Trade REP - REP Markets, Exchanges, Broker
Essentially, this is a decentralised market platform for forecasts. As an ERC20 token, Augur uses the Ethereum network to make predictions about real events. The mass decides on a potential forecast, i.e. a huge decentralized sample of people.
It is noteworthy that the forecasting capability has actually led to results that are more accurate than those of top experts in the respective fields. Predictions are nothing new, in many circles one would call it gambling, while others would call it analysis.
Is there even a market for it?
The "wisdom of the masses" can lead to amazingly accurate predictions and will ultimately make it possible to act more efficiently in the markets as well. Both Google and Ford Motor Company have been using predictive markets internally for over a decade.
While these serve primarily to measure the effectiveness of internal processes, they can also be used in the financial sector. An interesting application of prediction markets is insurance in developing countries, where citizens have no other option to insure themselves against political, financial or even climatic risks.
With a predictive market, someone living in such a country could take out insurance against civil wars, drought, floods or currency devaluations by purchasing a forecast contract that pays off when the unfortunate event occurs.
The Augur team and its history
Augur was one of the first platforms founded in October 2014 by a team of 13 people led by Jack Peterson and Joey Krug. Before Augur, the two gained experience with Blockchain technology when they developed Sidecoin, a fork from Bitcoin. In addition to Augur's experienced team, Vitalik Buterin, creator of Ethereum, is the project's consultant.
The first public alpha version of Augur was released in June 2015, and this year Coinbase named Augur one of the most exciting blockchain projects of the year. The beta version of Augur was released in March 2016.
The largest Augur competitor is Gnosis (GNO), which also builds on the Ethereum network and is very similar to the Augur project. The main difference between the two projects is the use of economic models. While Augur uses a fee model based on trading volume, Gnosis charges fees based on the number of outstanding shares.
How Augur works
Predictions in the market are made by trading shares in real events. If you believe that the "Eagles will win the Superbowl" or the Dow will reach "30,000 you can buy shares in these results. The profits that can be made are determined by the probability of an event.
REP (Reputation) Token
The REP (or reputation) tokens are what drives Augur's decentralized Oracle system. You can imagine it as the tool to trade on the Augur platform. Owners of REP tokens can use it as a bet to bet on the outcome of events listed in the marketplace.
Augur has limited the number of REP tokens to eleven million, of which 80 percent have been sold in their ICO. REP token holders are considered "reporters" and must report the results of the random events listed on the Augur marketplace.
Where is Augur (REP) listed?
Kraken is the largest exchange for REP and Augur is also listed on Bittrex and Poloniex. Since Augur is an ERC 20 token, you can also save it on a hardware wallet.