The Future of Web Crowdfunding: An Ethereum Blockchain Approach

Abstract

One of the most efficient methods of crowdfunding in today’s world is using websites such as GoFundMe or KickStarter or Indiegogo. Those are websites where people are creating a project, presenting it with a whitepaper and people who like the idea or for an example, there are also people who are looking to get some money to do something like a wish or a dream come true, and for their medical treatments. The downside of this is that people who are creating the ideas or “projects” they are obliged to pay 20% or more in commissions to these platforms. Here comes the new era of cryptocurrency where decentralization is the main point of its existence. By cutting the middle man, such as the banks, these type of websites, people can use this technology to send peer to peer transactions to each other without being tracked by a third party or being in some way commissioned for some service. The technology developed by Vitalik Buterin and his team, who are developers of the Ethereum cryptocurrency, they made this coin and a platform to code with it. The language for coding in the Ethereum network called Solidity. With some or none coding skills, anyone can make their own “token” which is an expressed currency depending on the needs of the creator, could be any service or platform that can accept anyone’s token. The momentum of this movement is that anyone can create a project, for example a crowdfunding that will be expressed with the currency of the token, which will be given from the creator (the one who is having the idea) and the price also. Therefore, a creator is generating the token and is selling it proportional with the price of the Ethereum (ETH). When people are buying this token they are actually supporting the creator who receives the ETH from the supporters and they in return get Token which in the future if the project is successful they can use that token for the services of the platform or to sell it on an online cryptocurrency exchange. The presented work shows the process of creating a personal ICO (Initial Coin Offering). The goal is to create a powerful anonymous way to fund projects and to receive a product from the developers, which in this case would be a Token named ServiceCoin (SRV), for which they would have to buy it using Ethereum cryptocurrency in order to receive the tokens. We will go thru the process of installing a cryptocurrency wallet using MetaMask (Google chrome extension wallet), then we will use Brackets text editor in order to sort our code. After we will use Remix IDE to compile that code and at the end we will use MyEtherWallet.com service to publish our ICO so everyone can verify and see the actual tokens.