Amoveo: Peer-to-Peer Synthetic Derivatives
/Executive Summary
Amoveo represents one of the most unique projects in the space. It is a proof of work blockchain (SHA256 variant) that uses Nakamoto consensus in conjunction with betting to create an oracle system that securely transfers arbitrary data to its blockchain. This allows for a wide range of design possibilities.
Amoveo adopts concepts such as futarchy from Robin Hanson, the idea of trustless prediction markets from Paul Sztorc, Nakamoto consensus from Bitcoin, and atomic swaps from Tier Nolan. It has implemented a form of non-custodial exchange through payment channels, a concept that allows for derivatives markets to efficiently and securely scale. A recent paper by Dan Robinson titled The Rainbow Network: An Off-Chain Decentralized Synthetics Exchange thoroughly summarizes many of the concepts that Amoveo has implemented since its launch in March 2018.
Global, permissionless prediction markets are one of the most interesting use cases. Prediction markets aim to capture the “wisdom of the crowd” by providing a financial incentive for correctly predicting an outcome. Historically, markets have shown to be very accurate in predicting election results and sporting events but the implications are much larger. The launch of the Augur prediction market in the summer of 2018 piqued the interest of the crypto community but the project has struggled to deliver an acceptable user experience due in part to scaling and throughput issues. Products such as Veil look to improve the user experience but at the expense of censorship resistance and security. Amoveo provides an alternative, and we think superior, approach to solving the oracle problem and scaling prediction markets.
Amoveo was founded by Zack Hess who has been architecting and developing the solution for about four years. Prior to launching Amoveo, Zack designed and implemented MVPs for Augur and Aeternity. He has been one of the most prominent voices in addressing the game theory and security around oracle solutions. Much of his commentary can be found on the Bitcoin Hivemind forum where he and Paul Sztorc share extensive thought on the design of prediction markets.
The thought space for prediction markets, Amoveo’s direction of design and the developer focused community inspire excitement. No matter one’s allegiance in the crypto sphere, we encourage the community to explore the project’s aggressive experimentation.
Ikigai, its affiliates or principals, own an interest in the project discussed in this article. See article for additional disclosures.
