Broke buying the cryptocurrency? Had enough with mining process? But still want an easy way out to acquire crypto coins? oBike has an easy way out for you! This comes as the result of a partnership with blockchain platform TRON.
oBike announced its partnership this Tuesday on 26th December, with the Blockchain Tron. Using the partnership oBike aims to launch its own cryptocurrency oCoins probably during Q1 of 2018.
“In a world’s first of its kind, users will soon be able to ride and earn, thanks to the new partnership,” it said. oBike users will be able to pay for their rides and top up their oBike wallets using oCoins, the statement said.
Merry Christmas! We are exciting to announce our partnership with Obike. Obike is one of the largest sharing economy companies active in 20 countries across Europe, Asia and Australia with 10 million users. Obike will launch sharing bike application and Ocoin based on #TRON #trx pic.twitter.com/dG60lo7iZb
— Justin Sun (@justinsuntron) December 24, 2017
The Singaporean firm, oBike, will offer its riders oCoins in exchange for riding the company’s bikes. The proposition is quite temptimg, for the users get to earn profits over time and that could eventually be used to pay the bike rentals.
Currently the rates of renting a bike using oBike go around like US$1.5 per hour. Much different from the conventional customer rewards, users of oBike could potentially see their oCoins appreciate in time, if Tron gets wider acceptance, that is.
Tron, like oBike, also has its roots in Singapore. It is a product of the Tron Foundation, which in turn is the brainchild of a group of Chinese entrepreneurs. The primary purpose of the platform is to enable the artists to get paid using cryptocurrency directly by the consumers.
It has been known that Tron previoulst has been successful in amalgamating and embeding itself into a number of different social platforms so much that we see it making its way to the bikers, who will definitely benefit from its roots in the social networks. Upon earning oCoins by riding the bike, the users could use the cryptocurrency anywhere in the market where Tron is accepted.
The cryptocurrency earned by the Bikers, can also be used to purchase online content. At the same time it could access any application on Tron’s platform, including live-streaming app Uplive and content community Peiwo. Uplive acts as a video streaming platform. It has channels from thousands of hosts worldwide. The app acts as a platform allowing direct contact between the users and the hosts while doing transactions.
Peiwo is a social content community similar to Snapchat that connects users via voice samples and shared interests, allowing them to chat, play games, and live stream.
Answering to the questions put forward by The New Paper’s queries, the general manager of oBike, Tim Phang said that oBike “fits” into a partnership with Tron.
Users can generate oCoins when they use oBikes, with more coins earned the longer they ride. Tron is a decentralized online content entertainment ecosystem. Its cryptocurrency, called Tronix, is ranked 18th worldwide in the list of cryptocurrencies. As of now Tronix has a market capitalization of US$3.5 billion and is currently trading at 4 US cents.
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However, the success of the project really depends on how much market they manage to attract. In other words, would they be able to attract cyclists given the humid condition of Singapore?
As of now, oBike hasn’t been that much of popular since its inception in 2017. The city’s humid climate and a lack of cycling paths have come in the way of widespread adoption of biking. Obikes kind of have varying trend in the past, while few of the users enjoy the service, others do not hesitate to show disdain, such was evident from the dumping video that went viral, highlighting a couple performing the act on the bikes.
Nevertheless, bright future might not be far away for oBikes in Singapore for the authorities have announced plans to improve infrastructure for cycling. The governement is also taking steps to reduce the number of private cars on the road and support other better alternatives in its stead. oBike, one of three app-based bike-sharing firms offering short-term bicycle rentals in the city-state, seems to be trying to do its part by offering its own reward incentive, a rather trendy one.
The future of the oCoin really depends on the cyclists market in Singapore and the world generally, if launched in the countries like Amsterdam; the initiative is expected to give better returns.
Till then stay tuned for more updates on oCoin and other cryptocurrencies out there.