ICON (ICX) has silently made its way into the top 15 among all the cryptocurrencies in the world according to CoinMarketCap (as of 1/9/2018). How a coin that started circulation in September, 2017 and still be able to accomplish such a feat is beyond me. This says a lot about the cryptocurrency craze and the potential ICON has at the moment.

What is ICON?

ICON is an interchain blockchain technology that aims to link a number of various blockchains such as, Bitcoin and Ethereum into one simple platform through smart contracts. The mission objective of ICON is to “hyperconnect the world” in building one of the largest decentralized networks in the world centered around financial institutions, universities, healthcare and big businesses. Think of one big network consisting of various blockchain technologies able to communicate and coexist with one another.

How ICON works

The ICON network uses Decentralized Exchange (DEX) to transfer, settle, and exchange currencies through a magnitude of different blockchains through the ICON platform. The DEX sets currency reserves among the blockchain communities so that currencies can be exchanged in real-time through the ICON Republic. The ICON Republic is the sole reason why multiple blockchain communities can coexist on ICON’s platform. The feature functions solely to communicate between blockchain channels to ensure seamless integration in the platform. As a result, different blockchain communities are able to exchange valuable services without any hiccups. The ICX coin will act as the intermediary currency for the ICON platform to trade for potential services among the various blockchain communities.

The non-invasive nature of ICON makes implementation for potential business partners to be easy and very low risk. Thus, ICON may appeal to many companies new to blockchain technology.

Recent major developments

ICON is a conglomerate of Dayli Financial Group, a Korean financial technology company valued upwards of $4 billion. In order to absorb the recent major developments, you must be aware that Dayli Financial Group is the parent company of ICON, TheLoop, and Coinone.

Fun fact

Although ICX coin distribution started several months ago at September, 2017, ICON has been in development for over two years.