SOLIDUM PRIME – DIGITAL ASSET ARRAY

We have written about ICONOMI in the past and wanted to continue our deep dive into the digital asset platform. Why do we keep coming back to ICONOMI? Well for starters, it is an easy way for new investors to take their first steps into the cryptocurrency market. It is also a great way for experienced investors to diversify their portfolios and get into this exciting new digital space.

We recently attended a “Meet the Managers” event in Madrid, Spain and came away impressed with the event itself, the managers in attendance and local blockchain aficionados who spoke. In this interview, we speak to Gregor Zupanc, a Digital Assets Array (DAA) manager for Solidum Prime (SOPR), whom we met at the Madrid event.

Solidum Prime is the first equal weight DAA on ICONOMI with 25 cryptocurrencies in it’s portfolio totaling $1.2mln. Since it’s inception in October 2017 the Solidum fund has seen a return of 6.25% all time. With the crazy swings we’ve seen since December 2017, being in the green is nothing to shrug off.

What is a Digital Assets Array (DAA)? Simply put it is a fund comprised of various combinations of digital assets (Note: Cryptocurrencies). DAA managers control that assortment of assets in the portfolio and offer them to interested investors. A new investor can buy into the fund through the ICONOMI website using their own Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH) or purchasing and selling bitcoin and ether with fiat (EUR) using their bank account. As of this post each Solidum will cost you $1.04 with no fee for entering the fund, and a 0.5% fee for exiting.

One thing that was clear from the start of our conversation was that a lot of time and research goes into selecting the cryptocurrency that will form part of the Solidum Prime portfolio. Experienced investors spend hours, days, and weeks understanding the fundamentals of a coin, their team and what they intend to do before splashing the cash on said project. This is something most regular people simply cannot do, because time is precious.

What problem is it [cryptocurrency] solving, what is their market positioning, their strategy, how scalable is it. And so first is the project overview. And then we definitely take a close look at the team behind the project. So who are they, how experienced are they today, what is their previous track record in the crypto space or any other businesses they have delivered. Do they actually have the skills necessary to execute the business strategy to grow their business [and] to scale it?

This is why we like ICONOMI and their DAAs. A lot of the traditional expertise and processes are applied to the crypto space, experience the vast majority of people simply do not have.

Making sure the teams behind the project have the skills to execute the strategy is also a key aspect in how Gregor and team vet projects to include into the portfolio. However all this time spent analyzing doesn’t mean the fund is slow to change. The team is always reviewing their projects to be certain they are performing to expectations both on the technical and financial side and is rebalanced either on a monthly basis or more frequently due to the fast-changing crypto environment.

If we decide that maybe [one] of the projects is not delivering, they are really lagging, we try to communicate with them and maybe they’re not responsive so this could be one of the red flags. We can then decide to ditch this investment and change it with something else or not change it at all. So in this investment process: first we do the project overview, and then team overview.

One of the unique aspects of the Solidum DAA, when compared to other in the ICONOMI DAA funds, was their decision to use equal weight investment strategy, the practice of equally distributing their capital across all their cryptocurrency assets. One thing about this strategy though is it can have higher asset turnover, but this is highly dependent on the DAA managers. Solidum keeps a close eye on their assets to determine if it needs to go.

After we decide to invest it’s a really crucial thing to monitor the investments. So a good thing in crypto is really that these startups investments in this crypto group of startups are actually liquid so if you don’t like something you can go out of it easily. This is a huge advantage over the traditional venture capital field where you are [locked in] long term.

One topic that ALWAYS comes up during any conversation about ICONOMI is their token, ICN. For those that don’t know ICONOMI conducted an ICO in August of 2016 raising $10mln with the token priced at 0.11USD. The issue many people have is that the ICN token has no practical utility. It is not used in the platform, it cannot be used to make payments which makes it rather…useless. What’s that Gregor? Things are changing on that front?

Personally I think they (ICONOMI) are really aware of it and they really wanted to deliver first on the promises regarding the platform because basically this is the first step that needs to be done so that the platform is there, that it’s operational [and] it’s working. And now they’re going to slowly be adding their utility value for their token. As you know some fees will be payable in the ICN soon and some other things will also. I cannot talk about [as] it’s too early but I have …but they are preparing other utility aspects of the token and this will again gain a utility value definitely so they are really aware of it and working on it seriously.

While Gregor could not share the details about what is coming for the ICN token, it’s good to know that the ICONOMI team has not forgoten it and has plans on the horizon for the ICN token to have actual utility within the ICONOMI platform.

To wrap things up we tried some one word response type questions, which didn’t work out as well as I anticipated. But anyhow let’s share the questions and answers:

Q: The Flippening: Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash

A: I don’t think it’s happening really. You know Bitcoin is the king in this case and institutional investors will be investing in Bitcoin. They don’t even know what Bitcoin Cash is so I don’t see that happening. So the flippening I think is between Bitcoin and Ethereum and I really think that Ethereum will overtake Bitcoin in the future but this is another question.

Q: Is Craig White the real Satoshi Nakamoto?

A: No, I don’t think so

Q: Do you watch Game of Thrones?

A: No

Q: How Positive (bullish) are you on the altcoin market?

A: I’m super, super positive and also super excited about the future of crypto

We hope you enjoyed this interview and more importantly learned something new, or expanded your knowledge about ICONOMI and their Digital Asset Array managers. It was a pleasure meeting and speaking with Gregor and attending the ICONOMI event, but more importantly getting insight into an exciting new area: Managed Crypto Funds.

If you would like to buy into the Solidum Prime Digital Asset Array or find find more detailed information you can follow the links below.

Solidum Prime fund on ICONOMI

Solidum.Capital website

ICONOMI – DAA list

Gregor Zupanc Linkedin