Why DropDeck is your best bet on the overall ICO boom
Funding: Disrupted
The Initial Coin Offering (ICO) has disrupted the entire financial industry in the last few years is an understatement. It is threatening to create a new world order, especially with regards to how innovation and startups are funded the world over. Blockchain and Smart Contracts are changing the fundamental structure of how business will be done in the future and ICOs represent a bet that massive gains are coming for early adopters. ICOs have already dethroned the much-vaunted VC model as the primary source for early stage fund raising in 2017. What is even more dangerous for Wall Street is that established unicorns and even listed corporates are now shifting towards raising money through ICOs. Case-in-point: Kik, the Canadian messaging app, raised almost $100 million in September through its ICO. A bona fide unicorn, it has already raised over $170 million, shunning VCs and NASDAQ listing shows that the tide has well and truly turned. People have been voting with their pockets and ICOs have raised almost $2 billion (1, 962,074,360) in 2017 alone.
Also, ICOs are no longer a financial backwater where you go to raise a seed fund of FEW hundred thousand dollars. Look at three of the biggest ICOs this year and their fund raising haul:
Status Network: $275,814,878
Filecoin: $257,000,000
EOS: $256,247,089
Not only does it democratizes funding but also creates liquidity, long the biggest handicap of startup investing. OMG and Qtum both crossed the Billion-dollar marketcap mark and entered the hallowed unicorn status. An investment in OMG would have given a return of 4000% in over a few months. Given this background, the ICO of DropDeck assumes even more significance as it looks to create an AI powered decentralized cross-border funding platform based on an incentivization model inspired by Game Theory.
Enter DropDeck and Decentralized DropDeck (DDD) Token
DropDeck scores and ranks fundraising companies as well as funders using an AI engine based on multiple data sources. With the help of these scores and rankings, funders can fund the most deserving, innovative and thriving companies. These scores reflect the degree of risk as well potential of profitability. Once the funder narrows down its choice to one company, it uses the help of local delegates for further due diligence. It incentivizes all the participants of the ecosystem to ensure that funders are able to maximize returns and minimize risks.
The DropDeck Token represents access to this platform and is the currency in which all participants will be paid. The token’s underlying value is derived from the fact that DropDeck’s features can be unlocked only thorough the DDD token. The token is the lifeblood of the company and acts as its reward and recognition mechanism, the centerpiece of its collaboration-centered ecosystem. Its combination of Blockchain-AI-Human Collaboration is the holy trinity that ensures global learning and local execution. The founder, Alon Vo, has structured a positive feedback loop which will allow DropDeck to attract funders creating a self-propagating network effect.
Most importantly, DropDeck is not just a whitepaper. It has assembled an all-star team. The founder, Alon Vo, is the Chief Product Designer and a XPRIZE Vanguard and Epistemologist. Michael Phan is the Chief Hacker; he is currently the Chief Hacker at John Galt Ventures and has previous experience at marquee names like Google, Poloniex and McKinsey. The advisory board is headed by George Popescu, Founder of Lampix (recently raised $15 million in an ICO) and is also the founder and editor-in-chief of Lending-Times.com. DropDeck itself plays in the big league; it cleared the 1st round of the 4-year IBM Watson A.I. XPRIZE competition to become 1 of 146 official teams around the world to be supported by IBM’s and XPRIZE’s network of mentors
DDD the best bet on ICOs
DropDeck has developed an incentive system influenced by decentralized prediction markets such as Augur and Gnosis. Those who are able to analyze correctly are rewarded, thus people put all their knowledge and resources to predict the right outcome and in the process allow for granular evaluation. On the DropDeck platform, when a company creates a deck, a deadline is set as to when that company should be funded, selected for a prize or support program. Each prediction costs DDD, thus ensuring that all incentives are in-line for a genuine assessment.
The platform in essence will allow startups to launch mini-ICOs/fundraising events for their businesses. Since the entire process uses the DDD token and there are rewards for adding more people to the ecosystem, the DDD will experience the network effect, i.e. the value of DDD will increase as more investors start using it. This is a powerful motivator as it acts as a kicker to the funders’ returns and in effect will induce the funders to keep funding and introduce new funders to the platform.
ICOs have a dark side as well. There are many fly-by-night operators looking to make a quick buck. There is no regulation of the ICO market and initial evaluation is limited to a whitepaper, thus creating a perverse incentive to cheat. DropDeck has crafted a financial-industry standard KYC/AML process to onboard supporters for the token sale. It has partnered with Cynopsis (RegTech 100 company) and RHTLaw Taylor Wessing (a global law firm) to ensure that all participants are protected, both digitally and legally. This shows the management’s commitment to allowing only genuine supporters to take part in the sale.
DropDeck, with its AI-Human collaboration allows for enforcement of contracts by onboarding multiple local players who have the right inducement to safeguard the platform. A smart contract is between the funder, funding company and the delegate (who does the diligence), under which delegate only gets paid when the funded company pays back. DropDeck also encourages the company to pay back on time, so that their grading and ranking improves on the platform, which will enable them to find more funding in the future.
Also, its, award-winning AI design and its integration with blockchain technology helps in evaluating the companies as well as investors on multiple parameters and therefore grading and ranking is more realistic and ever-improving. The system is constantly upgrading itself, thus it can’t be gamed and allows for effective risk mitigation that is not the case with the current overall ICO market.
Conclusion
Bitcoins led to Ethereum and Ethereum became the building block for ICOs. The innovation in the blockchain world has been relentless. DropDeck is the new framework on which fundraising will evolve to incorporate rigorous due-diligence and a true incentivization model. An investor looking to “bet” on ICOs will be better served by “investing” in DDD tokens. It is the best derivative play for the entire ICO market and the blockchain-investing industry.
