Cryptocurrency for Bicycle-Sharing Planned By oBike
Singapore bike-sharing operator oBike is planning to create its own cryptocurrency in the first quarter of 2018. The company teamed with blockchain firm Tron to create the cryptocurrency.
oBike is Singapore’s first homegrown, stationless bicycle-sharing system with operations in several countries. The bikes have a built-in bluetooth lock and can therefore be left anywhere at the end of a journey, not just at a docking station. Users use a smartphone app to locate and hire bikes. oBike launched in Singapore in February of this year and has since expanded to 12 other countries, including Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, Australia, Thailand, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Sweden.
The cryptocurrency, called Ocoin, will be based on Tron’s protocol. It will be used to pay for rides and top-up oBike wallets. oCoins can also be used to buy online content or be used on any application that is on Tron’s platform, which includes audio content community Peiwo and live-streaming app Uplive.
Tron is a blockchain-based decentralized protocol that aims to construct a worldwide free content entertainment system with the blockchain and distributed storage technology. The protocol allows each user to freely publish, store and own data, and, in the decentralized autonomous form, decides the distribution, subscription and push of contents. It enables content creators by releasing, circulating, and dealing with digital assets, thus forming a decentralized content entertainment ecosystem.
oBike Singapore general manager Tim Phang said that the intrinsic value of Tron is based on entertainment and content, and oBike fits into that whole ecosystem. Cycling is going to bridge that gap between offline and online activities. In addition, this allows oBike users to be rewarded with cryptocurrency, which has the potential to grow in value, unlike other rewards systems in the market.
oBike co-founder and chief marketing officer Edward Chen said that he is confident the introduction of oCoins will be an attractive proposition for users to continue riding oBike in more ways than one. He added that as a tech company, they are dedicated to bringing better value and benefits to their users through constant innovation and mutually beneficial partnerships.
