Cryptocurrency markets and investors all over the world faced a discouraging return to reality after all-time highs in crypto were achieved at the tail end of last year but the consensus around the blockchain remains the same—the technology is here to stay and it is growing faster ever.

The blockchain has matured to a point where is it seriously being considered as an alternative to legacy systems bogged by inefficiencies, a point proven by the use of blockchain technologies in countries like India and China in their respective government systems. At the same time, more and more people are beginning to realize how digital currencies can significantly change how money is consumed (for the better) which sparks interest in the blockchain even more.

Alongside the rapid growth of the blockchain, initial coin offerings (ICOs) are now the go-to funding mechanism for blockchain startups—a system that has trickled to other industries (e.g Overstock and Binary.com). Aside from providing a slew of advantages to businesses, the low barrier to entry for ICOs give investors the opportunity to invest in exciting opportunities for as low as a dollar in some cases.

Despite the perks, the industry still has its share of negatives and weaknesses. The cryptocurrency market is not as regulated as traditional financial markets which exposes both investors and businesses to scams or poor project performances. At the moment, there is no guarantee that investors will see the projects they invest in do well; although some argue that investments are always a risk, blockchain projects can literally vanish with all of their funds without any serious legal repercussions.

To overcome these issues, Iconiq Lab aims to release a unique Asset Manager as a Service (“AMaaS”) platform to help investors and businesses to better manage their investments and developments in the blockchain industry thus putting an end to all the problems mentioned earlier.

Introducing Iconiq Lab

Iconiq Lab is the world’s first decentralized VC club for the blockchain community. Alongside its other feature, Iconiq Funds, the company gives investors a platform to invest in only the highest-quality opportunities as well as providing them advanced asset management tools for maximum returns on their investments.

Businesses looking to dabble in the blockchain industry also benefit from Iconiq Lab as the company provides as promising projects are exposed to similarly high-quality investors who are genuinely committed in seeing the project flourish—a far cry to current times where most ICO tokens are sold the moment it’s listed on exchanges.

They are also provided with aid such as financing, development tools, and support thanks to the Iconiq Lab’s accelerator program. Iconiq Lab has already committed more than a million euros to 9 selected companies in the program with more coming up as the platform grows. The company is currently in the process of acquiring licenses to ensure that projects in its accelerator program are legally compliant especially in the security tokens area.

Founded in 2017, Iconiq Lab has a strong reputation to back its development including being nominated as the top 3 German-based accelerator programs alongside investment giants, Techstar. The company is based in Germany but it has offices in New York and London as well as a future presence in Asia by the end of 2018.

The company will be working closely with Finlab AG (who’ve also invested in Iconiq Lab itself) to help manage a massive €100 million fund for Finlab. A series of Fortune-500 companies and publicly-listed companies are also in talks with Iconiq Lab to work on token sales and matters related to the blockchain so expect to see some exciting updates from Iconiq Lab in the near future.

Leading the talented Iconiq Lab team is Patrick Lowry, the company’s CEO with a wealth of industry experience under his belt in addition to being a respected evangelist and venture capitalist. Along with his partner, Maximilian Lautenschläger, they will help lead Iconiq Lab to deliver on its goal and establish itself as the top dogs in the blockchain investments scene.

How does Iconiq Lab work?

The core of the platform is the ICNQ ecosystem which is powered by the platform’s utility token, the ICNQ token. As mentioned earlier, the platform’s digital asset management solutions is responsible for aiding investors but these services are only available to users who hold ICNQ tokens; only token holders have access to Iconiq Lab’s ICO investment club and fund classes hence the ICNQ token’s importance in the platform.

Token holders also have the opportunity to invest in exciting startups graduating from the platform’s accelerator program and as an incentive, are given maximum bonuses and discounts to token sales. The projects moving through Iconiq Lab’s accelerator stages are managed strictly to ensure that the chances of investors losing their money is reduced to a tee.

A loyalty program is included in the platform which rewards token holders for engaging with Iconiq Lab. For instance, loyal token holders or asset managers who deliver consistently great results to clients may be rewarded with ICNQ tokens for their contributions to the platform.

Iconiq Funds extends its service to external digital asset managers who want to manage funds but are limited by factors such as client acquisition and other barriers to entry. In addition to that, the platform offers several services to further bolster the platform which (according to the whitepaper) include:

Investment Vehicle Design and Launch : Initial design of the investment vehicle, development of the investment strategy and registration with the competent regulatory authority.

: Initial design of the investment vehicle, development of the investment strategy and registration with the competent regulatory authority. Ongoing Product Management : Integration into top fund administrators, liquidity providers, compliance experts, custodial solutions, banking and audit and taxation professionals.

: Integration into top fund administrators, liquidity providers, compliance experts, custodial solutions, banking and audit and taxation professionals. Distribution and Execution : Cost-efficient and optimized execution of digital asset transactions across multiple exchanges, brokerage access and additional capital markets support.

: Cost-efficient and optimized execution of digital asset transactions across multiple exchanges, brokerage access and additional capital markets support. Reporting and Investor Relations: Compliant distribution of sophisticated investor marketing materials and transparent reporting through KPI analysis of investment performance metrics.

To further assist managers, Iconiq Lab provides an aggregated orderbook for managers to accurately analyze and manage their clients’ portfolio. The platform also collects data from multiple cryptocurrency exchanges for managers to execute trades that are optimal in terms of buying and selling digital assets. This unique trade execution feature, as well as many other advantages, makes Iconiq Lab an attractive for not only asset managers to grow their career, but also for investors to gain profits without breaking a sweat.

In the future, the platform plans to add ETFs and ETNs to further expand its features in addition to onboarding even more experienced digital asset managers and promising blockchain startups thus establishing Iconiq Lab as the most reputable digital asset managers in the coming years.

The Iconiq Lab token sale

The company will be holding a token sale for the ICNQ Token, the utility token of the platform.

Here are the details of the token sale:

Token name: ICNQ

Token base: ETH

Token supply: 20,000,000

Token sale duration: 15th October, 2018 (start date) – TBA

Token sale target: $10,000,000 (hard cap)

Token exchange rate: TBA

Iconiq Lab’s Website

Iconiq Lab’s Whitepaper