Whilst blockchain technology is not ready to deliver many of the promised use-cases, the coupon market is actually a use-case, where blockchain technology makes sense and can already make a difference – with the solution developed by Rouge Network.

--Unique coupons: The use by date is coded into the coupon, so expired coupons will no longer exist online. Say goodbye to “this coupon is no longer valid.”
--End of fake coupons: A coupon generated from the Rouge blockchain platform becomes a unique digital object that cannot be replicated, and can only be used once.
--Trackable online coupons: The platform based on smart contracts and Ethereum’s public ledger will also make coupons easier and cheaper to manage, providing more accurate information on a coupons’ status.
--E-Commerce 3.0: Additionally, with the Rouge platform, coupons can be re-sold on to a secondary market. Customers can share a promotional deal they have received for their loyalty to a trading place where new customers exist, giving coupons added value, and making the coupon experience easier to share, and a much more fun and reliable experience.

Today Mattr announced enhancements that will make the logistics of influencer marketing partnerships more efficient, scalable, and timely through the implementation of blockchain-based Ethereum technology.

A blockchain-based technology, Ethereum features smart contract functionality that facilitates online contractual agreements. By integrating Ethereum into its platform, Mattr is streamlining the payments process between brand and influencer, previously one of the most challenging aspects of influencer marketing. Enabling a multi-party payments process to be performed via a smart contract makes the process faster, more transparent, and less expensive for both brands and influencers.

Mattr's innovation in influencer marketing helps blockchain technology further advance beyond financial deployments. Though many associate blockchain solely with the bitcoin cryptocurrency, the distributed computing technology is capable of serving nearly infinite purposes. Mattr is currently assessing other possible uses for Ethereum-based blockchain in marketing as well.

Consider what’s happened in just the past 10 years:

The first major blockchain innovation was bitcoin, a digital currency experiment. The market cap of bitcoin now hovers between $10–$20 billion dollars, and is used by millions of people for payments, including a large and growing remittances market.
The second innovation was called blockchain, which was essentially the realization that the underlying technology that operated bitcoin could be separated from the currency and used for all kinds of other interorganizational cooperation. 
The third innovation was called the “smart contract,” embodied in a second-generation blockchain system called ethereum, which built little computer programs directly into blockchain that allowed financial instruments, like loans or bonds, to be represented, rather than only the cash-like tokens of the bitcoin.
The fourth major innovation, the current cutting edge of blockchain thinking, is called “proof of stake.” The new systems do away with these data centers, replacing them with complex financial instruments, for a similar or even higher degree of security. Proof-of-work systems are expected to go live later this year.
The fifth major innovation on the horizon is called blockchain scaling. Right now, in the blockchain world, every computer in the network processes every transaction. This is slow. A scaled blockchain accelerates the process, without sacrificing security, by figuring out how many computers are necessary to validate each transaction and dividing up the work efficiently. 

Ethereum is a worldwide network of interconnected computers (nodes) that enforce, execute and validate programs in a decentralized manner without requiring a server, memory, CPU power, or any other computing function, as it is all provided by thousands of ethereum nodes scattered across the world. In short, ethereum is a global computer.

This global computer allows applications, called Decentralized Apps or DApps, through the use of smart contracts – simple javascript like code – to run exactly as they have been programmed, requiring no permission, having no intermediary, in a largely immutable manner, lacking any downtime, censorship, fraud, or third party interference.

It further ensures the operation of ETH – ethereum’s digital currency which turns money into pure code – opening many new opportunities, including machine to machine payments, one click online commerce, decentralized autonomous organizations as well as completely new business models.

The platform has attracted significant interest by many household brands which are positioning for what some have called a fourth industrial revolution.