EnergiToken is a blockchain platform that incentivizes users to save energy by rewarding them with cryptocurrency for doing so. Founded in 2016 by Omar Rahim, the project is one of many projects attempting to merge blockchain technology with the energy industry, a trend that has been growing over the past two years.
In addition to encouraging the saving of power, the EnergiToken team also wishes to decentralized the global electricity market, estimated to be somewhere around $2 trillion in value and controlled by a select few entities. The team sees various applications in addition to rewarding users with ETK tokens for energy saving: they have described how commuters could earn ETK tokens for using public transport. The team envisions a much wider power ecosystem that the token can play a great role in.
There are two main components to the EnergiToken energy ecosystem: a peer to peer marketplace and the reward mechanism with the ETK token at the centre of it. The former is where users can buy or sell energy, and the latter is the aforementioned incentive that will encompass public transport services, the purchase of energy efficient appliances and energy saving.
The last 12 months or so has seen the platform form multiple partnerships, including with Electra, Hotel Cappuccino, nextbike, and most recently, the Bristol City Council. The project is currently in its second phase, vendor management, and details on phases 3 - 6 have not been outlined yet. Phases 3 and 4 are expected to commence this year.