Two months ago I posted a brief article about how independent consultants and contractors may be paid in crypto. There were various ICO's in the payment/invoicing space at that time.
https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@bon07/payment-in-crypto-for-consultants-and-contractors
Since that time, I have taken a closer look at the Request Network token, and read through the whitepaper a bit more to look closely at their business to business invoicing proposal. On page 9 of the whitepaper, it discusses Business 2 Business (B2B) invoicing, which is of interest to me.
While I find it compelling and interesting, what I don't see is how INVOICES would be handled on the request network!! That seems like a major flaw to me, as no company is compelled to pay an invoice "just because" someone issued one to them.
On another side, the white paper does point out that many small to medium size business go bankrupt due to not getting paid. What they don't mention is that the tactic of unscrupulous companies to slowly squeeze the little person with the most fundamental strategy of business: slow payments. When a company engages with a high profile consultant, the easiest way to weaken them is to delay payment out 30, then 60, then 90 days. If you want to talk about REAL Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) then look at a small business who doesn't KNOW WHEN they will get paid.
Now, the Request Network has nice images like the one below of the proposed payment system. What I want to know is where is the button for invoices, and where is the button for recourse if the payment doesn't occur.
While the whitepaper talks about interaction with 0x, CIVIC, and Aragon to build their platform, unless their is a guarantee of payment, I see this as having a major flaw. Now the other aspects of the platform that talk about a PayPal type functionality, that seems okay to me.
Overall, I will be looking forward to seeing how platforms like Populous, Etch, and Request Network fare in the near future.