summary: BitBay (ticker symbol: BAY) is a cryptocurrency. It was first announced on December 12, 2014 and the development team...
content: BitBay (ticker symbol: BAY) is a cryptocurrency. It was first announced on December 12, 2014 and the development team is located in Miami. As of December 28th 2017, the circulating supply was 1,008,622,506 BAY. BitBay is a free, decentralized marketplace for buying and selling goods and services on the blockchain. You can connect directly with peers and transact without the need for a middleman like Amazon, eBay, or Craigslist. Transactions are secure and anonymous. They’re also guaranteed by escrow. The project aims to be the new standard for eCommerce, allowing individuals to trade one-to-one at scale. As a result, BitBay claims it will revolutionize global trade. BitBay’s name is a portmanteau of Bitcoin and eBay. In a sense, that’s a useful way to think about what the platform does. It’s a marketplace for users to list items for sale and negotiate prices. Those prices are denominated in BAY, the platform’s cryptocurrency. When you reach an agreement, you set up a smart contract that ensures the delivery of the appointed item using escrow. This creates trustless transactions between parties. The more you transact, the more you’ll gain reputation points and the more willing future sellers/buyers will be to transact with you. Centralized marketplaces (like eBay or Amazon) sometimes limit the number of items a seller can list. Or, they’ll require the use of particular payment platforms that take a percentage of transactions. Additionally, they’re restricted geographically, limiting the number and type of potential buyers for the item. Finally, centralized marketplaces store customer data in centralized servers that can be compromised. BitBay guarantees unrestricted access to its platform. List as many items as you want, without geographic restriction. Transactions in BAY tokens are fee-free. In fact, there are no fees at all to use the platform. Double Deposit Escrow Double Deposit Escrow is BitBay’s way of ensuring that items ship and disputes get resolved in a decentralized way. On a typical centralized platform, like eBay, the platform gets involved in resolving disputes. Usually, they always side with the buyer. This can end up unfair for the seller. More importantly, it adds a lot of overhead to the cost of operating the marketplace if you need to resolve disputes. BitBay addresses this by making sure all parties have a stake in the success of the transaction. Before the transaction, both parties deposit an escrow amount as collateral against the transaction. If the product arrives in good condition and the buyer has paid in full, both parties signal a successful transaction and the double escrow is released back to the parties. In the event of a dispute, the double escrow won’t release until both parties are satisfied. This forces the parties to negotiate a reasonable resolution to their dispute in order to get the escrow back. Scammers and other bad actors can’t profit under such a system, because their escrow won’t be returned to them. In addition, BitBay’s reputation system helps buyers and sellers know how much to trust the other party. Users with low reputation or no transaction history might need to put up more funds in escrow prior to making transactions. Meanwhile, users with high reputation will be able to put up less funds in escrow for their transactions. Dynamic Price Pegging One of the key aspects of BitBay as a marketplace is its token is dynamically pegged. This means the money supply fluctuates in such a way that the value of BAY stays relatively flat. As opposed to the wild price swings we see in other cryptocurrencies, BAY will maintain a fairly even, but dynamic value. This makes it more attractive for use as a currency to buy physical goods. You know that when you buy BAY, it won’t immediately drop in value, and you can be confident it will be worth something in the future. The pegs freeze and release coins at certain values, mitigating market volatility and encouraging a consistent, usable marketplace. BitBay hasn’t yet released its pegging technology, but sources I spoke with at the project are confident it will release this year. Privacy & Multisignature BitBay supports all kinds of privacy and security measures. It’s easy to create a multisignature wallet for added security. There are integrations for Tor and other proxies that help anonymize your connection to the marketplace. An on-screen keyboard allows for password or key entry without using your keyboard and being susceptible to keylogging. Additionally, you can create images with your private key embedded, so that finding a stored key is more difficult for a hacker. Timelocks & Atomic Swaps The marketplace also has functionality for time locking contracts and swapping currencies. This enables all kinds of cross-chain transactions and financial implements. The time lock and other smart contract elements make it possible to create bets, escrow, futures and options trades, or any number of other financial transactions.