BitImage is a new alternative platform for selling and buying digital content. One of the core differences between BitImage and other online marketplaces where you can trade intellectual property is its method of payment.
BitImage uses cryptocurrency for its financial operations. Unlike paper money, this type of payment has significant advantages:
digital content is cheaper since cryptocurrency is decentralized and banks’ commissions are not required;
monetary transactions occur almost immediately. There is no need to wait a couple of days till a bank confirms financial operations;
the transfer of money from other countries is a matter of a few seconds. Country boundaries are not an issue any longer;
the minimal amount of money for fund withdrawal is eliminated;
you can make financial transactions at any convenient time for you. This service is available round-the-clock without any holidays, weekends or lunch breaks;
transactions don’t require any requisites or preconditions.
Your Operations with BitImage Tokens
The main goal of BitImage tokens is to buy digital content. If you are a buyer, there are two ways how you can use them.
The first method consists in paying the required amount of tokens for the digital content which is put up for sale by the authors. Here, BitImage tokens function as any other currency. You can use the search to find the content you are interested in or visit the author’s portfolio and find the required content there. Once you find what you need, click the ‘Buy’ button and you will get the desired intellectual property. Just be sure you have enough tokens to pay the author for the digital content.
Another method is to pay for the on-demand work. If you are looking for some specific kind of digital content and you cannot find what you need in the authors’ portfolios, you can create an on-demand work. You make an offer where you describe what exactly is needed. After that, you send either choose to send invitations to authors so they can view your job offer or let everyone to participate and offer their services to you. You are able to choose the authors that will get your invitation and in this way to filter those candidates which you think can cope with the task the best.
After choosing an author to work on your order, discuss other details like a deadline and the revenue for the work done.
Tokens for Authors
BitImage main priority is to protect the authors’ rights to the content. When an author uploads the digital content, there is an opportunity to choose between two possible ways of adding content to the digital assets ledger.
The First Method
In this method the author has to pay small Ethereum’s commission when a contract is added to its blockchain. The advantage of this method is ability to fix the digital content copyrights in the system as soon as the author is charged by the required commission. Besides, this method also eliminates the risk of intellectual property theft.
The commission fee is small and is required to create a smart contract. It is paid with BitImage tokens. That’s why even the authors, who are interested only in selling their digital content, may require tokens when they start using BitImage service. So, if the author doesn’t want to risk and prefer to pay the commission, there will be created an accurate contract, including the following information:
the author’s name (if it is indicated in the personal account);
the author’s ID;
the link to the downloaded content;
the addition date;
text information describing the remaining details;
the link to the model release (if necessary).
Once this information is added to the blockchain, the user who uploads the digital content becomes the author of this content and receives all copyright and other rights to it.
The Second Method
Another situation may occur and the author may not have enough BitImage tokens or he doesn’t want to spend tokens to pay the commission. In this case, the author still can upload the digital content to the system, but an entry in the Ethereum blockchain will not be created. Moreover, the buyer will need to pay the commission fee for GWEI (the cryptocoin used on the Ethereum network). The biggest disadvantage of this method is that the risk of content theft remains until the buyer will not purchase the content.
In this way the digital content will be available for sale on the service as soon as the author uploads it. However, a smart contract will be created only after a buyer makes a purchase. A created record will include the following details:
the author’s name (if it is indicated in the personal account);
the name of the buyer (if it is indicated in the personal account);
the author ID in BitImage;
the buyer ID in BitImage;
addresses of wallets of the author and the buyer;
the link to the purchased content;
its price;
the date of purchase;
the term of purchase;
text information describing the remaining details of the transaction;
the link to the model release (if necessary);
the link to the Licensing Terms.
Once the record in the blockchain is generated, the user becomes the author of this content and receives all copyright and exclusive rights to it. For a buyer, it means that the purchase rights will be fixed in an unchanged environment.
There is one more way in which authors may use the BitImage tokens. They can buy one of the offered subscriptions and receive the analytical tool to gather information about the trends that will help the authors to increase their sales.
The Bottom Line
To sum up, BitImage tokens are necessary for buyers and authors. Buyers require tokens to pay the digital content uploaded by authors. This method of payment has a lot of advantages compared to the ordinary paper money operations and is beneficial for both parts.
The authors may require BitImage tokens to pay a small commission fee when they upload the content and want to create a smart contract to fix their rights to this content or if they want to buy a subscription which will allow the authors to be informed about the latest trends. However, if for the authors it is not obligatory to use BitImage tokens, the buyers must have them in order to make purchases on BitImage service.