In a thought-provoking article on Bitcoin.com, Allen Scott makes the case that peer-to-peer direct service models (like Uber) are ripe for peer-to-peer payments (like bitcoin, and presumably other P2P payment platforms) to disintermediate traditional payment methods or “a corporation in the middle”. The article envisions true peer-to-peer direct service networks where service providers directly operate the marketplace and accept payments.
While such a marketplace is technically feasible, it would likely also create inherent inefficiencies and lack of consistent service delivery. After all, isn’t that pretty much what we have in today’s big city taxi services? Marketplaces like Uber provide value such as a critical mass of buyers and sellers, ubiquity, core technology, branding and customer trust. It is unclear whether a truly democratized and decentralized marketplace could compete in these areas.
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