Raiden Network (RDN) Testing Micropayments
The Raiden Network (RDN) is testing a micropayments solution called uRaiden on the Ethereum mainnet.
Importantly, uRaiden could process micropayments in Ethereum-based tokens. Therefore, Uraiden could theoretically process micropayments made with tokens based on the ERC20 protocol. In detail, they design ERC20 protocol tokens for quick conversion into other cryptocurrencies.
That is big news because most of the blockchain platforms and cryptocurrencies launched over the past two years use the ERC20 protocol. For example, Medium contributor AminCad estimated 91% of the total market cap on coinmarket.cap in January 2018 comprised ERC20 tokens.
How Juventus can boost the Raiden Network (RDN)
The uses to which ERC20 tokens are being put to are vast. For instance, a press release indicates the legendary Italian football club Juventus F.C. has unveiled an Official Fan Token. The Juventus Official Fan token is apparently an ERC20 token.
Juventus fans could give cryptocurrency a huge boost because there are reportedly 340 million of them worldwide. In particular, Juventus estimates that it has 60 million social media followers. Importantly, Juventus has tens millions of fans in football-crazed emerging markets such as Africa.
The Juventus Official Fan Token is the creation of the blockchain platform Socios.com. Socios creates ERC20 tokens for sports teams. Socios’ plan is for fans to collect ERC20 tokens and use them for voting on team related matters.
Long-term goals at Socios.com reportedly include tokens for esports and cricket. Currently the only sports teams with Socios tokens are Paris and Juventus (Turin).
Efforts like Socios.com and the Juventus Official Fan Token are vital for cryptocurrency because they get everyday people using cryptocurrency. Critically, Juventus’s fan base includes large numbers of working stiffs that do not care about things digital.
The benefit to Raiden Network is that Juventus fans could use uRaiden to send micropayments to each other or buy merchandise. Since every sports fan on earth owns a team jersey, Socios is potentially big business.
The Many Lucrative Potential Uses for the Raiden Network (RDN)
There are many potentially lucrative uses for uRaiden out there. Some obvious uses of uRaiden micropayments include:
- Remittances the money immigrants and guest workers in developed nations send to friends and family back home in emerging countries. As an illustration, the World Bank estimates the value of remittances sent in 2017 at $613 billion.
- Remittances are ripe for tokenization because present wire transfer services using 1970s technology are slow, expense, and cumbersome. For example it could cost a Thai worker living in Japan the equivalent of 12 hours wages to send money home. To make matters worse, the worker has no way of knowing if the money reached his loved in Thailand, The Nikkei Asian Review reports.
- Importantly, NOAH Coin (NOAH) is testing remittances sent through its ERC20 cryptocurrency in Japan and the Philippines. Logically, the next step for NOAH is to test micropayments something like uRaiden.
- Ripple (XRP) is testing remittances between Thailand and Japan with the help of several banks.
- Payments for videos, video games, and other entertainment using cryptocurrency.
- The Pan Entertainment Platform 777.Bingo (777) will use ERC20 tokens as payment for video. Long-term plans at Bingo include video and movie content.
- Rewards points. ERC20 cryptocurrencies like Kin (KIN), JET8 (JT8), and Opira are used as rewards points.
- A logical use for uRaiden is micropayments as customer rewards.
- Gambling. Another potentially illegal use for uRaiden will be as payment of gambling winners. Tellingly, there are gambling cryptocurrencies such as Unikoin Gold (UKG) unfortunately nobody knows whether cryptocurrency gambling is legal in countries like the United States.
- Utility payments. Platforms like Power Ledger (POWR) and Restart Energy (MWAT) plan to accept cryptocurrency as payment for electricity and gas bills. Utility bills are an obvious use for uRaiden.
- Prepaid Phone service. BitMinutes plans to market money transfers, remittances, and airtime for mobile phones in emerging markets.
- Banking. Many organizations including BABB or bank on a blockchain are planning ERC20 banking tokens.
- Microloans.
- Consumer goods bought on installment plans. Several companies are marketing electronics, sewing machines, solar-electric systems and other consumer goods purchased through Pay as You Go (PAYG) plans in Africa. They accept payment in Mpesa and other unencrypted cryptocurrencies.
- Prepaid gift, and debit cards.
What are the Raiden Network (RDN) and uRaiden?
uRaiden could serve all the purposes outlined above because it is an interface between Ethereum and blockchain platforms.
uRaiden will apparently integrate with application programming interfaces (APIs) and platforms. That is important because APIs enable online platforms to talk to payment systems.
uRaiden contains a pay-per-use function that could easily pay for video or game content. Obvious uses of pay-per-use uRaiden include; PAYG installment plans, utility payments, and phone minutes. The uRaiden-Pay-Per-Use feature is up and running on the Ethereum Testnet.
An obvious use of uRaiden’s Pay-Per-Use feature is taking payments for YouTube videos. For example, YouTube reportedly had 1.8 billion users in May 2018. Pay-Per-View on platforms like Hulu, Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) and the WWE Network is another obvious use for uRaiden Pay-Per-Use. For instance, Netflix reportedly generated $11.69 billion in revenue in 2017.
What is the Raiden Network (RDN) Anyway?
The Raiden Network (RDN) itself is a sidechain. A sidechain is a digital bypass around the blockchain.
The blockchain itself is secure that it greatly slows transactions. Specifically, Ethereum will only process 10 to 20 transactions a second. That makes it impossible for Ethereum to compete with platforms like Visa (NYSE: V) which reportedly processes up to 65,000 transactions a second.
Sidechains like the Raiden Network offer far less encryption but a far greater capacity. For instance, the Raiden Network is supposedly several hundred times faster than the Ethereum blockchain. Therefore, Raiden could process several hundred or thousand transactions a second.
uRaiden is designed as an API between the Raiden Network and ERC20 solutions like Bancor (BNT). A good way to think of the Raiden Network is as a freeway for Ethereum that lets transactions move faster. Under those circumstances, Uraiden is the on and off ramp to Raiden’s freeway.
There are drawbacks to the Raiden Network. For instance, there is apparently no direct conversion between Ethereum (ETH) and fiat currencies in Raiden. However, solutions like Uphold already offer such conversion.
Another obvious drawback is no obvious conversion to the most-used cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC). However, solutions like Uphold and Bancor are already offering Ethereum to Bitcoin conversion.
The Raiden Network (RDN) is a Great Speculative Cryptocurrency
I think the Raiden Network (RDN) is a great speculative cryptocurrency because of the potential of uRaiden.
Specifically, RDN is cheap right now it had a Coin Price of 47.8¢ on 2 October 2018. Apparently, interest in RDN is fairly low because it had a Market Capitalization of $24 million and a 24-Hour Market Volume of $392,281 on 2 October 2018. In addition, there was a circulating supply of 50.169 million RDN and a Total Supply of 100 million RDN on 2 October 2018.
Speculators that want to take a chance on a payment-oriented cryptocurrency should buy RDN. uRaiden could increase the value of the Raiden Network Token (RDN) if it works as advertised.
