Published on Feb 21, 2020
The objective of this post is to share rich yet simple information about ICON (ICX) so that an average Crypto investor can understand the future potential of ICON. Disclaimer – I am a big ICON fan and have done extensive research on ICON over the last 3 months but not related to the team in anyway.
Simply put, ICON is a massive scale blockchain platform that allows –
Decentralized Application (DAPPS) – Build DAPPS on ICON Platform like on Ethereum and NEO. Yes, soon, you will see ICOs happening on ICON platform for different DAPPS
Interchain (Interoperability with Blockchains) – Allows different blockchains connecting to one another through their protocol. ICON is fully compatible with traditional blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum and in future can bridge other public blockchains such as Qtum, NEO and many others to achieve their mission statement – “Hyperconnect the world”
Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Use of AI to ensure all nodes contributing to ICON Republic/platform are rewarded fairly and not to have certain powers over distribution policies. AI will continue to learn a variety of variables to determine optimal distribution policies and achieve complete decentralization.
Decentralized Exchange (DEX) – ICON will integrate different DEX protocols on their platform to facilitate exchange of ICX and other future ICON platform currencies. Bancor protocol will be their first DEX protocol when mainent launches this month end and Kyber and others will follow. Not just throwing Kyber’s name out there, it was confirmed they are working with each other, official partnership yet to be announced.
You can also check ICON’s comparison with Ether and EOS on their website to learn more about its unique technical capabilities.
ICON’s credentials and why it can become the biggest blockchain in the world (In my humble opinion):
ICON is started by a Korean fintech company Dayli Financial Group, which is currently valued at $4 billion. Dayli was formerly known as Yello Financial Group. Dayli is now established as the market leader in Korea with the largest blockchain network, with over 40 organizations in the financial services, insurance, education, artifiical intelligence, cryptocurrency and hospital space. They are trying to bring all this together through ICON. Btw, Dayli also owns Coinone, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges in the world with ~ 800 Million in daily trading volume and the first exchange to introduce Ethereum to South Korea.
An experienced and 31 member dedicated team - 6 foundation council members who are also the founders of Dayli : ) This is how much ICON means to them. 15 blockchain developers and product managers, 5 Artificial intelligence specialists, 5 marketing, design and security specialists – a total of 31 member dedicated team at the time of ICO, which will grow many folds in the future. This team is supported by 8 world class advisors, including Don Tapascott, who visited Seoul to work with the team and other 100 employees of Dayli Financial. All employee bios can be accessed on ICON website.
ICON project has been under development for over 2 years now, under TheLOOP and has real world applications. Loopchain is a distributed ledger that provides industry specific blockchain solutions The first production blockchain service, a KYC authentication platform, was launched in August 2017 with 25 securities firms. Check out their website to look at their impressive partners – Samsung, Kyobo, Meritz and many more. ICON also has Artifiical intelligence in house capability under the company DaVinci, which will support the development of the main platform. Read more about it on Davinci website.
ICON has developed its own blockchain protocol called LFT (Loop Fault Tolerance), which is an enhanced BFT (Byzantine Fault Tolerance)32-based algorithm that promotes faster consensus and ensures the finality of the consensus without the possibility of forks within the network
South Korea is ranked top 5 in ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) and the 11th largest economy in the world. South Koreans also have immense interest in the crypto space, where daily trading account for ~20-40% of total global volume. Most consider cryptocurrencies as an investment vehicle rather than payment solution or functional blockchain platforms. It’ll be interesting to see when one of their own public blockchain introduced in the country, how sectors from different industries come up with new use cases, and actual form of payment adapted by end consumers.
Key Partnerships - 3 top Korean universities, Woori bank developing their digital coin(leading Korean bank), Daishain Securities, Chain ID for Kofia, SBI Ripple Asia parternship, DAVinCI selected as AI Solution Partner for Carnegie Mellon University x Emirate Hackathon. ( Will keep this up to date)
ICON (ICX) started trading on Binance this morning and will get listed on all the major exchanges soon. OkEx tomorrow.
Testnet is already launched and Mainnet is expected to launch by end of this month – mid of January. Native ICX wallets for each platform (Web, desktop, IOS and Android) and DEX will also launch around the same time.
Detailed roadmap for next year can be accessed through their website.
