Icon (ICX) Review
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Korea’s answer to open source hyperconnectivity
Overview
Icon is a Korean based company which seeks to establish an open source blockchain ecosystem to be utilized by government, financial institutions and businesses.
The mechanics of the ICON project are focused on the following:
1)implementation of a smart contract environment named ‘SCORE’
2)release of a consensus algorithm (named Loopchain) which processes transactions and data in realtime
3)creating flexibility in the ecosystem so that other blockchains can be connected to the ICON network
Icon is backed by a technology firm called ‘theloop,’ a blockchain focused company that has been the recipient of several private financing rounds already.
Tokens for Investors
Tokens issued by Icon will be utilized within the ecosystem itself as its own form of currency. In addition to this, ICX can also be used as a generator of new tokens that wish to adopt the same blockchain and smart contract structure as Icon.
It is anticipated that the token (ICX) will be available on the exchange in the latter part of 2017 as Icon moves over to its own blockchain.
Commercial Strategy
Icon has clearly stated both their technical and commercial roadmap for the next 12 months.
Technically, there will be several releases (almost every quarter) relating to a test launch (imminently) and a further Mainnet launch paired with an iOS and Android wallet before the conclusion of 2017. In Q1 2018, it is anticipated that all public channels will be open and available for full integration.
Commercially, Icon appears to be focusing on establishing major partnerships to boost the adoption of their blockchain. In addition to this, they highlight a number of business cases that will command their attention including blockchain Identification and an auto-claim protocol for insurance.
It is also anticipated that there will be intermittent developers ‘meet-ups’ to further grow interest amongst the community.
Strengths
•Icon’s proposed initiative is currently being termed as South Korea’s ‘answer’ to Ethereum or Neo. It would appear that a stable and open source solution will be widely backed and adopted by the development community in Korea.
•Icon is focusing on flexibility of the project allowing other blockchains to operate seamlessly with SCORE. This provides significant value to the development community and will assist in further market penetration.