Memes could catapult Augur into the mainstream. Veil, a new peer-to-peer predictions and derivatives platform, is making its mainnet debut on Jan. 15. The betting platform, built on Augur, 0x and Ethereum, is currently in alpha format. In addition to the usual fare,  one of the current betting markets is on the popularity of internet memes.

Users can vote on the future popularity of viral images, based on the number of upvotes they receive on Reddit.

Yes, someone actually made money by guessing that this image wouldn’t reach 500 upvotes. Finally, the meme economy is returning dividends.

Veil Offers Instant Settlements

Veil is built on Augur, which is built on Ethereum. But, as many dApp builders  have found, Ethereum is not an easy platform to build on. To reach mainstream adoption, a slow network simply won’t do.

So they decided to build on the 0x protocol, “to speed up trading and minimize the number of transactions you need to send,”  Veil explained in a Medium post. Veil orders occur off-chain, and “Veil pays gas to persist trades to Ethereum.” Developers also introduced an “instant settlement” feature that lets users settle up once the market expires, meaning winners can get Augur (REP) and ETH into their wallets sooner than later. In contrast, regular bets on Augur can take weeks to become finalized.

After a widely anticipated launch, the Augur project has been stuck in the doldrums, boasting fewer than two dozen users in the last 24 hours, according to dappradar. That’s a bit embarrassing  for a project that once boasted a billion-dollar market cap. Once the king of decentralized applications (dApps) on Ethereum, Augur has since been dethroned by the likes of Blockchain Cuties.

Speaking of cuties,  why not create a market for this adorable pooch learning to skateboard?

Veil Targets Millions of Markets

Veil envisions a future where “millions of people create and trade in millions of markets.”  They are betting on predictions markets across four categories:

• Crypto derivatives – Who needs a bitcoin ETF? Veil makes it possible to “buy leveraged long or short exposure to popular cryptoassets.”
• Ethereum network hedging – Veil also has crypto miners in their sights and have launched a feed to “track the 24-hour rolling hashrate on Ethereum.” 
• Grin markets – Grin is a private Mimblewimble cryptocurrency whose mainnet launches on the same day that Veil goes live on the Ethereum mainnet.
• Academy Awards markets – This one is a reflection of the movie buffs that make up the Veil team. Given their affection for award shows, they might want to think about a market for who ends up hosting the Oscars.

Veil got a boost after securing funding from some of crypto’s biggest names, including crypto asset investment firm Paradigm, Sequoia, and venture fund 1confirmation.

While the Veil team is targeting mainstream adoption, even the Augur project isn’t expecting that to happen overnight. Augur Co-Founder Jeremy Gardner told CryptoNewsAsia last summer that “real adoption is probably three to five years away.”

By the way, if anyone wants to bet on the bitcoin price in 2024, there’s a market for that.

The author is invested in digital assets, including bitcoin and 0x which are mentioned in this article.

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