Their mission is an ambitious one: “to be the #1 cryptocurrency buy/sell platform” in the ecommerce market. The platform is Ecryptostore.com, and they are up against some stiff competition, most notably Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba.
While their goal to capture 1% of the total ecommerce market may sound small, from the perspective of the cryptocurrency sphere, it’s massive. Ecryptostore intends to achieve their goal through the use of the Free Market Token, a utility token that fuels the ecosystem of shoppers, merchants, and the website as a whole.
What is Ecryptostore?
Ecryptostore is an online marketplace with a wide array of features that seeks to bridge the gap between blockchain and the ecommerce business.
Built on the NEM blockchain, Ecryptostore will provide a platform for users to easily set up their own e-store, similar to eBay or Etsy, in which peer-to-peer, decentralized, trustless transactions are speedily and securely put through.
This platform will offer applications for Android and iOS smartphones that will enable users to chat securely, receive push notifications, leave reviews, account for inventory, assess sales analytics, fix pricing, and more.
Its local token, the Free Market Token (FMT), will be used to power a payment functionality, allowing users to send and receive payments in both fiat and cryptocurrencies.
While ecommerce may be a tough market to break into, Ecryptostore has a few unique features up its sleeve that may entice merchants and consumers to join, including:
- Zero fees to open an account: simply register, verify your identity, and list something for sale to activate your account
- Buy/sell items on a local, national, or global marketplace with low fees
- Make and receive payments directly into your crypto wallet
- Buyer protection, as all merchants are verified with traceable products
- Ensure quality of merchants through peer review system
- Unlock premium merchant benefits by paying a monthly fee (250 FMT) or staking tokens (1,000 FMT)
To further a spirit of community, 15% of all revenue made from Ecryptostore transaction fees will be given to a charity, to be voted on by Ecryptostore community members.
The Free Market Token
The Free Market Token (FMT) will ultimately number 550 million in supply, and as it powers the Ecryptostore ecosystem, this NEM-based token is intended to appreciate in value.
With a hard cap of 250 million FMT allotted to the public sale, another 25 million will be set aside for new merchants (at a ration of 1,000 FMT per merchant) through the Reserve Pool. This will keep an element of fair play in token distribution, preventing whale investors from setting up monopolies.
The FMT will act as a utility token, getting users access to different tiers of the Ecryptostore platform. It will also power a robust bounty and referrals rewards program. Merchants will be able to stake tokens to access more benefits, and instead of placing funds in an escrow, thus enabling Instant Settlement Payment features.
As the Ecryptostore community grows, so will demand for FMT, thus driving its value up. Ultimately, it will be used as a medium of exchange on the platform, with users receiving a discount (up to 50% off) in transaction fees if purchases are made in FMT.
The Team Behind Ecryptostore & FMT
Co-founder Nathan Burns has 12 years worth of successful expertise in marketing, ecommerce, and business, as well as well as various blockchain projects in Australia. He co-founded the School of Blockchain, which trains professionals and corporations in blockchain and cryptocurrency.
Co-founder Austin Lewinsmith is an entrepreneur and financial mentor with a valuable skillset in leadership, business development, and capital raising in the blockchain industry. He also co-founded School of Blockchain.
Co-founder and Software Development Partner Rafael Bergola has a background in accounting and finance, and is the CEO and founder of Fligno Software, a software development and digital services company.
In addition, the Ecryptostore team is comprised of a robust ground of advisors and legal counsel, as well as a strong and quality-orientated team of developers.
Roadmap
Ecryptostore has laid out a very detailed roadmap, spanning up until Q3 2018.
Currently, they have completed the stages of beta testing, payment gateway integration, and private token sale. Upcoming, they have the public token pre-sales and sale, plus ICO token audit and integration of other services, such as Ecryptostore wallet, iOS and Android apps, and escrow/instant settlements.
For community members who like to see every step of the roadmap broken down, Ecryptostore offers full transparency, with percentage bars showing just how close to completion each milestone is. So their website is well worth the visit if you want to check up on their progress.
ICO
Ecryptostore’s first pre-ICO is currently underway, with FMT tokens placed at the limited price of US$0.025 per token. There are 50 million FMT available for purchase, with a US$30,000 maximum for each buyer, and a 10% referral bonus. Pre-ICO 1 will continue until the 50 million token limit is reached.
Once that happens, Pre-ICO 2 will kick off, which consists of 100 million FMT tokens for sale at US$0.0375 per token. There is a limit of US$40,000 maximum per buyer, with a 10% referral bonus. Pre-ICO 2 will continue until July 7, or until the limit of tokens is reached.
At this point, the public ICO will begin, where a limit of 100 million FMT tokens will be offered for the price of US$0.07, with a maximum of US$50,000 per buyer. In each of these token sales, FMT can be purchased for BTC, ETH, and XEM.
Ultimately, with their goal to raise US$12 million, the Ecryptostore team intends to put these funds towards development and integration of the payment platform, marketing campaigns, and translation of the website and whitepaper into multiple languages.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, Ecryptostore intends to bring the transparency, high speed, and decentralization of the blockchain to one of the largest markets in the world.
With their goal to capture just 1% of the ecommerce market, Ecryptostore predicts their target revenue to be US$1.75 billion. This is certainly a lofty goal, but their business model is solid and every step of the way has been meticulously planned out.
Ecryptostore intends to go beyond providing just a standard online platform, and actually solve existing problems in the ecommerce world. With the trustless, P2B ecosystem provided by NEM, Ecryptostore intends to tackle fraud, provide users with tax invoices as proof of exchange, offer users an automatic online storefront so beginner merchants can hit the ground running, and extend their reach to a global market.
Get a look at the Ecryptostore platform, and learn more about their token sale at their ICO page. You can also read their whitepaper. If you’d like more information on breaking events, follow them on Twitter and Telegram.
