David was less enthusiastic about the name, at least at first. “I viscerally disagreed with the name. I wanted something more professional,” he says. “But Renov, being a lot younger than me, wanted something more fun and attractive to a younger audience. Which is cool with me.”

“We don’t want to be all business-like and old. We want to connect with the young ICON community. And the blockchain community overall is pretty young.”

Four point proposal

DRAICON BALL aims to help ICON achieve its mission of changing the world through decentralization.

To do this, the team has put forward a proposal focusing on four things: dependable infrastructure, the DApp ecosystem, the oracle ecosystem and the interchain.

DRAICON BALL will use the AWS Cloud to provide ICON with block generation and verification infrastructure, allowing the network to run seamlessly.

To encourage developers to build DApps on the ICON network, DRAICON BALL plans to increase awareness of the platform, eliminate barriers to entry, promote DApps prior to launch and assist with investment. “For not only ICON, but all blockchain protocols, adoption is critical,” says David. “You need to have all kinds of customer-facing and high-utility applications. We want to promote ICON for that ecosystem, for people to create different and unique DApps. Number one is promotion of it: hey, come over here and create another DApp with us.”

DRAICON BALL will use all of its available channels to promote viable DApps prior to launch. Renov stressed the importance of the DApp ecosystem to ICON’s success. “It is important that DApps can be successful,” he says. “If DApps can easily succeed, the ecosystem can flourish.”

For the oracle ecosystem, the team envisions a decentralized, automated solution that’s true to the spirit of blockchain. An oracle is the agent that verifies and transmits data to a blockchain network for use in smart contracts. Without oracles, a blockchain cannot access data from outside of its own network. Put simply, the oracle is the connection between the blockchain and the real world.

DRAICON BALL wants to ensure that the oracle system is as unbiased as possible. Renov says this is mission-critical if ICON is to truly hyperconnect the world. “ICON has the goal of connecting all chains and networks, and even the outside world. This means that oracles could be a big problem,” he says. “We need to solve the oracle problem in a decentralized way. If we solve it in a decentralized way, anyone can participate as an oracle.”

The team will provide a web service for oracle registration, request data from oracles and evaluate oracles. They will provide governance, token economics, a smart contract model and service for oracles, as well as an interchain.

The team takes ICON’s interchain aspect especially seriously. Renov and David envision a world where token holders can conduct atomic swaps in a decentralized way. P-reps can serve as observers to make sure nobody’s cheating.

David says, “We view the interchain as one of the most critical to-dos for ICON. I think they feel the same way as well.” To do this, you can’t confine yourself to ICON or ICX usage. “You need to have a system where all the different blocks can communicate and utilize different coins,” he says. “So that’s what we are trying to do.”

Proximity has its advantages

So, why should you vote for DRAICON BALL?

Well, if their philosophy and technical competence don’t convince you, maybe their location will. Being based in Seoul, the team would have a much easier time communicating with the ICON team. They can also serve as a bridge, helping the community get much more involved.

“We plan on interviewing various people, seeing their day-to-day lives, seeing what they’re doing over there,” says David. “Because I think a lot of people are very curious. ‘What do they do everyday? What progress is being made?’ They want that constant update. They want to be involved in the process.”

“We want the community to feel more involved,” he adds. “Be more engaged. Be up close and personal with the ICON team. And I think we can do that with our close proximity geographically.”

Not token price, but value

DRAICON BALL promises to do some amazing things, and to do them in a very fun way. They also aim to share what they’ve learned along the way.

They also stress that their primary concern is ICON’s value, not the token price. This could put them at odds with some quarters of the community. “Many ICON holders were concerned about price of ICX when we started to join community channels,” says Renov. “Price is a very important thing, but the more important thing is the value of ICON. I believe if the value increases, then the price will follow. So DRAICON BALL will do its best for ICON’s value.”

David concurs. “Price in this current market is purely sentiment based,” he says. “Utility, mass adoption – it’s going to take some time. We need to work together to drive up the value, utilization, use cases. Of course, ICON’s aim is towards that. They’re not concerned about the price, the sentiment.”

“Of course, they want to be well-liked,” he adds “Who doesn’t? But we have a much grander vision than just influencing price. So we aim to accelerate that process with ICON and with the community.”