The total addressable market for the global gig economy is $1.5 trillion,

with North America accounting for over half of the world’s freelancers. Freelancer marketplaces like Fiverr, TaskRabbit, Upwork are widely used for a range of services, including programming, creative design, daily tasks and more. However, these centralized platforms charge extremely high fees ranging from 20 to 40 percent of a freelancer’s earnings. This ultimately works to demotivate top freelancers from adopting these platforms, reducing the overall quality of the networks they provide.

One startup hopes to undercut these centralized platforms with a unique approach. Storm is a newly re-branded blockchain project that aims to create a low-fee, transparent freelancer platform that works to gamify microtasks and make workflows more engaging. Storm cuts out the middleman by leveraging smart contracts that securely link a freelancer to an employer, essentially eliminating fees as money is stored on the blockchain instead of a centralized escrow system. To further incentivize freelancers, Storm has introduced gamified microtasks that can be completed on mobile devices and are paid out in Storm token.

Storm already has over 1.4 million downloads and 250,000 monthly active users, in addition to the STORM token community.

Interested in Request Storm? Here’s a quick rundown of the project:

Platform & Development

The two major features of the Storm Market are the blockchain-driven interactions and the concept of freelancer microtask gamification.

In its current build, the Storm Market is a centralized platform that leverages an ERC20 token for incentives. However, the Storm team is building blockchain-based smart contracts that will decentralize the process of creating and engaging in tasks in the Storm Market, removing inefficiencies and enabling a more transparent interaction between freelancers and employers.

To build out further incentives on their platform, Storm has introduced the idea of freelancer gamification, which is the “process of integrating game mechanics in ‘non-gaming’ contexts, such as websites, apps, and services, in order to boost the user’s motivation for participation, enhance the level of engagement and increase user loyalty.” These gamified microtasks will ultimately allow users to earn while hitting project milestones or performing independent tasks in areas like machine learning, QA testing, and P2P services.

Important to the Storm Market is the ability for freelancers to complete tasks on the move. That’s why Storm launched a mobile application that currently lets users earn STORM, bitcoin and Ethereum by trying out new games, products and services.

Storm Market offers a significant number of incentives for freelancers vs traditional competitors, and they are currently undergoing a significant re-branding to help further stand out.

Team

The Storm team is based out of Seattle and boasts a very impressive advisory board, with names like Bill Shihara (founder of Bittrex) and Guy Benartzi (founder of Bancor).

Token Financials

Storm (STORM) currently has a market cap of ~$120 million with a circulating supply of 4,088,853,037 STORM and a total supply of 10,000,000,000 STORM.

Final Take

Storm aims to improve upon the first generation of freelancer marketplaces with a blockchain-based gamified platform that lowers fees and improves the user experience. If they are able to capture market share from the established platforms, Storm could see significant value creation.

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Disclaimer: The author(s) of this article may have a position in one or more of the securities mentioned above. This article is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. Always conduct your own due diligence before making investments.