What is ICON?

ICON is a massive scale blockchain project with the ability to link Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Qtum, NEO, and Ark to each other. The operations and transactions on the platform are paid through ICX, which is the platform’s cryptocurrency token.

Albeit offering almost similar services like smart contracts, ICON doesn’t intend to compete or operate like NEO and Ethereum. Rather it aims to go a notch higher by teaming up with other communities for improved productivity.

ICON’s goal is to “Hyperconnect the world.” It does that by allowing its blockchain to interact with Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereums. Other competing projects that have higher market caps than ICON ICX seem to be falling behind when it comes to enterprise adoption.

It’s only compatible with these two at the moment, but plans are afoot to incorporate NEO, Qtum and other blockchain projects as well. As other blockchain republics grapple with decentralization issues, ICON is already using Artificial Intelligence to ensure a fair reward system where no particular individual owns exorbitant power to dominate others.

Having uncontrolled power can lead to disagreements, forks or even a scene where a group of individuals dictates market prices. AI continually traces for new ways to distribute policies fairly thus ensuring a platform achieves complete decentralization.

Unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum and other projects that operate on POW, POS, and DPOS, ICON consensus are attained through a blockchain protocol termed BFT ((Byzantine Fault Tolerance).

Pros of ICON

Here are many reasons why ICON could become a top 10 coin in 2018. Below we highlight ICON’s credentials and why it can become the biggest blockchain in the world.

The information below was taken directly from this Reddit link.

“Interchain (Interoperability with Blockchains) – Allows different blockchains connecting to one another through their protocol. ICON is fully compatible with traditional blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum and in future can bridge other public blockchains such as Qtum, NEO and many others to achieve their mission statement – “Hyperconnect the world”

– Allows different blockchains connecting to one another through their protocol. ICON is fully compatible with traditional blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum and in future can bridge other public blockchains such as Qtum, NEO and many others to achieve their mission statement – “Hyperconnect the world” Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Use of AI to ensure all nodes contributing to ICON Republic/platform are rewarded fairly and not to have certain powers over distribution policies. AI will continue to learn a variety of variables to determine optimal distribution policies and achieve complete decentralization.

– Use of AI to ensure all nodes contributing to ICON Republic/platform are rewarded fairly and not to have certain powers over distribution policies. AI will continue to learn a variety of variables to determine optimal distribution policies and achieve complete decentralization. Decentralized Exchange (DEX) – ICON will integrate different DEX protocols on their platform to facilitate exchange of ICX and other future ICON platform currencies. Bancor protocol will be their first DEX protocol when mainent launches this month end and Kyber and others will follow. Not just throwing Kyber’s name out there, it was confirmed they are working with each other, official partnership yet to be announced

– ICON will integrate different DEX protocols on their platform to facilitate exchange of ICX and other future ICON platform currencies. Bancor protocol will be their first DEX protocol when mainent launches this month end and Kyber and others will follow. Not just throwing Kyber’s name out there, it was confirmed they are working with each other, official partnership yet to be announced ICON is started by a Korean fintech company Dayli Financial Group – Dayli is currently valued at $4 billion. Dayli was formerly known as Yello Financial Group. Dayli is now established as the market leader in Korea with the largest blockchain network, with over 40 organizations in the financial services, insurance, education, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency and hospital space. They are trying to bring all this together through ICON. Btw, Dayli also owns Coinone, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges in the world with ~ 800 Million in daily trading volume and the first exchange to introduce Ethereum to South Korea.

– Dayli is currently valued at $4 billion. Dayli was formerly known as Yello Financial Group. Dayli is now established as the market leader in Korea with the largest blockchain network, with over 40 organizations in the financial services, insurance, education, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency and hospital space. They are trying to bring all this together through ICON. Btw, Dayli also owns Coinone, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges in the world with ~ 800 Million in daily trading volume and the first exchange to introduce Ethereum to South Korea. An experienced, 31 member dedicated team – 6 foundation council members who are also the founders of Dayli : ) This is how much ICON means to them. 15 blockchain developers and product managers, 5 Artificial intelligence specialists, 5 marketing, design and security specialists – a total of 31 member dedicated team at the time of ICO, which will grow many folds in the future. This team is supported by 8 world-class advisors, including Don Tapascott, who visited Seoul to work with the team and other 100 employees of Dayli Financial. All employee bios can be accessed on ICON website.

– 6 foundation council members who are also the founders of Dayli : ) This is how much ICON means to them. 15 blockchain developers and product managers, 5 Artificial intelligence specialists, 5 marketing, design and security specialists – a total of 31 member dedicated team at the time of ICO, which will grow many folds in the future. This team is supported by 8 world-class advisors, including Don Tapascott, who visited Seoul to work with the team and other 100 employees of Dayli Financial. All employee bios can be accessed on ICON website. ICON project has been under development for over 2 years now under TheLOOP and has real world applications – Loopchain is a distributed ledger that provides industry specific blockchain solutions The first production blockchain service, a KYC authentication platform, was launched in August 2017 with 25 securities firms. Check out their website to look at their impressive partners – Samsung, Kyobo, Meritz and many more. ICON also has artificial intelligence in-house capability under the company DaVinci, which will support the development of the main platform. Read more about it on Davinci website.

– Loopchain is a distributed ledger that provides industry specific blockchain solutions The first production blockchain service, a KYC authentication platform, was launched in August 2017 with 25 securities firms. Check out their website to look at their impressive partners – Samsung, Kyobo, Meritz and many more. ICON also has artificial intelligence in-house capability under the company DaVinci, which will support the development of the main platform. Read more about it on Davinci website. ICON has developed its own blockchain protocol called LFT (Loop Fault Tolerance) – LFT is an enhanced BFT (Byzantine Fault Tolerance)32-based algorithm that promotes faster consensus and ensures the finality of the consensus without the possibility of forks within the network

– LFT is an enhanced BFT (Byzantine Fault Tolerance)32-based algorithm that promotes faster consensus and ensures the finality of the consensus without the possibility of forks within the network South Korea is ranked top 5 in ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) and the 11th largest economy in the world – South Koreans also have immense interest in the crypto space, where daily trading account for ~20-40% of total global volume. Most consider cryptocurrencies as an investment vehicle rather than payment solution or functional blockchain platforms. It’ll be interesting to see when one of their own public blockchain introduced in the country, how sectors from different industries come up with new use cases, and actual form of payment adopted by end consumers.

– South Koreans also have immense interest in the crypto space, where daily trading account for ~20-40% of total global volume. Most consider cryptocurrencies as an investment vehicle rather than payment solution or functional blockchain platforms. It’ll be interesting to see when one of their own public blockchain introduced in the country, how sectors from different industries come up with new use cases, and actual form of payment adopted by end consumers. Key Partnerships – 3 top Korean universities, Woori bank developing their digital coin(leading Korean bank), Daishain Securities, Chain ID for Kofia, SBI Ripple Asia partnership, DAVinCI selected as AI Solution Partner for Carnegie Mellon University x Emirate Hackathon.

– 3 top Korean universities, Woori bank developing their digital coin(leading Korean bank), Daishain Securities, Chain ID for Kofia, SBI Ripple Asia partnership, DAVinCI selected as AI Solution Partner for Carnegie Mellon University x Emirate Hackathon. Testnet is already launched and Mainnet is expected to launch by end of this month – mid of January. Native ICX wallets for each platform (Web, desktop, IOS and Android) and DEX will also launch around the same time.

– mid of January. Native ICX wallets for each platform (Web, desktop, IOS and Android) and DEX will also launch around the same time. Detailed roadmap – This can be accessed through their website.”

Cons of ICON

Profit taking – ICX is tied to ETH so when ETH goes up, people may crash ICX to take profits. This happens a lot in the crypto world so this con isn’t something unique. However, since there are more trading pairs now, this risk is mitigated.

– ICX is tied to ETH so when ETH goes up, people may crash ICX to take profits. This happens a lot in the crypto world so this con isn’t something unique. However, since there are more trading pairs now, this risk is mitigated. Failure to bridge blockchains – There is always potential that ICON might not be able to follow through with their plans of bridging other blockchains in the future. This might easily be because a lack of developers/engineers on ICON or other blockchain teams or simply because other projects don’t share the same vision.

Where to buy ICON

ICON’s cryptocurrency token is listed on Binance, OKEx, and Yobit under ICX ticker.

Conclusion

ICON is one of the most promising cryptocurrency projects in the blockchain sphere. Interoperable blockchain and smart contract aside, this project is backed by a very strong team of blockchain developers, managers, artificial intelligence specialists, and other valuable talents.

If you didn’t know, ICON is owned by Dayli, a fintech company valued at $4 billion and serves over 40 financial organizations. Dayli also owns Coinone (a widely known cryptocurrency exchange platform).

ICON already has a ready-made market as well as backing from Coinone and Dayli. If you desire to support a blockchain with a promising future, then this one would be it.