Mar 6, 2019
ICON: Technology Partner Status in Amazon Web Services Partner Network and Development Roadmap Update , NASDAQ rumours disapproved
Biweekly update 20th February — 6th March
This is not financial advice.
During the last two weeks ICON Foundation showed average activity in media landscape. The main keynote of ICON’s biweekly update is ICONLOOP’s achieved Advanced status. It means that ICONLOOP is going to be eligible for preferred access to business opportunities, an AWS-written case study and joint AWS customer-facing webinars. To continue, ICON team published new development update. The ICON Team shares with its plan to do, based on our recent achievements focusing on the key components of the roadmap. Finally, South Korea-based ICONLOOP, the firm developing blockchain project ICON, has denied claims that it’s planning to hold an initial public offering.
Development
Social encounters
According to the authors of the article at the fundamental level, blockchain is an enabling technology, nothing more than that. Many of the outlined benefits will require regulatory revisions, adoption of new markets, or a paradigm shift in business practice. However, they still believe that blockchain will add value to securities markets, that “programmability of an asset” is the core feature of a security token, which would enable adding utility functions to a security, baking in compliance, and mitigating settlement costs.
There are several benefits that can be seen through combining programmability with traditional securities.
- Added Utility Functions
Having the ability to program a specific utility function into traditional equities could add value to the security that was previously impractical. For example, offering stakeholders of a media publication the opportunity to curate the front page. Applying the DPoC approach, passive investors could delegate this responsibility elsewhere, while active investors could take part in pushing quality content. If the publication has a significant user base, having such utility adds more value to the security.
- Reduction in Regulatory & Compliance Costs
Having the ability to program specific compliance functions into a security could significantly reduce the cost of compliance-focused staff, while also making the job of regulators easier. It is possible to program rules such as KYC/AML policies, maximum number of holders, distribution conditions, lock-up periods, etc.
With these rules programmed into the asset itself, regulators can rest assured that policies will be self-enforced. The role of the regulator would begin to look more like that of a smart contract auditor.
- Mitigating Settlement Costs
While the length of time until settlement is a regulatory decision, the cost of settlement is not. Large banking institutions maintain a strong head count in what is commonly referred to as the “middle office”, primarily to settle transactions.
If settlement features of an asset were programmed directly, the operational costs of maintaining a middle office could be mitigated at worst and entirely eliminated at best, all while still providing a secure way to settle transactions.
To continue, tokenizing seed-stage equity of a startup, in our view, doesn’t really benefit the market as a whole. You end up with the passive investor looking for a quick exit (as seen in the ICO bubble), rather than the longer term support of an active institutional investor. Additionally, you add significant responsibilities and headaches for issuers, including 24/7 price discovery in an inefficient, immature market, more oversight from regulators, and greater disclosure burdens to public stakeholders.
To sum up, the blockchain space is exciting and full of promise, making it is easy to get sucked into the dream without thoroughly considering how difficult it would be to get there, and why things work the way they currently do; we think it is important to note that, in the end, blockchain is an enabling technology. Those working on security tokens will have many regulations to navigate, many processes to understand, and many incumbents to appease.
With this in mind, ICON’s security token standard will focus on what programmability can enable. ICX Station wants ICON’s partners, such as the Korea Financial Investment Association (KOFIA), to have a better understanding of reality vs. hype when it comes to tokenizing securities and work together to build a better infrastructure for the securities market. The value proposition is clearly there, and ICX Station looks forward to collaborating with others who share a similar vision to help the industry evolve.
The purpose was to create a bridge between governments and companies pushing the growth of the domestic blockchain industry.
The event was observed by the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province of South Korea, and was a well-attended second meeting following the initial session on the 20th.
Local governments, such as Jeju and Busan, are moving forward with becoming designated as blockchain special zones according to the ‘Act on Special Economic Zones for specialized regional development’, which will be implemented in April. Jeju aims to push for three special zones: blockchain, electric vehicles, and cosmetics, and blockchain is the first priority.
Jeju plans to apply for the special zone designation when the Districts Act is enacted, and currently handles interest and inquiries through its dedicated website. If Jeju applies for a blockchain special zone, the special zone will be selected after a final review by the Special Economic Zone Commission on Regulatory Freedom presided over by the Prime Minister in July.
Following the local government’s application and approval from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, companies can utilize three types of regulatory special circumstances (regulatory verification, temporary demonstration, temporary approval), as well as financial support, tax support and reduction of levies.
ICON hopes this event will be a great first step toward the creation of regulatory special zones and will continue to bridge the gap between government and private companies to further push the adoption of blockchain technology.
Upcoming events:
Location: Hong Kong
Date: 13–14 March, 2019
Josh Choi, Director of Public Affairs at ICON Foundation, will be participating in a panel discussion about ‘The Decentralized Future: Interoperability And Scalability.’
Finance
The number of token holders is increasing over time.
Roadmap
Done:
- The ‘DEX (Decentralized Exchange)’ Development Team has optimized ICON DEX structure by analyzing strengths and weaknesses of the four existing DEX services; IDEX, 0x, Kyber Network, and Bancor. The team has also completed developing smart contracts, and started to develop the user interface and front-end.
- Developing ‘STO (Security Token)’ smart contract has been complete. Besides, we are also working to support the Blockchain Regulatory Sandbox to be realized.
In progress:
- After stabilization, Development of Fee 2.0, the new fee system which allows DApp providers to pay transaction fees instead of users, will be completed and ready for launch. Additionally, DApp providers can pay transaction fees with Virtual Step* generated through staking.
(*Virtual step is a system to mitigate the burden of transaction fees. SCORE operator can receive and utilize Virtual Step by agreeing to deposit a certain amount of ICX for a given period of time.)
- The ‘IISS (ICON Incentives Scoring System)’ Development Team currently aims to start stabilizing the IISS functionality in April.
- The ‘BTP(Blockchain Transfer Protocol)’ Development Team is developing a DevNet that enables developers to experience Interchain environment, which connects different blockchain networks. The team is also working on connecting different ICON TestNets through BTP and aiming to finish development of this TestNet by April.
- The ‘DID (Decentralized Identifier)’ Development Team is establishing smart contracts based on a standard protocol and plans to launch a practical service with a DApp partner in May.
- The ICON Team will turn the private HackerOne bounty program over to the public to enhance ICON Network security in early March. More white-hat hackers and developers are welcomed to participate in the HackerOne bounty program. We are waiting for your contribution to enhance the security of the ICON Network. Further notice about participation will be released.
- Blockchain technology (loopchain): eliminating Radiostation (Enhancing node management by eliminating RadioStation, which manages Peerlist)
2. Services based on ICON
DID
- Alpha version of DID Smart Contract (In development -> Stabilization): Manage ID certifications from diverse issuers
- Launch DID-based services (In research -> In development): Launch DID-based services with business partners
STO
- Security Token Standard ( Stabilization-> Complete): Set up the standard for developing Security tokens
- Alpha version of STO Smart Contract (In development -> Stabilization): Issue Securities token through Smart Contract
Partnerships and team members
ICONLOOP has achieved Advanced Technology Partner status in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner Network (APN). APN Technology Partners provide software solutions that are either hosted on, or integrated with, the AWS platform. The partners can achieve one of the three performance tiers based on product status, customer engagement and overall business investment on AWS. These tiers are: Registered, Standard, and Advanced.
ICONLOOP has provided the ‘ICON Development Network’ in the AWS Marketplace, allowing developers to run the ICON blockchain network through the AWS cloud. The ‘ICON Development Network’ enables developers to easily develop, test and validate their projects utilizing all of the functions that the ICON platform has provided.
ICONLOOP has achieved Advanced status. With Advanced status, ICONLOOP is going to be eligible for preferred access to business opportunities, an AWS-written case study and joint AWS customer-facing webinars. ICONLOOP will continue working to increase the convenience of the development environment, as a smooth developer experience is essential to the success of ICON. Additionally, it will continue to collaborate with AWS to find promising DApps (Decentralized Applications) in diverse industries.
Rumours
South Korea-based ICONLOOP, the founder of cryptocurrency technology ICON and crypto token ICX, is out to join the mainstream market by going public on Kosdaq market next year as the first Korean origin to attempt both ICO (initial coin offering) and IPO.
According to an investment banking industry source on Monday, ICONLOOP has recently selected Mirae Asset Daewoo Co. as its initial public offering (IPO) lead manager. It aims to debut on the tech-oriented Kosdaq as early as next year by capitalizing on the fast-track procedure that exempts companies with promising technologies from typical market formalities and guidelines in capital and income.
If the company passes technology review, it can apply for a preliminary review for IPO with the Korea Exchange.
A full due diligence and technology evaluation process for the company will kick off during the first half of this year, said a source familiar with the matter.
In the cryptocurrency market, the firm is well known as a developer of `ICON`. It raised money through an ICO in September 2017 and the cryptocurrency’s market cap of about $115 million, roughly 40th in the world market cap according to CoinMarketCap.
It is the only cryptocurrency in the top 50 list among the cryptocurrencies developed by Korean companies.
South Korea-based ICONLOOP, the firm developing blockchain project ICON, has denied claims that it’s planning to hold an initial public offering (IPO).
A report from local media outlet Pulse News on Wednesday cited “an investment banking industry source” as saying that ICONLOOP is planning to list on the Korea Exchange by early next year and that it has selected brokerage firm Mirae Asset Daewoo Co. as lead manager for the effort. Other news sources have also reported the claim.
However, ICONLOOP CEO Jonghyup Kim told CoinDesk Korea that the news is “not true at all” and that the firm does not currently have any plan to launch an IPO. Such reports are “misinformation,” he said, adding that there have previously been similar rumors.
Social media metrics
The charts above illustrate an increase in the number of Telegram followers. In general, ICON foundation experiences average level of social activity.
