Blockchain

A Blockchain-Powered Data Marketplace for Used Cars Launches in Singapore

sgCarMart is launching a Know-Your-Vehicle used car data marketplace, in a bid to help users make better decisions. The company will utilise a decentralised data exchange protocol by Ocean Protocol to make the vision a reality.

Glenn Ong, General Manager of sgCarMart said:

“Currently, customers wanting to buy a used car will need to rely on information provided by the current owner or used car dealer. There will be a natural tendency to understate or not reveal defects of the vehicle. Buyers can rely on 3rd party inspection centres to do a check but matters like odometer tampering can still go undetected.”

Supposedly, nearly 9,000 cars change ownership in Singapore monthly due to sky-high prices in Singapore, a market in which sgCarMart opines that details like the engine and chassis number, safety rating, past accident records, the number of owners the car had, etc is important to know before purchasing a car, and they think the sources on these data are not always reliable.

It seems like sgCarMart is not the only company that finds potential within the Singaporean market. Most recently MVL, a blockchain protocol mainly known for running a ride-hailing platform Tada, also wants to offer a transparent and all-inclusive record of relevant vehicle information.

The idea is that the origin of data and its trail can be established, recorded and traced. It is then easy to imagine that with proper stewardship of the data, bad players can likely be identified and managed to ensure that recorded data is up-to-date and accurate.

Daryl Arnold

“Data is everywhere but a vast amount of it is currently locked up due to friction surrounding data sharing. Ocean Protocol provides companies with a platform to share and monetize data in a secure, traceable, and privacy-preserving manner. It allows data owners to retain control of data access and offers an incentive mechanism for companies to deploy, to collect quality data from their stakeholders,” said Daryl Arnold, founder of Ocean Protocol.

Ocean Protocol uses blockchain technology, smart contracts, and tokens to enable sharing of data, offering control and auditability while protecting privacy. The technology should allow organisations to set pricing and trade data without losing control of their data assets. The conditions of access can be personalised as well.

Ocean Protocol naturally also has an AI angle, and they claim that the blockchain enables algorithms and models to travel to the data, get trained and then leave without exposing the data or taking a copy.

sgCarMart was one of the graduates of Tribe Accelerator, Singapore’s first government supported blockchain accelerator which held its first demo day earlier this month.

Featured image credit: edited from sgCarMart and Ocean Protocol