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Trial Token ICO review: Crowdfunding access to the legal system for everyone through the blockchain

‘No country could claim to be civilized if its legal system weren’t available to all its citizens.’

A corrupt, inefficient, or otherwise non-functioning legal system is one of the best indicators of a country in dire need of a change. Any citizen facing legal issues needs to know that a) The legal machinery will at least be fair and free of bias in their treatment, and b) The system is affordable to everyone, regardless on income or social status.

The issue of fairness in the legal profession is one to spark endless debate about its practical implementation. But nevertheless, the groundwork for a fair and affordable legal assessment should at least be there in any court of law, anywhere.

The issue of affordability is also a hot topic. One should not require to pay the exorbitant fees of a celebrity lawyer to guarantee fair treatment, or any treatment at all.

A lack of access to legal solutions, due to income limitations or otherwise, may severely hamper an individual or a business’ thriving in society. Such negative notion may affect someone’s physical or mental health, access to housing, among a myriad of other potential ramifications.

The Trial Funds society intends to develop a blockchain-based platform to connect people seeking funding for their claims with investors or backers willing to provide those sought after funds.

The platform is also intended to provide general information and resources pertaining to navigating the legal environment.

This piece is a full disclosure, a statement of facts without any intention of advice or endorsement about the Trial Funds value offer.

Trial Funds: Law and order through the blockchain

The current legal system is a minefield. Inscrutable, arcane legal sleight and artifice may pop up at any time, quashing someone’s claim, or at the very least diminishing the potential payout.

The advent of blockchain technology has brought about a revolutionary change to many industries: From insurance, to betting, to agriculture, social services, and many more.

Trial Funds now intends to create an ecosystem of trust using the blockchain as its supporting pillar.

How Trial Token works

• Those seeking access to legal services purchase tokens.
• Backers will see the requests and choose which cases to support. Backers can then track the progress of the case.
• The backer will be rewarded by receiving a portion of the settlement, when the case is settled or won.

Trial Funds in numbers: A few quick facts

• Token pre-sale – Q4 2017
• Token conversion chart during Pre-sale
• $1 USD = 20 TT
• 1 Bitcoin = 150,000 TT
• 1 Ether = 5,500 TT
• ICO: Q1 2018
• 1bn Trial Tokens will ever be created, to be allocated as shown below:

40% (400,000,000) to be sold by to pre-sale purchasers pursuant to Token Pre-Sale Agreements.   40% (400,000,000) to be sold by the Society to Primary Token Sale purchasers.

15% (150,000,000) to be reserved by Trial Funds Society to incentivize investors

5% (50,000,000) to be sold directly on the platform at a minimum of USD$1.00

Tokens owned by Trial Funds Society will be priced at the greater of $1. USD or the then current market price (if any)

Tokens are intended to be sold during the initial Primary Token Sale at a price of USD$0.10 per Token Pre-sale conversion

The company specifies that anyone intending to send Ethereum do so from a wallet, rather than a public exchange.

The Trial token

Trial funds will issue the Trial Token (TT), which is based on the ERC-20 standard. Token holders will be able to use the token to access services.

The team

The company’s Whitepaper presents a core team of 10 people. The team presents an interesting assortment of skills, from technology to legal advice, business development, etc.

Clicking on the profile picture on the website shows a short bio for every team member. There is no link to any LinkedIn profile. There is no mention of expanding the team.

Social Media Presence and Digital Footprint

A strong presence on Social Media is usually a good indicator of a company’s popularity, though it cannot be considered its only factor for success, or lack of.

In this particular case, however, Trial Token’s reach through Social Media appears to be non-existent. I could not find any unique accounts on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or indeed any other major Social Media outlets at the time of writing at least.

This may be an oversight, but it certainly does pose the question of why, since Social Media is one of today’s main avenues for expansion and notoriety.

Trial Token fails the Social Media test big time.

Whitepaper

A well laid out, informative, comprehensive Whitepaper is a must for any ICO, if they are to be taken seriously. Documentation is sometimes treated as an afterthought, leaving many companies open to some undue criticism.

This particular paper is rather short, which is not a bad thing as long as all the points are made across with sufficient clarity.

The paper includes background information on the concept that justifies the existence of the ICO.

There are 18 pages in total, which makes it rank among the shortest Whitepapers I’ve seen in the industry thus far.

All told, the paper communicates all the information clearly enough.

Website Quality & Layout

Trial Token’s site looks and feels like the standard website created for an upcoming ICO. It is secure, featuring a valid SSL certificate, which is a must.

The site asks for an email address before enabling you to download the Whitepaper, which is slightly unusual. This may or may not be a way to gather email addresses from people who may be interested in investing in the future, or at least be interested in the proposition.

I have not yet received any subsequent email, at the time of writing at least, so it may just the way it has been designed.

The website (and the Whitepaper, for that matter) were free from grammatical errors, though I did find that the word Ethereum was misspelled as ‘Etherium’ in at least one occasion on the website.

Conclusion

The legal system poses a number of real challenges to those who are facing the possibility of engaging with it.

This alone discourages many from ever attempting to claim what they may entitled to. Add the issue of cost and the possibility of long, protracted legal battles, and a huge chunk of potentiall successful cases never see the inside of a court.

Trial Token intends to address at least the issue of the substantial costs associated with legal undertakings. The idea of seeking financial backing from investors who get a cut of the settlement is interesting, if hardly new.

What’s new about is the use of the blockchain as means of taking on the challenge.