The Gemini Dollar — A real use case

The Gemini Dollar — A real use case

The Gemini Dollar (GUSD) was developed by Gemini Trust Company, LLC. and is backed 1:1 by the United States Dollar(USD). Therefore each GUSD will always be worth one USD.

We at Forra, have decided to integrate GUSD into our marketplace because it’s “the world’s first US regulated stablecoin”. The number of USD and GUSD is audited monthly by an external public accounting firm. If you’re interested in viewing the audits they are public.

The purpose of stable coins

Cryptocurrency is extremely volatile by nature, and it is not uncommon for prices to fluctuate 5% or more within a 24 hour period. This volatility poses large issues in various industries, one of which is crypto-ecommerce. Since stable coins are pegged to the price of USD it provides users with a way to hold USD on a blockchain to avoid the volatility that typical cryptocurrencies have.

How Forra is using stable coins

Forra is an ecommerce marketplace that allows you to buy and sell your goods for cryptocurrency. Like most ecommerce marketplaces we utilize escrow in order to safely serve our users. Traditionally sellers take on large risks when selling items on a crypto ecommerce marketplace, due to the volatility of cryptocurrencies. If a seller sells an item for 0.22 ETH (around $50), there is a chance that after those funds are released from escrow to the seller, that same 0.22 ETH could be worth less than the original purchase price. It often takes 3–5 business days for escrow funds to be released, further increasing the chances of receiving a different amount of money. As a business owner, you often want to minimize risk, so crypto currencies are not a viable option. This is the problem we are solving by integrating GUSD with Forra.

On Forra, “If you sell any item for $50 you are going to get $50”

This is how that process works.

1. You list your item for X amount
2. Someone buys your item
3. The funds are held by our escrow system
4. The escrow system converts the crypto that the buyer paid with into Gemini Dollars
5. Gemini Dollars are held in escrow
6. Buyer receives item
7. Gemini Dollars are converted to crypto
8. Crypto is released to sellers wallet

Any questions? Ask us on discord.

We want to continue to provide innovative solutions to both the ecommerce and crypto industries.

Please join our discord if you would like to join our community, request a feature, or speak to the people making Forra.

Originally published at forra.io.

The Gemini Dollar — A real use case was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.