Cointopia has launched a marketplace focused on the blockchain community and ecosystem. According to a press release sent to CoinJournal, the company’s marketplace will connect blockchain companies to “top-tier service provider.” The San Francisco based company is the brainchild of Charles Michael Yim, known for his appearance on ABC’s Emmy Award-winning show Shark Tank.
Speaking with CoinJournal via email, Yim, who is the Founder and CEO, said the marketplace would “bridge the gap” between blockchain companies and the specialized vendors providing services they need to be successful.
“We wanted to create a reliable and trustworthy destination to find vendors whereby it would provide transparency of quality of work and democratize pricing for respective services.”
Cointopia hopes to sign up blockchain vendors offering services such as advisory, whitepaper authoring, PR/Marketing and more. The company has signed up a few names including Sparkchain, a communications and PR firm.
Aaron Bensoua, Director at Sparkchain, while commenting on the launch of Cointopia said his company was excited to be an “official vendor” of a marketplace poised to move the “market forward.”
“In today’s congested blockchain landscape, founders are faced with an influx of companies providing professional services, many of which are not properly vetted. As a company that is a leader in the blockchain industry, we are excited to have Cointopia list our company as an official vendor in their marketplace.”
According to Yim, Cointopia has “hand selected a wide range of vendors” based on their past work and projects. Each vendor is given access to the marketplace to upload a portfolio including past work which will serve as “billboard for future work.”
“Criteria they will be graded on will be things like price, quality, reliability, speed, etc. Because we are a tech marketplace, we are relying on the clients to give accurate feedback on a vendor’s work and will be storing those reviews on the blockchain,” he added.
Cointopia’s marketplace will have a rating system which will support the ecosystem and help companies make better choices on the platform. Users will also be able to upload requests, manage projects, receive online bids from professional vendors and share project information and “start date to begin the bidding process.”
At the moment, Yim said users can only make payments to vendors via fiat but there, while crypto payments will be added to future updates. Cointopia is backed by industry heavyweights including XRP Capital’s Michael Arrington, Michael Terpin and Augur’s Jeremy Gardner.