RefToken in plain English
Where do we stand?
The blockchain has been attracting some of the most brilliant technological and financial talent in the world, the explosion of development talent and funding has created the perfect storm for a paradigm shift in the way apps are built. As much as AirBNB, Uber and the rest of the sharing economy has disrupted the user/provider relationship, these are now being perceived to be a prequel to the the final step of the evolution of B2C relationships – the elimination of the middle man to create C2C business models.
Where are we going?
Industry estimates put the first blockchain unicorn about 2-3 years out, assuming the same pattern of rapid expansion and disruption that the sharing economy underwent manifests itself in the blockchain space, this will be followed by a rapid number of successful applications of the concept. The cost, efficiency, transparency and technological advantages of blockchain based apps have already cemented them as the future of tech, the only hurdle to left to overcome is bringing these apps to the mainstream.
The chicken and the egg
As founders conceive tomorrows great new businesses, and investors pour money in their projects, an inevitable point will come in any project’s life where investors will need to see growth in order to release funding. User acquisition costs have been growing exponentially for the last decade, giving founders little choice but to turn to affiliates, who market their apps to the mainstream market at their expense with payments issues for each successful conversion they generate.
Why they need us
Affiliates need an impartial platform to record, report and issue payment for their traffic. Brands need a secure way of ensuring that they are only paying commissions on real conversions and that no bad actors are abusing the system (commonly knows as affiliate fraud). RefToken keeps both parties confident in their business by eliminating all possibilities of malicious behaviour by either parties.
Whats the token for?
Tokens will be bought by merchants and held in escrow by RefToken in order to ensure adequate funds to pay affiliates for their services. On each conversion the predetermined amount of tokens will instantly be paid into the affiliates wallet, in the event that the balance in escrow runs low, the smart contract pauses itself until funds are replenished. Any time an affiliate would like to withdraw (or simply stabilise their holdings due to a favourable token price), they can instantly convert their REF tokens to a fiat linked stable coin. Once they exchange their REF to the stable coin, RefToken will release it back into the markets at a rate that protects the tokens long term value. A stable coin is required as ad networks such a Google AdWords, Facebook etc, are ultimately paid for in fiat currencies. You can read more about how our tokens work here.