Disclaimer: These are just my thoughts written out for you to read. Not intended as investment advice so don't take it as such. Do your own research, trust your judgment, don't invest what you can't afford to lose.

DIRT on Confido!

This is DIRT in a good sense! I know it seems kind of click-baitish but DIRT means Diligent Investigation and Rational Thoughts. In this article I'll be diving into Confido and hopefully providing what the acronym above stands for. This is my first DIRT-y article so you'll have to bear with me while I hone my investigation model and what is important in my opinion as well as what you the readers feel is important in the future. I hope you let me know what I should leave out, include, alter or anything else. So now onto the DIRT! Here is the investigation model I'll be using for now:

1. About the Project
2. Team
3. Product release/future roadmap
4. Token Value
5. Competitor(s)
6. Overall Thoughts

About the Project

http://confido.io

Confido is a payment solutions plan for individuals to buy physical items from other people or e-commerce businesses with Cryptocurrency. It leverages the Blockchain's inherent traits combined with a smart contract and unique shipment tracking feature to ensure trust and transparency between parties and without 3rd party "intervention." Here is how it works:

So lets say we're both using a platform where people sell 2nd hand or new items and meeting up locally to transact isn't feasible. I message you and we come to terms on pricing and determine that we both have the Confido app. I open the app and ensure I have enough funds then search for your username. Once found, I generate a transaction (smart contract) and deposit the amount we agreed upon along with my shipping address. The smart contract now holds the funds and notifies you of the newly generated transaction (smart contract). Now it's your turn to ship the product and enter the tracking info into the Confido app. The smart contract is now acting as escrow (3rd party) for funds as well as monitoring the shipment of the product. Once the product is delivered the smart contract will automatically release the funds to you as long as the product isn't faulty.

If the product is faulty I can put a hold on the funds until we are able to handle the dispute via the built-in messaging service. The are only 2 options once I put a "hold" on the funds: Release funds to you or you refund me depending on how we decide to handle the dispute.

Confido will be utilizing Ethereum and RSK blockchains to be able to utilize both Ethereum and Bitcoin as means of payments. They will expand the cryptocurrency options in the future. In order to be able to operate smart contracts for both Eth and Btc while accessing shipping data, Confido will also use Chainlink which offers interoperability between Blockchains while also being able to access APIs, in this case from shipping companies. Here are more infographics that helps explain the above paragraph:

The Team

We all know how important a strong team is. We need to have confidence that the team is capable and have the experience to accomplish the vision. The great thing about Confido is that it doesn't really have to reinvent the wheel. It's a "simple" project that utilizes what's already out there to solve a much needed problem to bring crypto payment solutions to the masses. With that being said, Confido is comprised of a 4 man team that have experience in payment companies, blockchain development and coding:

The 2 notables in my opinion are the CEO (van Doorn) who has been in crypto since 2012 and has worked at large companies such as Ebay, PepsiCO and Zalando. The other notable is the Full-stack developer (Bellum) who has worked at Groupon and Paypal. Visit Confido.io to peruse the other 2 team members.

Product release and future releases

Time is a killer in crypto and if you don't have a tangible product that's widely used you face the high probability of falling off the map. Confido has stated in their telegram that they will be the first market mover in the payment solutions space. Let's take a look at their roadmap:

Looks like we'll have an Alpha for their mobile and web app soon followed by the beta release w/ merchant API access in Q1 of 2018. The project doesn't seem all that complicated but I assume that Confido will have to follow the development of Chainlink and RSK to be able to develop their own project. In Q2-3 of 2018, It looks like there will be integration with merchants and most likely a "Pay with Confido" option as well as a ramp-up in marketing and platform development. Get involved in their community to be able to follow the project closely. You can find their various social media links on their website: http://confido.io

Token value

There are a few things that drive the value of the Confido token (CFD). The circulating supply (9M) and total supply (15M) are very low and simple economics of supply and demand will drive the price up. The reason why there will be demand is because the fees (.7%) will go to holders of the CFD token on a bi-monthly basis (Paid in ETH). Additionlly, CFD will be the first ERC20 token that well be accepted as a payment method alongside BTC & ETH but will not incur that .7% fee. Taking into account the distribution of the tokens, 60% of the total fees processed through the Confido app will be paid out to holders while 30% will go to the team.

Competitors

Payment processing and solutions is a much needed project for mainstream adoption and is a perfect fit for Blockchain application. The key is to provide a solid app with a great interface as well as being first. As far as I've seen, the main competitors emerging are: Request, Utrust and Confideal. There will undoubtedly be more platforms and Blockchains that will try to capitalize on the same market but feel free to research the competitors mentioned above. I will be possibly be writing articles or perhaps doing video reviews on these projects.

Overall Thoughts

I would recommend you visit http://confido.io to take a look at what the mobile app will look like and to read their whitepaper. Confido has a simple but elegant design to tackle a much needed problem. As consumers looking to buy physical items with cryptocurrrency, we need to be able to trust a total stranger or business. Confido will do this in all the right ways without over-complicating it. It's not reinventing the wheel, it's utilizing the best current technology options to give users the best application and doing it sooner rather than later. Confido eliminates centralized third parties that has the power to close accounts, charge exorbitant fees and collect your data. Confido gives us the power to transact with total strangers but with trust built-in to the technology and adds the ability to make money (in ETH) via less fees (or 0 if paying with CFD) as well being paid out bi-monthly for holding CFD. If Confido can make it to market first there's no reason why it can't gain mass adoption due to the solutions it provides. Combined with it's low supply, market cap, strong team and business model this project had mass adoption and high value written all over it.

Please leave me a comment about how I can improve for future articles. I don't have feelings so you can't hurt them. Thanks for reading and I hope you liked rolling in DIRT!