I am developing and maintaining mobile applications for the startup I work for and we are planning to launch a platform where users can share secondhand goods in the later part of this year. I had the idea of distributing cryptocurrency to users if they invite their friends to our platform which they can use to bid for secondhand items on auction. I am curious as to whether I could use the SAFE Network APIs so that our servers could farm Safecoin to generate accounts for our users and also give rewards for inviting new users. If feasible, they could also opt in to farming through our application.
As I understand the full SAFE Network hasn’t launched yet so I guess my options for the near future are to use the test network or just create a separate network for the time being. Later when the SAFE Network launches it should be possible to transition to using actual Safecoins by having our servers automatically convert the cryptocurrency it circulates through.
I’m interested in hearing anyone’s thoughts on the feasibility of this
It sounds feasible. You can begin by specifying how the various parts would work - no network required for that, or for building the UX for and mocking up your UIs. You can also anticipate quite a bit of the Safe APIs that you’ll use, and be able to mock parts of the system on top of the Safe CLI. So all that is possible now.
I’m not sure how you anticipate your web app allowing users to farm (in their own right) and how you would have it operate with the Safe APIs. It’s possible, but if you want to be a part of Safe and offer users the benefits of Safe, and use those benefits to promote your offerings, then your app would need to migrate to Safe too.
I realise you are starting with a web thing, so could migrate over time - many will follow that path I think - but exactly how you would do that I don’t know. It needs thinking through and will have to work with your business model in a way that can deliver the benefits of Safe to your users.
I don’t think it will work to create a system which trades on Safe’s technology and name, but is in fact vulnerable and centralised. So that’s the important part to get right, and I think tricky to achieve. People will try this out of course, but they will be on the shady end of things, and their users likely to lose out so I don’t see it as sustainable.
It’ll be much easier to build mostly or completely on Safe in that respect, or to have two distinct components that run in parallel (web and Safe) with a migration path from Web-side to Safe-side incentivised by the benefits of Safe. Then the challenge is building your Safe user base in the early days, and managing the risk this entails.
Do you work with Xamiarin? There is a .NET wrapper and a Java library but they will need updating by Maidsafe after the test nets are stable I suspect. They have a mobile app that was built with Xamarin that would probably be a decent example to follow.
A simple web app for desktops and optimized for mobile would be the best and easier first step though, imo.