One of the sectors which is ripe for disruption is the real estate industry. In the US for instance, a handful of historic and very powerful players operate what is known as MLS, or Multiple Listing Services, and hold unofficial monopolies on residential and commercial real estate listings. Brokers, who depend on these listing services to sell properties, agree that their incumbent positions have created a situation where fees have continued to rise, while little to no added value has been added for their users. Stephen King and Russel McLernon join us to explain RexMLS, a decentralized Multiple Listing Service built on Ethereum and IPFS. Currently in beta, the DApp would allow brokers to list properties at a very low cost, and be accessible to international markets, something which is lacking in the current model. Topics covered in this episode: The basics of MLS or Multiple Listing Services What is RexMLS and the problems it is trying to address The benefits of a decentralized MLS The different technical components of RexMLS Why they chose Ethereum and IPFS The user experience of RexMLS The product’s roll-out phases How users are incentivized to participate in the system The RexDex token exchange and the token injection model RexMLS’s governance model Episode links: RexMLS Website RexMLS Beta RexMLS White Paper This episode is hosted by Meher Roy and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/145

Prediction markets are fascinating financial instruments which have proven to be accurate at making predictions on things like the outcome of elections, geopolitical events and sporting events. But in our heavily regulated financial world, they are the subject of much controversy. In 2013 for instance, a well-known US prediction market, Intrade, was forced to shut down following a civil suit filed by the CFTC. While some people consider prediction markets to be a useful tool for society, others consider them to be a form of gambling, which is one of the reasons why they have been met with such resistance in certain countries. A purely decentralized prediction market would operate outside the scope of the regulated financial world and be resistant to censorship and outside intervention. We’re joined by Joey Krug, Co-Founder and Core Developer at Augur, a decentralized prediction market built on Ethreum. The project, which was initially meant to be a Bitcoin sidechain, has ported to Ethereum and is currently in beta on the Testnet. Users can forecast real-world events, such as the outcome of the US election, and earn profits if they are accurate in their predictions. Reporting on events is crowdsourced using a consensus-based system similar to proof-of-stake. Topics covered in this episode: How prediction markets work The controversy around prediction markets The Augur project and what it is trying to achieve The evolution of Augur The different components of Augur Reporting on events and the reputation token Security, attack vectors and how they can be mitigated Augur’s business model The ethical aspects of prediction markets Augur’s structure and governance Episode links: Augur Augur Git Repo Augur Docs EB139 – Martin Köppelmann: Gnosis – The Ethereum Prediction Market EB97 – Paul Sztorc: Truthcoin & Prediction Markets, From Information-Overload To Crowd Intelligence EB98 – Robin Hanson: Futarchy, Prediction Markets And The Challenge Of Disruptive Technology EB141 – Ralph Merkle: Revolutionizing Democracy Using DAOs This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/143