Neylor Zaurisio is developing a new alarm clock app that will pay users to get up and out of bed on time in the morning. This ‘smart contract alarm clock’ aims to provide a simple and easy to use phone app on the front end, with Bitcoin payments and advanced smart contracts running on the Syscoin blockchain under the hood. I spoke to Zaurisio to learn more.

Introducing ‘Better Not Rest’

The basic idea behind the Better Not Rest app is actually quite simple and not entirely new: to help motivate people to get up on time for work, for important appointments and so on, using that greatest of human motivators – money. Simply put, if you don’t get your ass out of bed on time you get charged for it: so if you snooze, you literally lose.

Several apps such as MoneyAlarm have already used the same basic principle with moderate success, but Better Not Rest utilizes Bitcoin payments and smart contracts to take it to the next level. Like other similar services, you start off by making a deposit and choosing how much you want to put on the line (depending on how much motivation you need to get up on time), then set your alarm as normal. If you get up on time then you get your deposit back, but if you over-sleep then you lose it. But that is where the similarities end.

Rather than taking payment through credit cards or Paypal direct to the company behind the app, Better Not Rest takes Bitcoin deposits which are paid straight into a smart contract running on the Syscoin blockchain. By freeing themselves up from holding and processing users’ funds the app is able to return 90% of forfeited funds back to the app’s users. What this means is that if you do manage to get up on time every day, then you not only get to keep your own deposit without any ‘leaks’, you also get paid a share of the coins taken from users who overslept. Because this is done through smart contracts on a public blockchain, the whole process is transparent and automated so that users can be sure they will be paid what they are due.

A detection system using the native sensors found on most smartphones is used to make sure that users really are up and about after their alarm goes off.

Crowdfunding to drive Bitcoin adoption

I want to see this project working and contributing to the Bitcoin community and helping in the adoption of Bitcoin with a simple everyday application that motivates you to achieve your goals and in the end you still earn Bitcoin – Neylor Zaurisio

According to Zaurisio the main motivation behind this project is to help drive the adoption of Bitcoin. In order to do this a crowdfunding campaign has been set up. This is not an ICO or ‘investment’, but rather an old school crowdfund (albeit one accepting Bitcoin, Ether or Sys) for people who want to see this app get built and share in the goal of introducing new users to Bitcoin.

You can make a donation of any size through the http://betternot.rest/ website.

In addition to funding development of the app, 20% of any money raised in this campaign goes straight into a pot which will be paid out to the first 1000 users of the app. This will allow people to start using it without needing to have any bitcoin to make the initial deposit. Combined with a social media promotion campaign targeting people outside the current cryptocurrency community, it is hoped that this will enable the app to provide a fun introduction to digital currency for many new users from day one.

For later adopters, more traditional payment methods will be added to the app for making deposits:

“The user can choose how he wants to deposit the funds, either by using USD/EUR or cryptocurrency (supported by our wallet); At the moment the transfers are automatically converted into Bitcoin and are controlled and kept using the Smart Contract.”

This will allow new people to use the app and earn Bitcoin without needing to have any prior experience with Bitcoin and without needing to buy any through a third-party exchange before they start.

Syscoin smart contracts

Better Not Rest is the first decentralized app (Dapp) to announce that it will use the recently upgraded Syscoin blockchain for its smart contracts, and I was curious to find out why this option was selected rather than going with a protocol more commonly associated with smart contracts and Dapps such as Ethereum.

“The possibility of creating multiple identities through the “Aliases” feature that was implemented in Syscoin version 2.1” was one of the main advantages identified by Zaurisio. At the same time, he added that “features such as escrow and pricepeg were essential for this project to be realized with the UI/UX User Interface and User Experience that I was planning.”

Unlike other platforms, Syscoin is built on top of the Bitcoin code base. This means that you can make bitcoin payments to a SYS address, and these payments can be held within the protocol’s built-in escrow system. Meanwhile the ‘price peg’ feature makes it easy to handle multiple different currencies, and to set prices in one currency and accept payment in another.

In addition Zaurisio and his two developers, Syscoin Team Manager and Developer Dan Wasyluk has agreed to work with the Better Not Rest team to assist in the development of the smart contracts needed for the app.