What is P2P Digital Barter?

Let's start at the beginning.

Bartering is an ancient way of trading.

Whatever you have to offer, you exchange it for whatever you need.

Anything can be bartered, both tangible and intangible. E.g. goods, services, time etc

When bartering both parties have to agree, there are no intermediaries, it's peer to peer.

To barter online you need to be sure that the other party is who they say they are.

You also need to trust that what they are offering is what they say it is.

For digital barter, personal tokens are created, unique to each individual.

A personal token represents both the individual's reputation and whatever that individual has decided to exchange.

The tokens DO NOT value the individual they only represent them. Each negotiation is different.

Personal tokens are created on the blockchain, meaning their attributes cannot be changed and their movement is traceable.

Personal tokens can be used to barter digitally and can also be returned to their creator to be exchanged for whatever they represent.

Addonx is the first platform to host P2P Digital barter.

At this point it is useful to show how P2P digital barter works in practise. Here is a real use case of exchange of value between me and another Addonx member, Ian.

Addonx use case 01 - Bartering my tokens for video production.

To start bartering digitally I have to create the tokens that represent the thing I offer on my side of the exchange. This offering is defined in my profile and in this use case it is my time as an English teacher. On the wallet page I can create as many tokens as I want. I can create or destroy my tokens and there is a history of my token management behaviour on chain. There is also a list of holders of my token, this is useful in many ways, for example, I can target holders with special offers if I want to get my tokens back.

When I have created some tokens to barter with I can open a negotiation with someone in order to get something I need. In this case I want a short video produced for a social media post and I know another member, Ian, can do this for me. I find Ian in the members list and ask him if he wants to open a session with me. I send him a request to open a session along with a message explaining what I need from him and I make him an offer. I offer him 2 tokens upfront and 3 tokens more when the video is delivered. This is the matchmaker feature on the Addonx platform and in later versions we will have a real-time chat feature to allow for real-time deal making.

Ian receives an email telling him there is a request to open a session and he decides whether to accept or reject. Ian accepts, reads the offer I'm making and sends a message agreeing to my terms. I receive the message and send 2 of my tokens directly to Ian's wallet, all done inside the platform simply and securely. I can also include metadata describing the transaction which means a transparent and verifiable record on chain.

A notification comes to Ian by email. He can then check the session log and the wallet page on the platform confirming that I have sent the 2 tokens as an upfront payment. Ian now fulfils his part of the deal, he makes a video and sends it to me. I will now complete the deal by sending him 3 more tokens with metadata confirming that I am satisfied with the video. Ian now holds the tokens I sent, they have value to him if he wants to redeem them for my service or if he wants to use them to pay for something from anyone who accepts them. Ian already speaks English and my English classes don't really interest him so let's see what Ian decides to do with my tokens.

How do you start bartering on Addonx?

First you need to set up a profile and then in the profile you need to describe what you want to barter. This is important because whatever you put here defines what your token represents to the other members. You need to explain what you offer and make it clear when, where and how you offer it. If you are offering your time, how soon will you be available? If you are offering access to content or events, where are they accessed and for how long?

Detail is important because whatever you define here, whatever you are offering to barter with, becomes the promise you are using to back your token. How well you keep your promise will effect the reputation you have on the platform and will determine how many people accept you token. For me, my promise is relatively straight forward, 1 token is 1 minute of my English teaching and on my profile page there is a booking calendar which shows the earliest time I am available i.e. the earliest time my token can be redeemed for my promise.

The promise you define on your profile page is public and represents the face value of your token. As when bartering in the real world you have control over the real value of your offering. The face value can be different to the real value you would like to offer a friend or peer.

For example, if you are a software developer, you might define the face value on your profile page as 50 tokens for a 10 minute consultation, but in a private session with a trusted acquaintance you are free to offer an hour or two of real development work for the same 50 tokens. How you barter your offering is up to you, it's peer to peer!

We can see that the token may have two different types of value. The first fixed, the face or public value, the promise or obligation you have defined on your profile page. The second, dynamic, decided by the two parties who want to use your token to barter.

On your profile page there is another important factor to take into account; your reputation. How well you keep your promise; the quality of your offering; the speed of delivery; how soon you are available and your general trustworthiness all add to your reputation and all this adds value to your token.

A personal token represents a specific promise and an individual reputation. These are the factors you need to take into account when deciding whether to accept a token in a transaction.

An overview of the Addonx concept.

Personal Token Use Cases - Transaction Rings

Use case 02

Paulo is a Dev, Rafa is a Dev and James is an English teacher. They are all members of Addonx.

Paulo has a lot of work and wants to give some development tasks to Rafa. Rafa accepts to do the work in exchange for some of Paulo's personal tokens ([ADD]PauloBressan). Rafa is learning English and he sees that James accepts [ADD]PauloBressan tokens for English classes. Rafa can book a class with James from the calendar on James' profile page. Rafa sends James some [ADD]PauloBressan tokens as payment. James accepts the tokens, sends Rafa a link and gives him a class. James needs Paulo's services as a dev so he sends back the [ADD]PauloBressan tokens to Paulo to redeem them for some work.

Use case 03

Paulo is a dev, Rafa is a dev, Victor is a dev and James is an English teacher.

Following on from the previous use case, another member of the Addonx community has joined Paulo's orbit, Victor. Paulo still has a lot of work and wants to get help from Victor as well as Rafa. Victor agrees to help Paulo in exchange for some of his tokens. Victor doesn't need English classes but he does need to learn a skill which he knows Rafa can teach him. He also knows that Rafa will accept [ADD]PauloBressan tokens as payment for teaching him the skill. Rafa still accepts [ADD]PauloBressan tokens from Paulo for his work and now he also accepts [ADD]PauloBressan tokens from Victor in exchange for teaching him the skill. Rafa can now use all these [ADD]PauloBressan tokens to pay for more English classes from James. In the end James can redeem the [ADD]PauloBressan tokens with Paulo for more work from him.

These are simple examples of the circular nature of digital barter. The [ADD]PauloBressan token has a value because Paulo himself has a reputation as a good and reliable dev. The better the reputation of the member and the token, the more people will accept the token as payment.

Paulo is the centre of these transaction rings because it's his token. Anyone who accepts Paulo's token is in Paulo's orbit and anyone in Paulo's orbit can send the tokens back to Paulo at any time for redemption. Whenever someone accepts your token that person enters your orbit.

The number of people in Paulo's orbit is unlimited and complex token movements start to emerge.