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Discover Layers: a decentralized freelancing platform offering transparency, data ownership, and seamless cross-platform access for a better freelancing experience.

Abstract

Being your own boss and working on your terms and conditions defines freelancing. Unlike the traditional work model, freelancing refers to short-term work with clients. The work and parties involved may vary depending on needs, it can be building a simple website to launching an application. Freelancing offers to work from anywhere in the world and after the COVID and current layoffs people are moving more towards freelancing because it offers benefits such as remote work, flexible time, and being your own boss.

The current freelancing is mostly run by freelancing platforms. They work as the mediator between the client and the freelancer and help from the work posting to handle payment to resolve disputes but it comes with some costs such as they dictate the working & payment conditions or favoring the clients.

The users data on these platforms is not just the activities or payment info, it’s their experience which is locked inside the servers and they can’t use it anywhere else. Users also have to make multiple profiles across multiple platforms to get the maximum work. Since data is inside the servers so it can be manipulated and it is also prone to attacks. There is no ownership here if something goes wrong user got kicked out of the platform all experience is gone.

Another challenge is since this data can’t be moved to any other platform so users have to handle multiple profiles in order to get the maximum work or best talent and also going through different sets of rules every time also sucks. For different needs, different platforms, different rules, and multiple isolated profiles.

The users have to trust the data provided by these platforms to work, there is no way they can verify its authenticity. This ambiguity leads to disputes such as the client not releasing the payment because there was no way the freelancer could have checked his history of whether he has paid the last ones or not, the freelancer has the information provided by the platform and vice-versa.

Blockchain Technology is the revolution of the last two decades it helps to eliminate trust from a system and makes it transparent, trustless, and authentic. The blockchain keeps track of data in an immutable manner, once data is in the blockchain it can’t be altered, and if done so the blockchain has a history of it.

Smart contracts are the code that runs on decentralized blockchain networks and provide benefits such as transparency, and automation. They make sure the rules must be followed by the participants who are involved in any type of agreement.

Using blockchain with smart contracts can bring a true revolution in the freelancing space. Layers platform built on decentralized and open systems such as blockchain and decentralized storage, also uses smart contracts to enforce the predefined rules and make the process faster with automation.

Web3, Blockchains, and Ownership

If you are reading this, you are well aware of Web3 and how Blockchain is changing the landscape compared to Web2. Layers bring ownership of data so the users will be able to own their data and can move wherever they want, unlike traditional freelancing platforms. It helps the users to be on multiple platforms with a single profile and they can open their shops.

Web1

Web1, also known as the "read-only web" or the "static web," refers to the early days of the internet when websites primarily consisted of static HTML pages. During this phase, the web was mainly used for information retrieval, with limited user interaction and dynamic content. Web1 lacked the ability for users to contribute or generate content.

Web2

Web2, also known as the "read-write web" or the "social web," represents the evolution of the internet to a more interactive and collaborative platform. It introduced features such as social media, user-generated content, online communities, e-commerce, and web-based applications. Web2 brought about significant advancements in terms of user participation, connectivity, and sharing of information.

Web3

Web3, also referred to as the "decentralized web" or the "web of trust," envisions a future version of the internet that is built on decentralized technologies, such as blockchain and peer-to-peer networks. Web3 aims to empower users with more control over their data, digital identities, and online transactions. It emphasizes privacy, security, and censorship resistance. Web3 applications often leverage decentralized protocols, smart contracts, and cryptocurrencies to enable new forms of digital interaction, such as decentralized finance (DeFi), decentralized applications (dApps), and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Web3 represents a paradigm shift from centralized models to more decentralized and user-centric architectures, enabling greater autonomy, transparency, and sovereignty on the internet.

Blockchain is a digital technology that stores data in a secure, decentralized, and transparent way. Instead of having a central authority or database that controls and verifies transactions, a blockchain allows multiple parties to access and share data on a network.

Think of it like a digital ledger that records every transaction and stores it in blocks that are linked together in a chain. Once a block is added to the chain, it cannot be altered or deleted, creating an immutable record of all the transactions.

Blockchain technology is best known for its use in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, but it has a wide range of other potential applications, from supply chain management to voting systems to digital identity verification.

The Idea of ownership was coined with the web3 but the ownership works differently in web3 than web2. In web3 users pay to store their data on decentralized networks and only can manipulate it while in web2 the owners of a database can change the data. Data Ownership provides opportunities such as interoperability so users can move their data wherever they want, they can stop the platforms from accessing it, or give them partial access, and they can share it privately with anyone.