Old ICON (ICX) Status: Market Expectations Behind Government/Financial/Healthcare Collaboration

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远山洞见2024/08/13 08:00

By:远山洞见

I. Project introduction

ICON is an open-source Layer1 blockchain platform that uses Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) mechanism and supports smart contracts, dedicated to connecting independent blockchain networks and their respective communities. The project aims to establish connections with C-Rep (community representatives) representing different communities through ICON, forming a highly interconnected blockchain ecosystem to promote cross-chain interaction. ICON aims to become a bridge for blockchain interoperability, enabling different blockchain networks to share information, assets, and services on the ICON network.

ICON achieves this interconnection through its unique Loopchain protocol. As a high-performance blockchain engine, Loopchain supports smart contracts and multi-party consensus. ICON's design allows for connectivity with traditional systems in financial institutions, insurance companies, healthcare systems, and other industries, providing support for a wider range of application scenarios.

In addition, ICON's blockchain transport protocol (BTP) is a trustless and chain-agnostic interoperability solution that supports universal smart contract calls between connected blockchains. Based on the Java virtual machine (JVM), ICON provides a unique high-performance smart contract execution environment, making it an ideal choice for developing low-latency cross-chain dApps. The ICON blockchain is managed by validators selected through the ICX assignment and delegation mechanism, ensuring the security and stability of the network.

II. Project highlights

1. Adopt advanced BTP (blockchain transmission protocol):

ICON's BTP is a highly trustless and chain-agnostic interoperability protocol that supports cross-chain smart contract calls. Compared with other cross-chain solutions, BTP not only transfers assets between chains, but also calls smart contract functions between different blockchains, truly achieving seamless communication between blockchain networks. This feature makes ICON a leader in connecting different blockchain ecosystems and promotes the practical application of multi-chain interoperability.

2. High-performance Loopchain engine based on JVM:

ICON adopts a Loopchain engine based on Java Virtual Machine (JVM), which gives its smart contract execution environment unique advantages in performance and compatibility. The mature ecosystem and power builder chain support of JVM make it easier for developers to write and deploy smart contracts. In addition, the Loopchain engine aims for low latency and high throughput, which can support complex dApps and provide technical support for large-scale applications in industries such as finance and insurance.

3. Diverse practical application scenarios:

The ICON network is not limited to internal applications of blockchain, but can also seamlessly connect with traditional industry systems. One of its design goals is to provide blockchain solutions for traditional industries such as finance, healthcare, and insurance. This cross-industry application scenario enhances the breadth of the ICON network, making it highly practical in the real world. For example, through the ICON network, insurance companies can use smart contracts to automate the claims process, and Financial Institutions can achieve real-time settlement of cross-border payments.

III. Market value expectations

ICON, as an established project, has successfully landed its products. The project provides inter-chain assets and data transfer, and its developed ZZEUNG and Broof have been widely used in the financial and medical industries in South Korea. In addition, ICON has received continuous attention from market funds. Previously, it completed a financing of $43 million through ICO, and the funds locked in the project chain are still at the level of tens of millions of dollars, indicating the market's optimism about its prospects. ICON has a broad ecosystem and deep cooperation with the Korean government, universities, and research institutions. Its MyID application has been promoted in multiple banks and Financial Institutions, including facilitating COVID-19 contact tracing in Jeju Island, providing COVID-19 vaccination certificates, and helping Shinhan Bank, one of the largest commercial banks in Korea, achieve customer KYC compliance.

According to real-time data from CoinMarketCap, the current circulating market value of ICX is $130 million, the token is fully circulated, and the total amount is 1.012 billion. Compared with the Layer1 project Conflux/ Klaytn/ Dfinity, which is the same infrastructure, the future prospects are better.

-Conflux: Market capitalization 570 million USD, token price 0.13U

- Klaytn: Market cap 487 million USD, token price 0.12U

-Dfinity: Market capitalization 3.30 billion USD, token price 7.1U

If the circulating market value of ICX is the same as that of Conflux/ Klaytn/ Dfinity, the price and increase of ICX tokens are:

Benchmarking Conflux: The increase is about 4.38 times, and the price of ICX tokens will reach about $0.57.

Benchmarking Klaytn: The increase is about 3.75 times, and the ICX token price will reach about $0.49.

Benchmarking Dfinity: The increase is about 25.38 times, and the ICX token price will reach about $3.30.

IV. Economic model

ICX, the native token of the ICON network, is the core of the entire network, serving as a Payment Instrument for transaction fees, staking tokens, and voting tokens in network governance. Holders of ICX tokens can obtain staking rewards by staking tokens, and also participate in network governance decisions.

800 million tokens were minted when the project was published, and 36 million ICX were minted every year as inflation block rewards. All transaction fees were burned. According to coinmarketcap data, the current token supply of the project is 1.01 billion, and the specific distribution is as follows:

Offer For Sale (50%): The ICON Foundation conducted ICON's Ethereum-based ICO in 2017. Half of the initial supply was sold at a price of 0.0004 ETH per token, raising 150,000 ETH (approximately $42,750,000 at the time). The proceeds from the sale were used for token reserves for DEX liquidity (35%), ICON Foundation business expenses (35%), core team and developers (20%), and strategic partners (10%).

Ecosystem (26%): 16% of the total supply was allocated to the reserve fund, which deployed some tokens for DEX liquidity after the release, but most of them are still unused. The plan is to use most of the remaining tokens for BTP incentives, and the specific amount is still to be determined by the ICON Foundation. 10% of the total supply flowed to community groups and strategic partners such as developer teams, dapp partners, ambassadors, and influencers after the release, with a lock-up period of about 1 month and a vesting period of 12 months.

ICON Foundation (14%): The ICON Foundation is a non-profit entity that supports ICON and its ecosystem through grants, business and technical advice, and other means. Its distribution has a one-month lock-up period and no vesting period.

Teams and advisors (10%): Tokens are allocated to early contributors and advisors, with approximately a six-month lock-up period and a six-month vesting period.

All the tokens in the original publication have been unlocked since the beginning of 2020.

V. Team and financing

ICON was founded in 2016 by Min Kim, who previously held assistant and leadership positions at DAYLI Financial Group, Tapas Media, and Deutsche Bank.

Min Kim is a member of the board of directors of the ICON Foundation headquartered in Switzerland. The foundation conducted an ICO for ICON in the third quarter of 2017. The publisher sold half of the total supply of ICON's native token ICX, raising 150,000 ETH (approximately $42,750,000 at the time). ICON launched its mainnet in January 2018, with most of its core technology developed by for-profit company ICONLOOP. After some delays, ICO participants exchanged Ethereum-based ICX tokens for ICON-based ICX tokens in June 2018.

The ICON Foundation is the main entity driving the development of the project, but there are also many other independent groups, including ICONLOOP, Lydia Labs, iBriz, HugoByte, ICONDAO, ReliantNode, Parrot9, etc.

VI. Risk Warning

1. The crypto market is highly volatile, and the value of tokens may be influenced by market sentiment and the external environment.

2. Industry technologies are updated rapidly, and emerging projects may provide more advanced solutions, threatening ICON's market position. ICON needs to continue to innovate to maintain its competitiveness.

VII. Official link

Website： https://icon.community/

Twitter： https://x.com/helloiconworld

Discord： https://discord.com/invite/b5QvCXJjJM

Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.

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