The next few months and years will usher in hundreds of thousands if not millions more into the Cardano ecosystem. Their experiences, journeys, successes & failures will be dependant on their little knowledge & familiarity of all things Cardano compared to those of us who have been in this community longer and may know quite a bit more. That said, there are still some in our community who don’t know everything and learning from someone directly could help overcome hesitation, paranoia, mistrust & disbelief, which have held back active participation in DeFi, CNFTs, and even the basic act of staking to a pool.
Let's face it, we all have friends or family members whose participation in Cardano ended after purchasing ADA from an exchange. They may need additional help, far more than what YouTube vids, blogs, FAQs, IMs and tweets can provide if they are the type of person who consumes knowledge in different ways, i.e. directly learning from someone.
knowcardaknow, our solution of providing a knowledge marketplace where a Cardano-experienced person can make him/herself available for assistance and provide know-how to someone or an organisation who may wish to know more or who is not very good at DYOR, creates another pathway for increased participation.
knowcardaknow will allow users to create profiles and utilise the platform either as Providers or as Clients (for want of better nouns). They will be taken through seamless business flows to agree on the method for the knowledge exchanges. Knowledge shared can of course be free but for those who may monetise their time and effort, initially we will utilise available fiat gateways. At the very least, this indirectly provides basic security that the person with whom you are dealing with is a validated person IRL or in the legacy world, which is critical during the initial stages of the marketplace. This hopefully helps minimise bad actors and scammers. However, in the future when ADA payment gateways are available, e.g. COTI's or Marlowe smart contracts, this would be adopted in future phases.
knowcardaknow will provide a Ratings/Review system post knowledge exchanges and this would assist in the organic growth of user reputation & trust, until ATALA Prism DID is available and can be added to profiles. Exemplary ratings could be the basis of Providers' worth.
A ‘Provider’ can be;
- A Plutus/ATALA pioneer who may either answer questions, give advice to a project or be recruited into a project
- A well-known & respectable Cardano YouTuber with generalised knowledge who can answer many ecosystem-wide questions, sharing tips & tricks
- An experienced CNFT project creator/artist who may want to impart knowledge on NFT creation and marketing
- A Catalyst Community Advisor/veteran CA who may wish to educate new CAs or new proposers on how to achieve their best
- A Cardano expert who may offer knowledge, advice or guidance to an organisation, a company or a project who wish to participate in the ecosystem
- An ordinary, non-technical Cardano user familiar even with the simple creation of wallets, staking & send/receive which could be daunting to a new user
- An SPO who may want to offer their services to configure, troubleshoot, or share knowledge on the business acumen needed to successfully recruit delegators
- All of the above Cardanians from countries where English is not commonly spoken
A ‘Client’ can be;
- a new participant in cryptocurrency
- A cryptocurrency veteran but unfamiliar with the Cardano ecosystem
- An organisation who may wish to learn more about Cardano or receive advice & guidance
- An artist who may want to learn about CNFT minting and its processes
- A long-standing Cardano Community member who hesitates participating on any of the defi for lack of knowledge or confidence
- All of the above from countries where English is not commonly spoken.
There could be other personas or situations in our ecosystem for which such a marketplace could help.
To date, our scan of the cryptocurrency industry reveals that such a marketplace doesn't exist. If knowcardaknow becomes the first, we will not only provide another on-boarding mechanism for Cardano participants to our ecosystem but also demonstrate Cardano's progressiveness in the industry. We always think of our community first and those who may want to join us.
knowcardaknow is a knowledge-sharing marketplace open to anyone in the Cardano Community and also to those who have just joined the community whether they intend to actively participate in the ecosystem or not. It is our hope that current Cardano social media personalities and participants sign up as knowledge providers and offer their services and knowledge to anyone who may wish to know more.
We hope the marketplace becomes a welcoming entry point for the millions of new ADA hodlers who will soon enter the ecosystem in the coming months and years.
Since the establishment of such a platform is unique, there are no other Project Catalyst Challenge Settings under which this proposal can be submitted hence our participation under the Miscellaneous Challenge.
There are numerous challenges and risks prevalent in any type of online marketplaces and predominantly the main risk is awareness of its existence hence a significant percentage of the funds will be used for marketing purposes in all major social channels. This is intended to make knowcardaknow known within and without the Cardano Community.
The second risk is participation, or rather, the lack thereof. knowcardaknow will require ADA experts and good citizens to offer the types of know-how and tips & tricks which users will want to know. Conversely, it will also require users who seek knowledge to engage with the Providers. To mitigate this challenge, we intend to use a significant percentage of the funds for marketing purposes, targeting the social channels where such personalities are active. Since both 1st & 2nd challenges can be overcome with marketing, and since funds are limited, a very smart campaign is planned to get the 'most bang for the buck' as they say.
Another risk is the presence of bad actors. knowcardaknow will publish the common safety messages/warnings throughout the platform to constantly remind all users to 'NOT SHARE YOUR PASSPHRASE'. In addition, the platform will utilise a ratings/review mechanism (pre-ATALA Prism) to organically surface the best Providers whom users can trust. We expect those with glowing reputations will also command premiums for their knowledge and services so this acts as positive re-enforcement on the platform.
In terms of the platform itself, configuration settings and parameters may not be suitable for our intended services exchange. Notwithstanding, we will endeavour to configure it in the best possible way to drive adoption. It is our intention to create a DAO to decide on the marketplace's direction, when a sustainable future is deemed possible.