Inside Dether.io: Overview and Exclusive Interview With Founder

Today, the CryptoAnalyst team’s been lucky enough to gain an exclusive interview with Dether.io co-founder Abdelhamid Benyahia.

Before we get to that, though, let’s give you an overview of Benyahia’s project: its specs and mission.

What’s Dether.io aim to do?

Dether.io aims to be a completely decentralized way of trading Ethereum for cash in person-to-person (P2P) transactions.

The project’s a dapp, powered by smart contracts run on the Ethereum network.

For now, the platform is in Alpha ; it’s compatible with Google Chrome for Android users and Safari for iOS users.

Moreover, the Dether team aims to have its first physical store location by the end of 2019.

In their own words, per the Dether.io whitepaper:

“Dether provides a decentralized peer-to-peer ether network that enables anyone on Earth to buy ether with cash and spend it at physical stores nearby. No bank account is needed, just a mobile phone with internet access. Our belief is that the beauty and power of the Ethereum technology should be easily accessible to all.” “We’ve decided to put all of our energy and that of the Ethereum community into helping us build the first trustless solution that will allow anyone to be able to interact with the Ethereum blockchain no matter who you are, where you are, and without the need for a middleman.”

Coming crowdsale specs

The associated token of the Dether.io marketplace is the ÐTR.

ÐTR token total supply: 100.000.000 ÐTR max

Maximum cap on crowdsale: €15 million / $17.5m / £13m

Payment Method: ETH

What does Dether.io solve?

Several things potentially:

It can cut down on costs and time needed to register and deposit fiat through traditional, centralized outlets

Can considerably streamline the currently labyrinthine buying process for ETH

It gives users the ability to turn their ETH into fiat in minutes.







Now, we shift to our exclusive interview with Dether.io co-founder Abdelhamid Benyahia.

We appreciate you taking the time to talk to us today, Abdelhamid! We’re honored. Let’s get right to it, shall we?

1) Can you describe the genesis of the project? What was the formation of Dether like?

(AB): It all started with a text message sent by my cousin, Mansour, who lives in Oran, Algeria. He was facing some financial difficulties and having trouble paying his rent, and he asked for my help. Of course, I was willing to help him, but instead of sending him euros through Western Union, which is costly and takes time, I simply sent ether to his Jaxx wallet on his phone. It’s easy, very cheap, and almost instantaneous.

But I didn’t realize that it’s almost impossible to change ether to Algerian dinar or use ether as a means of payment. None of the online cryptocurrency exchanges accept Algerian dinar. And even if they did, my cousin didn’t have a bank account at that time, as it’s expensive to have one.

So, Mansour had two options: either he had to convince his landlord to accept ether as a means of payment, or he had to find a way to change his ether into Algerian dinar so that he could pay his rent. And many French-Algerian citizens, just like me, who have access to cryptocurrency in France, go back and forth between the two countries.

Because of this, we can easily become sellers once they’re in Algeria. That’s when I thought that if my cousin Mansour in Algeria was facing this problem, many other people all over the world are and will face the same issue as well. And it’s an issue that creates barriers to Ethereum mass adoption. So, the idea of creating Dether, a mobile decentralized application that enables anyone to buy ether and spend it at physical stores, seemed obvious.

2) Why P2P? Did you find peer-to-peer to be better suited for your goals than a traditional exchange format?

(AB): We think that P2P simply doesn’t work without decentralization.

Decentralization is at the heart of blockchain; it is even viewed, in the words of Vitalik Buterin, as “blockchain’s entire raison d’être.” Bitcoin paved the way for the first use case of blockchain technology; an “electronic peer-to-peer cash system,” as described by Satoshi Nakamoto.

Now, Ethereum enables anyone to build unstoppable applications: a trustless digital world where its applications don’t have any kind of censorship, fraud or third party interference. A world where you can participate in a democratic and autonomous organizations without previously knowing any participants.

A traditional exchange format doesn’t provide a fully decentralized peer-to-peer ether network, while a P2P system does.

3) Regarding mass adoption, do you think Dether can play a sizable role in bringing ether to the flar flung corners of the world?

(AB): As you know, nowadays, buying and selling ether is a long and difficult process!

It takes time and costs money

Buying ether online is a time-consuming and difficult endeavor for most. Registering online, depositing money and verifying your information takes days or weeks. And we all know time is money—especially when the value of ether rises with every passing second.

Financial institutions still play a major role

Even though blockchain’s raison d’être is about decentralization, central authorities, like financial institutions still play a major role. The most common way to buy ether is to make a deposit from your bank to cryptocurrency exchanges.

It creates barriers to Ethereum adoption worldwide

More than 2 billion adults in the world are unbanked. As online cryptocurrency exchanges require bank deposits and only accept specific fiat currencies, these populations are also excluded from Ethereum’s benefits in fighting censorship, fraud or third party interference.

The last mile issue has yet to be solved

Sending ether to the opposite side of the world takes seconds. But once you have it, how can you transform it into cash in only minutes, whether you have a bank account or not? How can you quickly find a store where to spend it?

Dether aims to solve these problems by proposing a fully decentralized peer-to-peer ether network that enables anyone on Earth to buy ether with cash and spend it at physical stores nearby.

4) What is your goal for the project? Where would you like to be in 5 years?

(AB): In 5 years, we hope see Dether all over the world! Building a decentralized network like Dether only makes sense if it’s being used on every continent. That’s why we’re going global from the very beginning.

And in 5 years, we see Dether as a decentralized solution that will be driven by its community who will shape its future developments. Ideas and proposals won’t only come from Dether’s team, but also from its users, who will know best what’s needed to make Dether the game-changing app for Ethereum mass adoption.

5) Could you tell us a little about the ÐTR token? What it’s for?

(AB): ÐTR is the ERC-20 token that allows people from all over the world to participate in Dether’s development. Dether proposes a freemium model, where users are incentivized to use ÐTR tokens to unlock additional features on Dether as a seller or a physical shop and have more visibility on the Dether map.

Dether relies on ÐTR token holders for its future development. ÐTR tokens will enable the Dether ecosystem to grow.

ÐTR is the key token needed to unlock additional features and ensure better visibility on the Dether map.

As a teller or a physical store, staking ÐTR tokens is required in order to increase his or her visibility on the Dether map to buyers. When multiple sellers or physical shops who have ÐTR tokens are competing for a trading zone on the Dether map, an auction system chooses the winner for a determined period of time.

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