Blockchain opportunities for our trade Thread poster: antoni lesinski
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This is the continuation of the discussion from here:
https://www.proz.com/forum/business_issues/339569-ab5_bill_in_california_what_to_do_now-page3.html?sns=1&post=2828071#2828071
Let me have a few thoughts on why I see blockchain as and opportunity for the profession of translators and interpr... See more This is the continuation of the discussion from here:
https://www.proz.com/forum/business_issues/339569-ab5_bill_in_california_what_to_do_now-page3.html?sns=1&post=2828071#2828071
Let me have a few thoughts on why I see blockchain as and opportunity for the profession of translators and interpreter.
First we need to understand what is blockchain and what does it do. Basically it is a decentralised ledger of assets, can be public or private, it can facilitate smart contracts, notarization etc. and is perfect for transparent management or co-ordination of scalable organizations. In essence it is easy to set up a cross border organization without the hassle of the legal formalities or costs as same would be minimal. So we may see it as multinational organization with shares distributed to the participants and investors. In our case the goal would be to provide opportunities to use services of (certified where applicable) language specialists without involvment of any third party. The benefits for the members are obviously better financial conditions for their jobs and for the customers - cheaper prices. The method - pooling the effortst to finance it as a startup, all the interpreters who fulfil the minimal qualifications can participate. The verifiction process of the qualifications will be carried out via blockchan in each individual case (notarization function of the blockchain).
Would it need financing thorough Initial Coin Offering? Probably but I am not an expert. I think however that would be a natural consequence. The tokens would be used to pay for the services of the interpreters along with other currencies of choice including so called "stable coins" which are basically dollars on the blockchain. If that works as an economic model some fractions of the payments for the services can be automatically deducted to cover the marketing costs or other things, perhaps even pension funds you name it. As everything is automated there is no stuff to pay or other fixed costs. Same like bitcoin has no central bank or the clerks but it is functioning as a currency perfectly without them.
In other words I think that the future of our trade is in blockchain and soner or later sam as in the case of other services our business will be carried out in that fashion.
I hope you get the overall idea. ▲ Collapse
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:51
Member (2008)
Italian to English
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Dan Lucas 
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:51
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
antoni lesinski wrote:
In essence it is easy to set up a cross border organization without the hassle of the legal formalities or costs as same would be minimal.
Can you provide any examples of such organizations? Because last time I looked blockchains had not removed the need for legal formalities in setting up a company or some other significant organization in, say, Japan, or the UK, or Germany.
Dan
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John Fossey
Canada
Local time: 19:51
Member (2008)
French to English
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| Blockchain realities | Jan 27, 2020 |
antoni lesinski wrote:
... without involvment of any third party. ...
Before you get any buy-in to using blockchain for translation/interpretation services, you will have to get buy-in from the clients.
I don't see that happening in the foreseeable future. LSPs are still going to need sales forces to make contact with the market and uncover business opportunities. And like it or not, clients, LSPs and service providers are still going to be located in specific jurisdictions and subject to the laws of their jurisdiction. Blockchain doesn't eliminate that fact.
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| DAOs - but I am not a qualified expert | Jan 27, 2020 |
Dan Lucas wrote: antoni lesinski wrote:
In essence it is easy to set up a cross border organization without the hassle of the legal formalities or costs as same would be minimal. Can you provide any examples of such organizations? Because last time I looked blockchains had not removed the need for legal formalities in setting up a company or some other significant organization in, say, Japan, or the UK, or Germany. Dan
There are probably hundreds if not thousands of such organizations
https://blockchainhub.net/dao-decentralized-autonomous-organization/
Depending on the jurisdictions different approach may apply. But in essence I see it rather as a platform for the services and decentralised system of payments aand sharing costs of the marketing. Think rather of it as of Uber but for a different type of services.
My knowledge is very superficial. I know more or less how do they work but would not be a best person to do a presentation Just wanted to draw youe attention to blockchain solutions in the language sphere. I think English Forward is also doing a project on the blockchain but I am not sure if it is progressing or abandoned.
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John Fossey wrote: antoni lesinski wrote:
... without involvment of any third party. ... Before you get any buy-in to using blockchain for translation/interpretation services, you will have to get buy-in from the clients.
Not sure if I understnd. If DAO is created and populated wit service providers clients may do business paying with tokens or cryptos or stablecoins ($). The tokens are supposed to be offered before DAO is created as it needs funding. Instead of taking a loan in the bank for such business you are offering them tokens as ICO and once they are sold you hire the developers and create the thing to put it in simple words. There are restrictions in ICO's since there were many scams etc. It does not mean however that it is not possible or illegal.
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 01:51
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decentralized_autonomous_organization
This approach eliminates the need to involve a mutually acceptable trusted third party in a financial transaction, thus simplifying the transaction.
The problem is that the DAO itself becomes the "mutually acceptable trusted third party", so the transaction isn't really simplified. And if something goes wrong, you can't complain to anyone, because the DAO isn't a company -- it's just a ledger.
antoni lesinski wrote:
If a DAO is created and populated with service providers, clients may do business paying with tokens or...
Clients typically do business with individual service providers, and not with a pool of service providers. Even when service providers are in a pool, they are selected from the pool, and the pool itself does not perform the work -- it is done by the individual service providers who are individually liable and responsible. If you create a pool and state that all members of the pool are responsible (and liable!) for the work done by the pool as a whole, then I suspect no-one will join the pool.
DAO may be great for companies, but you won't convince freelance translators to join a company -- traditional or otherwise.
[Edited at 2020-01-27 18:02 GMT]
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| Sam you're right | Jan 27, 2020 |
Samuel Murray wrote:
Clients typically do business with individual service providers, and not with a pool of service providers. Even when service providers are in a pool, they are selected from the pool, and the pool itself does not perform the work -- it is done by the individual service providers who are individually liable and responsible.
Exactly. Dao governs the marketing aspect of the decentralised service in terms of its funding. Most likely in real time by taking fractions of the payments via blockchains and thus funding the marketing on the internet or even outside thorough smart contracts. A participant/ytanslator is getting jobs individually, has his own profile and contact etc. What is missing from the equation are the agencies. I think it is even possible to create pools of interpreters locally to take part in tenders for interpreting or other projects.
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DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
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| Google: Blockchain+problems | Jan 28, 2020 |
Weighting cons and pros, one should always consider the notorious human factor...
For what it's worth, now it's like a poor man's depersonalized escrow idea with less control.
Would you trust your good name and money (and future) to a known respectable party or a digitized anonym? The risk management says it all.
However, blockchains and smart-contracts in current form and state are quite easily abused by crooked admins--just check numerous semi/criminal HI... See more Weighting cons and pros, one should always consider the notorious human factor...
For what it's worth, now it's like a poor man's depersonalized escrow idea with less control.
Would you trust your good name and money (and future) to a known respectable party or a digitized anonym? The risk management says it all.
However, blockchains and smart-contracts in current form and state are quite easily abused by crooked admins--just check numerous semi/criminal HIYP (high-yield investment programme) and other shady schemes. ▲ Collapse
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Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:51
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
antoni lesinski wrote:
There are probably hundreds if not thousands of such organizations
So nothing concrete. Understood, thanks.
Dan
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| By its nature | Jan 28, 2020 |
By its nature the block chain is still far from be usable without a large investment. Furthermore, the development of block chain is today almost totally focused on the speculation of cryptocurrencies.
However, when the speculative phase passes we will see great changes in many areas of certification and online business.
[Editado a las 2020-01-28 11:37 GMT]
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Lincoln Hui
Hong Kong
Local time: 07:51
Member
Chinese to English
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This is fundamentally different from a customer looking for a translator through the ProZ directory because why?
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| way more than different | Jan 28, 2020 |
It is not only a directory but a directory generating income an interpreter can profit from like from shares. Members can for example vote on specific funds to be allocated for some specific goals like marketing or others. Within the organization you can create groups to take part in tenders locally and this operation can be funded from DAO etc. But most importantly there is no third party profiteering from the work of the interpreters/translators. Everything is transparent and you can see it on... See more It is not only a directory but a directory generating income an interpreter can profit from like from shares. Members can for example vote on specific funds to be allocated for some specific goals like marketing or others. Within the organization you can create groups to take part in tenders locally and this operation can be funded from DAO etc. But most importantly there is no third party profiteering from the work of the interpreters/translators. Everything is transparent and you can see it on the blockchain. It is quite natural that such undertaking needs its own token to be exchanged for the services. In other words its a work for bitcoin (tokens can be traded of course) but can denominated in fiats and even aid in fiats ($ € etc.) that are called stable coins. Lots of opportunities...
[Edited at 2020-01-28 18:13 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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