5miles, the online marketplace giant, attempts to replicate its success through a Blockchain lens.

5miles took the online marketplace model, think eBay, and made it personal through an emphasis on connecting users nearby each other. Now platforms like Facebook are replicating their innovative models into their own systems. They have achieved such success with their business model that they now boast 10 million online US users, $3 Billion per year in transactions and $62 million in private investment. They dedicated some of that money to found the 5xLab, where one of their major research projects has been in Blockchain and its applications. From that research, they gained the confidence to launch their own blockchain trifecta Cybermiles, a cryptocurrency, blockchain development platform and decentralised governance marketplace.

CyberMiles is an overtly ambitious project. Their primary goal is more subtle, they wish to give the same confidence to low and mid-tier companies in their commercial activities that large-tier companies currently assume. Transactions, deals and agreements for your local pizza stores, homemade jewellery maker or town manufacturer, have become very complicated and labour intensive. Even when these commercial processes are sorted, they do not have the same trustless, transparent and scalable rigor that you would expect from a company like Amazon. CyberMiles attempts to bridge that gap with their Blockchain development platform and easy-to-access smart contracts, that will be implemented with their CMT cryptocurrency to achieve those desired traits.

That platform will be first launched through their 5miles ecosystem, and even if only a small portion of the 10 million user-base approve and uphold the crypto-economy, the system will have a highly liquid and expansive backbone to operate upon. This market will be decentralised, which is fairer and will not fail if suddenly a data centre shutdowns, self-improving the 5miles system. With the 5miles system behind the product, new developers can build on the base modules knowing that there are already user market who may utilise their product. Unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum’s growth was not because of its advance in complexity, but rather its advance in simplicity of the fundamental building blocks. Cybermiles seems to be following the same principles, as they are focusing on the strong core dependencies and making them interactable and scalable.

Technology could drive potential success over those new market competitors. Making Blockchain technology accepted by grounded businesses and the average population is the main objective of majority of the industry, and there are many competitors innovating and creating for enterprise. JP Morgan’s Quorum has massive potential to swing industry from the haven of the largest Investment Bank in the world. Quorom is also a blockchain development platform that is past development and is currently being implemented to reform industries, especially the high tail sectors like Banking and Transfer Logistics. 5xLab development instead targets a larger number of small businesses, requires less IT expertise and has created a new middle chain protocol on top of Blockchain. This technology augments the ‘chain’ of the Blockchain, by allowing for large scale off-chain or virtual of-chain processing before the next blog is added. This will eventually enable complex systems to live alongside the market process, like automated procurement and accounting programs. As 5miles and Cybermiles grow, the associated technology integration will also improve. You are as much funding the research of these technology implementation as you are providing structural integrity of the system. If anything, 5miles already provides the structural economic integrity required for the currency, and the funding is purely establishment and R&D.

Investment potential is there, but it is dissimilar to regular ICO or regular investment. The ICO seems to be acting purely as a funding mechanism, not an economic mechanism, so appreciation of the their tokens is in the hands on the CyberMiles, 5xLab and 5Miles Team. If they are successful at R&D, development, integration, useability and applicability, the token will appreciate. If they are successful at marketing, crowdfunding, management and most importantly integration with the 5miles ecosystem, the token will appreciate. Full integration with 5miles is expected to take place in Dec 2018, which gives you an insight for the minimum term of the investment. So the question is not, do CyberMiles have the skills to be a brilliant long-term future industry, but rather, do you trust that they have the skills to conquer the start-up hill in the present? More information about the team and product can be found on their website. Ultimately, that decision is up to you.

This blog is informative, and should not be considered as investment or financial advice.