The Ethereum based Augur serves to predict the market that “leverages the wisdom of the crowds to create a search engine for the future that can run on its own token.” Say that again? Okay, let’s try it this way. “Augur wants users to be able to create their own markets for specific questions and to profit from the trading while allowing users to buy positive or negative shares regardless of the outcome of a future event.” Why would anyone want to buy negative shares? According to Augur, “The value of each share adds up to one dollar, so if a negative share is worth 50 cents and if a positive share is worth 50 cents, there is a 50/50 probability of said event becoming true or false according to the platform. If that event is proven to take place, the positive shareholders will receive a full dollar for each share bought.” Still not clear, but go on. “Let's say we're betting on a sports tournament. A user can buy shares for the underdog to win the championship at a cheap price, 10 cents for example. As the tournament progresses, this underdog surprises everyone by winning some games. The price of that share will certainly rise given the success of the team, meaning that we can now sell the share for a higher price, let's say 60 cents, making a 50c profit for each share sold.” This sports analogy doesn’t cut it. So the point is that of thousands of users tell other users about what they have won using the Augur token, and then they will go out and engage in the Augur system, right? Yes, that’s basically it. Although this concept has been around for some time, Augur claims it is the first decentralized (how many times have you read that word) system. What does decentralized mean anyway? The answer is that users do not have to report to any central authority. So the bottom line is that anyone can create a market for crypto currencies regardless of its theme, so to speak. Sounds like an online casino to me.
