Syscoin Begins The Next Phase of its Evolution with Blockmarket, A Decentralized Marketplace Wallet

Blockchain Foundry Inc., the company behind the Syscoin cryptocurrency, has released Blockmarket Desktop v1.0, an upgraded replacement for the Syscoin QT wallet, which integrates a decentralized marketplace for buying and selling any type of product. With Blockmarket Desktop, Blockchain Foundry moves into the next phase in the evolution of its decentralized enterprise business software.

The Syscoin blockchain was generated in August 2014 and uses a SHA-256 proof-of-work algo. Blockchain Foundry Inc. was created in August of 2016 to focus on “development of low-cost, robust and privacy-focused platforms.” Blockmarket Desktop offers several other features in addition to its decentralized marketplace, including encrypted messaging, digital certificates, escrow, and multisig services. It has drag and drop image uploads, easy wallet lock/unlock, and enhanced category selection.

An identity system is also incorporated using aliases to represent buyers and sellers which will be the foundation for more advanced seller stores in the Blockmarket Web release. Aliases also make for a more simplified user experience because users will not have to reference long, complicated cryptocurrency addresses to use the Blockmarket software, they will only need to keep track of simple “human” names and nicknames. Besides Syscoin, buyers and sellers can transact with bitcoin and zcash.

“Blockmarket Desktop was built with a focus on user-centric design and usability. This desktop-based product will provide access to all of Syscoin’s services in a much more user-friendly format, while also paving the way for a host of other products that share the same foundational UI for a clean and consistent experience across the product suite.”

Blockmarket Desktop is the precedent to Blockmarket Web and Blockmarket Professional. The Blockmarket suite is seen to be a serious competitor to OpenBazaar, Brian Hoffman’s decentralized market project. Similar to OpenBazaar, Blockmarket uses TOR to anonymize buyers and sellers, but unlike OpenBazaar, Blockmarket takes privacy one step further and utilizes zcash anonymity in transactions. “The Zcash protocol was built into the Syscoin core to enable trustless anonymity as a second layer which is a massive improvement to privacy and is cutting edge technology.” The end game for Blockmarket is to become just as efficient and popular as eBay or Amazon and to recreate the eBay/Amazon experience in a decentralized environment transacting with cryptocurrencies.

Syscoin (Blockchain Foundry) is partnered with Microsoft and is offering Blockmarket as a product on Microsoft’s Azure Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) platform in addition to its three other products offered on Azure; Fully Hosted Syscoin Node, Syscoin Price Peg Server, and Syscoin API Server.

Earlier this year, in May 2017, Blockchain Foundry also created a partnership with the Hawaii State government to advise Hawaii in its initiative to begin research into cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology with the implementation of a Digital Currency Foundation. The company will counsel state leaders in the best use and practices for implementing blockchain technology into the Hawaii public and private sector, with a focus on enhancing Hawaii’s business and tourism ecosystems. This partnership came into being as a result of Hawaii House Bill 1481 which calls for state research into blockchain technology.

At the time of writing, Windows and Mac versions of Blockmarket are available, but there is no Linux version. Linux will be supported in future versions, and supported distros will include Ubuntu, Fedora, and Debian. Some background and a tutorial for installing Blockmarket Desktop can be found here.