Today the Origin development team is happy to announce the launch of the Origin Protocol Demo DApp on the Ethereum Rinkeby test network!

In our DApp, you can create sample listings in different sharing economy verticals such as vacation rentals, tickets, transportation, and simple “for sale” offerings. Below we’ll show you how to use it right in your browser.

While it may look similar to traditional web sites that you have used, the Demo DApp is radically different in its underlying architecture. In fact, just a few years ago it would have been technologically impossible.

Origin does not own a database where the listings are stored. Instead, all data is stored across computers around the world running open source software. Also, you don’t need to register with Origin to participate, only a freely available Ethereum wallet.

Behind the scenes, each listing is stored in a contract on the Rinkeby test network, which is cryptographically linked to extended data on IPFS. Users interact with Ethereum’s blockchain by using the MetaMask browser extension.

That was a lot of buzzwords and acronyms. Let’s cover them one by one:

DApp is short for “decentralized application,” and refers to this new generation of applications that use blockchain technology instead of a traditional centralized server backend.

Rinkeby is the name of Ethereum’s test network, named after a small town in Sweden. The test network runs the same software as the main Ethereum network, but has its own separate blockchain. You can get free Ether on it for testing, but — too bad! — this Ether has no value and cannot be exchanged for real Ether or fiat currency.

IPFS is a project from Protocol Labs that provides decentralized file storage allowing larger content to be stored efficiently across a peer-to-peer network of servers. The letters stand for “Interplanetary File System.” The Origin Demo DApp uses IPFS to store listing details such as photos and textual descriptions.

MetaMask is a free Chrome extension that is an Ethereum wallet, but also acts as bridge between the Web and Ethereum. For example, when you make a purchase in our Demo DApp, code on the web page launches MetaMask with details of where to send Ether.

Our Development Philosophy

While the technical details are impressive, equally new and exciting is how this DApp was created. In a traditional tech startup, we would have developed this code in secret and perhaps filed a few patents by now.

Instead, our DApp was created as an open source project by a collaboration of full time employees and volunteers. All our code is freely viewable on GitHub, and we hope more people will download it and contribute. (Including you!)

Tour

If you can’t wait to try the DApp yourself, skip ahead for instructions.

The home screen shows all available listings. The listings are first fetched from the Ethereum blockchain, and then the photos are loaded from IPFS.

Clicking on a listing takes you to a detailed view.

Clicking the “Buy” button will launch MetaMask where you complete the transaction.

The transaction is added to the next block, which will be mined within 15 seconds.

The apartment is now yours, time to pack for Paris!