The ICON Foundation announced today that the widely anticipated ICX token sale will open on October 20, with a pre-sale starting on September 18.

ICON claims they are the first Blockchain platform in the world that connects independent Blockchains with different governances, allowing them to transact freely, but securely, in real time.

Blockchain for the Real World

From its inception two years ago, ICON has focused on real world applicability. Until now, individual Blockchain communities have been isolated from one another, with no easy way to pass information among them. The interoperability that ICON provides paves over one of the biggest obstacles to Blockchain’s widespread use.

“For Blockchain technology to reach its potential, it must be built to meet the demands of enterprises and institutions. ICON could be the solution,” said Don Tapscott, a leading author and thinker on Blockchain, who has signed on as an advisor. “It has already emerged as the leader in Korea, widely adopted by banks, universities, and hospitals, and is positioned to be a global force in this fast-emerging industry.”

Underlying Technology Thoroughly Proven

ICON Foundation’s aim to hyperconnect the world goes beyond the theoretical. More than 25 financial securities companies, three major universities, six university hospitals and three health insurance companies have formed industry consortiums that are already using the Blockchain engine powering ICX, called theloop, to automate and smooth transactions. ICON is also partnered with Woori Bank, one of the largest banks in Korea.

To understand how ICON works, imagine a patient who goes to a hospital for treatment. Both his hospital and his insurance company are part of the ICON network. The hospital can securely pass relevant information about the patient’s medical condition and treatment to the insurance company. In turn, the insurance company can make the payment directly using ICX. The hospital can use the ICX it receives to make other payments within the ICON network, or convert it to another currency such as Ethereum.

Token Sale

The ICX (“ICON Exchange”) token sale will begin on October 20 and will be used to allocate 400,230,000 ICX, or 50% of the total token supply. The starting price will be set at 2500 ICX per 1 ETH, and Ethereum is the only currency that will be accepted during the token sale.

Prior to the start of the official token sale, eligible individuals can participate in a pre-sale with a lower minimum transaction amount. (Generally, United States and Singaporean nationals and residents cannot participate. All transactions must be made using a personal Ethereum wallet with a private key.) The pre-sale will be tiered with the following transaction caps. All times are UTC+9.

Sept. 18 (13:00) – 20 (23:59): ETH 30 or less

Sept. 22 (13:00) – 24 (23:59): ETH 100 or less

Sept. 26 (13:00) – Oct. 12 (23:59): ETH 1000 or less

Once the official token sale begins on October 20, the minimum transaction amount will be ETH 0.1, with no maximum. The pre-sale may end early if the hard-cap of ETH 150,000 is reached. Participants in both the pre-sale and the token sale will immediately receive ERC20 tokens, guaranteeing their right to ICX tokens once they are available.

More information about ICON Foundation and ICX, including a detailed white paper explaining the underlying technologies and the potential uses, is available at https://icon.foundation/en/.

The ICON Republic is developed by the ICON Foundation, which is registered in Switzerland and operates primarily out of Korea. ICON team members and foundation council members include a number of leading thinkers and technologists in Blockchain and cryptocurrency, as well as people with more traditional finance backgrounds. Council members include EJ Eee (CEO of theloop), JH Kim (CEO of theloop), Jay Kim (CFO of theloop), Hoon Lee (CSO of theloop) and Min Kim (CBDO of theloop).

More than 150 people have contributed to making ICON a reality. In addition to the ICON Foundation council, this also includes members of the teams at theloop, who provide the underlying loopchain technology, and at DAVinCI, a leading AI company whose machine learning algorithms will bolster ICON’s governance.