In some of our previous blog posts, we talked about an Amoveo meetup in Moscow and how we’re trying to crowdfund it. The meetup went ahead, and it was a big success — we gathered over 70 industry professionals, entrepreneurs and technology enthusiasts together in one room, and many of them learned about Amoveo for the first time. You can read more about it here. One of the main goals of our meetup was to use and showcase the platform’s capabilities, and we did so with a crowdfunding campaign. Above all, we wanted to inspire other local communities to do the same, and spread the word about Amoveo in the process.

Our campaign was successful — we managed to raise 21 VEO from several contributors, and we are only just getting started. In this post, we will describe every step of the funding process, and by doing so we will provide every member of the community with a detailed guide on how to create their own fundraisers on Amoveo.

Dominant Assurance Contract (DAC)

The first thing to know about crowdfunding on Amoveo is that it is done through a Dominant Assurance Contract. This concept is explained in-detail in one of our previous blog posts.

In short, DACs are contracts which will only release funds to the creator of a public good if that good was created exactly as it was described. If the provider fails to do so, the investors will get their money back with interest on top. This model actually incentivizes contributions as the most profitable action for the investor, as they will either finance the good and get it, or increase their net worth. Thus, not contributing at all is the least profitable strategy of all.

Step 1: Pitch your idea to the community by providing the scope of work.

Depending on what you’re raising funds for, this can be done in various ways. The first successful DAC in Amoveo’s history was set up to fund the creation of an alternative user interface. Eric Arsenault, the community member that pitched the idea, uploaded a PDF file with the proposed idea and contact details to Google Drive. For this to be credible, it is critically important to upload a document that can’t be altered to change the proposition. The Telegram chat is the main hub of Amoveo community, but it’ll be worth posting it on the forum and other hubs as well as asking for it to be mentioned in the weekly newsletter.

Our approach was slightly different. We wanted to raise funds to cover at least a portion of our meetup expenses, so effectively our proposition was that the meetup will actually happen. After discussing this idea with several community members, we came up with a way to both prove that the event took place and add more value to our proposition. The DAC was to be considered fulfilled on our part if at least 10 people posted their pictures from the meetup on social networks with the #AmoveoDAC hashtag. For this, we didn’t need to create a document, we decided to include this information into the oracle question.

Step 2: Get some VEO and access the platform.

You can get your VEO on several exchanges, here is the complete list. There is also this Telegram bot which you can use to buy it for BTC or ETH with no KYC and no fees. In terms of storage solutions, you can use MyVeoWallet, an online and desktop wallet developed by Exantech, or set up a wallet using the Amoveo light node.

The easiest way to access the Amoveo light node is by using one of the servers maintained by community members. This one is maintained by Zack Hess, lead developer, and this one is hosted by Exantech and utilises the alternative user interface funded by the community. If you would prefer to set up your own light node, you can find the instructions here.

Step 3: Create an Oracle.

Oracles are mechanisms of blockchain platforms responsible for relaying information from the outside world into the platform. Creating an oracle will be your first step of interacting with Amoveo, as the subsequent contracts you make will be “tied” to that oracle.

In Amoveo, oracle questions are answered by community members verifying the information from the outside world and placing their bets on either ‘TRUE’, ‘FALSE’ or ‘BAD QUESTION’ outcomes. If the answer is universally known, there is no point in providing false information to the oracle, as it will inevitably result in the loss of funds, when the malicious reporter is outbid.

So let’s get started. Whichever interface you’re using, you need to choose ‘Create new questions to bet on’, this will take you to the new_oracle page. Click ‘mainnet mode’ and then ‘sync with network’. Wait until the ‘height’ number reaches the current height, you can look it up in this explorer.

The next step is to connect your wallet. Simply upload the .txt file with your private key by clicking ‘choose file’. This is how it should look once uploaded: