Civic is an identity verification platform that raised $33 million in its token sale. Demand was so high for the CVC tokens that Civic had to ration their tokens to cope with it. Now the buzz has started to die down, perhaps it’s a good time to take a look at whether or not $33 million was a good investment for token buyers.

What Has Civic Created?

Essentially, Civic has created an app for identity verification via a web service. Because of this, it is not KYC-compliant, which means you can’t use to apply for bank accounts and certainly wouldn’t have met KYC regulations even for its own token sale.


Without meeting the KYC regulations, there is very little use of this app.

You can access identity protection services through the app. These are outsourced to TransUnion, a credit reference agency, which is in light of the Equifax debacle, doesn’t really seem a very safe set of hands to be sharing your identity with.


How Much Do Apps Cost to Develop?

Cost varies, but according to a recent article, “apps that are built for a Smartphone and tablet, that have a complex user interface, or that require a significant backend can cost anywhere from $250,000 to $1,500,000.”


Let’s give Civic the benefit of the doubt here and say that it cost them double the high-end figure of $1.5 million. So that’s $3 million, leaving $30 million over. What’s going on here Civic?

Other companies, such as uPort, already had a similar platform in place before Civic’s launch, while companies like Agrello have a much better app that is KYC complaint, and SelfKey is creating real-world self-sovereign identity solutions, maybe it’s high time for Civic to use some of that extra money they raised to try and keep up.