ICON Foundation

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Hey Hackers, Welcome to another Company of the Week feature. Every week, we spotlight an exciting business, from our Tech Company Database, that leaves a positive mark on the internet and in the hearts and minds of its users. This unique HackerNoon database ranks S&P 500 companies and top startups of the year alike. This week, we’re shining a light on the ICON Foundation. This non-profit organization exists to combat a key component of the blockchain trilemma by supporting the open development of bridging infrastructure to foster the interconnectivity of different blockchains. The ICON Foundation is part of a decentralized network of companies, teams, individuals, and community members who collectively build products, fund development, and deliberate on issues important to advancing the best interests of the ICON ecosystem. Want to be featured on HackerNoon’s Company of the Week? Request Your Tech Company Page on HackerNoon! Meet The ICON Foundation: #FunFact Established in 2017, the ICON Foundation supports the ICON ecosystem's long-term growth and mission, which is to connect all blockchains. The ICON Foundation funds and supports various building blocks of the ICON Ecosystem, each component contributing to a more connected and more decentralized future.
Min Kim, Council Member. The ICON Foundation operates under 3 core values: Open Source: In the spirit of open source development, all contributors receiving funding from the ICON Foundation are required to publish their contributions and progress reports in an open repository
Decentralization: One of the foundation’s most important priorities is to ensure the continued growth a network of valuable partners who are vested in securing and growing the ICON Network and the broader ecosystem
Transparency: The foundation is committed to communicating development progress/outcomes or challenges promptly and accurately with the rest of the community. Share Your Company's Story on HackerNoon The ICON Foundation 🤝 HackerNoon Tech Community The ICON Foundation has partnered with HackerNoon for our business blogging program accumulating an impressive 1 month 16 hours and 25 minutes of reading time for its published stories. The company’s published stories, Mixing the Cross-Chain magic with Tokenized Real Worlds Assets and Archway Users Now Have Access to Balanced have collectively generated over 50,000 page views and counting. Like 4000+ other brands, you can also benefit from publishing on HackerNoon:Learn more about HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program
Learn about our Technology Press Release Program. That's all this week, folks! Stay Innovative, Stay Iconic. The HackerNoon Team Hey Hackers, Welcome to another Company of the Week feature. Every week, we spotlight an exciting business, from our Tech Company Database, that leaves a positive mark on the internet and in the hearts and minds of its users. This unique HackerNoon database ranks S&P 500 companies and top startups of the year alike. This week, we’re shining a light on the ICON Foundation . This non-profit organization exists to combat a key component of the blockchain trilemma by supporting the open development of bridging infrastructure to foster the interconnectivity of different blockchains. The ICON Foundation is part of a decentralized network of companies, teams, individuals, and community members who collectively build products, fund development, and deliberate on issues important to advancing the best interests of the ICON ecosystem. ICON Foundation Want to be featured on HackerNoon’s Company of the Week? Request Your Tech Company Page on HackerNoon! Want to be featured on HackerNoon’s Company of the Week? Request Your Tech Company Page on HackerNoon ! Want to be featured on HackerNoon’s Company of the Week? Request Your Tech Company Page on HackerNoon Want to be featured on HackerNoon’s Company of the Week? Request Your Tech Company Page on HackerNoon Meet The ICON Foundation: #FunFact Established in 2017, the ICON Foundation supports the ICON ecosystem's long-term growth and mission, which is to connect all blockchains. The ICON Foundation funds and supports various building blocks of the ICON Ecosystem, each component contributing to a more connected and more decentralized future. Min Kim, Council Member. The ICON Foundation funds and supports various building blocks of the ICON Ecosystem, each component contributing to a more connected and more decentralized future. The ICON Foundation funds and supports various building blocks of the ICON Ecosystem, each component contributing to a more connected and more decentralized future. Min Kim, Council Member. The ICON Foundation operates under 3 core values: The ICON Foundation operates under 3 core values: Open Source: In the spirit of open source development, all contributors receiving funding from the ICON Foundation are required to publish their contributions and progress reports in an open repository Decentralization: One of the foundation’s most important priorities is to ensure the continued growth a network of valuable partners who are vested in securing and growing the ICON Network and the broader ecosystem Transparency: The foundation is committed to communicating development progress/outcomes or challenges promptly and accurately with the rest of the community. Open Source : In the spirit of open source development, all contributors receiving funding from the ICON Foundation are required to publish their contributions and progress reports in an open repository Open Source open repository Decentralization : One of the foundation’s most important priorities is to ensure the continued growth a network of valuable partners who are vested in securing and growing the ICON Network and the broader ecosystem Decentralization Transparency: The foundation is committed to communicating development progress/outcomes or challenges promptly and accurately with the rest of the community. Transparency: Share Your Company's Story on HackerNoon Share Your Company's Story on HackerNoon Share Your Company's Story on HackerNoon Share Your Company's Story on HackerNoon The ICON Foundation 🤝 HackerNoon Tech Community The ICON Foundation has partnered with HackerNoon for our business blogging program accumulating an impressive 1 month 16 hours and 25 minutes of reading time for its published stories. ICON Foundation The company’s published stories, Mixing the Cross-Chain magic with Tokenized Real Worlds Assets and Archway Users Now Have Access to Balanced have collectively generated over 50,000 page views and counting. Mixing the Cross-Chain magic with Tokenized Real Worlds Assets Mixing the Cross-Chain magic with Tokenized Real Worlds Assets Mixing the Cross-Chain magic with Tokenized Real Worlds Assets Archway Users Now Have Access to Balanced Archway Users Now Have Access to Balanced Archway Users Now Have Access to Balanced Like 4000+ other brands, you can also benefit from publishing on HackerNoon:Learn more about HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program Learn about our Technology Press Release Program. Like 4000+ other brands, you can also benefit from publishing on HackerNoon:Learn more about HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program Like 4000+ other brands, you can also benefit from publishing on HackerNoon: Learn more about HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program Learn more about HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program Learn more about HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program Learn about our Technology Press Release Program . Learn about our Technology Press Release Program Learn about our Technology Press Release Program Learn about our Technology Press Release Program . . That's all this week, folks! Stay Innovative, Stay Iconic. The HackerNoon Team

Meet ICON Foundation: HackerNoon Company of the Week

HackerNoon launches our long-awaited offering: Technology Press Releases with HackerNoon! You can now leverage HackerNoon’s distribution engine to share your press releases! Leveraging prominent onsite and newsletter distribution, owned and paid social media, traditional media press release pickup, and machine learning-generated translations, HackerNoon now averages 5k readers per press release. Visit our Technology Press Releases home page to learn more. The introductory prices start at $750 per release, and bulk discounts are available. There is no expiration date for your Press Release credits. Avail the Introductory Pricing for Your Press Release Now. Why Publish Your Company’s Technology Press Releases with HackerNoon? Great question. Here are not one but 8 reasons why: Technical Achievements Are Best Hosted with a Technical Audience HackerNoon is the go-to tech news and learning platform for millions of technologists. Our library of 100k+ technology stories attracts 3M+ monthly visitors. See below the data gathered from 1k+ job titles entered via HackerNoon.com in Q1 2024. Accessibility: Translated into 12 Languages, 2 Audio Files, and Backed Up on the Blockchain HackerNoon makes content more accessible to increase audience size. Via machine learning models from OpenAI, Google, & others, we translate your story into 12+ languages, 2 audio files and back it up on the Arweave blockchain for good measure. Distribution Across HackerNoon and Around the Web Via owned and paid social media, traditional media like press releases, machine learning generated translations, and the creation and distribution of the audio story, HackerNoon maximizes technology readership. Creating an Average of 5k Readers Per Press Release We’ve used the traditional press release services, and they usually get just a couple hundred readers per story. Sometimes even less. When you publish your technology press release on HackerNoon, you should expect ~5k readers. Republished on the Wire to 100+ Traditional Media Sites Just like the traditional press release wire services, we put your story on the wire. You should expect your technology press release to be re-published to ~100 more sites, such as Benzinga, Digital Journal, Yahoo Finance, and The AP. Prominent Distribution Across the HackerNoon Site, App, and Newsletter Technology Press Releases on HackerNoon are featured on the Homepage, the Category Page, 8 Tagged Pages, 12 Translation Homepages, the Mobile App, the Terminal App, the Lite Version, and the Noonification Newsletters (250k+ subscribers). Easy Content Uploading and Formatting with Staff Support We hate how difficult it is to upload content to archaic press release distribution services. The HackerNoon uploader and story editor are smooth AF. We also accept your submissions via unlisted link like Google doc or even a URL like your pressroom. 1 Business Day Turnaround Time (TAT) and Professional Editorial Support Technology press releases are timely content. Our editorial and support staff guarantee one business day turnaround time. HackerNoon is here to make sure your story gets distributed on time. Book a meeting with us to learn how Octopus Network, KuCoin Community Chain, Avalanche, ICON Foundation, and other tech companies publish their press releases with HackerNoon. HackerNoon launches our long-awaited offering: Technology Press Releases with HackerNoon! You can now leverage HackerNoon’s distribution engine to share your press releases! Leveraging prominent onsite and newsletter distribution, owned and paid social media, traditional media press release pickup, and machine learning-generated translations, HackerNoon now averages 5k readers per press release. Visit our Technology Press Releases home page to learn more. Technology Press Releases home page The introductory prices start at $750 per release , and bulk discounts are available. There is no expiration date for your Press Release credits. $750 per release Avail the Introductory Pricing for Your Press Release Now. Avail the Introductory Pricing for Your Press Release Now. Avail the Introductory Pricing for Your Press Release Now. Why Publish Your Company’s Technology Press Releases with HackerNoon? Great question. Here are not one but 8 reasons why: Technical Achievements Are Best Hosted with a Technical Audience HackerNoon is the go-to tech news and learning platform for millions of technologists. Our library of 100k+ technology stories attracts 3M+ monthly visitors. See below the data gathered from 1k+ job titles entered via HackerNoon.com in Q1 2024. HackerNoon.com Accessibility: Translated into 12 Languages, 2 Audio Files, and Backed Up on the Blockchain HackerNoon makes content more accessible to increase audience size. Via machine learning models from OpenAI, Google, & others, we translate your story into 12+ languages, 2 audio files and back it up on the Arweave blockchain for good measure. Distribution Across HackerNoon and Around the Web Via owned and paid social media, traditional media like press releases, machine learning generated translations, and the creation and distribution of the audio story, HackerNoon maximizes technology readership. Creating an Average of 5k Readers Per Press Release We’ve used the traditional press release services, and they usually get just a couple hundred readers per story. Sometimes even less. When you publish your technology press release on HackerNoon, you should expect ~5k readers. Republished on the Wire to 100+ Traditional Media Sites Just like the traditional press release wire services, we put your story on the wire. You should expect your technology press release to be re-published to ~100 more sites, such as Benzinga, Digital Journal, Yahoo Finance, and The AP. Prominent Distribution Across the HackerNoon Site, App, and Newsletter Technology Press Releases on HackerNoon are featured on the Homepage, the Category Page, 8 Tagged Pages, 12 Translation Homepages, the Mobile App, the Terminal App, the Lite Version, and the Noonification Newsletters (250k+ subscribers). Easy Content Uploading and Formatting with Staff Support We hate how difficult it is to upload content to archaic press release distribution services. The HackerNoon uploader and story editor are smooth AF. We also accept your submissions via unlisted link like Google doc or even a URL like your pressroom. 1 Business Day Turnaround Time (TAT) and Professional Editorial Support Technology press releases are timely content. Our editorial and support staff guarantee one business day turnaround time. HackerNoon is here to make sure your story gets distributed on time. Book a meeting with us to learn how Octopus Network , KuCoin Community Chain , Avalanche, ICON Foundation , and other tech companies publish their press releases with HackerNoon. Book a meeting with us Book a meeting with us Octopus Network Octopus Network KuCoin Community Chain KuCoin Community Chain ICON Foundation ICON Foundation

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, a cross-chain decentralized exchange (DEX) native to , is now live on . The expansion to Cosmos is enabled by an earlier integration of ICON’s to protocol. Archway is the first of many chains that Balanced will connect users to, through a hub-and-spoke model powered by ICON. Balanced ICON Archway general messaging service Cosmos Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) A DEX designed with usability at its core, Balanced now provides a seamless cross-chain experience for all users through this integration. Users can easily swap or transfer assets between Archway and ICON using native wallets and tokens, with support for and soon to follow. Injective Adoption for ICON’s Cross-Chain Framework Balanced’s launch on Archway is a significant step towards large-scale adoption for ICON’s , which is designed to simplify cross-chain development by standardizing across distinct frameworks. general cross-chain messaging service (xCall) Scott Smiley, core contributor to Balanced, says of this cross-chain leap: “We’ve always envisioned an ambitious cross-chain architecture for Balanced. ICON’s cross-chain framework, and xCall in particular, have given us the best tooling to continue our growth and expansion to other blockchains.” The ICON Foundation proudly supports Balanced’s cross-chain expansion into the Cosmos ecosystem and will to provide users with a smooth trading experience from day one. provide seed liquidity for Balanced’s Archway launch Rewards for Early Users Furthermore, there will be that reward users based on their engagement, so visit now to swap or transfer cross-chain or supply liquidity with Archway and ICON assets. Zealy quests Balanced Follow Us For more ICON news, be sure to subscribe to the or follow us on ! ICON Newsletter Twitter/X

Archway Users Now Have Access to Balanced

Archway ব্যবহারকারীদের এখন ব্যালেন্সড অ্যাক্সেস আছে

Archway-Benutzer haben jetzt Zugriff auf Balanced

Los usuarios de Archway ahora tienen acceso a Balanced

Les utilisateurs d'Archway ont désormais accès à un système équilibré

आर्कवे उपयोगकर्ताओं के पास अब बैलेंस्ड तक पहुंच है

Archway ユーザーは Balanced にアクセスできるようになりました

Archway 사용자는 이제 Balanced에 액세스할 수 있습니다.

Os usuários do Archway agora têm acesso ao Balanced

Пользователи Archway теперь имеют доступ к Balanced

Archway Kullanıcıları Artık Balanced'a Erişim Sağlıyor

Người dùng Archway hiện có quyền truy cập vào Balanced

Archway 用户现在可以访问平衡

With more than a decade having past since the creation of Bitcoin, blockchains have come a long way. There is no doubt that the Bitcoin blockchain has its specific uses, and as developers figured out what else blockchains could be used for new types of chains had to be created. These new chains offered increased speed, larger block sizes, and overall improvements to security on a decentralized network. As new chains were developed, some blockchain experts thought it would be better to start taking some of the stress off of chains by creating hybrid blockchain environments: databases that used blockchains and off-chain resources in a quasi-decentralized manner. This led to the argument between on-chain and off-chain solutions. In the current market, there are plenty of companies on both sides of the aisle, and no clear market data exists to clearly dictate how many are companies are on each side. Both, on-chain and off-chain solutions are trying to reduce costs and increase privacy. Anyway, storing data inside a block leads to centralization, while keeping it off-chain is less secure. There might be cases where off-chain solutions may excel at the moment, but isn’t it in the best interest of everyone to keep everything on-chain and immutable? 5 popular on-chain solutions Sure, it is easier to use outside sources to store data or process payments — but doesn’t that take us back to square one of having to trust one another? Blockchains exist to keep sensitive data and control out of the hands of the few, by placing the trust in the hands of the majority. It may be cheaper to incorporate off-chain workarounds to reduce the load on a blockchain, but that isn’t solving any of our problems. Instead, we should be focusing on how to improve blockchains so they can handle anything we need to throw at them. If a purely on-chain solution is practically impossible as we can not increase the limit of a block, what functional solutions do we have? might be the only project who has solved the network’s limitation problem. The solution? On-chain basis (more details in ). Now, storing files, videos, images and other big amounts of data is possible due to overcoming the two big problems: FIFO and bottleneck. On ILCoin network data synchronization is functional while data security is assured by a quantum-resistant SHA-256 PoW Command Chain Protocol (C2P), which utilizes a command chain in control of mini-blocks. ILCoin white paper This coin and associated blockchain are already live. are created live as we speak. Unlike a lot of other data storage blockchains, ILCoin upholds the promise of decentralization by utilizing a decentralized that can handle large amounts of data. RIFT and C2P are certified by Palo Alto Networks. ILCoin is still being developed and improved, right now they are actively working on a DCB platform and, hopefully, in the future they are going to become the first project who can store files, videos, images in an on-chain base. 5GB blocks RIFT protocol is an open-source, decentralized public blockchain that is home to the Ada cryptocurrency. Like ILCoin and Ethereum, Cardano is more than just a vessel to carry a cryptocurrency and is capable of implementing financial applications like those already being used around the world by organizations and governments. Cardano Because Cardano is constructed in layers, all of which are on-chain, the system has increased flexibility to handle diverse tasks, smart contracts, and dapps. Cardano is built and developed based on scientific philosophy, its creators being a global team of academics and engineers. Cardano aims to balance the privacy needs of users with the restrictions placed on companies by regulators, finding harmony between the needs of its many diverse users and the governments under which it operates. , an open-source blockchain introduced in 2017, is aiming to grow into a decentralized operating system able to support massive dapps through dPoS. Although it already exists in this capacity, as a decentralized operating system where users stake tokens to gain processing power, it may be introducing a new storage feature soon. EOS DISK, a new network resource, is theorized to be on-chain storage databases that operate within EOS’s existing network — along the same principles of CPU and RAM. There are other EOSIO copycat blockchains already running storage protocols, however, using EOS DISK will be easier for people already integrated into that ecosystem. , also known as the ICON Network, is a blockchain designed to connect other blockchains to one another. Think of it as a way to keep on-chains blockchains on a greater chain, in order to prevent isolated blockchains from having to rely on off-chain solutions to serve their users. Icon.foundation ICON’s blockchain is designed to connect real-world entities to one another, on the scale of banks, universities, insurance companies, hospitals, etc. By combining public blockchains with permissioned/private blockchains, ICON aims to be the web that connects blockchains around the world. It uses a transparent governance system that allows validators to gain trust in the network and become C-Reps, which authenticate transactions and have voting rights to make decisions with a majority consensus. ICON Network’s real strength comes with its ability to connect existing blockchains, giving them a path to stay on-chain instead of forcing them to rely on off-chain solutions when resources are strained. , similar to ICON, is building a bridge between existing cryptocurrencies to help them stay on-chain. Bancor is a decentralized liquidity network that allows any token connected to it to be seamlessly exchanged for any other token it is connected to — relying on Bancor’s internal embedded converter to sort out prices. Bancor Thousands of token pairs already exist on the network, and Bancor runs on the EOS MainNet with plans to expand to more blockchains in the future. For developers seeking a way to avoid settling payments off-chain, Bancor is a solid solution to encourage cross-crypto payments while keeping everything immutable and on-chain. So why aren’t all companies staying on-chain? On-chain roadblocks, and how to overcome them If keeping everything on-chain was the cheapest and easiest solution, every blockchain company would be doing it. All blockchains face similar issues in this regard, figuring out how to scale, how to handle larger capacity transactions, and how to do it without spending more money. Take Bitcoin, for example, a blockchain that keeps everything on-chain and has had plenty of years to develop into what it is today. Bitcoin has, on average, a transaction limit of 7 transactions per second at most. The actual transactions per second are somewhere closer to 4. To improve Bitcoin you have to loosen one of the throttlers: block size and mining speed. Bitcoin’s block size limit is 1 megabyte, while blocks are restricted to being mines once every 10 minutes or so. So how do we scale? One solution is increasing block size, which is what the ILCoin network is attempting to do. By utilizing mini-blocks, ILCoin pushes their block size limitations to around 5 gigabytes — this alone would increase the total number of transactions processable per second. EOS, on the other hand, opted to increase the transactions by second by reducing the time between blocks. They do this by requiring less consensus; instead of requiring the majority of the chain, they instead require 21 chosen nodes to validate the entire chain. So how do we scale? One solution is increasing block size, which is what the ILCoin network is attempting to do. By utilizing mini-blocks, ILCoin pushes their block size limitations to around 5 gigabytes — this alone would increase the total number of transactions processable per second. EOS, on the other hand, opted to increase the transactions by second by reducing the time between blocks. They do this by requiring less consensus; instead of requiring the majority of the chain, they instead require 21 chosen nodes to validate the entire chain. No matter how companies strive to overcome these restrictions, it is important that they do so while keeping everything on-chain. Centralized, off-chain solutions are definitely cheaper, but data leak after data leak has shown us that centralized systems cannot be trusted. When the opportunity to misuse and abuse data is available, it is almost certain that someone is going to prey on it. Keep it on-chain, because if you’re going to be using blockchain for more than a buzzword you may as well commit to actually using the technology for what it is best at.

Blockchain-Based On-Chain Solutions: An Overview

There have been many discussions expressing fear or concern regarding South Korea maintaining its stance on ICO bans , and what it exactly it means for ICON. due to results found in a survey conducted by South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service Why is South Korea Maintaining its ICO Ban Policy? In light of recent news of the South Korea government maintaining its current ban on all Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) from domestic companies, many will argue that this is not an ideal situation for the blockchain industry. So, why were ICOs banned in the first place in Korea? In short, ICO bans are a way for the government to protect investors from potential scams until a better framework for ICO regulations and policies are set in place. The reason why Korea is maintaining its ban on ICOs is due to the results of a survey conducted by South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) of 22 local companies holding ICOs abroad. Majority of the companies surveyed failed to provide adequate transparency and would not disclose essential or accurate information for investors (company profile, business contents, financial statements, etc). Additionally, marketing materials and whitepaper in the Korean language were discovered indicating that companies were soliciting funds from Korean investors. South Korean Government Continued Support for Blockchain Two important things to note that many people tend to forget: Not all companies, projects, and startups require ICOs to raise funds. Despite many people interpreting the ban on ICOs in Korea as the government being against the development of blockchain projects, an ICO ban is not a statement by the government on its stance on blockchain. From the same press release of the survey conducted by the FSS, the South Korean Government have multiple initiatives to expand its support for blockchain technology and startups: Expand the public pilot project from 6 in 2018 to 12 in 2019. Double the investment in blockchain research and developments. Provide tax benefits for blockchain research and developments. Vitalization of the blockchain industry by training 10,000 blockchain professionals by 2022. How Does Maintaining the ICO Ban in Korea Affect ICON x Deblock? , a VC firm and accelerator founded by , mainly focuses on projects and teams based in Korea. With the results of the survey conducted by the FSS, one concern many people had was whether or not ICON or Deblock had any affiliations or involvement with any of the teams or projects that violated the prohibition of ICOs in Korea. Managing Partner of , (Hyun Oh), was able to address this concern: Deblock ICON Foundation Deblock 오현석 “ ” No, we have not involved ourselves with any teams that engaged in these types of practices. While many see the ban on ICOs in Korea as something detrimental to the partnerships and relationships with ICON and the Korean government, Oh is more optimistic regarding the situation, and provides insight on Deblock’s future plans on working with the Korean government regarding blockchain startups in Korea. “Deblock is going to invest in blockchain startups, not just ICOs, and we are in the planning phase to set up an acceleration program in collaboration with a government acceleration entity to invest and accelerate early stage blockchain startups.” Although ICOs are still banned in Korea, DApps and other projects in Korea can still be built on the ICON platform without violating any laws. Security Token Offering (STO) also provides a possible legal alternative for blockchain companies to raise funds that is becoming evermore prevalent in not just Korea, but worldwide. It’s also reassuring that the ICON team seems to be well-aware of this shift in token offerings by providing support for STO as seen below in their roadmap: With STOs potentially becoming the new standard for fundraising, accelerator programs and partnerships spanning across the globe, and already applying loopchain, and general support for blockchain from the Korean government, ICON shows no signs of slowing down its growth of its ecosystem. Seoul Metropolitan Government other government entities

Korea’s ICO Ban: What It Means & How It Affects ICON x Deblock

🌟 Checkout our Cast for the Movie What Crypto Rich Asians are reading. is the newly released movie that every. Asian. person. is talking about. For those of you who may not be aware of it’s importance to the Asian (American) community, it’s the first Asian all-cast mainstream movie in the US since the Joy Luck Club. But, alas, the $$ theme was there, but the Crypto theme was missing. Why couldn’t these guys make the movie Crazy Rich Asians even more relatable? This is my version of Crypto Rich Asians TWEET If we had a Crypto Rich Asians movie and the cast reflected real world Crypto Rich Asians, the story and plot would have been so juicy. Here are the people I’d like to see on screen. These guys are in no specific order, because once you have over $1bn in net worth, does it really matter how much you have? I am sure many people in Crypto will disagree with me on this one. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ more money Jihan Wu and Micree Zhang of Bitmain- with Bitmain supposedly looking to IPO in the , Jihan and Micree will make the most out of it. The company didn’t give away too much equity given that they didn’t raise a series A until . range of $40-$50bn 4 years after the company started Zhao Changpeng of Binance- CZ has a co-founder named He Yi who is responsible for marketing and business, but he probably owns majority share of Binance. Whether the market is up or down, Binance will always have business, and CZ will always win. Li Xiaolai of INBlock- with him admittingly earning , we think he is probably doing ok**.** On EOS: This one project alone will probably make me the world’s best angel investor in 2017, because it’s growing so fast” 200x from his EOS investment “ . We spent $1.5 million for 5% of the stock at a valuation of $30mn USD. Now it is worth $6bn USD, a 200x Da Fei Hong — Neo founder, been there since the early days of Crypto in China Justin Sun — with Tron’s token market cap at $1.5bn and Justin Sun’s business savviness, we don’t think Tron will go away anytime soon Litecoin- Charlie Lee. Now that he’s sold all his litecoin, he realizes that it wasn’t the right decision Bo Shen — with Vitalik being an advisor to the fund Fenbushi Partner, And many more…. I am probably missing too many. There’ll have to be sequels. who do YOU think should be on the list? Subscribe now 🌟 Top News in Asia from Wednesday through Friday Binance LCX, a joint venture between Binance and Liechtenstein Cryptoassets Exchange is the . launching of a fiat-to-crypto exchange http://bit.ly/2vSS7mH As of August 7, 2018, there are 274 legal cases related to cryptocurrency in China. Most recently, Chinese courts made its decision without directly discussing whether Bitcoin trading platform is illegal. http://bit.ly/2vPU3N4 How the singer in Africa and subsequently now Akoin. $1 billion line of credit from Chinese investors China Jiangsu International helped launch Akon http://bit.ly/2OKH6uC A series of new tweets are fueling speculation that Binance is about to make a big move with XRP. http://bit.ly/2OKlEpO 💰 Deals and Venture round led by Tribe Capital and Social Capital. SFOX, a cryptocurrency dealer for high-volume traders and institutional investors, has raised $22.7 million in a Series A funding http://bit.ly/2MxagQE Exchange Huobi has made a significant investment in the US-compliant security token trading platform OpenFinance Network. http://bit.ly/2ONqiUa Krungsri Finnovate, a venture capital fund of Krungsri (Thailand Bank of Ayudhya) marking its fourth deal since inception. committed to invest in Japan’s SBI AI & Blockchain Fund, http://bit.ly/2vVqkSE Dymon Asia Ventures has hit the final close for -focused fund. its maiden $50-million fintech http://bit.ly/2OHnpnF Sino-US investment firms are targeting over $4 billion for new funds launched this year. GGV registered a $1.8bn fund with SEC. https://tcrn.ch/2vUfoVt Japanese social messaging app . LINE announced the creation of a $10 million blockchain venture fund http://bit.ly/2vZN8kv 💰 Coin and Token News Official launch of ICX Station, . a global accelerator program sponsored by the ICON Foundation http://bit.ly/2MEJtSJ Tron acquires blockchain.org domain name. with its blockchain-based payments tech, exec says. Ripple ‘definitely’ wants to target China https://cnb.cx/2L1OQXd 💸 Exchange News Chinese exchange Huobi and its partners are l aunching cryptocurrency exchanges in five regions: the Philippines, Russia, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Canada. http://bit.ly/2vRWfUd including Huobi Automated Listing Platform, Huobi Show Center for Blockchain Projects and HADAX Public Voting Platform. Huobi launches brand new HADAX 2.0 http://bit.ly/2KZ39f3 🎌 Regulation News *China Media* to upgrade the area with innovation and manufacturing upgrade, including blockchain initiatives. Shanghai Municipal Government signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Alibaba and Ant Financial Google translated as part of the formalization of the country’s domestic market. Thai regulators have so far approved seven business entities to conduct cryptocurrency operations http://bit.ly/2MAZwAL Throughout the past two months, investors in the local crypto market of South Korea have continuously expressed their optimism towards a drastic change in the regulatory landscape of crypto. http://bit.ly/2MAAqSG from the classification of venture firms. Cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea have condemned their exclusion by the country’s government http://bit.ly/2vUcj7L 💼 Business News to help enterprise customers build, host and use their own blockchain applications for operations management. Chinese retailer JD.com is launching a new blockchain technology platform http://bit.ly/2vRYl6x have entered into a partnership to explore blockchain for payments. State-backed Bank of China and financial services corporation ChinaUnionPay http://bit.ly/2MAfNGb CoinDrop, a service that helps anyone easily receive “airdrops” of cryptocurrency. http://bit.ly/2MxNrMx anywhere with cheap electricity. Chinese miners exiled to Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, http://bit.ly/2vUlO74 . American seed accelerator Y Combinator appointed Baidu’s former COO Lu Qi as its CEO http://bit.ly/2MEKNoF Chinese games are rapidly eroding the Korean market. It is happening while China blocked the distribution of new Korean games in China. http://bit.ly/2MAMkM8 🌹🌹🌹What did you guys think of our thus far? What do you want to read or learn more about on Asia? Global Coin podcast Check our past 7 weekly pieces on , , , , , , and Southeast Asia Cryptocurrency Developments A Guide to Asia Crypto funds/investors Takeaways on Asia Crypto from Techcrunch Zug Cryptokitties Binance Bitmain China’s Crypto winners Subscribe

Crypto Rich Asians

Replacing Paper Contracts? Photo by on Christa Dodoo Unsplash When we talk about smart contracts, the first thing that comes to our mind would usually be (ETH) — to put it bluntly, the mother of all smart contracts. Well, that statement may be a little misleading, but I would argue that Ethereum was the first project which drew public attention to smart contracts implementation. It was made possible due to the design of a infrastructure. And just in case you might not know what Ethereum is, it is a decentralised platform for running smart contracts. Ethereum blockchain https://www.ethereum.org/ So what exactly is a Smart Contract? A smart contract is a program which contains a set of commitments, including how the contract participants shall fulfil these commitments. It executes across multiple computers so that the computers can have a consensus on the computation which enforces the validity of the contract — and is widely used in Ethereum. Today, mainstream smart contract adoption includes , , and whereas more widespread applications of smart contracts are still in its early stages of development. ICOs Multisig transactions Cryptokitties , On Ethereum specifically, every smart contract that is deployed runs on every in the Ethereum blockchain. Whenever a user wants to call a smart contract, that smart contract gets activated on each of the full node across the entire Ethereum network. This has resulted in scalability issues, which is somewhat recognised as the key technical challenge that needs to be solved in order for blockchain applications to reach mass adoption. The , while other enterprises/organisations have ventured into creating their own blockchains, seeking to address the scalability issues. full node Ethereum community has since been diving into new technical implementations Before we dive into exploring other newer blockchains which feature smart contracts, it is interesting to note that — the term was coined and explored with 10 years before Bitcoin’s existence. However, the term and its appliances have only recently been further explored. Ethereum’s platform has allowed developers to build DApps (Decentralised Apps) on its blockchain, that is defined by smart contracts. The immutability and cryptographic security features on the blockchain keep these contracts secure. smart contracts are not totally new Having a middle ground to store smart contracts removes the need for an intermediary party, as conditions within the contracts can be now developed and enforced on the platform itself. A simple example would be a buy-sell agreement — the moment the buyer makes payment to a seller, the contract enforces the item to be released from the seller to the buyer. The Evolution of Smart Contracts Since Ethereum, the potential of implementing smart contracts has continued to be explored. Other communities and enterprises have also started looking into more specific ways in which smart contracts can be adopted. Public Smart Contracts So far, the use of public smart contracts has been limited. As mentioned above, token sales, multisig transactions and cryptokitties are the main areas in which we have seen smart contracts being deployed on the public chain. However, in regard to these implementations have arisen since. . . . The case of the Cryptokitties alone has made the entire Ethereum blockchain seem unreliable, where scalability issues have been commonly brought up. problems Ponzi scheme ICOs Multisig wallets being hacked Scalability issues on the Ethereum blockchain last December with the launch of Cryptokitties Newer (than Ethereum) startups like have since launched into trying to provide a ‘better’ consensus protocol; it boasts that it is able to process thousands of transactions per second, and writing smart contracts in more commonly used programming languages like Golang, Python etc., compared to Ethereum’s Solidity limitations. Tendermint (Tendermint itself is another whole virtual realm of services & products that we can discuss in another article) Enterprise Smart Contracts Large enterprises like , , , , , and many others that I may have missed have also ventured into providing consultation services and building blockchains in a number of industries ( , etc.)to build smart contracts on. Microsoft IBM JPMorgan SAP Consensys private / consortium logistics financial institutions This is with the intention that smart contracts need not necessarily be deployed in an entire public blockchain for the world to see. Participating parties of the smart contract can simply spin off full nodes of the smart contract within a consortium blockchain to enforce these smart contracts — keeping the details of the contract private. Other methods also include leveraging on to protect details of the smart contract and linking it to the Ethereum (public) blockchain. c_ryplets_ Other DApps-chains Disclaimer: The segment below highlights a few DApps-chains, but the number of existing blockchains which allows decentralised applications to be built is non-exhaustive. Also, in no way am I trying to promote these cryptocurrencies below. The number of public blockchains which features DApps (decentralised apps) has also surged tremendously. Relatively newer platforms such as Enigma (ENG), EOS (EOS), ICON (ICX), and NEO (NEO & GAS), have different goals on what they aim to empower the world with. (or not so new anymore) where the team is building a blockchain which provides ‘ ’ — due to the fact that data (inclusive of smart contracts) on the public blockchain is public. Secret contracts deployed on Enigma would remain private. Enigma , secret contracts (aka. Ethereum on Steroids), focuses on Ethereum flaws to build a ‘better blockchain’ as they claim to provide better technical capabilities compared to Ethereum. One of the main technical capabilities being addressed is the number of transactions per second (TPS), which has been a well-known issue both and Ethereum has been facing while scaling. EOS Bitcoin , or the ICON Foundation, which seeks to provide a network in which multiple independent blockchains can be built on the ICON blockchain with DApps, and be able to communicate with one another. ICON (within the ICON Republic) , the eldest of the four, has the deepest relations in China, a key player in innovative technology. It’s preparing itself for the , and places a huge emphasis on staying regulatory compliant. Here is a list of existing available currently. NEO smart economy NEO + NEP-5 tokens The Future? From this alone, we can clearly see that many parties are figuring out on the best way to leverage on the blockchain infrastructure to shape the next phase of technology. It is clear that smart contract adoption will only continue to grow for now, as more and more parties are seeking on ways in which smart contracts can be better utilised. We should, however, remain vigilant on the potential . could very much be one of the first few who has taken a big leap in creating a . Despite that, it is essential to keep in mind that security audits and vulnerability discovery on smart contracts are still in its infant stages. dangers of relying on smart contracts Quantstamp smart contract security-auditing protocol

The Evolution of Smart Contracts

Why-Buy-This-Crypto Opinion In Q32017, the Korean conglomerate, , started a blockchain project, that would be soon coined as the . Dayli Financial Group also , which is the in Korea worth $4 billion, , which is the in Korea (equivalent to WhatsApp or WeChat in China), and , which is the . In essence, ICON has backing this project, this is as real as it gets. ICON’s central technology is called LoopChain, which is described as “a high-performance blockchain that can provide real-time transaction.” LoopChain is built for enterprises and provides smart contract functionality that can be customized, but most importantly, can be linked to other distributed ledger networks. Today, , however, since ICON is framing itself to become the master key that unlocks blockchain interoperability and connects requested services to every business and government sector, ICON can be trading at . Dayli Financial Group ICON, “Korean Ethereum” owns Yello Mobile largest mobile startup Kakao MOST popular application The Loop company behind ICON’s blockchain technology one of the largest Korean Conglomerates ICON trades at $8 a coin $70 per coin within the next 2 years Basics: The ICON project started in 3Q2017 from Seoul, South Korea ICON is an and without the use of additional third-party intermediaries interconnecting blockchain network can connect to independent blockchains The ICON project that allows them to perform data and monetary transfers, verify identity, leverage smart contract environment (SCORE), and utilize a decentralized exchange offers established industries access to a blockchain solution the company behind ICON, has already received several rounds of funding The Loop, Price: $8Ranking by Market Cap (Token): 3Market Capitalization: $3,063,911,421 Circulating Supply: 380,045,004 ICXMax Supply: 400,230,000 ICXAverage Trading Volume: $83,249,600 Consensus: Ethereum consensus Ticker: ICON Team: The ICON project is lead by , who is also the CEO of The Loop and part of the ICON Foundation Council. Mr. Kim has almost 20 years of experience in the information security field. JH Kim is the CEO Dayli Intelligence and is also on the ICON Foundation Council. Previous to Dayli Intelligence, Mr. Eee developed ‘SUHOSHIN’, the first firewall in Korea KJ Eee The ICON team has an additional 15 blockchain managers and engineers Rounding out the ICON team are 5 AI developers and product managers, as well as 5 marketing professionals Drivers of Growth: The ICON project is the that is pushing the country towards widespread blockchain adoption first blockchain network in Korea The ICON team is with the goal of connecting the entire ecosystem using their protocol setting up dozens of partnerships and side chains will provide a safer, all-encompassing alternative to traditional exchanges. When ICON’s core wallet is released, users will be able to trade directly from their wallet ICON’s DEX The ICON platform utilizes a . SCORE is designed to have high-performance contracts run directly in the node environment without the need of a separate virtual machine. This can be easily created for various applications because it runs separately from the underlying blockchain Smart Contract On Reliable Environment (SCORE) ICON platform offers , giving other blockchains the ability to connect with the ICON network via their smart contracts flexibility within their ecosystem To reiterate, the ICON platform was created by the parent group, DAYLI financial group, and DFG has a partnership with ripple that includes in Korea. Some of these partners include , which has close to a $1 Billion market cap and , which has a market cap is well over $1.5 Billion. The other partners also manage billions or hundreds of millions of dollars The Loop is a member of the Korean Financial Investment Association 27 financial firms Daishin Securities Kiwoom ICON to create a Tether equivalent but for the Korean Won signed an agreement with Woori (second largest bank in Korea) , the second largest crypto exchange in Korea Dayli Financial Group (DFG) owns Coinone DFG has a close including Sogang University, which is currently developing a partnership with multiple universities blockchain vending machine called U-Coin DFG has recently with hospitals and insurance companies to help with ICON’s blockchain adoption formed an insurance consortium Korea is ideal place for blockchain technology to accelerate because they are one of the largest leaders in cryptocurrency trading volume and supporters The ICON blockchain solution is . Their platform is one of the world’s largest enterprise blockchain networks that includes 25 security firms, 6 hospitals, various universities and banks already enterprise tested Headwinds: Since regulation will always trail innovation, the digital currency space can be subject to new regulations in the future Summary: The one aspect of ICX that sticks out to me the most is the lack of headwinds. Apart from regulations and the general challenges of the blockchain space, ICON does not have any serious competition within enterprise ready blockchain solutions in Korea. Plus, they already have a functioning product that enterprises, both in business and government are utilizing. Once you do the research, it becomes clear very quickly that ICON is backed by one of the largest conglomerates in Korea giving the project almost unlimited resources, manpower, and influence to execute their roadmap. This is why I see this coin touching $70 within the next 2 years. To my dedicated readers, I am excited to announce that I have just launched my advisory service and fund, Masi Digital Ventures. https://masidigitalventures.com/

23 Ways ICON is Hyper-Connecting the World

have taken the startup funding world by storm — to the tune of $1.78 Billion — but not all governments are keen on allowing this much business activity to function outside of their central currency. Most notably, China’s central bank announced on its website that . ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) ICOs are now illegal Graph via Coindesk ICO Tracker On , Ananas Co-Founder argued that as ethics and regulations have not kept up with the high growth of ICOs, and ultimately he thinks, “we can expect the ban to be lifted soon and guidelines put in place.” Hacker Noon Emad Mostaque China was right to clamp down on ICOs But we shall see… In a “ ,” Lightyear.io Counsel & Program Manager details the short and long term effects of this decision. She concludes, “China’s statement on ICOs was a strong, decisive move towards greater consumer protection, greater monetary control, and more effective anti-money-laundering processes.” Brief Analysis of China’s Ban on ICOs Lindsay X. Lin Things will probably heat up before they cool down as Hong Kong’s Security and Futures Commission Executive Director of Intermediaries Ms Julia Leung , “Those involved in an ICO need to be aware that some ICO structures may be subject to Hong Kong securities laws.” released this statement today For more about about ICO & security relations in America, read ’s , and his most notably story to date: “ ” Andrew J. Chapin benjaCoin’s live ICO journey The SEC Called About Our ICO, I Answered. , “The amount of money raised by cryptocurrency and blockchain start-ups via so-called initial coin offerings (ICOs) has surpassed early stage venture capital (VC) funding for internet companies for the past two months.” CNBC reported recently penned a great primer on ICOs from the perspective of an early stage venture capitalist: “ .” It’s a great read for solidifying your ICO foundational knowledge AND seeing how a venture capitalist approaches this new funding phenomenon. Ouriel Ohayon ICOs for Dummies (like me) When determining whether you should participate in an ICO, consider SkillShare CEO ’s Thesis, Token Network Effects, Team & Leadership, Technology & Developer Ecosystem, Transparency & Trust, Traction & Roadmap, and Terms & Legal. Michael Karnjanaprakorn 7 Ts Framework : For more on the INTERNET’s impact on CURRENCY , check out the latest stories on our sister publication Keeping Stock , as well as our collections on Bitcoin , Cryptocurrencies , Money , and of course, ICOs . Sometimes when I hear, “ICO, ICO, ICO,” I think, “ ” It’s a colloquial reminder, when something really starts , it’s good to take a step back and Iko Iko un-dayJock-a-mo fee-no ai na-né. trending in the tech industry listen to some music... 5 Must Read Tech Stories This Week That Have Nothing to Do With ICOs: by Carpe Lotion Co-founder . Great take on implications of publishing aspirational bullsh*t on your website, and a clear argument for how to be direct about what your company does. “For the love of God, please tell me what your company does” Kasper Kubica by . A strong argument that will be a stronger force for good than evil as a response to this mindset: “Humans love huge, flashy threats. We’re seriously awesome at ignoring real problems in favor of big, crazy ones. The bigger and crazier the better! Now we have super-AI, the mother of all problems.” “Why SuperIntelligent AI Will Kick Ass” Daniel Jeffries AI by MD of The Alcohol-Free Shop . This story goes into the underbelly of Apple’s customer ‘experience’ and return policy. It begins with “On Saturday I bought a new Macbook Pro with touch bar. And on Sunday I returned it. The only surprising part of this is the fact I returned it so soon.” “Why I owned a Macbook Pro for a day — and what it says to me about the future of Apple” John Risby by . In his own wise words, “Much like artichokes, this post is not for everyone. It’s for the developer using (which comes with npm 5). The developer who has not read the Yarn and npm docs (you fools with your ‘social lives’). The developer who has heard about Yarn, seen it popping up in more and more places, and who has begun to think that they ‘should’ be using it.” “It’s OK to not use Yarn” David Gilbertson Node 8 by Freelance Developer & Maker of Inkdrop . Great guide for walking through the levers of how to structure deals between high growth startups and top notch freelance developers. “How to Price Yourself as a Freelance Developer” Takuya Matsuyama Until next time, don’t take the realities of the world for granted. Kind Regards, , David Smooke @ AMI ICYMI — P.S. check out our company’s origin story.

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