AUGUR, a crypto prediction market, is preparing for its first big overhaul

The main reason behind Augur’s launch is the option to trade in everything – from sports to elections, on a secure, decentralized platform.

But Augur has a major downside – its user experience (UX). The hype quickly disappeared, leaving Augur with around 100 daily users, from an average of 300 users per day at its peak.

The design team at Forecast Foundation has been working in a frenzy to make an upgrade to Augur’s looks and feels. The second version of Augur is currently in development and will address many issues concerning user experience and usability.

The changes will be available to the public once they are audited and ready for users to experience. Also, the foundation will improve the user interface of their Augur app – something users requested a mere two weeks after the initial launch on July 10th.

Augur’s development team has been focused on simplifying the trading functions. Instead of the currently offered "normal” and controlled trading, users will be left with only the controlled trading function. This involves the user more and gives them control over the “gas” of the trading function before it stops.

Gas is the unit needed by the Ethereum network to pay when dealing with smart contracts. If the network is busy, transaction fees for the usage of smart contracts can reach several dollars. Users will be able to set a threshold, over which trading functions stop.

The other significant change will be in the inefficient and complex algorithm for compensating “reporters,” which give Augur information about event outcomes – e.g., scores and election results. After the upgrade Augur will gather fees into a smart contract, and then auction them for REPs (Augur’s native token)

Other improvements include smart contract tweaks for decreasing gas costs by at least 25% and risk relief.

Augur will benefit from utilizing DAI stablecoin, so users can lower the risk of Ethereum’s value, especially when funds are being locked for months or years.

Another big issue – market validity, will be corrected by giving REP holders the ability to vote for the validity of a market.

While waiting for V2 to go live, users can get to know the platform better by using Predictions.Global – and independent site for market predictions. Users can search, view, and sort Augur’s markets and familiarize themselves with the platform’s potential.