Sharing physical objects using smart contracts

Abstract

Networked digital sharing economy services enable the effective and efficient sharing of vehicles, housing, and everyday objects. However, contemporary online sharing platforms face several challenges related to the establishment of trust among peers, as well difficulties to deal with the growing number of intermediaries (e.g., payment, insurance) needed to ensure an adequate service delivery. We designed and developed “Just Share It” (JSI), an interactive system that enables the sharing of personal physical possessions (e.g., power tools, toys, sports gear) by directly connecting lenders and borrowers, as peers, through mobile technology. The JSI system utilizes a blockchain ledger and smart contracting technologies to improve peer trust and limit the number of required intermediaries, respectively. In this submission, we briefly review emergent challenges in this space, describe the JSI prototype system and its trust model, and reflect on future architectural opportunities for an eventual “in the wild” deployment.