HN Show: I've built a crypto alternative to Airbnb for the global tech community | Hacker News Reader

HN Show: I've built a crypto alternative to Airbnb for the global tech community

14 pointsDelta08 comments

Over the last year I was mainly living out of Craigslist short-term rentals and Airbnbs. I always preferred Craigslist because there are no fees and it feels more authentic, but Airbnb is more convenient when you need something quick and want to avoid scammers. However, after a while I got so upset with the fees on Airbnb and the fact that they make you work around their censorship (emails, phone numbers etc. are redacted). I thought that there must be a better way of doing this. What I've come up with is a decentralized version of Airbnb where guests pay hosts in crypto. After a few transactions, through which users are vetted, travelers can book through a smart contract without any fees. The site is called https://www.cryptocribs.com. I've launched it on Reddit about two months ago and by now it already has around 500 listings.

I started to respond with a skeptical comment saying: There are good reasons the emails, phone numbers, etc. are redacted... how does your platform address these issues?

But then I looked at the site and skimmed the white paper, and it seems you are pretty serious about this :-). Congrats getting traction with some hosts apparently. Will be interesting to see where this goes.

Thanks for your comments, I see your skepticism and I would probably have reacted the same way. My white paper isn't technical at all, it was more of a personal attempt to add some clarity to my thought process. I truly believe that there's a way of making flat-sharing frictionless or at least less centralized compared to the current state

Love this.

From a visual standpoint, it's hard to read all the text. I understand the font choice for your site/brand, but maybe explore them being for headlines only. H1, H2, etc

good point, i agree

Cool. You have some hosts in Sydney. I wasn't expecting that!

Yes, had some unexpected uptake in Australia

> where guests pay hosts in crypto

Is that acceptable use of the word "crypto" now?

not sure, probably not

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