Digital Assets

If you have started to follow the “cryptocurrency” world, generally beginning with Bitcoin, and progressing down the rabbit hole to its likely successor Ethereum, you have probably begun to learn about several other new coins as well, many of which are being developed on the Ethereum Network. Plenty of these tokens do not have the intended purpose of currency use, but have much more complex and useful attributes. We can broadly define all of these tokens as Digital Assets. Some notable Ethereum projects include Augur, Golem, DigixDao, and recently gaining much of my attention is Iconomi.

As new ICOs (Initial Coin Offering) are popping up just about weekly, it can be difficult for any single token to stand out. Often, tokens with simple use cases can get attention quickly, for example, Augur allows for decentralized prediction/betting markets. Toss the word “gambling” or “betting” out there and everyone sees its potential value, “cryptoexpert” or not. For Iconomi the use case explanation is a little more involved, but the payout for understanding may be worth the effort.

In the rapidly changing world of technology and “digital assets,” the previously untouchable finance industry is being uprooted faster than you can say “FinTech.” As banks begin to group together (Enterprise Ethereum Alliance) to face their new adversary with what seems to be a “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” attitude, digital assets are continuously evolving, putting them two steps ahead of legacy “money men.”

Portfolio Tokens — Digital Asset Arrays

Iconomi is the platform for the first iteration of the new blockchain investment vehicles. The Iconomi team uses the term Digital Asset Arrays (DAA) for describing their platforms unique portfolio tokens. DAAs are essentially tokenized portfolios of digital assets, which may include varying amounts of Bitcoin, Eth, Monero, and Augur, to name a few assets currently allowed on their rosters. Portfolio managers create the allocation of digital assets that suit their preferences and then the array, or portfolio, can be made available to the community. Members of the community can then support that array of digital assets and get a share of the potential proceeds.

DAA tokens are a new breed of digital assets- a diversified dynamic asset bundle, in an easily transferable cryptocoin, with autonomous dividend payout settings. If you are new to the cryptospace and see the potential for massive value growth, but don’t want to spend tremendous amounts of time researching all of the various digital assets, then the DAA tokens would be appealing, as they allow for a portfolio manager to take care of that part for you. A portfolio manager can adjust the holdings of an array at any time, directly influencing those DAA token holdings. These could be considered the ETFs (exchange-traded fund) of the digital asset world. These array funds can be managed by anyone who opens an account — The Iconomi team is encouraging would-be neo-portfolio managers to join the beta testing and get comfortable with the system before the official launch. The transparency of the platform will allow successful array managers to gain reputation and more support if they manage the portfolios successfully.

Iconomi’s two flagship DAAs are the Iconomi Index Fund (ICNX) & the Iconomi Performance Fund (ICNP).

Iconomi Index Fund (ICNX)

Passively/Automatically managed by the Iconomi team.

The index fund is rebalanced regularly to offset risks and improve chances for growth. ICNX is made up of some of the biggest players in the digital asset/crypto space. This could be compared to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, but for the digital asset market. The ICNX coin will be able to be traded on other exchanges publicly.

Iconomi Performance Fund (ICNP)

An actively managed fund investing primarily in ICOs.

The initial investments in this fund have been in Golem, Byteball, and Santiment which was made possible by the seed funding from the Iconomi ICO. ICNP will only be available on the Iconomi platform- not publicly traded on other exchanges. This fund is likely to be more risky, as it invests in the newest digital assets, but the potential for return is also much higher.

Iconomi (ICN) tokens are ownership of the Iconomi platform; these tokens receive dividends, which are accrued by trades and management fees from portfolio/array managers, 20% of the profits made from the ICNP at regular intervals, and 3% annual fees from the ICNX. These dividends are paid out automatically to ICN token holding addresses (must be holding a minimum of 42 ICN tokens in an address). Similar to exchanges like Coinbase or Kraken, fees are accrued through the buying and selling of digital assets on their platform; this movement of rebalancing the portfolios, plus management fees, could eventually lead to substantial dividends for ICN holders- like a share in an exchange. Dividends are paid out automatically via smart contract in Eth. If Eth’s value continues to rise, as predicted, those dividends accrued could also gain value over time.

The Future

Iconomi is one of the first of its kind, but it is not the only team realizing the massive potential of digital asset management platforms. The entire digital asset space is growing at a staggering rate, up from a market cap of 7.93 billion in March of 2016 to 24.15 billion in March of 2017 and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. Entrepreneurs from every industry are running to jump in on the blockchain action. Melonport aims to be a competitive digital asset management platform, offering a more decentralized option than Iconomi. The Iconomi platform is managed by smart contracts and Cashila, a company that will be used for fiat on-ramping to the platform. Cashila has a successful track record in the cryptospace and continues to innovate rapidly. Iconomi is far ahead of the competition as Melonport and other management platforms don’t expect a working product for another year or two.

Digital assets of all kinds are emerging: Bitcoin as the forerunner of cryptocurrency; Digix being the first gold-backed Ethereum token; Golem is working towards becoming a decentralized computing token and Iconomi is bundling groups of these digital assets together, as fourth generation blockchain portfolio tokens. Iconomi’s DAAs act as a hedge against the volatility of the infant industry — mitigating one of the main concerns of would-be supporters of the community. The evolution and revolution of the digital asset space has only just begun. As with the arrival of all new technology, there is much to gain from being aware of what is coming- what is here. The future of money, value transfer, asset management, even the very way humans organize and interact is being morphed into something new. We have arrived…a new era of finance is upon us.

For more information on digital assets/cryptocurrencies go like the Future Asset Management page on Facebook or subscribe to the YouTube channel.