Powering the Gig Economy with Blockchain

Decentralized bounty platforms, like Bounty0x, are putting freelance work on the blockchain

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Gig economies are defined by short-term projects for which organizations consult with temporary workers on a project-by-project basis. Some common examples of gig economy jobs include freelance design & coding, driving for Uber, hosting for Airbnb, and promoting on social media platforms. The economy for short-term work has grown tremendously in recent years, and blockchain projects like Bounty0x aim to take this to the next level using decentralized, trustless platforms.

Bounties — The Gig Economy of Crypto

Bounties are the primary source of work in the crypto gig economy. They are small tasks given out by token creators in exchange for small amounts of their token. Common tasks range from social media promotion, to making translations, to finding bugs in the project’s code. This wide range of available tasks means that anyone who wants to participate can usually find some way to contribute and earn some tokens. These bounties have become a necessary component in the ICO process, as without prior funding, a project in its ICO phase faces a social cold-start problem. ICO projects typically do not have the money to buy proper advertisement campaigns or hire auditors to thoroughly validate code, so they rely on bounties, which allow them to crowdsource these tasks in exchange for their newly-created tokens rather than fiat money.

Bounty0x — Decentralized Bounty Network

Bounty0x is a decentralized platform in which bounties can be created, completed, and validated. The platform consists of three main groups: bounty hosts, bounty hunters, and bounty sheriffs. Each group is economically incentivized to act ethically through a combination of risking staked tokens and risking bounty rewards. The full bounty process works as follows:

1) The bounty host lists a task by staking Bounty tokens, which automatically creates the smart contract for the task.

2) A bounty hunter completes the task.

3) A bounty sheriff ensures that the work was completed, and that the work is of sufficient quality (if this cannot be automatically validated).

4) The smart contract for the task is automatically executed, paying the task’s reward to the bounty hunter, which was supplied by the bounty host.

Bounty0x offers two main benefits over traditional freelance work websites: decentralization, and automated bounties & bounty payment.

Decentralization: This means that no single entity is in control over the platform. By the end of their roadmap, the Bounty0x network is slated to move into a district0x district, allowing for users of the platform to be responsible for the governance of the Bounty0x district. This means that the users themselves, rather than some centralized governing body, will be able to determine the direction the platform moves towards.

Automatic bounties & bounty payment: The platform will offer certain types of simple bounties, such as following a Twitter account or making a comment, that can be automatically validated. Additionally, through the use of smart contracts, which are self-executing and trustless, the platform is able to pay bounty hunters without relying on a central entity to conduct payouts. These two combined allow the platform to trustlessly and autonomously handle common types of bounties that are the most accessible to bounty participants. It is common for organizations to “forget” to compensate users for these types of low-commitment bounties, so automatic fulfillment is an important step toward legitimizing smaller tasks. Even for more complex bounties that require sheriff validation, the trustless payment system ensures that the bounty host is not able to maliciously withhold payment after a sheriff confirms that the task was adequately completed.

For more information on the Bounty0x platform, you can check out the Bounty0x whitepaper.

The Future of Freelance Work

Platforms like Bounty0x are paving the way for decentralized workforces. Currently, on the alpha version of their platform, they boast a network of over 10,000 bounty hunters, 100s of bounty hosts, and millions of dollars in bounty tasks. As they continue to work on development and more types of bounties are added, the platform should expand beyond tasks required for tech/crypto companies, and become more like general freelancing platforms like Upwork in terms of task variety. If they are able to meet all of their goals, I imagine that Bounty0x could capture a majority share in the market for temporary work, as their autonomous platform has such low overhead costs that centralized platforms will not be able to profitably compete.

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