The 'land grab war' for decentralized marketplace OpenBazaar begins

Centralized services such as eBay, Amazon, and Alibaba have become the dominant force in global e-commerce. OpenBazaar offers users a different kind of e-commerce service that connects buyers and sellers directly. OpenBazaar is building a peer-to-peer decentralized e-commerce network that uses Bitcoin for all payments. Instead of visiting a website, you can download and install a program on your computer that connects you directly with other people who want to buy or sell goods and services, cutting out the middleman.

"Bitcoin gives people more control over their own money, which fits perfectly with the OpenBazaar philosophy - giving people back the freedom to commerce online."

Each user who runs an OpenBazaar application or client creates a connection point or node in the network infrastructure. Each node has a unique name or ID that enables it to communicate with other nodes. The ID is used to find the target store on the network.

Users can navigate the web by entering their ID into the navigation bar in the client program. However, the ID is a string of random characters, which is not very convenient. To simplify navigation, users can create their own shorter "handle" and bind it to their ID. This "handle" can also be used like a domain name or email address to find other people and navigate between stores.

This unique "handle" will be displayed directly below the OpenBazaar user's store name, so users can name their store anything they want. This makes it easier and more convenient for users to register a store, and also provides an easy target for domain squatters.

OpenBazaar has been making a lot of moves recently, and more and more people are interested in its business model, so whether it is for enterprises or individuals, now may be a good time to make an appointment with OpenBazaar first. The OpenBazaar community has 1,985 people working together to develop the project, and Twitter followers have just exceeded 7,750. The installation program of the public beta client version 1.0 launched by OpenBazaar in December has exceeded 22,176 downloads, and the latest version of the testnet has been downloaded more than 8,000 times as of last week.

The development team said that they are assembling a new final version, and after assembling it, they will take down the current testnet version. This process may delete all user data, so users who want to open an online store on OpenBazaar or want to protect their own brand can reserve an "operation handle" before then.

Onename’s blockchain ID is the only identity option for OpenBazaar right now. The development team had intended to offer full Namecoin integration when OpenBazaar launched, but the technical immaturity of identity recognition has hampered their research, so this situation may continue for some time.

While more identity options will be available in the future, including multiple ID providers, the "handle" within the OpenBazaar marketplace must remain unique.

Users who want to reserve an OpenBazaar "handle" need to create a Onename account, including a username spelled exactly like the desired OpenBazaar handle and an email address. Additional data can also be added. The process is simple.

The Onename team said:

Users can create personal or company profiles and share their blockchain IDs on their websites, social media, and business cards so that others can find them more easily online. Developers can integrate support for blockchain IDs to provide users with password-free logins, protected information, and close control over data access and privacy security. With blockchain IDs, users are able to control their own online identities. Because blockchain IDs are decentralized, developers can pursue free innovation without the need for anyone's authorization.

After you tell Onename the email address and password you want to use, a box will pop up asking you to enter your username. You can't use an existing username. It's best to choose the same name as your future store on the OpenBazaar marketplace, and if you plan to use this identity for multiple businesses, it's best to just use your first name.

Onename does not require verification of identity, so users can use nicknames. Of course, Onename encourages users to connect their social media accounts, including Twitter, Facebook and Github, but these social accounts need to have attributes that can match the creation of a Onename account.

However, there are always some problems in this process, and Onename has not published any rules or FAQ to answer these questions, which makes it more difficult for Onename users to connect with other users, which also makes domain name squatting more difficult to achieve. It is also possible to create multiple accounts, but each one requires a unique email address.

Once you complete the Onename signup process and they confirm your email address, your OpenBazaar "handle" is safe. Even if the OpenBazaar testnet goes offline, your registered "handle" is safe and anyone trying to claim your OpenBazaar handle will not be able to verify it on Onename.

Once the full version of OpenBazaar is live, the handle verification process should be simple: tell Onename your node ID, just like telling your domain registrar your server IP address and nameservers. Once Onename has the information, it will write it to the Bitcoin blockchain within 12 hours so that OpenBazaar can recognize and confirm that your handle is correct, and then you can start running on OpenBazaar.

Original article: http://bravenewcoin.com/news/the-race-is-on-to-grab-usernames-for-bitcoin-powered-decentralized-marketplace-openbazaar/
By Luke Parker
Translator: nous
Reward address: 14Gdmj8FuC4RsuuKiEgjNirLXQXbp35SgH
Editor: printemps
Source (translation): Babbitt Information (http://www.8btc.com/race-is-on)