[Pre-ICO] Stockus - Fantasy Trading Blockchain Platform

[FinGamer]

Stockus Crypto Summary

Hi everybody!
I’m happy to introduce the Stockus Project to you. It is a new and big project on which our team is working on now. The main ideas and its realization are explained further. It will be nice if they are interesting for you.


Stockus.   Fantasy trading platform based on the blockchain technology.

Our goal is to create a leading financial simulator based on open ledger technology in order to provide participants with a reliable, transparent trading platform and opportunities to earn large cash prizes.
Stockus – is a fantasy trading platform based on smart contracts. Participants place trades individually or in teams.  The application allows users to enrol in various tournaments and earn cash rewards without an initial investment of capital.
  
Gaming Capital Globally

The online gaming industry is rapidly growing, with figures indicating total earnings of 99.6billion USD in 2016 alone. This is an impressive amount; however it pales in comparison to the size of the financial markets. The daily turnover of the Forex market amounted to 5.1trillion USD in 2016. Approximately 10-15 million individual market participants actively trade on Forex worldwide with the total volume generated by retail traders being equal to 293billion USD daily.
Statistics show that the average starting capital of a retail trader is somewhere in the region of 700 USD. Within 4 months of trading 97% of all retail traders lose their initial investment and leave the market. The amounts that such traders lose on the currency market amount to tens of millions of dollars annually.  

$10 against $700

Our approach differs substantially from the business model of the classic broker. There are two fundamental pillars on which Stockus was built. The first one is that exchange trading for the retail participant is comparable to a game, where players place bets on the direction of the market.
And the second one is the players prefer to pay small-one off buy-ins for the chance to win large cash prizes in tournaments as apposed to putting large deposits at risk on leveraged trading accounts.
There is clearly a drastic difference between a trader who suffers the loss of their entire deposit of $700 whilst trading on Forex, and a player who buys into a trading tournament for $10 with the chance of winning a massive prize. That same $10 deposit would get the trader nowhere on the Forex market, whereas on Stockus he stands to win thousands of dollars without the requirement of a large investment upfront.  
Our approach is light years apart from the business model of a traditional broker in the sense that it aims to protect the trader without limiting their gains. Traders are now faced with the choice of trading on the market with a high degree of risk or playing Stockus with limited risk whilst maintaining their earning potential. This is a new opportunity to trader and we believe that they will chose in our favour.  

Equal odds of winning

The probability of winning in a fully subscribed Stockus tournament is approximately 3-3.5% which is roughly equal to the chances of turning a profit whilst trading on the Forex market. However $10 gets you nowhere on a forex brokerage account, whereas in Stockus you can enter a trading competition and stand to win tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars with the same amount. The benefit of Stockus is that each player has a limited loss, but gets an equal chance to win large prizes.
Fantasy trading – the Stockus platform is designed to be a direct competitor to traditional brokers by attracting a large number of participants. There is no sense in funding a leverage forex account and risking the entire deposit when the trader can enter a tournament and win fantastic amounts of prize money in a variety of competitions.
The development of trading skills and ability to collect large gains solely with the merit of experience and knowledge is the main advantage of Stockus. Millions of players with the ambition, aptitude and skill will be able to compete for the large cash rewards with limited downside. In the past such individuals were faced with a choice between financial markets or betting games. Now, such players have an innovative alternative in the form of Stockus.
 
How to become a millionaire

Stockus is a financial simulator based on a social media platform which allows any player to participate in a tournament of their choice. If a certain trader prefers a short-term, high frequency game, they can join a daily tournament with large prizes. If, on the other hand, the player is more partial to a long term, trend-based approach, the weekly or monthly tournament is more suited to this style and the prizes can reach astronomical levels. It is crucial to note that the size of the prize is not restricted, which means that the more players buy into the competition, the higher the winning pot. The payouts for larger tournaments can potentially reach six figures or more.
The game consists of the following:

- Professional tournaments which will constantly increase in number. A small buy-in amount is paid to enter the tournament and compete against other traders. The winners immediately receive a payout to their account balance.
- Friendly tournaments which allow anyone to participate free of charge. The main purpose of these trading challenges is to educate new players and allow existing users to refine their strategies in preparation for the professional games.
- Decentralised challenges which users can host independently by selecting their competitors and forming a private league.
- Team tournaments allow players to team up with other traders and compete against each other in groups throughout several rounds.  
- Players or teams who lose their initial capital have the option to buy back in and continue trading. As opposed to leveraged trading, where each loss is a direct hit to the capital and savings of the trader, Stockus allows players to continue trading for as long as they wish.
- Players have the ability to improve their chances by purchasing leverage, analytical tools and other extras for additional payments.
- Members of the Stockus community can exchange feedback, tips and trade ideas with each other.
- A referral program encourages players to invite their friends.
 
The main attraction for most traders will be the professional tournaments. During the development of our tournament system, the team drew a lot of inspiration from the structure of the competitions held by the fantasy trading platform FanDuel. The capitalisation of FanDuel as an organisation is in the billions, and the platform’s phenomenal success along with hundreds of thousands of members testifies to the scalability and potential of such a model when applied in a different area.

[FinGamer]

Part 2

The Principles of Platform Monetisation

Stockus aims to monetise fantasy trading by applying a small commission on each buy-in as well as charging additional fees for bonus features such as refunding, leverage, analytics, etc. Each player can purchase extras in order to improve their chances of winning and gain an edge over their competition.
Additional initiatives such as referral programmes and promotions allow players to help others and earn additional tokens for their efforts.
 
Testing the game

Stockus utilises a unique trading platform which our team modelled around the popular MT4 trading software. This proprietary platform allows players to trade stocks, futures, currency pairs and options in real time on a broad selection of global venues.
The Stockus model was throughout several beta rounds hosted on the Facebook developer platform in order to enhance the software and improve functionality. This testing base also allowed us to confirm the viability of the concept and saleability of the offering. This period allowed us to gather valuable data on user preferences, as well as collect feedback and verify the validity of the game concept.
Users actively participated in the trading tournaments and purchased additional features in order to boost their chances of earnings a prize. We saw a healthy amount of competition for the prize spots, with many players repurchasing funds or unlocking leverage to get the upper hand on their rival traders. Our developers also expanded the capabilities of the platform during this time, adding several different tournament types as well as options trading during the testing phase. We have now developed a completed version of the game based on the results of these extensive tests, which we are excited to bring to your attention.

Blockchain as a foundation for trust

Stockus is innovating by allowing all types of traders to compete in tournaments with limited risk and on equal terms. Ethereum allows us to create smart contracts which automatically determine and verify the outcome of each trading tournament, as well as paying out the rewards to the winners. The principles of crypto can be used to process and distribute the gains from the various tournaments in an efficient and transparent manner. This solution is optimal due to its security and scalability as the number of players and competitions grows. Unlike a typical brokerageplatform, the entire infrastructure of Stockus is built on blockchain, making the setup robust and secure.
One of the toughest challenges we faced during the beta testing phase was gaining the trust of the players. Some users raised concerns regarding the authenticity of the tournament results and likelihood of an actual payout. The blockchain addresses such concerns and puts any doubts to rest due to the transparent and objective manner in which the smart contracts will determine winners as well as the final payout of the prizes. This transparency creates an element of trust amongst users and enhances the eligibility of the tournament series.
 A second challenge addressed by the blockchain infrastructure is raising the required funds and launching the game within a period of 3months. An ICO offers a priceless opportunity to meet our targets and achieve the ultimate objective of building a trading simulator which will offer an innovative and groundbreaking alternative to the traditional forex trading approach.
A third argument in favour of an ICO and the blockchain solution is the ability to issue our own tokens, which will essentially act as a cryptocurrency derivative within our game. These tokens will have a value versus Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies which is directly dependent on the popularity and success of the game. Should the demand for ingame services and tournaments continue to increase as we expect, so will the value of the tokens in relation to other currencies.

Stockus Tokens

Stockus tokens are an integral component of the Stockus economy and ecosystem. Owners of these tockens will have access to the following services:
- Participation in trading tournaments
- Act as witnesses and judges in the trading tournaments
- Receive rewards and prizes in the competitions, promotions and tournaments
- Purchase additional services and bonus features
 - Hosting tournaments
- Receive referral rewards for inviting friends
The tokens play a key role in the economic processes at play in the Stockus environment. These tokens can be purchased in the application, received from other players, won in a tournament, or as a reward for acting as witness or judge in determining the results of a competition.
Additional tokens can also be received as a reward for inviting friends to play.
Tokens can also be acquired through the preliminary offering of Stockus tokens via Ether (ENT). The Stockus interface will also integrate third party trading solutions such as Shapershift and Coinbase for those users who do not already hold ENT.
 The initial offering of Stockus tokens will take place in the form of a preliminary ICO. Anyone can subscribe to the offering in exchange for ENT or other cryptocurrencies such as BTC or STEEM.
We plan to offer 5,000,000 of our tokens at a rate of 300 tokens for 1 ENT.

                                       Tournament Result Verification

The decentralised tournament verification system is an elegant and robust solution for all users as it prevents any manipulation or abuse of the competition results. All token holders will be able to act as witnesses or judges when determining the winners of each tournament, allowing the public to verify the results via open ledger technology. Should a single participant disagree with the results, an independent confirmation of the tournament results is established by the witnesses. If the conclusion regarding the winners of a tournament is unanimous and there are no disagreements between participants, no added verification via witness is required and the system automatically processes a payout.

Stockus ICO and Development plans

The bulk of raised capital will be directed at the following:
- Development of 2 professional tournaments: the WFT (Weekly  Fantasy Tournament) and DFT (Daily Fantasy Tournament).  These will be completed in 3 months.
- A promotional campaign which will ensure that the userbase reaches critical mass and the project becomes sustainable by increasing the prize amounts in the WFT to the order of tens of thousands.
- The development of a social network within Stockus, which would allow players to exchange opinions, experiences and advice, as well as form trading societies and teams.
- The development of a mobile version of the trading application.
- Development and production of at least one new trading competition every 2 months.
The game should have at least 6 different tournament types by the end of the first year. 

The Stockus development team is pleased to present our project for your review and assessment. We hope the summary has made a positive impression and look forward to your support and feedback.

Thank you in advance for your time and attention.

Stockus Developers

[RAgazzox]

Cool idea. PM sent

[FinGamer]

Appreciate the positive feedback! Unfortunately we have not received your PM. Feel free to resend it.

Any other thoughts are welcome.

[wowza1122]

In the US, fantasy trading might be considered illegal by SEC. https://www.sec.gov/oiea/investor-alerts-bulletins/ia_fantasytrading.html
How do you plan to get around this issue?

[FinGamer]

Thanks for the comment.

We performed a thorough review of the applicable financial legistlation in the States and came to the conclusion that Stockus can operate freely on the US market in compliance with the current laws and directives.

It should be noted that the SEC directs its efforts to protect the investor (or player in this case) from abuse and prevent unlicensed activity on behalf of brokers & spread betting agencies.

Stockus does not fall into either catrgory as it is a game of skills rather than chance, which means it is exempt from the 2006 directive preventing online gambling activity. This was also thr case with FanDuel, although some states initially attempted to prohibit their operations.

Another important distinction to make relates to the fact that Stockus users do not fund an account or make a deposit in order to trade. Each player participating in a tournament has equal rights and identical terms of trading. The game itself is virtual and similar in concept to FanDuel. It should be noted that fees to participate in professional trading competitions and purchase additional features are completely voluntary.

Stockus is built on blockchain technology, which adds an additional level of security and transparency to the game and tournament results. The winners and prize payments are confirmed by the players themselves based on smart contracts. In the event of a disagreement, the results will be objectively confirmed by independnent players acting as witnesses, or if needed by a dedicated Jury of users.

The game itself will use tokens rather than fiat money. Users will also hold balances in tokens which they can transfer to their ewallets and convert into other cryptocurrencies or fiat money at any time. Prizes will also be paid out in the form of tokens and deposited onto user accounts within the application.

[FinGamer]

Interesting news

American company Robinhood received funding from the DST Global fund (controlled by Yuri Milner) in the amount of $ 110.0 million (Series C). The total amount of financing reached $ 176.0 million. The company was valued at $ 1.3 billion.

It is interesting that Robinstvo tries to reduce the initial contribution and therefore the risks of players who want to play on the stock exchange, which makes it a mass game. But it does it within the framework of the classical exchange trade, reducing the overhead of players and transferring the game exclusively to the mobile application. They also use the sale of additional services to players as the basis of its monetization.

We went a little further in Stockus, transferring the stock market itself into a game. But many details in their and in our projects are similar, including the ways of monetization

[wowza1122]

Arguing on the point of skill is going to be an uphill battle for you guys and it might cost you guys a lot of money in legal fees to convince them that, which may or may not work out in the end. Also, since this is considered a security-based exchange, it may be illegal in other places in the Europe which severely limits the number of countries where this is permitted.

[tavogi.com]

This is a cool idea. How far along is development?

[wowza1122]

Do you guys have a website? or a whitepaper?

[FinGamer]

Hi.

Briefly about Stockus.  Our team is writing White Paper  and is making a website at the moment. We hope that by the 15th-20th of August we will  present them to you.

The most important thing is that the game is written. Who is familiar with trading  can imagine what it is. We have written our own trading platform (such as MT4). Without the creation of the trading platform it is impossible to create a full-fledged Fantasy Trading Game.

Further. We have tested the game about six months. We selected the most interesting tournaments for the players, determined their duration. And what is very important, we tested monetization. We found out what additional services and for what money players are ready to buy. The technology of the game is completely understandable to us.

We defined the approximate geography of our players: 21% - the United States; 8% - Canada; 14% - India; 24% - Europe; 33% -other countries.

We found out an approximate demography of players: under 18 years old - 1%; 18-24 years - 9%; 25-34 years - 40%; 35-44 years - 15%; Over 45 years old - 35%;


Within three months after ICO, we will run the amateur Freeroll game and two professional games: DFT, WFT. We are making a mobile version of the game as well. And we are seriously engaged in creating a social part of the game which will be quite extensive.

[CoinSherpa]

Got any social media channels or chat channels we can follow? Would like to keep tabs on your progress.

[FinGamer]

Not yet. But before the end of August we will open our site, make a page in FB, on Twitter.

The most important thing is that we will launch the first tournaments just a month after the ICO. Most likely  it will be a Freeroll tournament. The entrance to it will be free, anyone can play and win.

Before the launch of the first professional tournament (most likely it will be WFT) the winners of the Freeroll  game  will fight for a big prize- $ 10.0 thousand.

[FinGamer]

We  get many offers for marketing campaign.

Thanks for your offers. We indeed plan to launch a marketing campaign and subsequent ICO for Stockus.

Could you please provide some examples of marketing campaigns you have conducted in the past.

We are also interested to know how you collect the signatures and which countries you specialize in. Do you market towards users in China by any chance?

What are the usual terms of payment for such a marketing campaign? Is a Bounty program included? Would it be possible to perform the payment for such services after we conduct our pre-ICO?

[FinGamer]

Hey everyone!

We would like to post an update about Stockus and the development of the project so far! Quite a few people have been very keen on an update!

-Our newly refurbished website has launched! You can go to www.stockus.io to check out the whitepaper, team and roadmap.
-You can now join our telegram chats and ask questions directly to the development team and other investors!

• English-Speaking Telegram Chat
• Russian-Speaking Telegram Chat

-Our long-awaited Bounty Program is launching tomorrow! You will now be able to earn STT multiple different fun ways. For example, by writing blog posts for our medium, translating our whitepaper and bitcointalk posts into your native language, handling and organizing a telegram chat for Stockus for your region/language and liking and promoting our content on social media!

-Two of our team members are also preparing to give a talk this Saturday on Stockus at the Warwick Business School! The event, held in the UK in one of the top league business schools in the UK, will be curated by a BBC journalist and will be the first on campus to start talks on Fintech and Cryptocurrency.

-We have launched our LinkedIn and Facebook page so go ahead and give those a like and follow!

We have also been working on a few things on the side aswell. For example, we have been assembling a FAQ using our audiences' questions and queries.
We are also excited to announce the launch of our blog series that will be coming out today! The first piece is an interview piece with the Co-Founder himself, exploring the path to Stockus and the hardships along the way and the reasoning behind deciding to do a pre-ICO/ICO.

We will be waiting for your questions and engaging comments in our Telegram chats! If you are interested in the bounty program or anything in general, do not hesitate to also reply to the post below registering your interest!

[AppreciatingValue]

Will keep an eye on this, sounds interesting.

Any product demos that we can take a look at?

[FinGamer]

Will keep an eye on this, sounds interesting.

Any product demos that we can take a look at?

A lot of people are curious about our platform and are asking when it will be available. It is important to clarify that our platform is undergoing some technical modifications and needs initial funding to properly operate. With the aim to support the prize pools for the first three months, before Stockus platform becomes self-sustainable, we need to sell tokens before the launch.
To make our platform operate safely and transparently, we are using the blockchain technology, which is a transparent way to make transactions secure and make our project trustworthy. Stockus is different from any existing online trading platforms because we are transparent and honest with our clients from the beginning.

Stockus’ tournaments allow users to compete in skills and receive rewards for outperforming others. We firmly believe that this market was missing for a long time and that there were no such tournaments before. Therefore, we have decided to release our platform after two rounds of STT sale: Pre-ICO and ICO.
Pre-ICO will start at the end of October and will last for three complete weeks. After this, we will start an extensive marketing campaign, test the platform, improve some instruments, correct the bugs, contact respectful financial advisors for an approval and incorporate our company.
Then the ICO round will start, and we will send all the tokens through the smart contract to the Pre-ICO investors, begin to fill our price pools, gather funds for smartphone app development, fuel the marketing campaign, run the platform in closed beta tests, hire a full legal team and create additional tournaments.

We are doing a big project, and we need your action now to accomplish it. Eventually, Stockus will become a financial market, but before that, we will help everyone to participate in trading and profit from real skills!

[FinGamer]

 
OUR FIRST ARTICLE IS NOW LIVE!

Read the story and journey behind Stockus directly from the Founder himself HERE!
The article focuses on the next generation financial institutions based on Blockchain technology that will soon disrupt the existing financial status quo.

A whole ecosystem of banks, advisors, markets, and record keepers are extracting enormous fees from investors. This ecosystem can now be disintegrated. Historically, the revenue streams which are hidden from the typical investor are the real profit engine of brokerages.With existing Blockchain Technology and strong support from the community, it is possible to democratize the markets and save money for investors and companies through reducing and eliminating the tremendous fees and inefficiencies by utilizing an innovative blockchain trading platform. Stockus even takes this further, considering all factors that come to play whilst trading such as psychological phenomena, to completely revolutionize trading. By incorporating a tournament structure, trading can now stop being stressful, bank-breaking and limiting but still bring the same, if not greater, profit.
 
JOIN OUR TELEGRAM CHAT HERE
READ THE ARTICLE ON STOCKUS AND FINANCIAL DISRUPTION HERE

[FinGamer]

Bounty

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2336385.new#new

[cok_elat]

i really like the concept explanation of this project. but i think the information about tokensale and token spesification is really needed. please share this information too.