Photochain: Stock photos meets blockchain tech, a revolution for the photographers among us

Introducing Photochain

The world of imagery and photography is often looked down upon, but that hasn’t stopped it from becoming a 3 billion USD per annum market. Photographs are still one of the primary ways we communicate with the world, with pictures being uploaded to Instagram, Snapchat, facebook and several places for free.

High quality images are one of the primary ways of showing sophistication, and the prep time it takes for many shots usually justifies the price tag that are seen on stock photos.

Popular services like Shutterstock, Getty images control a large percent of the stock photo industry, yet contributors and customers are often unable to meet up with their stringent rules, fees, and mannerism.

Of cause, nothing much can be done about it since the system is centralized and maximum profit is the goal.

With the advent of blockchain technology, however, things are starting to change, and just like a new wave is blowing on the social media regime via steemit, medium and a host of other platforms, so is a new wave blowing in the photography and stock image industry.

Photochain basically is the next step in photostocks, a DApp using blockchain tech via the ethereum network to provide better incentives for contributors.

Why choose photochain vs conventional stock photo services

Photochain is unique in that it allows both contributors(those with the artwork) and customers(those that are willing to purchase) to benefit from the system.

While other services take a large percent of your total sale, you as a contributor on photochain will be able to keep 95% of the proceeds from any sale, while only 5% of any sale will be taken as service fee

This fact along with the fact that there will be more competition should lead to a reduction in prices, which in turn will benefit the customers.

The possibilities of a fairer, more incentified photo industry that pays contributors, photographers, artists higher than ever before could be a reality.

To test out how their services will be run, there is already a demo site created by the initiators of this project, and it is already stunning.

Check it out here https://demo.photochain.io/#/.

Perhaps the most interesting features of the whole system is the creation of a special database called the digital copyright chain, which store copyright information about all the images uploaded. This information can be accessed by anyone, anywhere due to the blockchain component added to the whole process.

Contributors are paid in PHOTON token, which means they are paid immediately their pictures, images etc are bought by a customer.

Token details and distribution

Photochain tokens are called PHOTONS, an ingenious play on the word photon, which means a light particle.

The PHOTON tokens are built on the ethereum blockchain, which makes it an ERC-20 token. 79% of the tokens will be sold during the pre-Ico and ICO stages, and it can be bought using ethereum or bitcoin.

A total of 230m PHOTON tokens will be created, with 170m for sale.
The token will be distributed after the crowdsale.

Token allocationpercentageToken sale79%Management & team & legal14%Adviser4%Bounty3%

Proceeds from the token sales will be used as below

ExpensespercentageIT development30%Marketing30%Copyright and Licensing10%Infrastructure8%R&D and Platform evolution5%Legal, accounting, audit4%Cooperation with photo agencies4%Allocation to contributors4%Business development3%Conferences and meetups2%

ICO details

The ICO starts on thr 6th if April 2018 at 8AM CET, and runs through to the 18th of May 2018 the token can be purchased using Ethereum or bitcoin, the exchange rate of 1 PHT = 0.00017ETH.

The minimum transaction used to purchase is 0.1 ETH, while the maximum is 1000ETH

Based on when you join the token sale, you’re given a certain amount of discount;
For the first 10 days, -30% discount is given, or 1PHT = 0.000119ETH
For the next ten days after that and the one after that, discounts corresponding to -20%, then -10% and finally -5% are given.

20% discount corresponding to 1PHT = 0.000136 ETH at day 11- 21
10% discount corresponding to 1PHT = 0.000153 ETH at day 22- 32
5% discount corresponding to 1PHT = 0.000162 ETH at day 33–43

Roadmap

DateInnovationApril 2017Idea-Idea business case and market researchJune 2017Project evaluation-Devopment of DApp prototypeSept 2017Strategy&design-Go-live of the Dapp prototypeOct-Nov 2017Preparation for crowdsale-Communication and marketing activities-Commitment of the Blockchain Community-Commitment of the photography community-Legal form-Advisers and new team membersDec 2017Pre-Sale preparations-Private Pre-Sale at special discounts for early supportersJan 2018Private Pre-Sale preparations-Private Pre-Sale at special discounts for early supporters-Enhanced documentation and planning-New team members-Community growing-New partnershipsFeb 2018Transition-Preparation for Main Sale Event-Compliance and regulations-Developing a more comprehensive Photochain DAPP versionQ1 2018Main Sale event (ICO)-Publishing of new collaboration partners-Regulatory compliance for our Main Sale EventQ2 2018Operation-Photochain DApp Version 1.0 on the Ethereum-Mainnet-Trading of the PHT Tokens at Crypto ExchangesQ3 2018Continual improvement-Photochain DApp as standalone client on all common operating systems

Sources:
Website — https://photochain.io/
Whitepaper — https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C4UPA9-9o2cOLJOEYMIVwN_Fi3Ebtn2YcRua58hQ7_0/edit?usp=sharing
Twitter — https://twitter.com/photochain_io
Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/Photochain-141364963181927
Medium — https://medium.com/@photochain
Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/photochain.io/

MY BTT: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1060300