Launch of Decentralized Crowdfunding and Trading Platform Waves Announced

08.03.2016

Waves development team along with Cryptoasset.fund and Scorex framework developers has announced it launches a decentralized crowdfunding and virtual values trading platform.

Initial coin offering (ICO) of WAVES is scheduled for April 2016, while test net release is expected to happen this summer. The system is dedicated for issuance of proprietary values, including shares, and decentralized trading on blockchain.

According to the press release published on bitcointalk.org, the project’s team incorporates developers and entrepreneurs earlier engaged in NXT, which had been among the first generation 2.0 platforms. The platform’s target audience is basically open source projects and crowdfunding communities.

“In technological terms, our aim is to do to cryptocurrency tokens what Ethereum does for smart contracts that had originated in Bitcoin scripting,” Sasha Ivanov, team lead at Waves, told ForkLog.“The platform will provide the widest range possible of cryptocurrency token applications, namely issuance, transfer, decentralized exchange, a reputation system, and a decentralized voting system.”

As opposed to other similar platforms, which are exclusively intended for advanced crypto-users, the project’s team has always thought that involvement of mass audience in crypto-investment is of great importance.

The system will have different user interfaces for access, which may encourage people to join.

One of the options implies downloading and installation of a client for a node holding a full copy of the blockchain. Most certainly, it means that entry threshold would be high, so the option may be interesting mostly to crypto-enthusiasts and developers. However, the platform has an alternate option, which is more available for most users. It is a lightweight Chrome extension providing access to decentralized trading and crowdfunding in just a few clicks.

Ivanov commented:

“Our primary users will be crowdfunding projects in the first place. The system will allow them to launch a fundraising campaign in just a few minutes. The system will also use tokens pegged to real-life currencies with payment system and bank backing. At the next phase of the system’s development, we will encourage real businesses to issue their stock on Waves blockchain. We pay much attention to compatibility between the technologies and regulation. Our aim here at Waves is to create an ecosystem fully compliant with the regulations for stock and remittances.”

The system will use Proof-of-Stake-based consensus rules with 100m digital tokens issued overall. Additionally, the platform’s client will have an encrypted messaging service and a voting system.

“Positive experience of NXT shows that using cryptocurrency tokens doesn’t trouble users as opposed to smart contracts. It has a great potential for development,” Ivanov said.

“With a wealth of experience in real-life applications of crypto-technologies, the Waves team sees real ways of their wide propagation. We place emphasis on ease of use and providing end user with a familiar interface of centralized services like crowdfunding platforms, online banking services, and broker accounts. The system’s full node is based on Scorex platform, while user client is an extension for a browser, which is a unique approach in terms of cryptocurrencies,” he added.

The first phase of coding for full nodes will end this April with a crowdsale. Later this summer, a beta network of Waves will be launched alongside with lightweight client for end users. Tentative cost of the tokens to be issued will comprise 1,000 satoshis.

Further details of the project are to be announced later this week.

by Eugene Muratov

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Tags: exchanges, Sasha Ivanov, Waves