From times immemorial, people have been making bets. One of the earliest bets known to the mankind is the one that Cleopatra and Mark Antony made. In this story, the queen bet that she could drink wine that cost 10 million sesterces in one meal. So, she dissolved 10 million sesterces worth of pearls into a glass of wine and drank it in a gulp! Legend has it that this how Cleopatra won the bet.
The term eristica is derived from the Greek eristikē technē, which translates to, “the art of winning disputes”. It is known that ancient Greeks had a very keen eye for bets. As a matter of fact, the whole Greek mythology is steeped in the idea of a rivalry between gods and people for a good reason.
Fast forward to the 20th century and this is when challenges and bets grew into a commercial industry where anyone who wanted to have a bet could put his/her money on almost any event in any city throughout the world.
So, in 1960 David Threlfall made one of the most unbelievable bets ever in history. In one of the bookmaker’s offices in London, the Brit bet 10 pounds on an unbelievable bet at the time that man would get to the Moon within the following 10 years! And it did happen! 9 years later Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon and David won 10,000 pounds! He converted this fortune into a very expensive sports car but long story short, it was all thanks to a bet!
Moreover, bets have also been known to influence culture and art around the globe.
For example, betting is the main subject in the novel “Around the World in Eighty Days”. “The Gambler”, the novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky, was written by the author within a month as the writer looked settle up his debts to a casino.
Hollywood celebrities have not lagged behind either. Steven Spielberg still receives checks from George Lucas for the bet he won, when the films “Star Wars. Episode IV: A New Hope” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” were released. The directors bet on the film that will get more box office sales. Spielberg put his stake on Lucas’ film, and Lucas, on the contrary, put it on Spielberg’s movie. As far as we know, “Star Wars” became a real sensation. Within the first year after the release, the film got record-breaking $740 million, which is 2.5 times more than the competitor’s gains.
This is how George Lucas lost the bet!
With the advent of the MTV era and shows such as “I bet You Will” and “Jackass”2, the industry of bets was transformed. Bets were replaced by personal and group challenges that became very popular among young people. “Jackass” for instance was rated 68th on the top shows of past 25 years.
Then there was the emergence of YouTube that set a new stage in the development of challenges. Everyone could now become famous — by just performing a crazy task, record everything on a smartphone and put the video on the Web. Videos with new challenges get millions of views and likes, making their authors YouTube stars and motivating new players to challenge the winners.
This is where Eristica project comes in given that it is designed to unify challenges into one single mobile platform, where users post videos with their challenges, challenge others and compete for top places in the overall ranking.
But, despite the huge progress, there are still problems in the industry that hinder further development. Most notably, there is the problem of trust that hasn’t been solved yet. This has led to the existence of intermediary guarantors, high commissions, and complicated the procedure for creating a challenge.
Then there is the control over national currencies, legislative restrictions, the absence of a global market which is yet another layer of problems imposed by the classical monetary system.
Moreover, there are internal reasons for stagnation, one of them being the fact that monetization through advertising for FunTech is the base pay. Projects are forced to look to major advertisers, place aggressive advertising and sell the user base, which is negatively perceived by the community.
Well, Eristica project intends to resolve the mentioned issues with the help of blockchain technology and smart contracts. This way, Eristica will create a new direction for development and it will be able to spearhead the evolutionary breakthrough in the FunTech industry.
Eristica Whitepaper
