On August 8th, 2018, USA-based BizShake released an alpha prototype of its ecosystem for renting real-world assets on the Ontology TestNet. The project aims to allow users to rent and pawn real-world assets in a decentralized, trustless environment.

BizShake describes itself as being the latest and most efficient step in the evolution of business and payment models. They see business as moving from the traditional, centralized business-to-customer model with high fees (for example, a pawn shop, or Hertz Rental Car) which later evolved towards a customer-to-customer with centralized settlement and high fees (for example, AirBNB). The BizShake business model is a peer-to-peer model, but instead of using a central party to process payments, it is designed to use the blockchain as a decentralized, low cost, and secure method of handling payments and resolving disputes.

BizShake MVP

BizShake have released version 0.1 of their MVP Technical Document on their Github. In its current state, the web application enables publishing and sharing of assets in the SmartRent business model. As indicated in the BizShake Roadmap, future releases will incorporate pawning (short term loans secured by a real-world asset as collateral), dispute resolution, SmartCertify (a future use of non-fungible blockchain tokens that also involves incorporation of “Certifier Users” to verify the authenticity of high-value assets), and an API for developers.

The site is currently programmed to allow rentals worldwide in a broad variety of categories such as electronics, motor vehicles, clothing, housing, and musical instruments. Users can search the listings by keyword, category, date, and location. The BizShake smart contract will handle all transactions and payments between peers in the ecosystem. BizShake will charge fees totaling 5% of the rental income and 5% of the loan interest that is accumulated on its platform.

The BizShake alpha is not yet a fully functional rental market, as the payment system has yet to go live.

BizShake has “fully integrated” Ontology’s ONT ID into it’s MVP, which will be used for user logins, as well as asset identities, ownership certificates, and valuation certificates for assets. More information on the specific code that directly interacts with the Ontology blockchain is available in the Technical Document.

Giuseppe Lo Presti, CEO and Founder of BizShake, said in a statement: “The idea of this MVP is to serve as our proof of concept to give a grasp of how our dAPPs will look like and showcase the potential of the Sharing Economy 2.0 implemented on BlockChain technology. The full integration of ONT ID is the first of its kind and will provide already a substantial trust platform on which the users can rely.”

BZS Token

The BizShake private sale is scheduled to start October 1st, 2018, with the public sale beginning on October 15th. The BZS token will be registered as an NEP-5 asset on the NEO blockchain. 50 percent of BZS tokens will be offered to the public, with another 15 percent allocated to the project’s founders, 30 percent held as reserve, and 5 percent going to advisors. Progressive bonuses are available for early investors. The project’s soft cap is 50,000 NEO.

More information about the BizShake project can be found at the links below.

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