Have you ever been offended and wanted to take action but couldn't afford it? Did a big company or ungrateful customer take advantage of you and you had to let it go because the cost of litigation was just too much in comparison with the amount causing the dispute?
Good news, Kleros is here.

What Is Kleros?

Kleros is an opt-in arbitrary platform that aims to handle and settle cases of dispute by appealing to crowd-sourced expertise with the Shelling Point concept and monetary incentive.
Here is their introduction video

The Kleros platform is very cheap to use and gives speedy judgement(maximum of 3 days). This will greatly reduce costs for everyone involved and they can rest assured that bribery and other shenanigans will be avoided. Kleros can be used by either the people in the dispute (employer and worker/freelancer) or by those who want to be jurors.

THE DISPUTERS

Kleros allows people to safeguard their contracts by using smart contracts with stated conditions that MUST be met before payment can be made. This ensures honest work and prompt payment, and in the event that one party defaults or fails to hold up his end of the bargain, the Kleros contract is triggered and professionals in the field of interest are called upon to mediate in the matter. The details of the smart contract are encrypted and kept secret off the blockchain. The disputers deposit Pinakoin(PNK) and pay jurors.

JURORS

Kleros allows experts or learned practitioners to lend their expertise in matters of dispute and solve cases that fall within situations they would have very good wisdom and technical know-how about. Jurors get paid arbitrary fees for their services. These jurors all fall into different "sub-courts" depending on their area of expertise.

Kleros Sub-court Structure

The identity of jurors is kept hidden to prevent any form of bribery or harassment. Jurors who vote bias or dishonestly are easily discovered because their votes wont match that of others. The system punishes these "incoherent" votes with a deduction of staked points.

Distribution of Payment From Client and Incoherent Jurors to Coherent Jurors

DOGES ON TRIAL!!!

As a learning aid, kleros has put forth this simple yet intricate example of the voting protocol that will function on its platform. It's a simple game where some users upload pictures and others)acting as jurors) vote on whether its a doge or not. Play Doge Game.
The following image aptly explains the voting process.

User Case Scenario

Kelechi wants Jeff the tailor to sew an ankara caftan for him. Jeff the tailor promises the job will be done in two weeks. Kelechi pays a deposit of half the agreed amount. Two weeks later, Kelechi returns but the caftan isnt ready. Jeff claims he is "almost done" but kelechi doesn't want to wait any longer. Both parties argue and even fight but in the end Kelechi doesn't get his money back and never recieved the caftan. Kelechi couldn't take the case to court because the money involved was less than what he would incur as legal fees. If he had used kleros he would've easily been refunded.

User Case Scenario 2

Jenny is an aspiring fashion designer. She contracts Ben to build a high quality site for her to showcase her wears to potential customers. Both agree on the amount to be paid and on the duration of the job(2 months). Jenny suggests they secure their transaction via kleros and Ben reluctantly agrees. After 2 months Ben claims the job is done but when Jenny opens her site, it is very outdated and poorly designed. She refuses to accept that job and insists Ben improve the site or he won't be paid. Jenny activates the kleros court proceedings via email and attaches pictures and even the link of the site Ben created. The kleros system scans the network for eligible jurors and within minutes selects 5 competent jurors experienced in web design(Felicia, Mandy), graphics(Gary, Loius) , flash and java(Abe). The jurors review the work and the possible options

A \ return the money to Jenny
B\ pay Ben
C\ Give Ben more time

Now since it is obvious that Ben isn't competent at website designing, all jurors click A. Jenny and Ben are informed of the decision taken via email and the smart contract returns the money to Jenny. The jurors are then paid. Case closed.

Token

The Kleros platform uses a token called Pinakoin. This token allows users to create and activate Kleros contracts, activate appeals and vote on changes in the Kleros ecosystem. The token allows jurors to indicate their interest or availability in judging a case. The higher your stake, the higher your voting weight.

Where Can Kleros Be Used?

Kleros can be used to solve disputes in a many different industries and societies. As long as there is a dispute, Kleros can bring peaceful resolution. Examples of places where Kleros can be utilized include

• Escrow
• Micro Tasking
• Insurance
• E-commerce
• Crowd funding
• Social Networks
• Oracles

The Team

The Partners

Conclusion

Kleros is a much needed respite to the many millions of people who conventional court proceedings have failed. Kleros promises to bring a new era of honesty backed by proper incentive and ease of arbitration. I support them!

If you would like to know more about this project, feel free to visit their site here. You can also read their Whitepaper here.
The team is very friendly and enthusiastic. Reach out to them on any of their social media accounts and strike up a conversation!
Facebook
GitHub
LinkedIn
Medium
Reddit
Twitter
Telegram
Kleros Forum
YouTube

This is a submission for the @originalworks contest here
Tweet: https://twitter.com/larrakk/status/1032021305720221697
All images were derived from the Kleros website and whitepaper.
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