Cryptocurrency payment systems are amazing - they offer a safe, quick alternative for anyone who wants to pay for items with digital coins instead of cash or credit cards.
But the problem is that you can't trust any merchant on the internet - and the quality of the item you're buying isn't always as advertised.
Imagine a platform that combines an Ethereum-based payment processing system with a trust rating system based on reviews and reputation - this is MONETHA!
What is Monetha?
Monetha is a decentralized payment platform based on the Ethereum blockchain.
The easiest way to explain the conept of Monetha is to imagine a mixture from PayPal's payment services and TrustPilot's trust system.
The aim is to combine commerce and trust with the use of blockchain technology and smart contracts.
Finally a commerce that is trusted globally - Welcome to an efficient payment solution for merchants that enables globally trustful commerce. Decentralised. Empowered by the Ethereum blockchain.Our decentralised trust and reputation system (DTRS), powered by smart contracts, works flawlessly with Monetha’s payment processor. We let the buyer see trustworthy and transparent reviews made by previous customers.
How does it work?
Let's use the example from the video above: you are online shopping and see an item you'd like to buy from a vendor in China.
You add the desired item to your cart and select Monetha as payment method.
Monetha converts the price from fiat currency to Ether and generates a QR code.
Using your cryptocurrency app of choice, you can then scan the code and the amount of Ether gets sent from your wallet to the merchant (who pays 1.5% fees).
The transaction only takes one minute and is secured by smart contracts.
So far, so good - but now, the unique feature of Monetha: trust and reputation!
After you receive the items, both merchant and customer can rate each other.
This way, you can check if your desired item has had positive reviews from other customers, if the vendor is reputable, etc.
But Monetha doesn't only work for ecommerce - you can also use it in retail stores by scanning a QR code.
Thanks to the transparent nature of Blockchain Technology, Monetha records all transactions and offers total security for its users.
Every time a transaction is made, regardless of whether it is retail or e-commerce, the blockchain will record the time of the transaction, both receiving and sending wallet addresses, warranty conditions, delivery time, and all other information that is typically needed to ensure the trust in different countries. All that information will be encrypted and only available to authorized users in a beautifully designed user interface. Based on that information, clients and merchants will be able to file/solve a claim, rate each other, etc.
Team
Monetha is a blockchain start-up based in Lithuania.
The "mastermind architect" of the technology is Andrej Ruckij. Before co-founding Monetha, he was the Vice President of "Adform", a global digital advertising company with a team of 300+ engineers.
Other co-founders include Justas Pikelis (Business) and Laurynas Jokubaitis (Product).
The biggest name on the team is Eric Duprat, who used to be the General Manager of Mobile at PayPal. During his leadership, PayPal's mobile payment business grew from $7M to $4+ billion in just 3 years.
It's amazing to see that even someone who formerly worked at paypal as now joined a startup that essentially mimics paypal's services - but improves them with blockchain technology and newly added features!
Dr. Jean-Marc Seigneur manages the decentralized trust and reputation department. He holds a Ph.D. in computer science, was awarded with google for his excellent research in academia, and has advised companies like Philips and Amazon.
How can you invest / What's next?
The Monetha ICO starts on August 31st. It will continue for 30 days, but there is a soft cap at €7M after which the price of 1 ETH = 2400 MTH will be changed to 1 ETH - 2000 MTH .
So mark August 31st in your calendars if you're planning to invest in this ICO!
Until mid-2018, Monetha plans to have developed the full ecommerce solution and exchange to Fiat currency.
The Monetha wallet and full functionality of the decentralized trust and reputation system are supposed to be ready by early 2019.
And finally, Monetha's retail solutions are planned to be ready by mid-/late 2019.
In my opinion, Monetha is a very interesting project with a lot of potential and I'm looking forward to seeing how it will develop in the future!
© Sirwinchester