The Augur project (REP) began the new year by showcasing the usage of their prediction markets since the platform went live in July 2018. With reported betting volume of 68,300 ETH (around $10 million) and a total of 1,320,229 REP tokens (approximately $23.5 million) staked for participation and raising disputes, Augur has gained a firm foothold in the betting arena and is beginning to fulfil its early potential as an able barometer for gauging the wider adoption of cryptocurrency.

Augur v1 had the single largest matched bet on the 2018 US midterms election market in the world, and over 5x in matched bets volume on the Canadian election market vs. Betfair. — Augur (@AugurProject) January 3, 2020

Based on the Ethereum blockchain, Augur is an open and decentralised platform where anyone can create a bet or trade in any prediction market. Having established a niche in the political forecast markets, Augur has made inroads against established bookmakers such as Betfair as shown with the betting volume experienced during the recent Canadian election.

A Beautiful Glimpse

While Augur are already some way to achieving their stated goal of “creating the world’s most accessible, no limit betting platform” the team believe that its current state is merely “…a beautiful glimpse of what’s to come.”

This is because the updated version, scheduled for release in Q1 this year, will ship with a range of features that were previously expected to be released piecemeal over a period of time.

Joey Krug, Core Developer at Augur and Co-Chief Investment Officer at Pantera Capital, spoke at October’s Devcon and outlined how Version2 of the Augur platform will come with integration to the 0x protocol for cheaper order creation, modification and cancellation as well as making use of MakerDAO’s DAI as the settlement currency.

It is also expected that fiat on ramps will be incorporated shortly afterwards to facilitate the purchasing of DAI from within the platform.