Introduction



Thing is, we can rave about blockchain for nights on end. And for good reasons. Blockchain is no doubt a revolutionary technology promoting transparency, decentralization and efficiency. Its touted to disrupt traditional setups and because of infinite applications that can operate on-top of any DLT, the tech is no doubt valuable. That’s why it is garnering interests not only from visionary leaders, leading businesses but from governments keen on improving efficiency and service delivery to the people.



Please give our sponsor a visit since it’s the first DEX that beats centralized exchanges with price and liquidity:

Even so, blockchain cannot operate in isolation. Yes, there are smart contracts which are autonomous, based on mathematics–resembling the underlying platform. However, for maximum value, real-world smart contracts must draw variables from external sources. These trusted sources are called oracles and are essential more so if the smart contract which executes without third parties are dependent on real-word data as triggers.

Introducing Zap

Because of this gap, Zap is stepping in. In their prospectus, they claim to serve, trade and literally “feed” smart contracts with invaluable data. These data are from millions of participants creating a market place for curating feeds. What Zap is doing is bridging the revolutionary world of infinite possibilities made possible by smart contracts with real world data.

Their overall objective is to make sure that smart contracts are not limited and by linking and “activating” smart contracts conditions with arbitrary data, “the blockchain could truly encompass all global value.” Therefore, in a nutshell, Zap is a set of tools allowing for monetizing of data through a decentralized marketplace. Since it is based on blockchain, Zap will be a utility token allowing exploration of ecosystem oracles.

Team

Making this possible is an experienced team, passionate about crypto economics and proven team leaders building oracles within the crypto space.

While the team is made up of more than 30 members, they all depend on the guidance of Nick Spanos who is also the founder of the the Bitcoin Center as well as the Blockchain Technologies Corp. Ben Young, the co-founder, is also a stand-out. Before Zap, he was the managing director at ESports Online for a year. His other stints include time at Blockchain Technologies Corp where he was director of communications for three years and at Bitcoin Center NYC where he was the Communications Director for four and a half years.

Others include Steve Geros leading development, Tom St Laurent as Technical Director and Hamdan Azhar who heads the department of Data Science. Although they seem experienced, most don’t have links to LinkedIn accounts and the founder,for example, makes no mention of Zap in his summary.

Advisors include Sean Combs, a US Rapper, Dwayne Campbell of Goldman Sachs, Danny Zaterman of MIT and Alex Dziejma of Microsoft. Many would know Sean Combs as P Diddy but with the US SEC warnings, his endorsement in any form may automatically have a negative repercussion on the asset prices mostly because of SEC warnings and well, the strive to comply with Howey Test.

Road Map

Towards their objectives, the team is working towards striking partnerships and holding hackatons and running Oracle bounties. Creating a reliable oracle market place linking businesses—subscribers while drawing users and high developers—providers, is vital for their success and is their main value proposition. That is what the team will be doing from mid-Q2 2019. In January this year they launched their mainnet and released the first two oracles for BitStamp and Poloniex. A month later in February, they released MyOracleWallet, ensured they were ETC compliant and by March they held a workshop for creating oracles using Zap SDK.

Partners and Accomplishments

There is a gap that needs to be filled and Zap is actively working towards providing value for the burgeoning smart contract space.

They already have a patent with the founder Spanos speaking before the British Parliament House of Lords. Besides, he has testified before the New York Attorney General on matters Blockchain, cryptocurrencies and regulation. To that end, Zap has been featured in several leading publications like CoinDesk, CoinTelegraph, CNBC and Forbes.

However, their key partners include HitBTC, Changelly, Cryptopia and EtherDelta from where they are listed. With their vision-mission statement, the team is ambitious and it’s only time before they partner with heavy weights.

Tokenomics

Zap is an ERC-20 compliant utility token whose supply was minted once and therefore fixed. The token, Zap, is a utility within the Zap ecosystem used for monetizing feeds as well as access to the platform’s data. In order to create oracles or inquire about data from providers, then the subscriber and provider must “bond” their Zap in an oracle.

The only way to take control over an oracle is through a “dot”, a unit for querying that is neither destructible or interchangeable and the amount released per token depends on supply-demand. This is a diversion away from the peer-to-peer payment model adopted by competing networks but it is by design.

Token Distribution

The aim here is that bonding acts as a first layer refinement tool that first of all incentives discovery. If discovered data is useful then it can be publicized. There are 520 million Zap tokens and during their ICO, ETH was the only accepted currency. 33 percent was made available to the public while 10 percent of all tokens were set apart for founders and advisors. 47 percent was located for “long-term budgets” while 10 percent will cover for bounty programs.

Fund Distribution and ROI

Since launch, returns have been dismal. Zap is down 0.08X against the USD, 0.19X against ETH and 0.12X against BTC but nonetheless, continued to develop, weathering through the crypto winter.

55 percent of raised funds were dedicated for software development and to cover maintenance, 20 percent for marketing while 10 percent was for administration. Another 10 percent covered operations costs while five percent was set aside for contingency.

ZAP/BTC Price Technical Analysis

At spot rates, Zap is the 570th most valuable asset with a market cap of $2.6 million with a 24 hour trading volumes of around $13. There are 170,229,272 Zap in circulation with a 24 hour high low of $0.01506399 / $0.01581602. At the time of press, the coin is changing hands at $0.01553, up three percent in the last day but down more than 95 percent after retesting $1.16 on Jan 13, 2018.

From candlestick arrangements, Zap is under pressure and consolidating against BTC and ETH. Note that like most crypto assets, prices are bottoming up with indicators pointing higher meaning despite last year’s losses, we expect prices to expand in coming weeks meaning there is an opportunity for traders to profit should they invest at spot rates.

Price Catalysts

Short-term

Blockchain based smart contract dependent oracles promise to be big. That’s because Oracles are necessary bridges that would draw the best out of smart contracts because of influence of real-word data. Although they are competing projects like ChainLink, their building of functionalities on top of EOS while simultaneously introducing a vibrant market place for speculators, providers and subscribers is a big differentiator allowing for monetization of data that are the basic building blocks for a successful Internet of Things. Besides, Zap is faster but the system is efficient with a smart contract powered easy to use intuitive interface.

Zap at Consensus

Just to show Zap and Oracle use cases, they have a booth at Consensus 2019 set for New York from May 14 and 15, effectively the smallest cap project in the list of sponsors. Consensus is a big event in the blockchain space. Historically, since launch back in 2015, it is where major announcements are made because the event is by design a tent, housing leading crypto minds. It’s a melting pot attracting developers, cypher punks and enterprise grade consortia and for Zap to be one of the sponsors is huge.

Building and Prototyping



There, they will show case their core product and with their Oracle up and running, this a huge boost to Zap. Note that their overall objective this quarter is to strike deals with different partners. With the Zap Contract Builder for Android 1.0.10, there is no need of internet connection for local combination and that will be of help as they showcase political oracles and their use of upsetting political apple cart. After that, developers would compete to create their political oracles. There is also be a speech from Ron Paul, a former presidential candidate.

Apart from political oracles, Zap’s Armenian team is building the first prototype that will anonymously draw blockchain useful patient’s data from an infusion pump useful for research and even patient compensation.

Long-Term

Clearly, Zap is in the early stages of a potential disruption. Through the spirit of blockchain, there is complete decentralization and oracles will fuel the next wave of blockchain revolution. Oracles as it is will connect different databases magnifying the value of smart contracts. Concurrently, providers will monetize their data ensuring participants are satisfactorily incentivized.