Von Ralf Keuper

Könnte die Blockchain-Technologie das Geschäftsmodell von Anbietern der sog. Sharing Economy, wie Uber oder Airbnb, aus den Angeln heben? Dieser Frage geht Sarah Rothrie in ihrem Beitrag Sharing Economy Companies Are Set to Be Disrupted by Blockchain nach. 

Derzeit dominieren einige wenige Anbieter die Sharing Economy. Insofern haben wir hier ein ähnliches Muster wie in der sog. old economy.

A few big players dominate the sharing economy. Ten years on from their creation, these are mainly Airbnb and Uber, although there are a few others. Both companies have suffered with problems over the years and created a few more at the same time.

Problematisch an dem Begriff der Sharing Economy ist, dass der Eindruck erweckt wird, die Erträge würden hier gerecht geteilt und die Akteure sich auf Augenhöhe begegnen:

The term sharing economy, and the benefits touted by companies in the sharing economy, belies the fact that there is little true sharing involved. It’s true that these companies provide platforms with a decent user interface to connect people. However, individuals may not communicate with one another outside of the platform without violating terms of service.

Sharing economy companies also take a healthy portion of earnings from the individuals lending out their assets. These fees have enabled the rapid expansion of both Uber and Airbnb.

In letzter Zeit sind einige neue Unternehmen und Initiativen entstanden, die der Machtkonzentration in der Sharing Economy entgegenwirken wollen, wie Origin und ShareRing.

Als Fazit hält Rothrie fest:

Monopolies dominate the current sharing economy, and markets like this are ripe for disruption. The emergence of blockchain cuts out middlemen so savvy startups can create headaches for the likes of Uber and Airbnb. The big sharing economy companies, as well as other online marketplaces, need to make sure that they are keeping up with these developments if they are going to stay at the top of their game.