Bet on this: blockchain will revolutionize gambling – and not a moment too soon. The betting industry is awash with dark tactics and dirty tricks where bookmakers collude to leech value from the customer. Just like any centralized entity, betting platforms hold the keys to your money and can rescind your account at any moment.
Often, this moment comes just after a huge bet has been won. There are countless stories of betting companies refusing payouts on big wins just about whenever they can, banking – often correctly – on the fact that the cost for the average punter to drag them to court is too punitive and the punter will just give up, with their will and finance squeezed out of them.
The betting industry is, without doubt, one of the most toxic, brutal, exploitative, and nasty sectors currently given license by national governments. With blockchain-run eGaming, a reckoning is coming. Blockchain’s publicly verifiable betting contracts, instant settlement of winnings, and decentralized approach to bookmaking promises to wrench control from the bookmakers and put it in the hands of the punters.
Augur is one of many initiatives racing to set up betting platforms on the blockchain – in this case, Ethereum. Augur is a “prediction market”. Similar to exchange, except instead of trading IOUs for assets users wager on the outcome of events – whether that be sporting, news, weather, or anything else that can be scried. This is important, as it generates a global data point tool for crowdsourcing information on just about anything imaginable, which doubles up the usefulness of the network as a way of taking sentiment about events.
Anyone can create a market that other users can bet on. It’s a peer-to-peer decentralized betting market that lets punters choose their own game and their own appetite for risk under the supervising safety of the blockchain that powers it – knowing that fraudulent activity is impossible and everything can be seen openly. No company is making or overseeing these markets and slicing their own flesh off the outcome. Augur does take fees from trading of bets, shares, and positions on markets though.
The software acts as an order book for markets created and shares in predictions and bets can be traded amongst users freely. There is no artificial limit on when you can sell your bet. It’s completely up to anyone who might want to take it. Augur uses an Ethereum smart contract to execute outcomes (closing of markets), ensure the correctness of the outcome, and make sure that winners are suitably paid.
When users win a wager, they are rewarded in REP. They can also bet in REP. The token can also be used to create the prediction market for the event you want to open a book on. However, users are also free to bet using other crypto-tokens they own – namely ETH and DAI.
Most importantly, REP is required to report on event outcomes. By doing so, users earn a share of the fees collected during the trading of the prediction event. To decide what the real-world outcome is, Augur oracles (called “reporters”) – users which have staked REP in one of Augur’s smart contracts – are relied upon. Their consensus is the final consensus and is considered the truth when Augur pays out winnings. If one of the oracles lies or deviates from the consensus – their stake is confiscated or slashed.
Augur is a complex wager prediction market that lets users bet on anything at all and swap their bets at will. It will lead to open, fairer, holistic bookmakers that can be relied upon to give transparency to all users.
If you are new to the world of digital assets then getting cryptocurrencies can be a confusing prospect. It may be a bit simpler with the top two Bitcoin or Ethereum, but what about that lesser-known Ethereum token, such as REP, that you have heard so much about?
Numio is a great choice for REP. With Numio you can send and receive your stored REP instantly and at the touch of a button. If you want to try something a bit more advanced you can use Numio to trade and swap REP.
Getting REP is easy on Numio. You can use your credit or debit card to purchase ETH or USDC, which can then be exchanged for REP*, you can swap or trade it for other ERC-20 tokens (up to 100x cheaper than other wallets), and you can send or receive it as payment. Whatever way you choose you can be sure that you are always in full control of your REP.
*L2 trades for other tokens coming soon”
View Augur listed on coinmarketcap.com
View Augur listed on coingecko.com
RT @paulgebheim: For those following the @AugurProject dao transition, here is the PR from @DXdao_ governance team! Looking forward to sta…
RT @DXdao_: Augur is decentralizing through DXdao's guild governance framework! Soon, a proposal will be posted on DXdao's forum to discus…
The Forecast Foundation would like to thank everybody who has supported the project since inception. Today Augur takes its most decisive step toward decentralization. We look forward to this new chapter with you all 🤝❤️
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