MyBit enables Crowdfunding IoT Assets via Blockchain

Switzerland-based MyBit was created in 2016 with the aim to use block chain technology, tokens, and smart contracts to allow seamless distributed ownership of IoT machine assets by democratizing capital investment, replacing traditional centralized financing and ownership.  MyBit’s approach is based on allowing consumers to invest in each other’s projects through revenue sharing agreements, bypassing traditional lending practices. Consumers buying a stake in a revenue-generating system receive a portion of that revenue in return. MyBit claims this approach allows the unlocking of hundreds of billions of dollars in investment opportunities previously out of reach of small investors.

The decentralized micro and nano grid energy segment is the first market MyBit is addressing by allowing consumers and small businesses (collectively referred to as prosumers) to tap into crowdfunding for financing solar panel installations on residential and commercial rooftops. Over and beyond funding solar installations, it also represents an opportunity to monetize private space (though profit sharing from feed-in tariffs and surplus energy sent back to the grid) while at the same time becoming more independent from the grid.  MyBit believes this will accelerate the decentralized deployment of renewable energy generation not possible with large scale solar farms operated by large utility companies. Future use cases MyBit aims exploring include smart property (smart locks), automated machinery, self-driving vehicles, drones (goods delivery), smart homes, 3D printing, and cryptocurrency ATMs.

MyBit’s technology is based on Ethereum smart contracts to streamline interactions and processes, guarantee transparency though real-time auditing, avoid tampering and abuse, and maintain security in an overall frictionless model that eliminates intermediaries and brokers. 

So far, the IoT opportunity has been linked to large scale projects requiring considerable investments. The combination of hidden costs (back-end integration, training, operational changes) and uncertain benefits (level of cost savings, increased competitiveness) has limited the number of IoT deployments and overall market growth. A fragmented supplier ecosystem often offering proprietary solutions is also instilling fear around longevity and lifecycle management challenges.

Clearly, crossing the chasm towards more widespread deployment of IoT tech, will require new, disruptive approaches. While open platforms, open source software, and IoT marketplaces will reduce some of the ecosystem friction, innovation in funding and ownership will be needed to drive IoT to the next level, and the ultimate end game of ubiquitous adoption. 

IoT technology and blockchain in particular have the potential to enable peer to peer approaches as it relates to both financing projects and powering the sharing economy more generally. Car sharing, home sharing, and micro energy grids are just some examples of how markets could be disrupted by leveling the playing field. However, the real opportunity is to be found in market adjacencies, allowing cross vertical use cases leveraging synergies between mobility, energy, housing, and communication markets through frictionless micro-payments.  

However, while there seems to be a real opportunity for IoT to embrace new smart economy models, the risk of it to be hijacked by large corporations and powerful brands is high. Some community-based peer to peer efforts have already failed.  There are doubts about whether peer to peer sharing of driverless vehicles will be able to compete with the quasi monopolies of global brands like Uber, Didi, or Tesla as they seek to control the smart mobility of the future. The same holds for energy and real estate markets.

At the same time, the aggressive growth of these companies has fostered a backlash from worker’s unions, and has increased pressure on implementing legislation governing P2P in terms of addressing and protecting worker rights. This could inhibit democratization of both the corporate and community controlled sharing economy.

More generally, governments will have to regulations in place to allow and organize new smart economy models with the very notion of self-employment to be fundamentally reviewed.

In any case, from a technology perspective, the systems are being put in place to at least offer an alternative to consumers. MyBit is just one early example of a company showing the potential of a new economy model aimed at democratizing capital investment and ownership to a much wider audience.  It illustrates the real impact of IoT goes far beyond technical innovation and cost savings. It has the potential to redefine the economy itself. MyBit is sowing the seeds for an economic revolution.