The problem AnonTrade solves

problems that exist:

• Centralized platforms control the categories of goods that can be traded, sold, or bought.
• Platforms can misuse trade data to manipulate supply and demand, leading to targeted sponsored ads.
• Existing platforms have access to users' data, including the goods they have bought and sold.
• Users are unsure about secure and fair trades. Scams, non-delivery of products, and logistical mishaps are common worries.

How Our Product Solves These Pain Points:

• Decentralized & Secure: Utilizing the ICP blockchain ensures data privacy and prevents analysis of patterns that may disrupt demand and supply.
• Scalability: ICP's horizontal scaling capability makes it perfect for supporting a large user base in our product over other blockchain systems such as eth.
• Smart Contracts for Trust: Implementing smart contracts ensures fair and valid transactions. Currency is only transacted when both parties approve, eliminating scams.

Challenges we ran into

It was hard to figure out how to solve the commitment of trade and betrayal. We had to create smart contracts to enable this functionality and deal with cases separately, where the buyer could betray the trade once committed or the seller could betray the trade.

We solved this problem by implementing a staking algorithm. Once both parties have agreed to a trade, they have to stake their own cryptocurrency into a stake pot.
Whoever betrays the contract will face monetary punishment as they will lose their stake. The other party facing the betrayal and loss of time is compensated with the staked money. There is facilitation to terminate the commitment if both parties have agreed to terminate it.

when the trade has been completed, both parties can close the order. The entire stake pot is then sent to the seller which includes his own stake as well as the buyers and the trade is complete.

The trade is also time constrained and is terminated accordingly covering all the edge cases.