Storm and DecentBet the Gamification of Cryptocurrency
Storm (STORM) and Decent.bet (DBET) are two very different cryptocurrencies with the same basic goal. The goal is turning cryptocurrency into a game.
Storm plans to use gamification to help people earn extra cash through odd jobs on the blockchain. A good way to think of Storm is as Amazon Mechanical Turk for the blockchain. The difference is that Storm pays the workers in cryptocurrency rather than fiat cash.
Part of Storm’s goal appears to be getting video gamers to like work by turning work into a game. The idea is the gamification of work, which will undoubtedly sound like a worthy goal to many of the mothers of the world.
Storm Makers and Storm Players
Storm Players can be paid immediately in Storm Token (STORM), Bitcoin (BTC), and Ethereum (ETH). The Storm ERC20 Token is a real cryptocurrency that is backed by Bancor’s Liquidity Network. That means it can be exchanged easily for Bancor (BNT), and it is Ethereum compatible.
The big flaw at Storm is that quality of work it offers is very low. The work currently available consists of getting paid to play (test) new Android games. Since Android games are big business this might be more lucrative than one might think. Storm’s blog claims people have earned 249 BTC ($1.68 million), 570 ETH ($299,979.60), and 13 million Storm Tokens (STORM) ($338,000) playing games.
That makes STORM similar to platforms; like Yumerium (YUM) and 777.Bingo (777), which also plan to pay people to play games. A big difference is that Yumerium and Bingo are efforts to monetize existing games, and add games to the blockchain. Storm appears to be a game-testing platform.
Storm might be easily adapted for writing, editing, copyediting, copywriting, bookkeeping, and clerical working. Such tasks appear when the platform starts offering gigs namely microtasks. The hope is to enable anybody anywhere to earn a “living wage” performing gigs everywhere. GIGS will face competition from products like WorkCoin which is in the process of holding an initial cryptocurrency offering (ICO) to build a blockchain based platform for Freelancers.
The next project after gigs will be “Shop” that might be products people can buy with STORM tokens or offering jobs as a product tester or a secret shopper. The Storm for iOS app would be launched after GIGS and Shop are available. A web app that will people to use Storm on Personal Computers is proposed which might open the door for work for work from home opportunities.
Storm Needs some real Jobs
Unlike Aitheon (AIC) and SyncFab (MFG) Storm seems to offer no potentially high-paying jobs. Aitheon wants to enable individuals to operate robots or self-driving vehicles through the blockchain. SyncFab wants to allow people to operate machine tools over the blockchain. Storm can safely be accused of offering bullshit jobs.
Storm has one major advantage over those applications, the “GIGS” it is offering really exist. My guess is that higher paying or more intensive work might appear once Storm gets perfected. Storm claims it can mobilize a workforce of 1.6 million Players in 187 countries.
Storm is trying to create at least one “job;” in the form of its “Storm Makers “who are entrepreneurs that to monetize the network by forming and mobilizing teams of Storm Players. Businesses Storm Makers can enter include gathering machine-learning data and business intelligence, and conducting a wide variety of research.
One way Storm Makers might make money is by selling data gathered from their players. The data will be harvested via the StormX suit of services. The GIGS will generate a totally source of data.
Storm is An Interesting Cryptocurrency
Storm raised serious money by selling $32 million worth of Storm Tokens during its 2017 crowd sale. It has signed up 1.5 million workers through its Android app. Anybody can become a storm maker by filling the form at this website.
The Storm Token was realistically priced at 2.1¢ on 13 June 2018. It had impressive Market Capitalization of $86.405 million and a very respectable 24-hour market volume of $9.792 million on June 13, 2018, according to CoinMarketCap. There was a circulating supply of 4.165 billion STORM and a Total Supply of 10 Billion Storm on the same day.
Storm is an interesting cryptocurrency that might generate some money someday. The microtasks might be big business in the near future, particularly in the developing world. There are some huge barriers to that plan, especially the internet scalability problem.
Present versions of Ethereum are simply not fast enough to run enough transactions to make solutions like Storm profitable. Storm claims it will offer off-chain capabilities to make that possible, but provides evidence of it.
Decent.Bet is an Online Casino
Decent.Bet (DBET) is the most honest gambling-related cryptocurrency I have seen. It is nothing but an online casino that offers slots, sports betting, and two classic casino games craps and roulette.
Decent.Bet is trying to build an online casino and sports-book platform on the blockchain. That is technically possible but it would be illegal in many countries including the United States and the People’s Republic of China.
Casinos are illegal in China, casinos and sports books are legal in the United States but gambling over the internet is still banned by the Wire Act in the USA. Even greater problems will be posed by tax collectors such as Britain’s Inland Revenue, which will certainly demand their cut of any money Decent.Bet takes in.
Decent.Bet hopes to get around legal entanglements by donating 10% of its profits to charities. That can lead to serious legal problems because charities are heavily regulated. Related problems will be political and religious organizations trying to masquerade as charities.
Bets Guaranteed by Ethereum Smart Contracts
Decent.Bet has some potentially lucrative applications planned including bets backed by Ethereum Smart Contracts. A smart contract is a decentralized application (DApp) that can be programmed to automatically pay out money. That would be a bet that automatically pays which can be profitable for casinos.
Decent.Bet might be profitable in countries like the UK, but it will face an uphill battle in some of the world’s largest markets including the USA and China. My advice would be to stay away from Decent.Bet until its legal status is determined.
Decent.Bet (DBET) was definitely overpriced at the 15.2¢ Coin Price recorded on 13 June 2018. The $19.454 million Market Capitalization and $399,444 24-hour Market Volume, CoinMarketCap reported were unrealistic given Decent.Bet’s questionable legal status. There was a Circulating Supply of 128.602 million and a Total Supply of $186.255 million DBET on the same day.
Like STORM, DBET is ERC20 (Ethereum-based) and part of the Bancor Liquidity network. That makes a good cryptocurrency backed by a very questionable product and business plan.
Decent.Bet would generate lot of money if its creators can figure out how to operate a legal blockchain casino. How they can do that without incurring the wrath of authorities is beyond me.
If you want to speculate in a games-oriented cryptocurrency buy Storm (STORM). Its business is unproven but at least it is legal. My take is that Storm might have a bright future if its creators can get the platform up and running.
