketplace.
This system will technically be useful outside of the marketplace plugin, but is needed for the marketplace.
Milestone 2 - Finish marketplace plugin (45 XMR)
This milestone is completed when the marketplace is in it's stable version/official release.
Milestone 3 - Documentation (7 XMR)
Documentation is a necessary part of every project and Onionr is no exception. The completion of this milestone will indicate that the marketplace is documented to the extent that a newcomer (one that already understands how to use monero) will be able to buy/sell items on the marketplace.
Learn More
More can be learned about Onionr by going to the git repository here: https://git.voidnet.tech/kev/Onionr, or by visiting our (partially complete) website at https://www.onionr.net/.
Merge request reports
Activity
Following the completion of these milestones, can you walk us through an example of what a marketplace user would be able to do? i.e. Download the software, deposit escrow funds, create a listing, etc
If the price of Monero drops between funding and development time, how will that impact your milestones?
In addition, does the marketplace have plans to be profitable for the developers? If not, will future funding come from the CCS?
If users want to sponsor the market I'm all for it, but personally I feel like we've seen a large number of projects with huge scope never take off. I am more comfortable donating to pre-existing services that have proven practicality and are looking for improvements.
This is exactly what Kevin told me in response to the questions:
Following the completion of these milestones, can you walk us through an example of what a marketplace user would be able to do? i.e. Download the software, deposit escrow funds, create a listing, etc
- Manage multiple accounts
- Create and view store fronts
- Create and view product listings
- Automatically maintain the listing based on stock availability and Monero price
- Message stores or your customers to handle orders
If the price of Monero drops between funding and development time, how will that impact your milestones?
- It may impact the amount of time dedicated to the project, but it will not stop development, as I have been passionate about working on Onionr for years.
In addition, does the marketplace have plans to be profitable for the developers? If not, will future funding come from the CCS?
- Far down the road, we may have unobtrusive paid promotions, in addition we will sell our own products like a normal user. Any future CCS proposals will only be if the project is successful and has grown an active community of users and if I cannot monetize enough through other means
Edited by forgotsudoI've been talking to Kevin for a while now and we are truely passionate about this project. I too have seen other CCSs not pan out as they should so what would you suggest doing to make it work? The total XMR for this project is a bit on the heavy side so would it be better to split it up into smaller milestones or separate CCSs?
Edited by forgotsudo
- Resolved by forgotsudo
Darknet markets tend to have a bad look due to the prolific illegal activity. We want this market to be more open and welcoming to those who dont want to be associated with illegal behavior. I can go into a bit of detail about how the web of trust will deter this behavior if you'd like.
Openbazaar wasn't concerned about the privacy of their users and we aren't building from scratch. The market will be an Onionr plugin. Onionr is used for messaging at the moment but with plugins, Onionr's uses can be expanded.
With this in mind may you remove the down vote
Edited by forgotsudo - Last reply by forgotsudo
There's no way you'e gonna be able to make a marketplace. just look at openbazaar. The govenment wont let that happen either. People say monero needs a circular economy but that isnt a possibility imo. We need to focus on developing monero first.
Edited by nopeI like this proposal.
If I understand it correct, it is a peer to peer trading network. Everybody can just open up stores for anything.
Everything is Monero based, decentral and private. I think, If done well, this can add value to Monero and support privacy as a whole.
I am in favor of funding this proposal.
Meeting to discuss CCS Merge list this Saturday (Time not set in stone) https://github.com/monero-project/meta/issues/737
@forgotsudo would it be possible to break this down into smaller CCS's?
The Web of Trust system seems like it might be beneficial for the wider community, and would also allow us to gauge quality/uptake before funding the remaining milestones.
I'll check with Kevin to see if he would want to break it down into smaller sections. I'm all for it as the WOT system is still being built and we would still like to get as much help as possible. If he thinks we should break it down in to sections, what would you suggest breaking it down into? Would a CCS per milestone work?
I believe Kevin and I might have discussed something of the sort before (WOT+CCS) for project funding but I'm not sure. I do agree that a WOT system would benefit the broader community as there isn't any real solution to decentralized legitimacy for Monero's community.
Edited by forgotsudo
Knock knock, anyone home? It would be nice to see a re submission of just the WoT milestone as it seems that would garner the most community support else this proposal will remain stagnant. https://github.com/monero-project/meta/issues/747
mentioned in merge request !395 (closed)
