2017 was definitely the most interesting year so far for the virtual crypto currency space and ICOs (initial coin offerings). In fact, this year ICOs have been increasing exponentially, and arguably this has had both its upsides and downsides. While the blockchain is bringing some good projects that could be very beneficial in several different fields, unfortunately scams ICOs are increasing consistently as well. This has made investors very wary; however, there are still plenty of people out there who keep throwing their money at the newest project, without performing an in-depth research as well as observing the team’s behavior before considering their investment. This is very important: a project can be technically sound and whitepapers can also be elaborate but the value of the team will either “make it” or “break it” for the project’s success.

Now, let’s get to the point of this post. I have recently decided to invest in STOX and add it to my “journey to $1.000.000” portfolio. Why have I done so? Once, a wise man told me to “buy when there is blood on the street”. Currently, this is the case for STOX, given the low marketcap. And I did so, after I got beyond the “Stox is the Mayweather shill coin” talk, it was easy for me to realize the incredible potential this project has. What really struck out to me was how communicative the Stox team is and how frequently they listened to the concerns and questions from their community.

Before continuing explaining myself, I would like to state that I am writing this post to ease others’ job in their research, but please, (and I cannot stress this enough) still verify all the information present in this post; and take it for what this is: additional information in your research, rather than an investment suggestion or a “paid shill”.

Here we go: STOX will be one of the most disruptive ICOs of 2018 because it is backed by a well balanced and motivated team who is on track to successfully achieve what they set out to do, in very little time. Honestly, I know there will be plenty of people who will criticize this point, so I will let you judge it and I will keep myself to just presenting some facts and achievements of the team so far:

Fast development. STOX is directly competing with Augur and Gnosis but unlike them (still years in the works…) it released a first alpha version in less than one month from ICO, and it is set to release their first full version of their platform in 2018 Q3. However, many of the features will be available sooner than that, with Alpha 2.0 coming very soon on 2017 Q4, Alpha 2.1 released during 2018 Q1, and Beta 1.0 on 2018 Q2.

Regulations. 2018 will likely see many regulations applied to the virtual cryptocurrencies space and ICOs: planning ahead is the right strategy and that is what Stox did, and swiftly. Rather than waste time with bureaucracy, they acquired Commologic, their product and more importantly the licenses that came with it. These licenses can be verified here (https://secure.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/PublicRegister/Search) and here http://www.mga.org.mt/gaming-sectors/remote-gaming/licensed-operators/ (using Commologic as keyword). Stox is still on the process of acquiring more licenses and this will turn out to be very important in the future, as some project will see their token value crash through the floor when found not compliant by new regulations. Also be aware, that projects not compliant will be delisted by some exchanges, which will cause panic sell (I am speculating here, but some tokens were recently delisted from Bittrex).

Bancor and liquidity. STOX is currently the first ‘smart’ token to be launched on the Bancor liquidity network. Hence, it will never suffer from liquidity problems now or in the future. What does this mean? Further down the road some projects will encounters issues with liquidity. In the case of STOX, when market operators will need STX tokens to place events, they can buy (at market price) at any moment on the Bancor platform. This will introduce new minted tokens in the total supply, but at the same time this will increase the price of the tokens itself.

Mass adoption, mainstream, call it whatever you prefer. This is, in my opinion, the biggest selling point of this project. The team is very straightforward about this: they will pursue an aggressive market strategy next year ahead of several events like Champions League, 2018 FIFA World Cup, etc. and so on, as well as providing ease of use in the platform for new adopters while keeping the interface as user friendly as possible. In fact, being a smart token on the Bancor network will soon allow the team to create an API to purchase STX tokens directly on the platform and storing them on the integrated wallet of the platform. <speculation> This will be a tremendous feature needed in order to go “mainstream”. All betters and gamblers around the world will be able to purchase STX on the platform without needing to create an account on exchanges </speculation>.

Demand, demand, demand, and token utility. There will be several types of demand for the STX token: by operators purchasing STX to set up events, by platform users, who will be purchasing STX to place their predictions, and by investors. The clear and defined use of STX tokens on the platform will give utility to the token (hence, it will not be classified as a security token).

Exchanges. Beside exchanges that already listed it, STOX is currently being reviewed by other exchanges and the Japanese FSA: if found compliant, it will be listed on QUOINE, one of the biggest exchanges in the world for FIAT-crypto trading.

Communication. The team is very, very, very, almost too much, communicative with their community and they can always be reached by anyone on their telegram channel (https://t.me/stx_coin). They also post numerous updates on their medium page (https://medium.com/@stoxhq) and tend frequent Q&As, and AMAs. More information can be found at their webpage (https://www.stox.com/).

Well, there you have it folks. These are the main reasons why I believe the STX token will have out-of-this-world gains next year. Again, fact check everything and do your research. I will try to post updates and more ICOs reviews in the future. Thank you all for bearing with me and good luck!