A simplified process of minting new cryptocurrencies has led to the age of infinite ICOs.
Now more than ever investors are looking for projects that have it all: an experienced team, an innovative concept, an engaged community, and a useful token. Why add another coin to exchanges if Bitcoin, or even fiat, will get the job done?
For an ICO to be a worthy long-term investment, the coin being offered needs to provide an incentive to all users. With all the crypto projects out there raising funds to solve a limited number of problems, this is becoming an increasingly difficult task.
Ecryptostore is an eCommerce platform focusing on the buying and selling of goods with cryptocurrencies. While they support transactions with a variety of cryptos, buyers and sellers alike will be incentivized to use their native coin, Free Market Token (FMT).
Ecryptostore and FMT Utility
The uncertain nature of the cryptocurrency space has led to a delay in its adoption for many larger corporations. It’s almost expected that websites like Amazon and eBay will accept crypto in the near future, but in the meantime, there’s a growing population of crypto enthusiasts who prefer to buy and sell within a decentralized network.
Ecryptostore was created to address this adoption gap. The platform runs as a NEM mosaic and provides its users with a functionally robust payment gateway that accepts both crypto and fiat currencies. However, users will be particularly incentivized to use FMT, the utility token that powers the Ecryptostore platform.
The platform aims to provide a safe environment for anyone with internet access to buy/sell goods and services using cryptocurrency directly. Merchants will be able to avoid the stress of delay times in a volatile market and the hassle of hiring a web developer. They’ll be provided a tax invoice automatically with a user-friendly interface.
What makes FMT a promising option for investors is its utility within the Ecryptostore platform.
According to the FMT whitepaper, the FMT token has 3 use cases:
- Tokens act like a membership coupon that grants the bearer free Merchant subscription and reduced platform transaction fees, with a variety of benefits based on accumulation.
- Tokens can be gifted or exchanged with others on the platform to achieve the benefits outlined above.
- Token staking can act as a form of qualification to unlock instant transaction settlements on the platform.
According to the basics of supply and demand, any token that can and should be staked will create an increase in its value through scarcity. FMT can be used simply as a means of exchange or a store of value, but also as a “membership key,” granting users free monthly memberships and instant eCommerce transactions.
The Benefits of Free Market Token
Aligning the incentives of a platform and its users is a hallmark of a successful business model. The monopolies that dominate the eCommerce market today are operating like any centralized company would—and for good reason.
For example, Amazon is the leading platform for eCommerce worldwide, with no signs of slowing down. As the company has matured, buyers have ended up paying inflated prices to cover the rising fees that merchants face. The divide between merchants and sellers is also widened by Amazon’s system, which directly benefits from withholding customer information from sellers.
Since Amazon has exclusive access to their customers’ shopping activity, they’re able to identify the bestselling products and offer their own privately branded products. This leads to an increase in profit for Amazon, but also negatively impacts sellers, causing many to abandon Amazon altogether.
This example highlights one of the problems that can occur within centralized eCommerce platforms. With Free Market Token, Ecryptostore aims to alleviate this discontent by simply applying blockchain technology to the eCommerce business model. This alleviation will be carried out by the use of FMT on the Ecryptostore platform.
Merchant Benefits
Sellers are incentivized to stake their FMT directly within their Ecryptostore wallet. The more FMT staked, the more benefits merchants will receive, increasing the theoretical demand for the token. The platform benefits from it’s users staking tokens by keeping its users involved with the Ecryptostore ecosystem, and maintaining the value of FMT.
Account Status and Waived Subscription Fees
When merchants verify their personal identity and stake at least 250 FMT tokens, they automatically achieve Gold Merchant account status. As long as their tokens are staked, merchants will be allowed unlimited volume and listings. A reduced transaction fee of 2.5% will also be applied, which drops to 2% when they use FMT to pay their fees.
When verified merchants stake 1,000+ FMT, their transaction fees are reduced to 2%, which is further lowered to 1% when using FMT tokens to pay fees. This is referred to as the Power Merchant level.
If a merchant wished to achieve Gold or Power Merchant levels without staking FMT, they’re required to pay $10 and $40 per month, respectively.
Instant Settlement
Merchants will be able to reduce the escrow necessary for transactions, allowing them instant access to revenue generated from their sales. While they’ll be able to achieve this status by verifying their accounts and earning positive buyer reviews, they’ll also have the option to stake FMT tokens to achieve instant settlement.
Affiliate Rewards
Merchants will be awarded 250 FMT tokens for every successful merchant referral, and the referred merchant will receive 275 FMT tokens. Gold Status affiliates will receive 15% of the transaction fees paid by the merchants they refer, and Power Level affiliates will earn a 25% commission.
Buyer Benefits
Most of the benefits for buyers revolve around the ability to pay for goods and services with cryptocurrency on an established platform. Ecryptostore will offer a built-in multi-currency wallet, making it easy for buyers to make transactions and store their funds. In spirit with the Free Market Token name, Ecryptostore will also encourage peer-to-peer exchange by providing a secure chat feature.
Buyers will be able to determine the quality and standard of both merchants and the products they sell with a built-in review system.
Audience Incentivized Gift Marketing
Perhaps one of the coolest use cases for FMT is the Audience Incentivized Gift Marketing solution offered on Ecryptostore. The whitepaper describes it as such:
Merchants will have the opportunity to use FMT tokens as mechanism to capture the attention of their target-market audience by gifting potential customers with a small packet of FMT Tokens which comes embedded in a short marketing piece.
Consumer Benefits
Potential buyers will receive FMT tokens from hopeful vendors for simply opening a direct marketing message. Not only that, but the marketing messages will target them specifically, based on their interests, favorited items, their profile, and demograpics. So instead of having their personal information harvested for someone else’s profit, buyers will be able to sell their information in exchange for FMT. Consumers will be able to opt out of the campaign if they desire.
Merchant Benefits
Merchants will be able to capture the attention of the markets they target, while invoking the law of reciprocity. They’ll be able to set the parameters of the campaign and the amount they’d like to give. Since buyers are only paid when they open the marketing message, merchants only pay when the message is opened.
Gift Marketing on Ecryptostore can be used for marketing, or as a way to thank loyal to customers for their support.
FMT Token Economics
A significant portion of the token economics of FMT was implied by the above incentive structures. For a more elaborate view, here are some of the details for the FMT token cycle and ICO.
The Free Market Token team built user rewards, platform maintenance, a token freeze, and charitable causes into the FMT token cycle. All net revenue generated by transaction and subscription fees will be divided in the following way:
- Platform Maintenance (30%) — Will cover the running costs, maintenance and expansion of the Ecryptostore platform.
- User Rewards (30%) — Incentivizes platform users, promoters, and merchants.
- Token Freeze (25%) — During a 24-month period, tokens will be frozen and removed from circulation under smart contract. After 2 years, “defrosted” tokens will re-enter circulation through the token cycle.
- Charitable Causes (15%) — Will go to charities voted on by users via social media.
Free Market Tokens are currently being sold in a public ICO set to end in early September 2018. There will be a total of 550 million FMT in circulation, with 250 million FMT up for grabs in the ICO. The price of 1 FMT is US$0.07, and tokens raised by the ICO will be distributed in the following manner:
- Public Sale — 250,000,000 FMT
- Reward & Bounty — 125,000,000 FMT
- Founders, Advisors & Dev — 100,000,000 FMT
- Private Sale — 50,000,000 FMT
- Reserve Pool — 25,000,000 FMT
Conclusion
Finding a project that’s both useful and aligns the incentive of entire marketplaces is surely one that’s worth a deeper look. With major eCommerce players like Amazon and Alibaba in a state of adoptive delay, there’s opportunity out there for smaller players to get a piece of this global pie. Time will tell if there’s a team out there that takes advantage of the situation.
For more information on Free Market Token, check out the Ecryptostore platform, and learn more about their token sale at their ICO page. For more on news and updates, follow them on Twitter and Telegram.
Related: Transforming Ecommerce with Ecryptostore and Free Market Tokens
