ICO Crowd - Issue #5

www.icocrowd.com

ISSUE #5, January / FEBRUARY 2018

2017

The Year of Blockchain and ICOs by Alex and David Lightman Featuring Databroker DAO DAICOs TheKey PDATA and many more

Price: 0.01 BTC

FOREWORD

Regulation Unleashed ISMAIL MALIK Editor-in-chief DONOVAN OBOSI Head Analyst ANNEMIEKE DIRKES Managing Editor PAM TATRO Content Editor TZVI SHISHLER Marketing Photo credit Š Shutterstock

If you would like to advertise with us or have any other queries please get in touch at info@icocrowd.com Disclaimer. All opinions and views expressed in this publication are those of the author only and do not necessarily represent the views of ICO Crowd magazine, its Management or Advisors. All content of ICO Crowd Magazine, in particular but not exclusively, photographs, businessdetails, facts and figures, names, adresses and dates, historic details and offers, are the sole responsibility of the author of each artice. Copyright violations by the author are the sole responsibility of the author and ICO Crowd magazine can not be held liable, whether on the whole or on particulars. www.icocrowd.com

by ISMAIL MALIK Chairman & Executive Editor ICO Crowd

The Recent fluctuation and volatility in the crypto market has resulted in fear and uncertainty for many crypto token investors.

How do we interpret this market situation?

Is it just government regulation causing all the panic? There are many variables, which are influencing the situation. Obviously, blockchain is a new paradigm shift, and we all are unprepared to deal with its prerequisites. Such as legal framework, validation model, financial structure, service offer/design and most importantly a vision for its ecosystem. Traditional norms of investment and corporate structure are conflicting with this new era where most assets are virtual (Most often traded by token value). Moreover, intrinsic value and tangible assets are difficult to explain with modern financial formulas.

Blockchain itself is promising and can solve many socioeconomic challenges. However, it may be the anchoring and mental accounting biases in how we portray the bright future of blockchain. We are bringing controversy to a traditional (or archaic) system.

We are facing an unstructured and incipient stage in the blockchain industry. People cared less about the technology innovation than the value of a token. Let us be honest, Blockchain was never about the token value and glorifying one’s wealth it was and always has been about the PEOPLE.

To strengthen the blockchain community and to build its eco-system, we need legal, political and financial instruments to abide by the current system. Our greed and lack of knowledge on blockchain and its impact on the socio-economic spectrum is hurting the community. Standardization and consolidation will happen sooner or later.

Many diversified services and platform concepts have not been validated by the market yet. Another reason why we need legal framework is for successful ICO and blockchain projects, it helps them to be transparent and protects against hacking and fraud.

We need a healthy ICO eco-system. An ICO is an innovative crowd funding method for blockchain related projects. It accelerates speed of development since it does not require complicated investment measures.

However, things are different now. There are trusted circles who validate real feasible projects. In an ICO, there is no financial obligation (equity or debt) but, trust itself has become the utility. Trust is the essence of blockchain.

Co-creation of the eco-system with government coordination is required.

Starting from legal framework, policy and systems to validate proper ICOs. Regulation and government intervention also need to have clear, discussed, and structured agenda. It would help to save us from the pandemonium and panic.

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CONTENTS 4 5 6 9 11 12 13 15 18 20 21 24

Advisory Board Ex-President of Mexico Vicente Fox joined LAT Blockchain Economic Forum 2018 THE INTERNET OF TOKENS 2017: The year everything changed // ALEX LIGHTMAN

THE INTERNET OF TOKENS The Origin of ICOs THE INTERNET OF TOKENS Is Bitcoin in a Bubble?

THE INTERNET OF TOKENS Bitcoin History THE INTERNET OF TOKENS The Great Scaling Debate THE INTERNET OF TOKENS Governments and CEO’s React to Crypto THE INTERNET OF TOKENS Biggest Negatives of 2017 THE INTERNET OF TOKENS All Public Art – Merging Blockchain Technology with The Art Industry THE INTERNET OF TOKENS Putting the World’s Biggest Sport on The Blockchain Things I Look for When Investing in an ICO // CHRISTIAN FERRI

26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 47 50 52 56 60 62 64

Will token sales ‘democratise’ investing? // HELEN DISNEY

CoinJanitor: Even Cryptocurrency Needs Cleaning Sometimes Where Are the Real Estate Blockchain Success Stories? // ALEXANDER S. BLUM

The Crypro-travel Startup: Blockchain for the Travel Activity Market // IGOR ARKHYPENKO

The Business Case for Self-Sovereign Identity // JED GRANT

Nexus Earth (NXS), 3D Blockchain Revolution DOCADEMIC: Aims to Achieve the Same Major Provider Stays in the Crypto-Health Economy? // JAMES SOWERS Airclipse: The Next Generation Work Platform // THOMAS HUNTER

TrakInvest: Learn. Share. Earn The Future of Trading Proof-Of-Green: Blockchain Technology to Revolutionize the $1.35t Clean Energy Sector OLIVACOIN. El Mercado Blockchain de Futuros del Aceite de Oliva (MB-FAO) // ISMAEL SANTIAGO

Etheal: Connecting One Billion Patients With The Best Possible Care // DR. MIHALY KERTESZ

Blockchain as a Service // MUSTAFA INAMULLAH

Blok Technology to Drive the Global On-Demand Workforce // KYLE WHITE

Disrupting the Future of Work

Confideal: Trusting People is Easy Again Cubaaz: Opening a New World of Several Possibilities

66 68 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88 90

Databroker DAO: A Global Market for Local Data Developeo: The future of software development and humanity is on the blockchain // ZHIVKO TODOROV Blockchain Brings Trust Back to Media in the Age of Fakenews NPER, Global Peer to Peer Intellectual Property Investment Platform VREO: A New Way to Present, Measure and Monetize Ads, Secured Through Blockchain Technology Blockchain-Based Loyalty Ecosystem Bitrewards Launched Public Pre-Sale on January 12th, 2018 The New Ecosystem: ICOs Today // JOHN KAPLAN

Blockchain: Ultimate Solution for the Survival of VR-Technologies Why is Personal Data The Oil of the 21st Century? // SIMON HO

DAICOs THEKEY DMI: Deployed in Heilongjiang Province to Enable Easy Medical Insurance Management and Purchase of Medicine Opiria & PDATA Token

Key Points for Evaluating ICO Investments

Advisory Board SUSAN POOLE

MARC KENIGSBERG

SIMON COCKING

Founder, BlockBridge Advisory Co-Founder, Blockchain Training Institute

Founder of BitcoinChaser.com

Senior Editor at Irish Tech News Freelance for Sunday Business Post, Irish Times, The Southern Star, Dublin Glob

ANDREY GOLUB, PhD

SEAD MUFTIC

SERGIO A. FERNANDEZ DE CORDOVA

Entrepreneur, CEO & Founder @ELSE Corp- a Virtual Retail company

CEO at Blockchain Information Exchange Security Corp

Chairman – P3SmartCity Partners, Inc Private Sector Advisory Group, SDG-FUND, United Nations

THEODOSIS MOUROUZIS, PhD

MUKHTAR MUSSABETOV

EMMANUEL R. GOFFI, PhD

Program Director of MSc in Business Intelligence and Data Analytics at Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM) Research Fellow at UCL Centre of Blockchain Technologies (London,UK)

Blockchain Entrepreneur, Founder at BlockSpace Labs

Associate doctor with Science Po-CERI Research fellow with the Centre FrancoPaix, at the Université du Québec à Montréal

ALEX LIGHTMAN Award-winning and Amazon bestselling author.

Ex-President of Mexico Vicente Fox joined LAT Blockchain Economic Forum 2018 Forbes mentions, the Blockchain Economic Forum as one of the main events to facilitate the discussions of the most important topics of the crypto economy and its growing influence on the global economy.

"The forum is a great place for the market leaders to introduce and reinforce rules of self-conduct protecting uninformed contributors and preventing misuse of the crypto transaction while scaling benefits such as built-in rights registry, early adopters acquisition and low transaction costs due to the absence of middlemen."

Most of the participants are invited personally. That is why the last BEF at New York was named the greatest place to meet and reviewed extensively by Forbes last year: "500 Entrepreneurs, VCs, bankers, brilliant coders, a couple of dozen visionaries …". 14 startups which presented at BEF have raised $200m+.

In Singapore, we gather 1000+ investors, entrepreneurs, media and community leaders to connect and empower pioneers of the technology. We will start with the introduction of 100+ speakers and community leaders while enjoying Singapore Flyer, Supertree Grove walk and ArtScience Museum. 3 cocktail parties at the best roof-tops in the city designed to build impactful relationships.

mentor at the StartX incubator at Stanford University • Peter Bergstrom, founder of BitBlock Ventures and a lifetime member of The Bitcoin Foundation.

• Jason Potts, Director of Blockchain Innovation Hub at RMIT University • Nicholas Merten, Founder of YouTube channel DataDash (236k+ subscribers)

The agenda of the Blockchain Economic Forum is full of the most important topics of the industry: • How will the blockchain technology transform the global economy? Reese Jones (Singularity University), Eddy Lee (Coffee Ventures), Michael Sung (CarbonBlue Innovation) will discuss which institution will be affected the first and the most.

• Rules and governance of the blockchain A record number of 95+ top-notch speakers economy. What's better: self-regulation or have already confirmed their participation in government intervention? See what Chris BEF 2018, including: Ferry (Blockchain Compliance Alliance), Sam• Vicente Fox, ex-president of Mexico son Lee (CoinStreet) and Ralf Glabischnig (2000-06) – the first president elected from (Crypto Valley Association) have to say. an opposition party since 1910.

• Kangmo Kim, a co-founder and investor • Looking for cash gateways and crypto friendly banks? Join Jeremias Kangas (Loat Korbit - a top 20 crypto exchange calBitcoins) and Zachary Reece (Carolina In• Jeremias Kangas, founder of LocalBitvestments) to learn the best way for a crypto coins.com, a popular service that facilitates company to open a bank account and convert over-the-counter trading of local currency for crypto to fiat. bitcoins; • Interested, what are the value drivers of • Alex Lutskevych, CEO of CEX.IO, a UKcrypto markets? Break down the success based cryptocurrency exchange with 1+ milstories and secret ingredients of the top-50 lion users tokens worth $300 billion (excl Bitcoin), with • Eddy Lee, partner at Coffee Ventures and

Raphael Dana (IEG Investment Banking), John Kaplan (Aslan Capital) and others.

Find the full agenda here >> BEF Agenda, and join the hottest discussions of the industry and the most sophisticated speakers.

The Forum is organized by LAToken – the blockchain platform, that tokenizes and makes assets tradeable in crypto. LAToken platform looks like Binance & KuCoin only a few months ago but with advanced features and extended list of asset classes including ICOs and asset-linked tokens.

LAToken has just appeared among top-200 cryptos of Coinmarketcap and going to get it to top-100 soon. LA token is already listed on OKEx, top-5 crypto exchange with $2bn+ daily turnover and 20m+ users, KuCoin, HitBTC, EtherDelta, CoinExchange, and BigONE. As one of the market leaders, LAToken aims to design sustainable rules and governance framework for blockchain industry in cooperation with top entrepreneurs, investors, academics and regulators. «The Forum is a great place for the market leaders to introduce and reinforce rules of self-conduct protecting uninformed contributors and preventing misuse of crypto transaction while scaling benefits such as built in rights registry, early adopters acquisition and low transaction costs due to absence of middlemen,” – says Valentin Preobrazhenskiy, CEO of LAToken».

JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2018

The Internet of Tokens

with ALEX LIGHTMAN

The Internet of Tokens is an ICO Crowd column that offers a broader longer-term view for both Blockchain industry professionals and for a wider audience interested in understanding the market, regulatory and other forces behind the prices that are making headlines, written by an award-winning and Amazon bestselling author.

2017

The year everything changed In 2017 we are witnessing nothing less than the obsoleting of the old monetary and legal systems that have controlled society for decades and the rise of a far more decentralized and inclusive financial order.

An astounding $4 billion has been poured into ICO startups in 2017, easily The WAVES platform has made token leaving venture creation effortless. Sally, a 7-year-old, capitalists in the can go on WAVES and create 1000 SallyCoins. These new tokens cannot dust.

Money – formerly the exclusive province of governments and banks – has finally broken free. We will soon see separation of money and state.

be counterfeited, they are a secure global crypto-currency which is already listed on the WAVES exchange.

They can be immediately traded for BobbyCoins or AnnieCoins or Bitcoins or US dollars.

The crypto-currency arena has been a nerdy and experimental space full of trial and error, a wild west where hackers were trying to steal your 6

money, exchanges were very risky and price crashes were common as many existential threats to Bitcoin and the alt-coins reared their ugly heads.

2017 marks the year when the technology has matured enough to go mainstream – the rise of crypto appears unstoppable.

Startup and project funding, an arena once tightly controlled by venture capitalists and banks has also gone free – first with crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, but now moving into high gear with the amazing ICO explosion. An astounding $4 billion has been poured into ICO startups in 2017, easily leaving venture capitalists in the dust. We are seeing a Cambrian exploration of nearly every conceivable use for the blockchain getting its own startup and likely finding some working capital.

Particularly amazing is the self-funding nature of this revolution. Usu-

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ally radical changes in society must scramble for funds or bootstrap because the established players with all the money are naturally reluctant to fund ideas that may be disruptive to their business models. But the Internet of Tokens is different – it creates its own wealth.

The nature of crypto-currencies is that if you create say 1 million coins and sell a single coin for a dollar – your coins have now had a total market value of $1 million. You just made yourself a millionaire! Sort of. To make this work you need to have your tokens represent something of value to your community. Perhaps you can back them up with a product you make or a service you provide. If lots of folks are willing to buy and sell your tokens for a dollar, then you are well on your way to giving the tokens real value.

has a marketcap of nearly $300 billion dollars. Getting off to a great start at $1000 per coin at the beginning of the year – it beat its all-time-high from 2013 of about $1200 by March – waking ordinary folks up to the fact that this currency was still alive and kicking.

Many in the public thought that Bitcoin died back in 2014 with the crash of its most famous exchange – Mt. Gox, which had shepherded Bitcoin’s early growth.

Each time Bitcoin smashed through its records of $1000, $1200, $2000, $3000 and so on – it would result in a huge wave of media attention. Although the pundits nearly uniformly called it a bubble – like the boy who cried wolf – this “bubble” theory started to ring pretty hollow as Bitcoin blasted through one milestone after another. The rate of change seemed to be accelerating.

For 2017 year to date Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin experienced the stunning growth How do we know that this sector has finally of 1840%, 8337% and 6606% respectively. come of age? Well for one thing the numbers Yes those aren’t typos, Ethereum actually inare absolutely stunning. Bitcoin – the moth- creased by a factor of 83 times. An investment of $100 on Jan 1, 2017 would give you ership token and crypto-currency – the in$8300s worth of Ether today. vention that created the whole space - now

The ICO market exploded too with a total investment of $4 billion and individual ICOs, even some with quite rudimentary proposals, bringing in 10s or 100s of millions of dollars.

Much of this ICO investment however, came from the windfalls from the astronomical rise of the earlier tokens like Ethereum.

In this sense – the idea that investors are at great risk is silly – it was basically funny money arising out of the self-funding nature of the space being re-invested in new ventures.

The more the total market cap blows up, the more wealth there is to pay developers and entrepreneurs to explore even more of this Cambrian potential. Now we have half a trillion dollars’ worth of tokens to power the revolution.

It’s difficult to overestimate the evolutionary nature of transition we are entering now. What historical shifts were of sufficient magnitude to give us an analogy to the present moment?

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> The event most referred to now by the media pundits is the dot-com crash. They like this analogy because it jibes with their claims that the space is currently in a bubble.

However, something to note about the dot-com bubble was that the euphoria over the Net was absolutely correct – the Internet was truly transformative in ways that we could only begin to appreciate in the year 2000. What failed at that time were the startups’ business models burning through capital at an amazing rate – yet finding few ways to monetize their businesses despite the incredible numbers that were being generated in terms of users.

The crypto-currency space doesn’t suffer from this problem at all however. Just the opposite - it’s self-monetizing. So, the analogy to the dot-com era is weak.

Satoshi brilliantly devised a system where any digital information could be stored and replicated on a global network and by using advanced cryptographic techniques – make the data permanent and unchangeable. This permanent, write-only data structure is known as the blockchain.

So both the rise of the Internet, and the rise of Internet currencies share the core innovation of decentralizing control and decision-making away from the authorities and into the hands of ordinary folks.

Yet the Internet of Tokens can relate back to even more fundamental innovations in society.

> The year 1776 could be thought of as Decentralization 1.0. Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” argued for the idea of government as a necessary evil, > The next analogy we could make for rather than a pre-ordained order. It this transition is the rise of the Inwas a rejection of monarchy replacternet itself. Crypto-currency has ing it with an emphasis on society been referred to as the Internet of and community. Paine states that all money, or more broadly the Internet men are created equal and that kings of tokens. present a false superiority. Paine was truly an early decentralist.

One of the main qualities of the Net was that ubiquitous global networks Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Naenabled a dramatic decentralization tions” was decentralization 1.0 for of power and control. The rise of the economics. He championed the noNet carried us from an era of one-way tion that allowing men to pursue mass media like TV, radio and newstheir self-interest – and creating papers to a far more decentralized mix whatever trades they saw fit, would of sources like blogs, YouTube videos, act as an invisible hand benefiting the podcasts and social media. Facebook society as a whole. This strongly arand many other social media sources gued against central planning in an give us in effect a Friends News Neteconomy – something that would natwork with our friends acting as curaurally interfere with the myriad of tors of information for us. If someone decision making processes that take wishes they can have a free global plat- place at the local level. form, sharing whatever they wanted with the world. Information and com- These ideas laid the foundation for the pluralist American society which munications were now bi-directional and in social media we were all basical- lead to the explosion of progress and economic equality that characterly on the same playing field. ized the radical experiment known as The Net, by its nature – started elim- the US. inating one monopoly after another. We no longer used the Post Office With the crypto-currency revolution to send routine messages; instead we – we are casting off another monarchy – that of our financial overused email. Replacing Encyclopedia lords who have managed to enslave Britannica was Wikipedia which was us in a form of indentured servitude. infinitely larger and constantly kept 2017 signals the beginning of a new up-to-date by an army of volunteers.

Enlightenment of the magnitude of 1776.

The Net gave us global online marketplaces where anyone could buy and sell products without permission However even this analogy doesn’t express the true depth of the pivot– like eBay. Airbnb enabled us to get around the hotels’ monopoly on over- al transition that is ground zero for us night guests. Uber and Lyft ended our now. The rabbit hole goes even deeper. reliance on poor quality taxi services.

Many of these new platforms allowed > It’s not often expressed but Satoshi Nakamoto’s great invention was the ordinary folks to earn income withbirth of the first permanent digiout necessarily needing 9 to 5 jobs.

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tal objects known as the blockchain.

Normally we think of data on a computer as just a bunch of ones and zeros that could be wiped out when we turn off the computer or modify a file. We don’t ordinarily think of anything digital as permanent or unchangeable.

The crypto-currency revolution is now using global networking for us to overcome the most important monopoly of all – the banking and financial system itself. Crowd funding and the ICO revolution gives us far more cultural and entrepreneurial options for what gets funded and what doesn’t.

The crypto-currency revolution is now using global networking for us to overcome the most important monopoly of all – the banking and financial system itself.

Crowd funding and the ICO revolution gives us far more cultural and entrepreneurial options for what gets funded and what doesn’t.

It allows any group to establish a set of shared “truths” in such a way that they become a permanent shared record that nobody in the group can alter. In the case of Bitcoin – the shared information is simply a record of who has how many bitcoins in what addresses. In fact, it’s a chain of blocks recording all the transactions in the system since the genesis block (the first block).

But I was actually wrong to claim that Satoshi invented the first permanent digital object. In fact the first digital object was invented 4 billion years earlier. It’s called DNA. The point of DNA is that it forms a digital (base 4) memory of molecular construction that is preserved over time and can be replicated to produce an unlimited number of identical organisms. Like a very slow blockchain, it also undergoes progressive accumulation of new information.

Once we realize that we have suddenly discovered the new DNA for the silicon world – we can see that we are at the precipice of an incredible point in our societal evolution. Each new blockchain is like a different species, and forks are analogous to divergence of species in biological evolution. Just as the DNA in cells and multi-cellular units establishes a common reference point between numerous independent organisms, so too does the blockchain unify millions of independent software clients.

The coming of age of Bitcoin portends a massive step forward for mankind rivaling the invention of life itself. We can safely conclude that the next few decades will be exciting indeed.

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The Origin of ICOs Bitcoin was steadily building up momentum having hit $1000 in January. But it was starting to look a bit oldfashioned compared to new projects like Ethereum – which had a built-in smart contract language called Solidity. A large and dedicated community of developers could see countless applications of this combination of cryptocurrency and programming language.

Support from Ethereum Enterprise Alliance, a consortium of fortune 500 companies, startups and crypto experts gave it the aura of the next big thing and made clear that unlike with Bitcoin – the conventional business world was willing to jump onboard. In March the Ether price shot up from $10 to $360 in a few months. For a time, it actually looked like it might overtake Bitcoin as #1 in market cap, an event they humorously termed the Flippening.

Ethereum had created a standard known as an ERC20 token. This definition allowed developers to build their own token, as well as the methods for investors to purchase it. These tokens lived on the Ethereum blockchain, so they didn’t need a blockchain of their own, avoiding complex issues like mining - instead being endowed from the start with the same security as Ethereum itself. This standardization also meant that ERC20 tokens are compatible with each other and could all reside in the same wallet, like Metamask.

This led to a very large number of Initial Coin offerings (ICOs) using Ethereum ERC20 tokens.

Ethereum’s own launch back in July 2014 with a pre-sale of its Ether token was one of the earliest ICOs.

On July 22, 2014 Ethereum’s inventor Vitalik Buterin announced: “Ether is a product, NOT a security or investment offering. Ether is simply a token useful for paying transaction fees or building or purchasing decentralized application services on the Ethereum platform; it does not give you voting rights over anything, and we make no guarantees of its future value.”

This became the model for ICO startups to use. These Initial Coin Offerings allowed startups to dance around the strict securities laws for IPOs or conventional Venture Capital funding where you gave up some equity ownership of your venture – instead you could simply sell tokens which provide no ownership rights or control. The investor was buying a utility token which would hopefully be an intrinsic part of the future ecosystem should the startup’s product achieve significant adoption.

This created a Wild West of companies attempting to ICOize their projects. ICOs exploded and the money raised was incredible.

By the end of Q2 2017 ICOs had brought in $797 million, more than 3 times the $235 million invested by VC’s in the blockchain space!

VC’s were suddenly obsolete! Many were reduced to simply buying tokens in these startups projects, just like everyone else.

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Companies were raising these huge sums with just the release of a whitepaper and on the strength of their management team. Bancor raised $253 million with the idea of a decentralized exchange for ERC20 tokens.

EOS – a potential Ethereum killer, was one of the rare ICOs with really strong fundamentals based on Dan Larimer’s previous successes with Bitshares and Steemit. And it was specifically designed to address the inherent scaling issues and centralized nature of Ethereum. EOS had an unusual crowd sale which started on June 26th and will continue daily sales for a year. They have already raised about $500 million worth of ETH making them the greatest crowdfunded project of all time.

They’ve pledged a billion in funding for applications built on the EOS platform with an official launch in 2018.

By the end of Q3 2017 ICOs had raised $1.24 billion led by Filecoin and Tezos.

Coinbase received an extra $100 million through more traditional funding, giving it a valuation of $1.6 billion.

Filecoin raised an astounding $253 million for a project quite similar to the 10

ing away compared to crypto. The only thing to do with one’s winnings is to reinvest in other projects in the blockchain space.

earlier cryptocurrency projects Storj and Maidsafe.

Tezos raised $232 million for a project which sounded vaguely like a vanilla proof-of-stake blockchain with voting, perhaps a bit similar to the voting features in Dash. Ironically the company whose main innovation was “governance” – has now devolved into internal governance disputes which threaten the whole project. Will the Tezos token ever be issued? Will the class action lawsuit against them succeed? Will the investors’ ETH be returned (worth double or triple now)? Will somebody pocket the millions? Projects like Tezos may unfortunately be used to justify strict new regulation of the ICO space by the SEC. Nevertheless – this is a self-funding revolution. The total market cap of all projects now is at least half a trillion dollars! Very few of those holding these billions want to turn their money back into the hot potato fiat currencies like US dollars or Euros. This is partly because it would generate a large taxable event, and because folks in the crypto space are an example of how rapidly the buying power of the dollar is shrink-

Ethereum had created a standard known as an ERC20 token. This definition allowed developers to build their own token, as well as the methods for investors to purchase it.

Thus, promising new ICOs are nearly guaranteed to be showered with tons of startup money. What we will be seeing is a Cambrian explosion of projects where nearly every use of the blockchain that can possibly be conceived of will have an opportunity to be developed and tested. There will be plenty of dead ends and hopefully more than a handful of winners.

Governments have had very mixed reactions to the ICO boom. China and South Korea have banned them altogether, although South Korea may come out with more nuanced legislation later. On the other hand, Switzerland, Singapore and Gibraltar are still quite friendly to ICOs seeing them as huge potential business opportunities.

They are attempting to make Goldilocks legislation – that on the one hand weeds out complete scams that give the industry a bad name and other the other hand welcomes the fantastic new business opportunities and job creation that this sector will bring.

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Is Bitcoin in a Bubble?

Max Keiser points out that Bitcoin has 3 important properties in this order: 1) it's a communications app 2) it's a store of value 3) it's a currency / medium of exchange.

First and foremost it's a communications app!

It grows virally and exponentially because of the nature of the Internet.

Were Whatsapp, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook in a bubble when they hit 20 million users? Of course not. Bitcoin is more compelling than these services because it involves something more vitally important money. Just like we wouldn't have expected Twitter adoption to slow down until it started running out of humans with cell phones, so too will Bitcoin and friends do the same. It does not appear that we are in a bubble now.

There are occasional buying frenzies but those usually only last a few days.

I've been following Bitcoin for years. When it drops - it's almost always for a good reason.

It's been through many obstacles and grow-

ing pains. But now we are out of the awkward teenage years. It's beginning its take-over-theplanet phase. If anything, it's going to accelerate faster, as more people recognize its safety.

The medium-of-exchange aspect will kick in later once it starts getting to its saturation phase as the price growth slows. Eventually Bitcoin will be the most stable currency we've ever experienced.

Here is Bitcoin’s Value Proposition – its intrinsic value: 1) it's finite - the number of bitcoins is limited. only 4% annual growth now.

2) it's the email of money, allowing anyone to send money anywhere on the planet 3) it's a very private way of holding money restoring financial privacy and personal financial sovereignty.

4) it gains in buying power in proportion to the size of the system 5) it's going to keep receiving lots of media attention as it keeps breaking records.

6) It's constantly increasing in legitimacy as more mainstream players get involved.

7) institutional adoption is still 6 months away.

8) it spikes up when financial markets are nervous 9) it will help people avoid over taxation 10) it protects peoples wealth from confiscation by banks and governments 11) protects against inflation/hyperinflation of the local currency 12) it circumvents capital controls 13) perhaps most importantly it allows the 60% of people on the planet who lack banking services to hold money securely and gives them access to the global online marketplace.

This is lots of intrinsic value - both for the wealthy and the poor.

Bitcoin’s exponential growth rate will only slow down when it starts running out of people with phones and computers.

Then it will become a stable medium-of-exchange. For now, that's not necessary.

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lar panels on your roof – announce to the world that they will have 10 kwh of excess energy available for a 5 minute period – and an instantaneous auction occurs among other power consumers who need the power, automatically agreeing on a price and sending the power, through a chain of power exchangers, all of whom make a tiny profit on the exchange. All done with micropayments and renegotiated every few minutes. This would form a completely decentralized and automatically load balancing grid. IOTA is the first crypto-currency that seriously addresses this kind of potential application and it’s skyrocketing.

But back to Bitcoin’s history.

Bitcoin History Let’s talk first about the mothership – the invention that created the whole crypto space and the Internet of Tokens – Bitcoin.

After a brief six-month period in 2013 where it shot up from $50 to $1200 in a few weeks and got a huge spike of public interest – Mt. Gox, the major exchange, was shut down disappearing with 100s of millions of dollars’ worth of their customer’s money. The Bitcoin price then proceeded to crash for a year or two. Most of the public felt Bitcoin had died, and even diehards started to lose faith when Bitcoin slowly dropped down to a low of around $200 and went nowhere.

The silver lining of this crash was that the building political will to make Bitcoin illegal – which was certainly still a concern in 2013, with Charlie Shrem’s arrest and Bitcoin’s association with the Silk Road, faded away with Bitcoin’s apparent death.

This time period was also greatly needed for Bitcoin to grow out of amateur hour, 12

and start to have serious well-funded companies like Coinbase providing some much needed safety and reliability.

Then an amazing thing happened. Banks fell in love with “blockchain”. The core feature of blockchain is for a group of participants to form a shared write-only agreement of “truth” among themselves, with no need for a single central party to maintain the records.

For banks this meant eliminating an annoying hierarchy of middlemen that dramatically slowed processes like sending funds overseas.

So we had a situation where Bitcoin was thought dead - but banks were pouring millions into projects experimenting with Bitcoin’s technology.

The idea of a shared agreement or truth is incredibly powerful and has nearly unlimited applications.

Here’s one example: Imagine an energy grid where energy producers – even the so-

In 2015 the price of Bitcoin was starting to creep back up but, was heavily weighed down by sales from mining. The nature of mining is that most of the coins minded daily must be sold for national currency (dollars, euros, etc) simply to pay for the electricity used. At the time this meant that several million dollars’ worth of coins were sold on the exchanges every single day. The demand from new users buying in for the first time was simply too small to counteract this regular dumping of bitcoins depressing the price so it tread water for many months.

However in July 2016 Bitcoin had its second “halving”. This is where the reward for mining drops in half, in this case from 25 bitcoins every 10 minutes to 12.5 bitcoins.

This reduction in the downward pressure on the price had the effect of allowing demand to exceed mining again as the coin rapidly started climbing from about 450.

Since investment interest in Bitcoin is greatly increased as the price rises, we saw a buildup in momentum through the rest of 2016, to where Bitcoin hit 1000 around January 1st – setting the stage for an incredible year.

In March it beat its all-time-high of $1200 from back in 2013 and the public began waking up to the fact that Bitcoin was still alive and kicking after all these years. This began a series of seemingly non-stop record breaking breaching 2000, 3000,4000, 5000 and so on. Each time a thousand-dollar record was hit it resulted in an ever larger wave of media attention with the mystified and clueless pundits mostly proclaiming it was a dangerous bubble – somewhere between beanie babies and tulip mania.

But bubble or not – lots of folks wanted to get some exposure to what appeared to be the greatest investment opportunity of our lifetimes – by far. While in the stock market folks are happy if they make a 15% or 20% annual return – bitcoin would typically exceed those returns in a month. The alt-coins were even more spectacular, with some of them up 10,000% in a few months.

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The Great Scaling Debate 2017 was the year when Bitcoin’s scaling debate created incredible drama and brinksmanship but was ultimately resolved. Sort of.

Bitcoin had been suffering for several years with an increasingly bitter internal debate over whether the maximum blocksize, now limited to 1 megabyte, should be increased. Blocks are records of transactions and one block is created every 10 minutes. The maximum blocksize limits the transaction throughput of the entire system, currently a mere 3-7 transactions per second.

Back in June 2015, Gavin Andresen, who had been the lead Bitcoin developer, proposed increasing the max blocksize to 8mb. This was quickly opposed by the new Bitcoin Core developers, some of whom were associated with Blockstream Inc. – a company developing a second-level scaling solu-

tion called the Lightning Network.

Some felt that this created an ulterior motive for keeping blocks small and fees high to increase demand for the eventual Lightning Network, which to this day remains vaporware.

Over several years this debate became increasingly polarized and bitter. Miners preferred to increase the block size in order to bring in more transaction fees, especially since in the future, as the reward is halved, transaction fees will make up the bulk of their income.

The Lightning Network, if it ever materialized, threatened to relegate most transactions off-chain (not recorded in the Bitcoin blockchain) thus greatly reducing the eventual miners’ income.

Small blockers also professed to be strongly opposed to hard forks as too dangerous. A solution emerged at the Hong Kong Scaling Bitcoin conference in Dec. 2015 called Segregated Witness. This solved an important bug in Bitcoin called transaction malleability,

made the effective blocksize 3-4 times larger and incorporated other improvements to support the Lightning Network. And it could actually be implemented with a soft-fork.

A tentative agreement was made in Hong Kong to a 2mb blocksize increase and to Segwit. However, the small-blockers back in the US, Bitcoin Core, refused to go along with this.

Another year went by with this stalemate – with the BIP141 which proposed Segwit only gaining a small percentage of miners signaling support.

In April 2017, Segwit got a boost from the alt-coin Litecoin with all the miners agreeing to adopt Segwit. This showed that it was possible to get the Chinese miners to agree – so now there was even stronger pressure from the Bitcoin community to adopt Segwit. This pressure resulted in a proposed User Activated Soft Fork (UASF) for the beginning of Au13

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gust. The idea was that the users were going to reject non-segwit software.

While the miners have a huge amount of control over which versions of the Bitcoin client are run – the UASF showed that the users had significant power too.

forks as great gifts, it was like Bitcoin gave a 14% dividend. And more forks were coming.

The New York agreement called for a hard fork to a 2mb block in early November which they called Segwit2X. This fork would have taken responsibility for the software away from Bitcoin Core. Of course, Bitcoin Core was adamantly opposed to this. The split in the community looked like it might destroy both forks.

Ethereum had created a standThe miners really didn’t want to see a ard known as USER created fork so, under pressure an ERC20 toin June 2107 an agreement between many large enterprises like Coinbase ken. This definiand the Chinese miners resulted in the tion allowed deNew York Agreement (NYA). The idea velopers to build was that everyone, including the min- There was no replay protection beers, would support the original Segwit cause both forks claimed to be Bitcoin. their own token, proposal in return for a doubling of So, it was potentially very difficult for as well as the the blocksize later. the two coins to tell themselves apart, methods for inand it might have become unclear vestors to purThe NYA worked as advertised and which one was the real one. Will the chase it.

Segwit finally activated on Bitcoin Au- real Bitcoin please stand up? gust 23rd. However large sites like Coinbase and Blockchain have not implemented it yet – so the actual benefits have been minimal.

A big surprise occurred at the same time as the NYA kicked in – Bitcoin Cash was forked off of Bitcoin. It did not contain Segwit but did allow 8mb blocks. It had a strong valuation around 14% of the value of Bitcoin, causing it to be instantly the #3 crypto-currency in terms of market cap. It was not a danger to Bitcoin because it had 2-way replay protection. Suddenly those holding Bitcoin started seeing 14

This was a huge showdown between the two warring forces – made all the more ironic because the vast majority of investors bidding up the price in advance – were oblivious to the war - because they thought it would be just another Bitcoin Cash giving them more free money. Bitcoin Core was determined to stubbornly refuse a blocksize increase even if it caused them to lose control of Bitcoin. Fortunately, a few days before the fork – the 2X side canceled stating that it wasn’t their intention to create a contentious hardfork.

But the drama wasn’t over yet. The next day all the folks ready to pump the Segwit 2x fork, including Roger Ver, an early bitcoin promoter sitting on perhaps billions of $$ worth of bitcoins – and Jihan Wu of Bitmain – the largest mining group – started pumping Bitcoin Cash instead. The price of Bitcoin Cash shot up, making it far more profitable for Bitcoin miners to switch over and mine Bitcoin Cash.

Legacy Bitcoin, with much of its mining gone, suddenly slowed way down with blocks taking 45 minutes to confirm. The Bitcoin price started crashing as Bitcoin Cash spiked. For a brief moment it looked like there was a chance that Bitcoin Cash would overtake Bitcoin.

The crisis subsided, and Bitcoin Cash quickly faded down to about 10% of Bitcoin. However, the legacy of Bitcoin Core’s stubbornness remains – with transaction fees extremely high. At the time of writing the recommended fee for a normal transaction is a stunning $16. This is up from 61 cents in Q1 2017 which seemed high at the time.

This means that Bitcoin may be a great store of value, but at the moment it’s certainly not practical for day to day spending.

Will Core ever agree to a blocksize increase?

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Governments and CEO’s React to Crypto China began cracking down on exchanges at the beginning of 2017. Later they instituted a total ban on ICOs and then announced that all Bitcoin exchanges had to close. The inside story, according to information from a leader of one of the exchanges that was shut down, was that the Chinese Communist Party received a report on the rise of Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies which claimed that $1 trillion in value would be generated in a relatively short period.

The Party wanted a piece of this action and didn’t want to see all this wealth fall into the hands of non-party members who were also learning to using encryption technologies which allow secure communication. They were literally afraid they could be overthrown.

The former exchange owners were given a choice of jail, should they protest publicly, begging for a job if and when the Party opens state-owned exchanges or to simply leave the country.

Japan and North Korea and everyone could see that Bitcoin was moving along just fine without China. A few days later Bitcoin hit all-time-highs.

China, which once had been, together with the US, the world leader in crypto – had unfortunately thrown itself into the dark ages. A few years ago, even a negative statement about Bitcoin by the Chinese leaders could send the price tumbling. But now the economic powerhouse that is China has virtually no impact on the crypto space.

South Korea, which had been crafting thoughtful legislation on ICOs, panicked and slapped on a (hopefully temporary) total ban instead.

In Jay Clayton’s view (chairman of the SEC), most tokens offered in ICOs to date fall under this definition, whether or not they have “utility” functions as well: “By and large, the structures of initial coin offerings that I have seen promoted involve the offer and sale of securities and directly implicate the securities registration requirements and other investor protection provisions of our federal securities laws. Generally speaking, these laws provide that investors deserve to know what they are investing in and the relevant risks involved.”

Despite this fact, so far, no ICOs have registered with the SEC, as Clayton points out.”

The US just a few days ago issued an announcement that it considers most of the ICOs issued so far to be securities and therefore required registration and regulation. Even a token sold with no promises made at all, still constitutes a security.

Russia has been quite hostile to Bitcoin from the start. Sometimes threatening users with 7 years in jail if they buy bitcoins and other times appearing to embrace it. Putin even realized that they could develop a crypto-currency to trade with other na“According to the SEC, an offer would tions, they could get around the onerWhen this ban occurred the Bitcoin be considered a security if it is an “inous sanctions from the US. Putin even price, which had been booming, dropped vestment of money in a common enter- met with Vitalik Buterin, the Russian down a thousand or so for about a week. prise with a reasonable expectation of kid who invented Ethereum. Putin was Then the former Chinese crypto exprofits to be derived from the entrepre- very open to Vitalik reaching out to change volume simply shifted over to neurial or managerial efforts of others.” groups in Russia.

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AUGUST: Cointelegraph reported that the Moscow Exchange was considering including Bitcoin-based derivatives and exchange traded funds (ETFs) among its many offerings.

SEPTEMBER: Alexey Moiseev, the deputy finance minister of Russia, said earlier this week that he expects pending legislation on cryptocurrencies will feature a ban on payments made in cryptocurrency.

OCTOBER: After Putin blamed a host of Russia’s criminal problems on Bitcoin, the central bank echoed his remarks, calling digital currency a pyramid scheme: “We have seen how Bitcoin has transformed a payment unit into an asset, which is bought in order to obtain a high yield in a short period of time.

This is the definition of a pyramid.”

Cointelegraph reported earlier today that the Bank of Russia is attempting to block all Bitcoin exchanges in the country.

NOVEMBER: “The state understands indeed that cryptocurrencies are real. There is no 16

sense in banning them, there is a need to regulate them.”

Despite all this tough talk, it’s very likely that Russia will continue to allow Bitcoin and the crypto world to flourish. They see much potential in ICOS in terms of funding Russian startups.

A few years ago, even a negative Also, the excellent token platform called statement about Bitcoin by the WAVES is a Russian enterprise. The beauty of the WAVES platforms is that Chinese leaders anyone can issue a token in just a few could send the minutes. That token is then immediateprice tumbling. ly available on the WAVES decentralized exchange. It is an excellent platform But now the ecothat may become much more important nomic powerin the future, since issuing tokens is far house that is easier than with Ethereum. It would be China has virextremely foolhardy for Russia to stop tually no impact this group – and I doubt they will. The on the crypto nice thing about the Russians is that they may be authoritarian but they are space. also dyed-in-the wool capitalists.

Even more embarrassing are the titans of the financial industry who blatantly announce their lack of understanding of Bitcoin and the other crypto-currencies. Despite knowing nothing about it, they are certain it’s a bubble which is about to pop:

“The owner of the New York Stock Exchange said Tuesday he may end up regretting not jumping at the chance to offer bitcoin futures, unlike his competitors.

“We may be stupid for not being first on that.”Jeff Sprecher Speaking at an investment conference in New York hosted by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Jeff Sprecher, chairman and chief executive of Intercontinental Exchange Inc. said bitcoin and its brethren pose a conundrum. “I don’t have the answers, I wish I knew” what will happen, he said, according to Bloomberg News. “I don’t know what to make of crypto-currencies.”

“Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has jumped on the bandwagon of financial bigwigs saying bitcoin is in a bubble.

The business magnate and founder of Icahn Enterprises told CNBC that the cryptocurrency "seems like a bubble" and that he didn't understand the hype around bitcoin. Icahn stated: "I got to tell you honestly, I don't understand it ... I just don't get it. I just stay out of something if I don't understand it."

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In September “JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said he would fire any employee trading bitcoin for being “stupid.” The cryptocurrency “won’t end well,” he told an investor conference in New York on Tuesday, predicting it will eventually blow up. “It’s a fraud” and “worse than tulip bulbs.” If a JPMorgan trader began trading in bitcoin, he said, “I’d fire them in a second. For two reasons: It’s against our rules, and they’re stupid.

And both are dangerous.”

Only two months later, one of JP Morgan’s own analysts announces:

not rational,” and compared it with a fiat currency that the U.S. Continental Congress minted in 1775 to finance the American revolutionary war effort.

plete 180 - because no doubt that many of JP Morgan’s customers are demanding exposure to this new digital gold or they will likely switch investment companies.

Janet Yellen. “Bitcoin at this time plays a very small role in the payment system. It is not a stable store of value, it doesn’t constitute legal tender. It is a highly speculative asset. The Fed doesn’t play any regulatory role with respect to Bitcoin.”

The Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe, referring to Bitcoin’s current “fascination,” said that it “feels more like speculative “The prospective introduction of bitcoin futures has the potential to elevate mania than it has to do with their use” crypto-currencies to an emerging asset as a form of payment. class," Panigirtzoglou said. "The value Similarly, the European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi also considers that of this new asset class is a function of the breadth of its acceptance as a store cryptocurrencies are immature. As CNBC reported, Draghi said: of wealth and as a means of payment Cryptocurrencies are not ‘mature’ and simply judging by other stores of wealth such as gold, cryptocurrencies enough to be considered by the Europehave the potential to grow further from an Central Bank (ECB) for regulation. here."

A few days ago, Former Chairman of Oops. Jamie Dimon’s own analyst com- the U.S. Federal Reserve Alan Greenpletely contradicted him. But it’s not span also dismissed the digital currency. Greenspan said, “Bitcoin is surprising that JP. Morgan did a com-

“The owner of the New York Stock Exchange said Tuesday he may end up regretting not jumping at the chance to offer bitcoin futures, unlike his competitors.”

The upshot is that the titans of finance don’t have a clue what Bitcoin is. All they can see it that there are these digital tokens backed by nothing that are being driven up to incredible values.

So, they are warning folks not to invest – but they don’t certainly see how this new form of digital gold could possibly affect the economy.

Tychoons like Jamie Dimon and Vladimir Putin instinctively hate Bitcoin because they are power players, and they can sense that this is a potential threat to their power. But they re“We may be stu- ally don’t understand it, why should pid for not being they fear an insane speculative bubble over nothing? And practically everyone first on that.” else is happy to jump on the digital gold JEFF SPRECHER bandwagon and saying – this is the latest innovation, it’s modern, banks love blockchain, all the smartest developers are into it, it’s going to create lots of jobs. A win win for everyone. But what happens when Bitcoin is larger than the US money supply?

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Biggest Negatives of 2017 1) SCALING FAILURE - The Bitcoin scaling war was resolved – basically with a complete failure to scale Bitcoin at all – thus resulting in sky high fees. For example the recommended fee (for likely in the next block) for a normal transaction is as of Dec 15 “420 satoshis/byte. For the median transaction size of 226 bytes, this results in a fee of 94,920 satoshis.” At the current Bitcoin price of $17,561 this means the median transaction costs a whopping $16.62 cents!

The other day I sent someone $2 as a demonstration, now I’m afraid I spent $16 dollars to do so. No wonder Steam just dropped Bitcoin as a payment system.

“At this point, it has become untenable to support Bitcoin as a payment option,” Valve said. “We may re-evaluate whether Bitcoin makes sense for us and for the Steam community at a later date.”

Core’s incredible obstinance in refusing a blocksize increase has really handicapped Bitcoin. It is useless as a payment system now unless you are sending hundreds of dollars. Even for a hundred-dollar payment you are paying a 16% fee. You may as well use Western Union.

It’s far cheaper, almost free, to use Litecoin or Coinbase.com and Blockchain.info have not even adopted the Segwit code Bitcoin cash for which activated way back in August and payments now. should result in significantly lower fees. This partly exYou’d think they would want to help their customers in this way. But appar- plains why Litecoin is skyrockently not. eting at the moInstead Bitcoin is simply adopting the ment. role of digital gold.

But Core should not be allowed to oppress Bitcoin like this. Why isn’t there a UASF to insist that Core increase the blocksize?

2) Ethereum is still fairly insecure. Unlike Bitcoin, which has quite simple It’s far cheaper, almost free, to use Lite- functionality, Ethereum contains its coin or Bitcoin cash for payments now. own programming language called SoThis partly explains why Litecoin is sky- lidity. It’s Turing complete which means rocketing at the moment. that in theory an Ethereum smart con18

tract can solve any problem that any other computer can. The price of this is that there are an infinity of bugs as well as malicious exploits and vulnerabilities resulting from this flexibility.

“A bug in Parity, a popular wallet for the cryptocurrency and decentralized application platform Ethereum, may have resulted in more than $150 million worth of ether being permanently frozen.

The bug affects Parity multi-sig (multi signature) wallets, which require more than one owner to "sign" a transaction before it can go through. An unknown attacker (or a careless developer) has exploited it to effectively destroy a piece of Parity's code, effectively rendering all multi-sig wallets that were created after July 20th completely unusable” It’s hard to believe that hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of tokens are routinely invested in a platform this buggy. The multi-million dollar DAO heist, which was actually a perfectly legal use of a bug in the code - was another example.

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3) Ethereum’s great success with its ERC20 tokens turned out to be a double-edged sword. For one thing the massive number of transactions involved in the ICOs bogged down the Ethereum system regularly.

So ETH was a victim of its own success.

4) Many ICOS are scams or at least non-serious attempts to cash in on the ICO craze. Tezos may have been the most obvious, and Brock Pierce, an entrepreneur and VC in the field claims that 19 Even worse – when thousands of ETH out of 20 ICOs are bogus. This almost holders sent their coins to a single ICO complete lack of standards and nearaddress – it represented a centralizaly blatant fraud may bring a tidal wave of tion of the funds. If a company sudden- regulation by the SEC and other bodies in ly receives a hundred million US dollars’ 2018 against the ICO wild west. worth of ETH, but will need to make most of it’s actual spending in dollars 5) Crypto currency is currently treated as and euros then it is of course only pru- property by the US tax code. This means dent for them to convert a lot of the that if you bought bitcoins at $1000, and money into dollars – protecting them now the price is $10,000 – if you buy a from the exchange risk should the price tube of toothpaste with your bitcoins, of ETH drop. They might also prudent- you technically have to pay capital gains ly consider converting some of the ETH taxes on 9/10s of the price of the toothinto Bitcoin. While this makes sense paste. Of course, the proper way for this from the point of view of the compato be taxes would be that if you bought ny – it means that a huge amount of bitcoins as an investment you would pay ETH must be sold on the open market capital gains taxes, but if you use it as a – thus depressing the price. If 3.5 bilcurrency there would be no tax. Some lion ETH was given to ICOs this year jurisdictions have adopted this com– it’s not surprising at all that the coin mon-sense approach but not the US yet. price seemed depressed for months.

One consequence of this law is that Every time the price goes up – the ICO folks holding lots of crypto – who in companies see a chance to cash out a bit more. general don’t like to change it back into

Unlike Bitcoin, which has quite simple functionality, Ethereum contains its own programming language called Solidity.

the ever-shrinking hot potato called the US dollar anyway, now have a very strong incentive not to use a reporting institution like Coinbase to cash out their crypto into dollars. Instead they will most likely sell their coins privately. This actually encourages an underground cash economy. It also is a huge incentive to simply not sell your coins, or ideally buy large items like property directly in bitcoins The IRS has complained that only 860 people reported capital gains from Bitcoin spending on their taxes. This gave them grounds to demand that Coinbase hand over records of everyone who purchased Bitcoins. A court battle ensued, and Coinbase lost, but there was a compromise that only customers who bought or sold more than $20,000 worth of Bitcoin in a year would be reported. Thus, it’s likely that there will be a standardized reporting limit for Coinbase, and customers may be wise not to exceed this limit.

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All Public Art –

Merging Blockchain Technology with The Art Industry A few weeks ago, I read an article about a man who bought an exclusive painting from one of the most famous artists in the world for $20 million, only to realize two weeks later that he had bought a fake piece of art.

Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon story.

Counterfeit art and fraud are two of the biggest problems in the art industry, which is growing at an astonishing 24% per annum and is expected to reach approximately $9.58 billion by 2020.

An added bonus is that thanks to blockchain technology, they will not only be able to prove the provenance of an art piece, but also ensure that the price of the piece is not affected by illegal price manipulation, collusion or kickbacks. Both artist and collector will be able to safely trade with one another on the platform. The medium of exchange on the platform is the All Public Art token, which will be launching next month. They are currently in the private pre-sale phase of their token sale. More information can be found on www.allpublicart.io.

Many people in the crypto space have already All Public Art is at the forefront of revolutiontalked about the impact blockchain technology izing the art industry, however, they are also could have on the art industry. facing some challenges. In general, the art industry has not been overly involved with the All Public Art (APA) decided to not only talk blockchain technology. This means that one the talk but put their money where their of APA's tasks is to educate the art industry mouth is and started building a platform in about blockchain and convince them of its ad2015 to connect visual artists directly with art vantages for their industry. collectors.

Since 2015, the APA team has been documentTheir platform has been in open beta since ing their journey and even enlisted the servic2015 and their goal is to empower artists, enes of a professional camera team during their able art galleries and to protect art collectors. roadshow They are trying to gather as much As APA will make use of blockchain technology footage as possible to create awareness and use in order to ensure that the online art market is that as a means of education and branding. transparent, it will probably reduce the risk of There are many artists and even more art pieccounterfeit or fraudulent art pieces. Also, it will es in the world. In an ideal world, all these arthelp art galleries to get more insight in an artists and their art pieces would be identified ist's history of artwork as well as art collectors. and authenticated. On the APA platform, this 20

will be done in several ways depending on the value of an artwork. A high-end piece will, for example, be authenticated by different evaluators and RFID microchips.

Would one still be able to take off the microchip and put it on a fake piece for example? In theory, yes. However, the barrier to do so will be increased significantly compared to today.

All Public Art has recruited a team of people from all around the globe to successfully accomplish their goals. Each member is a specialist in their field and Graham Goddard, the CEO of All Public Art, can't wait to further roll out the platform.

When I asked him why people should join All Public Art, he answered: "People should join All Public Art because art is one of the things in this world that brings more fulfilment in life. All Public Art has been dedicated to ensuring that the individuals who are enthusiastic about art, who create art and who support art – all have an outlet to connect. This is what truly separates us from our competitors; we want to ensure that people connect in a personal way, that they have the ability to discover each other, discover art and discover the beauty of creativity in a way that is more about the essence of what creativity and art is supposed to be."

Good luck, Graham!

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Putting the World’s Biggest Sport on The Blockchain ICO Crowd Interviews Daniel Taylor of Stars (Note: when you see football, we mean what Americans call soccer) 1. What's your professional background?

After graduating from Brown University, I played professional soccer in Sweden and Greece. Up to that point, most of my professional experience was in finance, specifically at Goldman Sachs and Brightwood Capital, a mezzanine private equity firm. While playing, I leveraged these experiences, my passion for business, and my infatuation for technology to start two companies, Tipster and Only4stars.

Tipster is an IOS App and Web Widget that delivers personalized style advice from vetted influencers in real time. Tipster was acquired in April 2017. Only4stars is a global football and marketing agency, that specializes in developing talent from emerging markets of football.

2. What motivates you? What do you care about and why?

Every decision I make, whether that be in my business or my personal life, has a consequence. That is something I learned very early on in my life but was reminded of the importance of such a lesson when I met Bela, our first employee's child. In that moment I realized that my actions not only affect Bela, but they also directly affect her 6-year-old daughter. I was instantly instilled with an enormous amount of responsibility, a responsibility that I have grown to cherish as my team continues to entrust their confidence in me. As a young

black entrepreneur, I have an opportunity to shape the perception and dialogue around success in the black community. This is not something I take lightly. This is my motivation.

3. What is Stars? Why football/soccer?

Stars is the first digital token in professional football. Stars Token's mission is to create a transparent financial infrastructure capable of supporting the growth and evolution of digital currencies within the $40+billion professional football economy.

As a football agency, we have found that there are many financial/operational inefficiencies within the industry, however, these are the three that seem to be some of the industry’s most significant issues: * Football is an ecosystem, that does not operate as a by-product of any single economy, but rather has ties to a diversity of countries, currencies, capital flows, and football market dynamics. The by-product of this structure is an inefficient system in terms of conducting business. * The unfortunate reality of the industry is that corruption does exist. While FIFA is doing all they can to encourage financial fair play, the system does not lead to transparency from an ownership

transaction perspective. Clubs receive sponsorship, broadcasting, merchandise sales, tickets sales, and transfer fee revenue in different currencies, and at each exchange/ transaction point, the club loses money in transaction fees. Payment delays are rampant throughout the industry, which leads to a lack of trust in the system. * There are very few opportunities for the fans of the world's #1 sport to give back to the game and engage. I've had colleagues, friends, fans, and superfans all express their interest in getting involved in the game or give back to their team. Fans no longer want to just be "at the game", they want to be "in the game".

As a young black entrepreneur, I have an opportunity to shape the perception and dialogue around success in the black community. This is not something I take lightly. This is my motivation.

STARS Token addresses all three of these issues as the tentpoles of our technology are efficiency, transparency and increased engagement between football teams and their fans. Stars builds white-labelled mobile/web solutions that integrate with a team's current web and retail tech solutions.

We are leveraging augmented reality, frictionless payments, mobile ticketing, and blockchain technology to improve the fan experience, driving us to predict increases in sales revenue (25%+) and decreases (5%+) in transaction fees. The bottom line is...these are significant changes to the bottom line for both teams and fans.

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4. Who is on your team business-wise?

Rob Shelc is the CTO of Stars Group IO and has been involved with the tech side of startups for the last 10 years. After graduating from RIT with a degree in Computer Science, he joined a small team at ScoreBig.com and helped the website grow from 0 to over 3 million users. He specializes in leading and managing overseas teams and architecting scalable systems.

Stars has an elite group of football advisors, including: Mario van der Ende is a former football referee with over 15 years of experience, including refereeing the Champions League and FIFA world cup. Mario has since been involved in bridging efforts to provide transparency to football and integrating referees with the global image of the sport.

Bobby Markowitz is the Chief Strategy Officer of Stars Group. He is responsible for growth strategy, promotional development and sponsorship activation for the company and its clients. For the past 15 years, he has been a catalyst for the rapid growth of multiple sports & gaming tech start-ups both in North America and Europe including CBS SportsLine, Sports. com, 1UP.com and PartyPoker.

Hristo Stoichkov is an ex-professional football legend with decades of experience as both a player, manager and commentator; having played for the likes of FC Barcelona, CSKA Sofia, Chicago Fire and DC United. Hristo's decades of success and global international presence bring an expertise that is unparalleled by most within the football industry.

Stars has a range of business advisor's that add a tremendous amount of value to the company, including:

Ian Stafford is a multiple award-winning sportswriter, author, broadcaster, speaker and sports media company director. He has cov-

Andrew Duplessie runs a multi-million-dollar cryptocurrency hedgefund that posted over 200% returns in 2017. He is a Venture Partner at Science Blockchain, he is an advisor at DNA fund (Brock Pierce).

He is an advisor and mentor at Stanford University Startx Incubator. He has worked with over 15 ICOS that have raised over $1 billion dollars in 2017.

5. Who is on your team sports-wise?

George Kazianis is the Co-Founder and president of the Stars Group IO Limited. Over his 30 years in the football industry, he has built up a client list of elite coaches and well-established players. Furthermore, George is renowned and widely recognized by major football clubs, such as AFC Ajax, FC Internationale Milano, and Bayer 04 Leverkusen, for his scouting prowess, youth camps, emphasis on developing young talent and professionalism.

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8. What's the schedule for the ICO? Our pre-sale ends on February 2nd. Our public sale begins on February 5th and ends March 2nd.

9. Can you give us an idea of the kind of people who are participating in the Stars ICO? We've had venture capital funds, crypto funds, high net worth individuals, sports team owners and soccer fans from 23 different countries participate thus far. Notably, the STARS has been incubated by Shuttle Fund, a U.K. based venture capital firm. Shuttle is our venture partner for our ICO and we're excited to work with them as our business scales.

10. It's early in the process and you've had some success. What are some lessons you've learned and can share with others who want to launch coins and tokens?

First, take your time and do things the right way. Unfortunately, there are many companies and individuals rushing into the cryptocurrency space with just a website and a white paper they wrote in a day. They are simply chasing the money. We went through 30 drafts of our white paper and numerous alterations of our website, and continue to challenge ourselves to develop our product, brand, and community that represents our core values and beliefs.

Neil Fillary is General Partner and Chief Executive Officer of Shuttle, a highrisk fund that aims to get exposure in a new category of digital assets including digital currencies, distributed application tokens, decentralized autonomous organizations, smart contracts, and related assets. Formally, Neil was Managing Director for NicheFort and capital markets expert for J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank.

Christopher Mitchell has practiced law for over the past 12 years, specializing in the digital media and technology legal landscape.

Christopher started his firm out of a desire to help small businesses, entrepreneurs, and creative artists as he brings over a decade of experience to an evolving client base.

we will roll out our full white-labelled software solutions to our club partners around the world. We are the one-stop shop technical solution, providing transparency and cost savings for the consumers, and an increase in revenue for the teams. Contingent upon the successful implementation of STARS token for fan use, we plan on exploring its use as a currency that facilitates player transfer fees between clubs.

ered every major sporting event globally for the past 25 years, interviewed most of the world's top sports stars over the same period of time and has written for many of the UK's national newspapers and national and international magazines.

6. How much are you seeking to raise in your ICO? Our soft cap is $15 million, and our hard cap is $51 Million.

7. What is your plan?

For the first 6 months, our goal is to Beta test our web and mobile products within professional football clubs and sports tech companies. By the start of the 2018-2019 season,

Second, build and maintain relationships.

The crypto community is growing rapidly but the community of seasoned experts and investors is small.

Third, make sure you explore all options. A token sale may not be the right move for every company, and within a token sale there are multiple paths of opportunity. Aim to be flexible, adaptable, nimble and wise.

11. I understand you are starting a podcast. What motivates you to do that?

The purpose of the podcast is to create a resource for the black community and allies of the black community to learn about cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. We need a resource where newcomers can seek support and hear the stories of people that they can relate to. Unfortunately, the black community in tech is small, but we do ex-

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mented reality, entertainment, identity and ticketing space.

17. What will Stars do with the funds you raise via your ICO? Our number one priority is creating opportunities and use cases for STARS Tokens. With this at the forefront, we will be using the funds in 4 ways.

Above all, the first form of investment will take place through hiring and onboarding more talent. The reality is we are a small team with an incredibly large vision, and while we are a dedicated group ready to take action in changing the game of football we need more people with similar passions to help us bring this vision to its fullest potential.

Occurring somewhat simultaneously will be a stringent focus on the development and betterment of the Stars Platform. This focus will include the likes of implementing Augmented Reality, improving the UI & UX, and developing + promoting a contest that will run throughout the World Cup in which the prizes awarded each day are STARS Tokens.

ist, and we are changing the world, and I want more people to know that.

derstanding it, but as they have followed my journey within the blockchain space, they've grown to see its benefits and the potential implications.

Whether you have $10 or $10,000, I want our community to get smart, get educated, and get active because we're in the process of see15. What do you think the impact of cryping the largest transfer of wealth the world has to on Wall Street will be? ever seen, and we should be participating in it. As the Harvard Business Review said, the blockchain will do to the financial system what An ICO is a brilliant "new" structure that enthe internet did to media. ables people to gain access to new sources of capital and financing. If we can create a call to And just as media companies have done, they action for the brilliant minds within our black will either adapt or fail. I believe the key drivcommunities around the world, we can levering factor behind blockchain and the internet age this structure to tangibly effect change. is this idea of decentralization. Many of the media companies that emerged successful in 12. How does being African American althe internet era were those that were willing ter your perspective, if it does? to adopt this idea of decentralization in the I have a responsibility to show that the "black form of User Generated Content. identity" is not just defined by our incarceration numbers, and that we are leaders in our Take Facebook for example, arguably the most fields and communities, striving towards bril- powerful "media" company in the world. All liance and change.

Facebook did was create a platform which allowed users to provide whatever content they 13. Do we as the crypto community need best see fit. In fact, Facebook hardly ever to increase our efforts to include black owns the content that it puts out. I think that people in crypto? Why? How? with blockchain the institutions that are willYes absolutely. We need to create a call to acing to accept and adopt this notion of decention for the black community to leverage tralization by giving the control back to its blockchain for the betterment of our commu- consumers in one way or another will be the nities. How do we do this? Education, aware- ones who emerge victorious from this new ness, reducing the fear of new technology and age. sharing a solid game plan on how to get started and succeed.

16. Returning to Stars, who would Stars like to partner with?

14. I understand you have relatives that Stars would like to partner with professionwork in finance. What do they think of al football clubs, football federations, FIFA, you working in crypto?

UEFA, and digital media companies. FurtherMy family has always been extremely supmore, we have already started working with portive of me. At first, they had trouble unmultiple blockchain companies in the aug-

The third form of investment will take place through the acquisition and partnership of professional football clubs throughout Europe.

This process will be pivotal in proliferating the widespread use of STARS Tokens. As we gain ownership stakes in clubs we will be able to immediately implement the Stars Platform and token technology.

Our fourth and final investment ties heavily into our hiring strategy whereas we will develop and support a dedicated sales and marketing team to push the Stars Platform out to consumers. Our sales team will be largely focused on licensing out our white labelled version of the platform whereas STARS Tokens remain at the forefront of our technology.

The underlying strategy behind our investments is to create additional ways in which STARS Tokens can be used, increasing cost savings and adding transparency to the world of football.

18. What do you think will happen to crypto in 2018?

I believe the market cap for cryptocurrencies will break 1 trillion prior to the end of 2018.

Though the market cap has grown at an exponential rate over the last 6 months, the asset class is still comparatively small. We will continue to see governing bodies improve the regulatory structures around ICO's and cryptocurrencies, and as they do, institutional investors will begin to engage with this growing market. I believe cryptocurrencies will reach 10 trillion in market cap in the next 5 to 10 years.

Thanks for taking the time to talk to ICO Crowd, Daniel. We appreciate you and wish you luck with Stars and your community outreach!

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Things I Look for When Investing in an ICO

I’ve been advising ICOs for a while and as a result of that experience I’ve developed a pretty good sense for what makes for a successful ICO-funded project (as well as what doesn’t). Here is a list of what I personally look for when investing in ICOs:

DOES THE PROJECT SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM? When it comes to investing in ICOs, I use the same basic analysis as I would with any type of startup, i.e., what is the problem that the team is trying to solve? Although blockchain technology by CHRISTIAN has the potential to be incredibly disFERRI ruptive across multiple industries, the key word there is “potential.” If the underling project itself isn’t disruptive or doesn’t solve a fundamental problem in the marketplace that needs fixing, slapping a layer of blockchain on it as nothing more than window-dressing isn’t going to make it any more disruptive. If the ICO doesn’t solve a problem that is readily explained in their whitepaper, I won’t invest.

WHAT IS THE MARKET (AND HOW BIG IS IT)?

Just because an ICO has identified a problem in the marketplace (and has offered a viable blockchain-based solu-

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tion that will actually fix it) doesn’t mean that the ICO is a good investment. Unless there is an existing market that is both willing to adopt the proposed solution and is large enough to make the solution financially viable, the project is almost certain to fail.

WHAT IS THE PROJECT’S TEAM LIKE? No matter how great an ICO project sounds in theory, to be truly successful it needs a solid team behind it to execute the project and make it a reality.

When I consider the strengths of any ICO’s team, I consider each of the following things: 1. Do the founders have a truly “decentralized mindset?” Too often, the founders in many ICO projects are not true believers in the fundamental concept of decentralization, which I believe is critical for any blockchain-based project to be truly disruptive.

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2. How many collective years of experience in cryptocurrency does the team possess? The higher the number, the better.

3. Does the team include any distributed system experts? I believe this is a critical requirement.

4. Does the team include any game theory designers? Also, very important.

5. Does the team include any industry veterans? This is especially important where a project is trying to disrupt a well-established industry. If the team isn’t already wellversed in the nuances of the industry in question they’re going to have a steep learning curve ahead of them that

might allow someone else to disrupt the industry before they are properly positioned to do it themselves.

IS THE PROJECT EASY TO UNDERSTAND? This one should seem obvious, but so many ICO whitepapers I read are far too complicated than they need to be. If I don’t immediately “get it” after the first readthrough, I typically move on.

No matter how great an ICO project sounds in theory, to be truly successful it needs a solid team behind it to execute the project and DOES THE PROJECT HAVE make it a reality.

A STRONG COMMUNITY

BEHIND IT? Most ICOs have created Slack and Telegram channels and have communities that follow them on Reddit. I think anyone seri-

ous about investing in ICOs should check out all of these for the ICO in question. If it doesn’t appear that there is much in the way of developer “buy in” or the discourse seems to lack direction from the founders or passion from the followers, it’s much less likely that the project will have any chance at long term success.

PROJECTS THAT I NEVER INVEST IN In closing, I wanted to list two types of ICO projects that I never invest in, even if they meet most or all of the criteria listed above: 1. Projects that merely replicate an existing solution (e.g., like Ethereum) with only incremental innovation; 2. Rent-seeking distributed applications (i.e., DApps that try to replicate the models of AirBnB or Uber, for example). This is simply because off-line businesses are far too difficult to tokenize at the present moment.

Christian is a believer in the power of decentralization, and the remarkable impact it can have on our lives. He’s in an investor, writer, public speaker, advisor and connector in distributed system based ventures and ICOs. Former Lead at PwC Tech Advisory, Christian was fortunate enough to have lived the transition, bringing two decades of traditional business experience coupled with the new decentralized frontier. He’s often quoted in publications such as Forbes and Entrepreneur as “Blockchain Humanitarian” and “Blockchain Expert”. Find him on his blog or LinkedIn. All content created in this article does not represent advice nor is considered an official representation of the law or of the governing authorities. Use it at your own discretion.

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Will token sales ‘democratise’ investing?

The growth of token sales as a new form of funding for startups has generated much debate about whether the shift away from traditional forms of funding will democratise investing. Towards the middle of 2017, token sales surpassed venture capital funding in the cryptocurrency ecosystem for the first time.

In the first six months of last year, venture capitalists invested close to $378 million into blockchain-based companies versus $932 million raised from token sales. So could Initial Coin Offerings with their new type of decentralised crowdfunding approach attract by more non-traditional investors to put HELEN DISNEY money into blockchain startups? And vice versa will this make it easier for traditionally overlooked groups including women and ethnic minorities to attain funding for their new ventures?

At first glance this may all seem a bit counter-intuitive. Technology is a traditionally male-dominated industry. Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are no different (if not worse) with only 5% to 7% of all cryptocurrency users being women.

Women in general tend to find it harder to get funding for their startups and those that do are likely to receive smaller deals. This may in part be due to the small number of women venture capitalists – a chicken and egg type scenario.

According to a recent Forbes article by Jackie Lam, co-founder of Oddup, which researches and rates start-

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ups, “in 2016, only 4.94% of all successful VC fundraisers involved startups that were led by women. On an average, these deals received $4.5 million of funding, which is less than 50% of the $10.9 million per deal average achieved by startups led by men. Approximately 15.8% of startups around the world have women in their founding teams. A similar trend can be seen on the investment side where women make up only a reported 6% of VC firm partners”.

As for minorities, the situation is even worse, female CEOs get only 2.7% of all venture funding, while women of colour get a mere 0.2%.

So what is happening with ICOs which might change all that? Could this new fundraising opportunity allow women and minority groups to overcome some of the inherent barriers to entry or biases prevalent in traditional funding?

In theory, almost anyone can invest in an ICO - at least for now, unless further regulation comes along to change that.

So the first aspect is that the potential market for ICO investments is global and is open to a wider pool of different types of potential investors. You

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don’t have to be a venture capitalist, a high net worth individual, or an accredited investor nor do you need to have access to any exclusive, high-level networks to take part. That in itself has the potential to open up involvement in cryptocurrencies and blockchain applications to a much wider marketplace of investors.

At the same time, the general trend in startup land is an increase in women going into entrepreneurship. From 2015 to 2016 across 51 economies that participated in a GEM survey, the rate of female entrepreneurs increased by 10% on average versus 5% among men. So far, so promising.

New forms of female entrepreneurship are even springing up to solve the very problem of lack of access to seed funding for female entrepreneurs. Moms Avenue recently launched as the world's first blockchain-powered reward-based social entrepreneurship platform designed for women. Via the sale of the MOM token, the idea is to build a powerful social network and foster sustainable value flow by inspiring and empowering women to start, grow and scale their own businesses.

But what about the figures for investors themselves? In a recent keynote speech to the 2018 Crypto Finance Conference, Meltem Demirors, Director at Digital Currency Group, a leading cryptocurrency venture capital firm, discussed

the types of investors currently involved in the space and the topic of investor homophily – in other words, the tendency of individuals to associate and bond with similar others, as in the proverb "birds of a feather flock together". According to the research she presented, investors in cryptocurrencies are drawn from a mix of angel investors who tend to cluster by alma mater, location, or sector; venture capitalists, where few players lead and others follow; investors in IPOs who have a tight network and usually work with known players, and around 10,000+ ICO investors where everyone is a ‘crypto believer’ and already owns bitcoin or ether. In other words, although they might perhaps be younger and more ethnically diverse than the average angel or VC investor, the degree of homophily among ICO investors is actually extremely high.

While the pool of potential start up funders has indeed widened with the addition of ICO investors, sceptics might say that the technical barriers to investing in ICOs remain high. It is also hard to obtain

At the same time, the general trend in startup land is an increase in women going into entrepreneurship.

From 2015 to 2016 across 51 economies that participated in a GEM survey, the rate of female entrepreneurs increased by 10% on average versus 5% among men. So far, so promising.

actual data about the demographic make up of ICO investors. But reading between the lines this is a field that not many people at all – and that includes women – understand. Even then we would need to assume that those who do understand enough to want to invest have enough personal wealth to risk on a highly speculative form of investment. Since women tend to be slightly more risk-averse investors than men, the opportunity to invest in token sales is realistically still largely reserved for a new type of crypto-elite rather than (or in addition to) the Silicon Valley elites of the recent past.

As mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies widens and understanding of the technology increases, that balance could certainly change - and such a change would be beneficial - but for now the democratisation of investing still continues to be more of a pipedream than a reality.

Helen Disney is the Founder and CEO of Unblocked Events, a hub for Blockchain events, information and commentary.

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Even Cryptocurrency Needs Cleaning Sometimes Cryptocurrency is a nascent industry and one that will change the world for generations to come.

But in an industry, that moves so fast and focuses on the future, is there a need to clean up after ourselves?

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Finding value is an exercise in lateral thinking. Cryptocurrency markets to a large extent, are locked into classic definitions about finding value, and often conflate price with value and utility. It is easy for any spectator to look at the top ranked crypby tocurrencies and see value. The same ICO CROWD spectator can look at the bottom tenth of that list of thousands of coins, and easily dismiss the idea that there could be value there. That is why these markets need a CoinJanitor, a community-led project willing to look at the bottom of the cryptocurrency markets through a different prism. CoinJanitor aims to do what no one else has done yet: dig deep into those places where most see only what the invisible hand of the markets has discarded, but fail to understand that it is the raw material needed to produce value.

INVISIBLE HANDS LOCKING VALUE At the bottom of that ever-growing list of coins, there are projects that once had small, vibrant communities of believers.

These believers invested time, money, computing power and other resources in these projects. Although the members of these communities believed in their coins, the invisible hand of the market didn’t see the utility in them. For whatever reason it happened, many of these projects stopped growing and the market effectively locked what was left of the value of those projects, and then relegated it to oblivion.

AS MORE COINS JOIN THE MARKET, MORE ARE RELEGATED With more ICOs and more forks feeding the market, competition to achieve the kind of network effect that will al-

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coin’s proper value assessment, signalling a good purchase opportunity.

• The coins we seek should be PoW coins.

These coins generally belong to an earlier crop, and they are also mineable, which is significant for the second part of our amalgamation process.

THE AMALGAMATION PROCESS After identifying the coins that can be amalgamated, CoinJanitor will proceed to integrate them through a process that unlocks their value, adds it to that of other newly unlocked value under the CoinJanitor umbrella, and reduces market dilution. Reducing market dilution is important for wider cryptocurrency markets and creates a positive externality: • Communities of suitable coins according to the guidelines, will be contacted through social media and any other channel possible.

• A rate of exchange will be established to buy those coins out using CoinJanitor tokens.

• Once the buy out is over, CoinJanitor will proceed to burn the coins it bought.

• Afterwards, CoinJanitor will decommission the blockchain that underwrites those coins it buys out, to reduce dilution in cryptocurrency markets.

low a project to survive and thrive, is fierce.

As more coins join the list of the thousands already in circulation, more will be relegated to the bottom. More value will be locked and forgotten. This is where CoinJanitor will find the raw material it needs to produce an unprecedented service that will unlock that value, restore it under its umbrella, and transfer it back into cryptocurrency markets.

HOW WILL COINJANITOR ACHIEVE THIS GOAL? To achieve this goal, CoinJanitor will take an approach that aims to analyze the value of these coins by separating it from the current price. The value of these coins lies in the effort, computing power and time that the members of their communities already put into them, regardless of the price. CoinJanitor will proceed to price that locked value in and pay those community members for it, to amalgamate them under a single coin. CoinJanitor will attain the network effect these coins failed to achieve individually, through amalgamation.

THE METHOD The implementation of this strategy requires clear guidelines and the willingness to work with a wide variety of projects to create a sin-

gle community, much like a building’s janitor works with all the tenants to maintain harmony and efficiency within a building. Therefore, CoinJanitor has set clear guidelines to pick the coins it seeks to amalgamate, as well as a precise process through which it will integrate those coins.

COINJANITOR’S COIN SELECTION GUIDELINES Given that the markets are integrating new coins daily, the most logical procedure would be to integrate the oldest coins out there.

Therefore, CoinJanitor has developed a simple set of guidelines to understand which communities to cooperate with first: • Target coins must be at least 2 years old.

This guarantees that the project has had enough time to achieve its goals.

• Those coins in our list, should not be listed on any exchange with significant volume.

This shows that markets do not validate the transfer of the value on those coins elsewhere in the market, effectively locking it in. It also prevents pump and dump schemers from taking advantage of CoinJanitor’s work for personal gain.

• Market cap of target coins should be under $50,000 USD. This shows that the price of the coin is probably below the point of that

BENEFITS FOR THE COMMUNITY AND CRYPTOCURRENCY MARKETS This approach will allow the holders of the coins that partner with CoinJanitor, a way to transfer the value they had locked in those blockchains, into the wider markets.

They will be able to use that value for their own personal purposes. In parallel, decommissioning coins will reduce value dilution in the markets, creating a positive externality for the holders of top ranked coins. Previously locked value will flow again into the markets, which will create upward pressures on the price of other coins. In the meantime, a newly minted community of CoinJanitor members will emerge, delivering added value to them with each coin that CoinJanitor integrates, given that the integration will increase the network effect of CoinJanitor tokens.

INTERESTED? YOU CAN BECOME A COINJANITOR COMMUNITY MEMBER! CoinJanitor has already started profiling and listing the coins it considers were relegated by the invisible hand of the market. You can contribute to this project during the public sale, which will be launched on March 1st, and will end on March 31st, 2018. After the sale is over, CoinJanitor will start unlocking value.

The success of the CoinJanitor project will be closely related to the level of community support it receives. The project already has partners across the crypto spectrum and public support from many recognized crypto founders and personalities. Now it’s your turn to get involved and spread the word about CoinJanitor and help the Janitor restore value to the crypto economy!

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Where Are the Real Estate Blockchain Success Stories?

From the earliest days of the emergence of blockchain technology, core technolo-gists, business people, and media sources have always agreed on the obvious oppor-tunity in extending blockchain technology to real estate markets. Blockchain-based real esby ALEXANDER tate transactions could drastically simS. BLUM plify issues around payment transfers, tracking ownership, securing international deals, and offering more granular access to real estate investment for all strata of society. A host of blockchain-based real es-tate companies have emerged, including Real, Realisto, Ubitquity, Propy, and RealBlocks. Despite this, like most blockchain applications, actual real estate trans-actions of any significance, have not yet emerged.

Here are some reasons why: 1. ECOSYSTEM NASCENCE Core blockchain infrastructure has still not reached production-level quality. Plat-forms like Ethereum, EOS, and Stellar are hard at work building out modular, enter-prise-grade technolo30

gies, but work remains. Because of the immutability of a block-chain, the consequences of a software bug can be quite great. As a result, launching technology with any type of complexity requires a high level of security testing, de-laying releases. These platforms need to develop systems for modifying code with live products already being used at scale.

2. SETTLEMENTS AT SCALE Anyone who has tried to buy cryptocurrency knows that price volatility offers compli-cations for companies trying to transact in large quantities. If a real estate company is going to manage payments for assets made in cryptocurrencies, they risk exposure to major price swings. Significant purchases are, in themselves, likely to affect the price of a token. Companies offering investment vehicles for institutions, like Gray-scale’s Bitcoin Investment Trust, may offer a solution here. Like all things blockchain, the solutions to scalability issues continue to be a moving target as the whole indus-try develops.

3. REGULATORY CHALLENGES Though, on a technical level, a smart contract real estate transaction can occur quite easily today, navigating issues around AML/KYC, investor accreditation, and interna-tional and local law around the purchase and sale of real estate investments still lags. Real estate companies working to offer high-quality services that abide by the strictest letter of the law, still get mired down in the legal realities of our society. Be-cause of the structural features of bitcoin, verifying the sources of funding and their legitimacy becomes a major priority for any group that seeks to build a stable busi-ness in this market.

In a blockchain world with few precedents, real estate blockchain startups sit at the nexus of the old and new world financial systems. Each step along the way, a com-pany must navigate this tension. The organizations that solve these challenges will surely thrive.

JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2018

The Crypro-travel Startup: Blockchain for the Travel Activity Market

21st century is all about traveling. It gives us emotions, experience, culture exchange, an ability to make a business internationally and as a result we became broadminded personalities.

Nowadays traveling is more affordable than 10 years ago, but why? What is the secret? Price!

Competition between airlines made flights cheaper, competition between hotel chains made accommodation cheaper, car rentals – same story, etc.

Yet it is not an answer to the question, how? The answer is in uniting. People united, and travelling became a mass by character. That is how.

IGOR ARKHYPENKO CEO

Furthermore, it can be even cheaper if you use bonuses. Big companies have loyalty systems that can help you save money on your trips, if you keep using the same company. It’s usually not perfect, sometimes complicated but at the end it does help you to save money. In fact it can help you to travel more, say, one more trip a year using saved money.

Let me ask you, what is traveling? You choose a destination, buy your tick-

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ets, book a hotel. Is this it? What are you going to do there? Relax, sure, but a trip can give you more than a lounge chair on the seashore. Emotions, experience, all these you get by doing something. Activities make traveling exciting. There is a travel activity market. What I have never heard of before is united loyal systems for a travel activity market. Travel activity markets are highly fragmented and torn between local providers, international tour operators and there is no a place that would connect them under one roof. However we can see that uniting can be a solution to many problems.

By uniting markets, we make products even more affordable.

Blockchain provides an opportunity to solve this problem. Columbery is a global marketplace in the intersection

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of fiat and crypto financial systems that unites international tour operators, local providers and tourists.

Another problem is currencies. Currency exchange is a necessity when traveling. Sadly it creates an extra expense. From the very beginning, upon arrival in a new country, we need to look for local currency, and it looks like the currency rates are not on your side.

The rate is getting better after leaving the airport area but, we need to spend time finding exchange points in the city. Instead you could have spent more time on enjoying the travel. In addition, you don’t want to bring home all that amount of foreign currency, so, on the way back home; again, you are looking for another exchange point. Using a credit/debit card is a way out, isn't it? What about your bank currency rate and extra fees for paying abroad? Imagine you are traveling with your family 3–4 times a year. It is a lot of money.

Columbery combines features of both traditional fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies.

In 2018, Columbery will have its own token – CLMB, which is already designed to provide its users with tons of potential benefits.

Here are some benefits of the Columbery’s token: 1. Using Columbery you will become a part of a global bonus system. For example, once you have bought some experience in Spain, you are to receive CLMBs for that. After that, you will be able to pay using them (or get a discount) in Thailand, or elsewhere, once you use the Columbery service again.

2. You will be able to get some financial benefits by cutting down your expenses, avoiding extra currency exchange fees and fees for double conversion for paying abroad, etc.

3. Even if you choose to use classic fiat currency, you will get a cash-back in CLMBs, for using our service. So, again, you will be able to use it in other places around the world at any time you wish.

4. With tokens, Columbery solves problems with pay-

ments in developing countries where you just cannot pay using your card because of payment limitations.

Nowadays traveling is more affordable than 10 years ago, but why? What is the secret? Price!

Columbery is a global marketplace in the intersection of fiat and crypto financial systems that unites international tour operators, local providers and tourists.

WHAT IT HAS TO OFFER TO EACH OF A PARTY? For travelers it’s the first global travel activities marketplace where you receive a crypto cashback to spend on more activities.

For an international brand - it provides a cheaper promotion of its products And local businesses - get listed with their activities on the same line as big brands.

By 2020 the whole industry of traveling activities will reach $18.3B turnover annually.

Blockchain also provides a unique opportunity to enter emerging markets free of financial risks and thus captures the most authentic experiences.

Find out more on Columbery.com.

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The Business Case for Self-Sovereign Identity

by JED GRANT CEO, Peer Mountain

THE FEAR IS REAL The recent string of high-profile data breaches that have hit front pages throughout the globe has highlighted the shortcomings of current data protection and storage methods. The fear is real. Sensitive information – whether that be credit card details, dates of birth or healthcare information – could potentially be sold on the dark web, putting the identities of everyday people at risk. In response to this crisis, governments and regulators are hurriedly passing legislation that requires businesses to collect and store sensitive data more securely – for example, the EU’s impending General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

THERE IS ANOTHER WAY Developers can now harness blockchain technology to give consumers themselves further ownership of their own personal information, and enable them to store that information in a distributed ledger, thus helping effectively mitigate the risk of identity theft.

Peer Mountain is one such technology, however, it goes beyond just providing users with further ownership and control over their cryptographically seHowever, this would result in a world of cure identities. Rather, it enormous digital fortresses, each hold- offers an end-to-end appliing a duplicate of the identity of ancation ecosystem designed yone who has ever been a customer. to facilitate the commerce Even worse, they may actually end up and exchange of digital and extenuating the problem, as these forphysical services. It facilitresses themselves will continue to be tates trust and the secure rich, obvious targets for cybercriminals. sharing of information The simple truth is that no matter how with multiple independmany digital moats, archers, and cataent parties across broad pults the defenders build and deploy, networks while preservthe attackers will keep coming. ing traceability and com34

pliance at every end of the transference of data. As such, Peer Mountain is the first decentralized peerto-peer trust marketplace that connects self-sovereign identity owners with regulatory-compliant service providers, and opens a new paradigm for how and where individuals and organizations conduct business.

The simple truth is that no matter how many digital moats, archers, and catapults the defenders build and deploy, the attackers will CHANGING TIMES keep coming.

We are living in changing Peer Mountain’s ICO will be based upon a unique Smartcap algorithm, that provides fairness and transparency.

times. There is now considerable consumer awareness and pressure to be able to better control access to their own data. The past 12 months has seen a number of successful offerings from teams developing platforms for self-sovereign identity, the most visible of which is Civic.

There are also many new and established offerings in the Know Your Customer (KYC), identity verification, and trust provision-

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ing spaces, including Mitek, Jumio, AriadNext, One of Peer Mountain’s first efforts is to deWorldCheck, KYC3, and LexisNexis. velop this marketplace so that service providers have a wide variety of attestations from A SYSTEM BUILT ON TRUST trusted and known sources to choose from.

Peer Mountain is a mobile-first distributed system of trust. It uses cryptographic protoAttestation providers will receive a micropaycols to allow people and institutions to create ment each time one of their attestations is and own a trusted record that encompasses used to establish trust, incentivizing them to digital identity, trust relationships, and proof be as active as possible in the marketplace and of activities. Peer Mountain uses such powerto carefully guard the quality of their attesful cryptographic protection that data stays tations and their reputation as a trusted auguarded from all other entities – even the plat- thority in the marketplace. In this area, Peer form itself.

Mountain has already obtained formal intent from two major financial services providers, Peer Mountain will be free for individuals. both of which intend to adopt Peer Mountain The mobile front end is an SDK and a referas their compliance and service delivery soluence user interface. Anybody who downloads tion. it and has an invitation can use it. Invitations will come in the form of QR codes or links that KEEPING IT SMART open a Peer Mountain platform for users, alPeer Mountain’s ICO will be based upon a lowing them to create their first persona on a unique Smartcap algorithm, that provides fairPeer Mountain platform. ness and transparency. The sale will proceed in sequential rounds of fixed amounts of toAUTOMATED VERIFICATION kens at a fixed price. Orders are accepted for the There will be a marketplace of attestation enround. When the order quantity exceeds the gines for trusted third parties for automated number of tokens in the round, the round closverification. They can range from the simplest es. The closing procedure sorts the orders from timestamping services to more complicated at- largest to smallest and fills them in this order, testation engines, which may do things like i.e. larger purchases get priority for the round. check that a passport is real, verify the inforAny surplus or partial fills are allocated with mation it contains, and compare the photo in priority to the following round. In each round, the passport with another photo of the user. the quantity of tokens supplied for the subse-

quent round increases by an algorithmically determined amount, and the token price also increases by a much smaller algorithmically determined amount. The increase in supply is roughly an order of magnitude greater than the increase in price. The sale closes at the first incomplete round, and all tokens sold in this final round are sold at the price of the prior round.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The market for data security is immense and growing rapidly. According to a 2017 report, the global cyber security market is expected to reach USD 181.77 billion in 2021, and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 9.5% between 2016 and 2021. More and more consumers and businesses are choosing distributed ledger-based solutions as they become aware of the risks inherent to legacy information storage systems.

Increasing incidences of identity theft are making the cyber security risks of centralized data storage and transmission painfully clear. Further fuelling this shift to a blockchain model is the market’s growing familiarity and comfort with distributed ledger technology. As people come to realize the benefits of a distributed ledger, they will adopt secure systems like Peer Mountain, the first marketplace of its kind based on self-sovereign identity.

White list closes on 31 January 2018. . Sale opens on 12 February 2018.

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Nexus Earth (NXS), 3D Blockchain Revolution Nexus Earth, a revolutionary innovation in open-source blockchain technology, is ambitiously positioning themselves as the industry leader in solving the technological hurdles faced in the distributed networking space. The world’s first 3-dimensional solution to by ICO CROWD blockchain speed, security, and scalability has emerged through Nexus’ development team. Combined with their partnership with Vector Space Systems, a private aerospace company founded

by Jim Cantrell (one of the originators of SpaceX), Nexus will be the first cryptocurrency to launch their own cube satellites into space to form the foundation of a future global decentralized internet.

In 2014, Colin Cantrell founded Nexus with the idea of resolving the design issues within the blockchain space rather than building upon a technology that was fundamentally impaired.

Nexus completely bypassed the normal ICO process and grew organically by minting all of their coins into existence. At this time there are 55 million coins in circulation capping out at 78 Million. Nexus has a strong, support36

ive community of over 22,000 members worldwide. There are very few projects, if any, that approach the advanced technology, resources, or ambitious goals of Nexus. Here are just a few things that sets them apart from the rest of the blockchain/cryptocurrency world.

THE WORLD’S FIRST 3-DIMENSIONAL BLOCKCHAIN Nexus’ 3-Dimensional Chain (3DC) technology is built to solve the current challenges of the blockchain industry by providing drastically increased speed, security and scalability over the standard 2-dimensional model.

The 3DC protocol organically scales to meet network computational demands, which means the network gets faster as more nodes join the system.

THE WORLD'S MOST SECURE DIGITAL CURRENCY Some of the most valuable aspects of the core coding is the secure and the superior hash level and unique private keys. The Nexus 3DC incorporates advanced cryptography to negate the threat posed by quantum technology

of the future. The 3DC combines 571bit private keys, 1024-bit Skein and Keccak quantum-resistant hashing algorithms, and an evolving signature scheme called Signature Chains. Signature Chains update the private and public keys that secure your address and obscures them after each and every transaction, making Nexus the world’s most secure currency.

SATELLITE MESH NETWORK Nexus will use Vector Space Systems to launch decentralized digital currency into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). With this, Nexus is able to distribute its blockchain across multiple satellites, enhancing reliability and performance. The capabilities provided by Vector’s Galactic Sky platform and the flexibility of Vector’s launch model bring us one step closer to providing the world with a decentralized currency that can be accessed virtually anywhere and anytime.

For more information, go to www.nexusearth.com. You can also find Nexus on the following exchanges as NXS: Right BTC, Cryptopia, Bittrex, Coinspot, and stocks.exchange.

ICOCROWD.FUND

JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2018

DOCADEMIC

Aims to Achieve the Same Major Provider Stays in the Crypto-Health Economy?

New and old industries powered by millions of individuals and new businesses will build their entire foundations on these decentralized Crypto Token based ecosystems. From ordinary payments to important health data sharing, huge institutional transfers, fundraising and investments, smart contracts and new services that are just being imagined into existence— disruption is coming at a rapid rate. Healthcare is a fundamental part of this transition and possibly the industry that will be benefited the most.

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The global healthcare expenditure market processes $1–2 trillion in transactions per day. Cryptocurrency’s daily share in all its industries including healthcare is relatively small.

So far there are 58 countries in the world with universal healthcare, there by JAMES SOWERS are over 100 Countries with no universal or free healthcare. Healthcare services that use crypto-tokens and blockchain are just at the beginning.

According to the GreaterGoodSociety "The future of accessing free healthcare is here. Democratization of health for all levels of society has begun. " The Digital healthcare world is pouring its creative energy into this explosion of new Blockchain and AI Technologies and exciting business models. But access— that less headline-grabbing yet fundamental element—is getting left behind. What if an individual’s most significant healthcare service is tied to a specific set of rules that prevents a patient from considering seeking medical help, or self- medicates, without quick access to a healthcare pro-

vider? They could be in serious trouble. This issue already exists today.

The largest healthcare providers in traditional healthcare are global hospital chains, governments and other healthcare institutions such as Keyser Permanente, UnitedHealth Group, and Aetna.

Currently, the accessibility landscape for patients is fragmented. The top healthcare providers all offer the same ways to access healthcare, and no one healthcare provider differentiates in any one method of access. Furthermore, accessibility and the best prices for a given healthcare service can shift from one provider to another.

At any time, the best way to get medical attention might be in a local hospital or government service. The ailment may be avoided with home treatment but there is no way to find out for sure and internet searches are questionable at best. The same is true for all patients who have chronic diseases. In a sense, the various healthcare providers are accessibility Silos.

They offer great service in some areas once there, but their accessibili-

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ty is limited to clients who have the means to reach them and know of their benefits. While most of the healthcare providers offer easy access in certain basic services (ER, lab studies, etc.), there is no real-time convenient and highly-accessible on-ramp into the healthcare world for patients of minor ailments or with the lack of knowledge to determine if they need to go see a healthcare provider. Patients such as pregnant women, patients with stage 1 cancer, young adults, elderly, etc. Separately, each patient’s needs may be different, but collectively they represent a large untapped source of clients that desperately want and need a qualified on-ramp into healthcare services.

ENTER DOCADEMIC DOCADEMIC is a successful healthcare technology company with an impeccable reputation and healthcare industry pedigree. As of September 2016, they are the first global healthcare technology company in the world to have launched a free video telemedicine service currently active with verified users in 20 countries. Docademic has Doctors on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week serving the public in these countries. The DOCADEMIC APP and DOCADEMIC FOR DOCTORS platforms are the most advanced in the world with the most widely used service reaching peaks of over 7,000 patients served in a month. With over two centuries of combined experience in Healthcare and technology, DOCADEMIC’s team understands the industry inside out.

Large healthcare institutions simply cannot keep up with innovation.

The DOCADEMIC PLATFORM is a single globally-sourced healthcare service platform for the public that begins with free Human Doctor-AI assisted Video Telemedicine service al-

ready in use in 20 countries by thousands of users and an associated suite of AI assisted tools and social network for the medical community. Combined, these produce the highest level of free basic quality healthcare allowing any individual to access the benefits and knowledge of healthcare that technology now permits.

THE DOCADEMIC PLATFORM DOCADEMIC APP is built on top of DOCADEMIC’s existing blockchain enabled, patient data routing and AI assisted technologies. With its simplicity of use It becomes the ultimate resource for anyone who needs orientation in a health-related issue—a one touch system that connects any patient with a Doctor through Video Telemedicine for free, from any country a user is located in. All patient information will be secured on a blockchain and represents a perfect On-Ramp to healthcare services on a blockchain.

In comparison other healthcare related blockchain projects don’t have an effective On-Ramp to healthcare services. With their free Telemedicine service, the masses are now able to benefit from blockchain technology in Healthcare.

network to derive high-end services such as real-time geographic epidemiological data reporting, Automated AI-Driven treatment and diagnosis suggestions for Doctors in institutions or private practice, massive access to patient populations for preventative campaigns, and DOCADEMIC’s advanced proprietary Tools such as its AI-assisted Electronic Health Records.

New and old industries powered by millions of individuals and new businesses will build their entire foundations on these decentralized Crypto Token based ecosystems.

DOCADEMIC FOR DOCTORS Is a social network that offers Ongoing Medical education, Patient referrals, Tools for doctors everyday practice, and Real Time Reporting of epidemiological data for our clients and researchers. Serving all client sizes and requirements: The DOCADEMIC Platform combines it’s DOCADEMIC APP and DOCADEMIC FOR DOCTORS social

The MEDICAL TOKEN CURRENCY, MTC is the fuel that will power all the services that DOCADEMIC provides. They are already in talks with Health institutions, Governments and partners to make MTC the preferred Token for their own upcoming and existing medical services, as they migrate to decentralized platforms. We envision MTC will be used in the broader Healthcare industry and any other industries for various purposes including payment and remittance. DOCADEMIC is building a solid, global Healthcare utility—an advanced platform for the entire patient population and medical community.

DOCADEMIC will someday become a complete healthcare ecosystem for the worldwide patient/Doctor population with digital access.

To join the cause, go to https://ico.docademic.com/

DISCLAIMER This article is for informational purposes only.

DISCLOSURE The author is a director at the GreatetGood Society and an advisor on the project.

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Airclipse

The Next Generation Work Platform

by THOMAS HUNTER Head of Business Development, Airclipse

Airclipse is a next generation work platform built for the blockchain. Built using the Ethereum network, the project sets out to bridge the gap between internal communication, workflow management and business networking using the Airclipse platform. With a working prototype already available and users already lined up to incorporate the platform in their day to day operations, a successful ICO and exciting developments seem imminent.

Individual profiles display professional information, testimonials from others, accolades of achievements from day to day operations which all remain transparent and The Airclipse platform consists of an in- immutable thanks to the reliable ternal communication space, whereby nature of blockchain technology. colleagues can communicate in groups or privately, regarding tasks and other issues that may need addressing in a manner which unites teams, aiming to result in a boost of team morale and the elimination of communication breakdown between peers.

Alongside the communication space, Airclipse features a workflow planner allowing tasks and deadlines to be set with ease. The planner allows teams to easily visualize who is working on what to avoid any crossover, which has proved costly for businesses during the team’s research. Updates are available to see within each specific task enabling 40

teams and management to monitor the progress of any given project.

Using artificial intelligence and unique algorithms, the platform also displays vital team statistics with a click of a button, including team morale, task completion rates and top performers to induce a healthy competition within the workplace.

Smart contracts can be easily deployed to provide an agreement between individuals, teams and management to ensure specifics of each tasks are adhered to, such as deadlines, completion rates and quality of work etc. Allowing staff to work autonomously has proved a major motivation tool in the workplace.

With the Airclipse smart contracts, individuals know exactly what is required of them and by when for any given task, allowing management to focus on other aspects of the business.

Airclipse introduces a unique business networking tool for all users. Individual profiles display professional information, testimonials from others, accolades of achievements from day to day operations which all remain transparent and immutable thanks to the reliable nature of blockchain technology.

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Professionals can connect and see validated information and an accurate representation of an individual’s day to day work ethic and competency with great ease due to this transparency. The recruitment industry has regarded this approach as a helpful tool, saving time and money on validating users on their network, as information will be clear to see and trustworthy.

token. ERC223 is the latest advancement of the Ethereum token, which remains compatible with ERC20 however offers many advantages and improvements regarding their technology and tradability.

by widely regarded advisors with strong partnerships in the blockchain space already cemented.

The project boasts a solid 5-year plan, avoiding taking on too much too soon as longevity is key The Airclipse Project came to light after the with the goal being leaders in the field amongst the blockchain space. Step by step, Airclipse will team had observed many serious inefficiencies in various workplaces. There were lapscreate a lean, practical and easy to use work plates in communication, overlapping tasks, high form from the ground up, based on user feedstaff turnover, low motivation and morale and back and insight. The advanced features can be the systems the target market were using were easily integrated based on user requirement, to generic and did not cater to the needs of the offer a tailored solution to every user. Once complete, the business social platform will be incorteams using them. The Airclipse platform ensures that businesses will be using only the porated to expand the Ariclipse community and features and applications they actually need, revolutionize the way in which professionals conwhilst cost effectively improving efficiency and nect and display their skills and achievements. keeping their teams motivated and engaged.

Airclipse sets out to improve the way teams work After spending over a year observing many dif- in any given industry, and will take full advanferent office environments, the problems retage of the immutable, trustworthy and transmained consistent and research and feedparent nature of blockchain technology. back was noted and implemented into the proAirclipse ICO will commence March 15th, ject. As opposed to many unsuccessful ICO’s, the Airclipse team spent vast amounts of time 2018. Details of the crowdsale and bounty hunter opportunities are available at www. collecting feedback from the target customers themselves to ensure the platform met the airclipse.com along with the alpha prototype, needs of the customers they aim to serve. whitepaper, blogs and more.

The native Airclipse token (ACL) will be essential on the platform to maximize the use of the innovative new features Airclipse are introducing to daily workflow. Colleagues can tip and reward each other using the token to encourage great teamwork, increase motivation and so forth. In the event of a disagreement within a team, or in the case a vote is required to find the fairest result for all, ACL tokens can be used to vote for the best outcome for the team. Tokens can also be used in order to easily integrate other existing applications onto the platform that users may need in order to work in the most efficient manner possible. Integrating essential applications provides each user with a bespoke platform, tailored to their exact needs. No longer do we need to waste memory, time and money on apSydney based and headed by C.E.O Thomas plications which simply do not get used.

Doan, Airclipse is driven by a highly dedicated and talented team of developers, marketing ACL tokens are stored as ERC223 tokens, as opposed to the ever familiar ERC20 Ethereum specialists, community managers and backed

Join the Airclipse community by following on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Telegram and Discord. https://t.me/joinchat/GcwP3hCAj-iphWJADJf_dw 41

JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2018

TrakInvest

Learn. Share. Earn The Future of Trading TrakInvest is the world’s first virtual social trading platform for equities and cryptocurrencies powered by a proprietary AI engine. Headquartered in Singapore with operations across Thailand, HongKong and India, TrakInvest has been disrupting the finanby ICO CROWD cial services landscape across Asia for the past 3 years. At present, to support its geographical and product expansion plans, Trakinvest is raising USD 33 million through its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) - Visit TrakInvest. ai to know more.

At its core, TrakInvest is about “Crowdsourcing of Financial Wisdom” and rewarding its participants in a decentralized economy based on performance and insights.

TrakInvest with its business model in ed-tech and Fin-tech has received significant traction and the platform has 100,000+ users (35,000 active daily) and boasts partnerships with various state governments in India including Andhra Pradesh, Telengana and Karnataka. TrakInvest has also established partnerships with lead42

ing financial services firms in Asia including Edelweiss, HDFC Securities, Karvy, Siam Commercial Bank to name a few.

and as a user, you should be compensated when your data is monetized by the company.

TrakInvest provides a virtual trading environment where every user is given USD 100,000. As user’s trade and build a winning portfolio, their track records get captured. This enormous data is churned with the help of powerful algorithms to generate leaderboard rankings of players. Users can follow the higher-ranking players for trade ideas. Every time, a high performing player buys/sells a stock, his/her followers get a real time update that they may observe or replicate. A powerful peer-to-peer learning ecosystem is created.

The advent of the blockchain technology makes possible the creation of a reward economy for the users in a seamless, frictionless manner. For this reason, TrakInvest decided to move its platform to blockchain and launch its own virtual currency — The TRAK token. The TRAK token will be used to reward players on the platform, no matter where in the world they reside, without the challenges associated with currency conversions across countries. For instance, if a player from India wants to follow a player from Singapore, he/she could simply pay him/ her with TRAK tokens on the platform.

To sustain this ecosystem in a fair, unbiased and transparent manner, TrakInvest must incentivize the top performing players on the platform to keep coming back and sharing their ideas. To do so, when a player shares his/her data or his/her alpha generating capability, he/ she gets compensated for sharing that data. TrakInvest strongly believes in the philosophy that “your data is your data”

In the coming year, Trakinvest aims to maximize the potential of blockchain technology through many micro-payments within the platform to monetize the many interactions and services within the platform. TrakInvest would also add additional revenue streams by partnering with exchanges to promote socially responsible trading practices, as well as assisting exchanges and ICOs to

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seamlessly tackle KYC requirements. Trakinvest will tokenize data on the platform to develop sophisticated AI and machine learning solutions, which will be designed to reward users for their own data and intellectual property.

TrakInvest has already gamified the stock markets with the launch of a successful competition-based reality show which is already attracting thousands of viewers, giving every platform user the opportunity to become a star on the show as well as win various prizes (the show has been picked up by a leading TV station for the next season). This show is available for view on the TrakInvest Show YouTube channel 66 Million TRAK tokens are up for sale during the PRE-ICO and ICO period until March 15th.

The supply is limited while multiple token demand drivers offer a potential to augment the growth of TRAK tokens.

• The current contracted demand for TrakInvest’s Certification Program is 20,000 students that will receive certification at USD 150 / student. This current pipeline of students on TrakInvest represents less than 1% of the annual relevant student population in India looking for job-ready short-term certifications. Further, given the company’s expansion plans for both India and oth-

TrakInvest has the potential to become a leader countries in South East Asia and Middle east, the projected demand for Certifications ing information service provider in the financial investing and trading world (including crypin 2018 is 4x the current demand. to), by using the power of the crowd to share in• The Platform also currently has 100,000 credible insights and predictions of price movement, as well as investor and trader history “Traks” being performed by the current user base for no monetary incentive. The price per this could be even more impactful than the likes of Bloomberg or Reuters “Trak” will be the equivalent of USD 1 - 100 per “Trak” per month. Given the introduction of the TRAK Tokens, this activity is projected TrakInvest is also taking a leadership role in partnering with other ICOs to create synerto grow 5x from current levels in 2018. gies and an ecosystem that mutually benefits • The projected growth in the total user base all parties. Two such partnerships with Spectre and Verime have already been announced. More is at 3x the current levels driven by the launch of the TrakInvest Show Season 2 (In- to follow. dia), launch of Siam Commercial Bank InTrakInvest was founded by Bobby Bhatia, an vestment Centre and investment labs at Universities in Thailand and India. ex-private equity banker with 25 years of experience across J.P Morgan, AIG and O’Con• The projected growth multiples will also innor & Associates. TrakInvest is also backed crease as TrakInvest rolls-out operations in by a highly experienced management team and an advisory board. The global advisory other countries in the region. Introduction of the AI Sentiment Tool for equities and board is comprised of individuals and existing investors with strong global experience cryptocurrencies available to retail and institutional investors and the introduction of and exposure in technology, telecommunicathe marketplace will represent “upside” detions, media, cryptocurrencies and financial services. They have held leadership positions mand for the Trak Tokens. in companies including Spotify, Siri, Summly, Bitcasa, Fixmo, Ginger, Desti, Magisto, NexGiven the strength of token drivers and their potential impact on the TRAK token economy, on and StudioX. 43

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Proof-Of-Green: Blockchain Technology to Revolutionize the $1.35t Clean Energy Sector

Energy production is the number one cause of climate change, yet over a quarter of the world’s population lives without access to electricity. Furthermore, renewables and clean energy production are increasingly gaining ground on traditional fossil-based production methods.

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Governments and organizations are starting to embrace environmentally-friendly energy policies and are actively investing in Research and Development (R&D) that will lead to the creation of clean and renewable types of energy. Statistics reveal that the U.S. by ICO CROWD Clean Energy market cap was $200B for 2017, while the corresponding global market reached $1.35T, exhibiting an exponential growth over the years that signifies a marked advancement in this sector.

Blockchain technology is a distributed ledger with many desirable properties: it is transparent, immutable, secure, with no-need of third party intermediary acting as a trusted authority. Blockchain enables consumers to directly trade the energy they produce with other consumers in a peer-to-peer network with all the data and transactions being automatically available and guaranteed by smart-contracts. Also, this technology can make the distribution and transport of energy of current systems more efficient. By utilis-

ing the algorithms of artificial intelligence and machine learning, millions in savings can be generated in the maintenance of networks, such as the use of fossil energies.

The mounds of data generated by these transactions, if leveraged correctly through analytics, can lead to great improvements in efficiency and cost. Furthermore, the application of blockchain to the energy sector can guarantee the energy origin, can certify that the energy produced is indeed renewable, can keep historical records of ownership and state of energy assets, can certify emission allowances, as well as, monitor the metering and billing of electricity consumption.

Thus, such a blockchain infrastructure can create a system that would reward users based on a proof-of-green scheme that has the potential to shape better, eco-friendly communities. These properties and capabilities described above coupled with the fact that blockchain can act as a common framework that

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solves interoperability issues, sets up blockchain as a valuable tool for the green energy sector. Greeneum, an Israeli start-up is working towards generating a new gateway for green energy, utilizing the decentralized architecture of blockchain technology.

products of the green economy and solidarity, as organic or agroecological products. As also any type of eco gadget will be easy access for users of the community.

Greeneum offers a system of incentives to renewable energy projects creating a voluntary carbon market. Where projects can get a Green Certified Greeneum, and polluters can have Greeneum Carbon Certificates. Unlike the faults of the traditional carbon market, the technology offered by Greeneum lowers transaction costs by having greater protocols that guarantee security and accuracy of GCGs and GCCs. The protocols promoted by Kyoto are very costly and depend on the human variable, while in the Greeneum market the human factor is eliminated.

Statistics reveal that the U.S. Clean Energy market cap was $200B for 2017, while the corresponding global market reached $1.35T, exhibiting an exponential growth over the years that signifies a marked ad- Data is “the oil of the 21st century� and the members of the Greeneum team have demonvancement in this sector.

Prediction algorithms are the most advanced in the market. They have been tested in a pilot in an Israeli micro-grid and in a distribution network in Cyprus. Both cases gave important results. Regarding solar generation, they presented an efficiency of 95%, being the best in the market.

Also, through the GREEN utility token, a series of services can be obtained that will improve the yields of renewable energy projects, as well as systems that will improve the solar roofs of industries and homes.

GREEN utility token is the entry door for a marketplace that can be obtained different

GREEN token is not a tool to create profits nor dividends but a network smart contract ERC20 utility token with limited supply aimed to give exclusive access to the Greeneum Platform, data validation, network predictions and as a GREEN reward for GREEN behaviour.

Thus, such a blockchain infrastructure can create a system that would reward users based on a proof-of-green scheme that has the potential to shape better, eco-friendly communities.

GREEN utility token is the entry door for a marketplace that can be obtained different products of the green economy and solidarity, as organic or agroecological products. As also any type of eco gadget will be easy access for users of the community.

strated they fully embrace this notion by building into the platform tools that allow optimized energy distribution. Artificial Intelligence and machine learning algorithms can help the network managers gain a deeper knowledge of the entire clean energy life cycle.

These tools will provide insights into real-time energy trading and projected production/consumption. Consequently, producers, consumers, businesses and organizations will be in a better position to trade products and services globally and locally on the Green Market Place.

The Greeneum platform is the first solution that addresses all challenges faced by the energy sector, such as lack of efficiency, energy type interoperability, lack of incentives to go green, lack of proper network infrastructure and lack of data-driven strategy. The combination of blockchain technology with advanced analytics are the future of the clean energy sector and Greeneum is poised to deliver both.

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OLIVACOIN. El Mercado Blockchain de Futuros del Aceite de Oliva (MB-FAO) OLIVACOIN tiene su origen en el Departamento de Economía Financiera y Dirección de Operaciones de la Universidad Sevilla y se desarrolla conjuntamente con miembros de la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Escuela de esta misma Universidad (Pablo Alarcón y Manuel Jesús López), estableciéndose un equipo multidisciplinar, liderado por el profesor doctor Ismael Santiago Moreno, y cuyo trabajo en común ha dado como fruto una tecnología propia Blockchain para el sector del Aceite de Oliva, concretándose en una criptomoneda denominada OLIVACOIN.

by ISMAEL SANTIAGO

Lo que impulsó el desarrollo de OLIVACOIN era encontrar una alternativa innovadora a la desaparición del Mercado de Futuros del Aceite de Oliva (MFAO), que se produjo principalmente por las estrictas exigencias de adaptación y requerimientos normativos y económicos demandados por la reglamentación comunitaria y por las cuantiosos desembolsos exigidos.

La utilidad que ofrecía el MFAO al sector del Aceite de Oliva estaba en la aportación de transparencia al mercado, cumpliendo con la función de observatorio de precios, dando cobertura y seguridad ante la volatilidad de los mismos.

El MFAO, que comenzó a operar en el 2004, contaba con

250 clientes y tenía un promedio anual de más de cien mil contratos.

OLIVACOIN propone un nuevo modelo de negocio a los tradicionales mercados de futuros internacionales de commodities, articulándose éste sobre la tecnología Blockchain, que permite la trazabilidad total del Aceite de Oliva (aprovisionamiento-fabricación-distribución- consumo del cliente final), garantizando y certificando el origen del mismo, de forma fiable y segura, sin necesidad de intermediarios.

La tecnología Blockchain de OLICACOIN permite el desarrollo y la integración de los dos elementos que definen a 47

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este innovador Mercado de Futuros el Aceite de Oliva, a partir de la criptomoneda Olivacoin (y a los smarts contracts contenidos en ésta): un nuevo mecanismo global de financiación descentralizado, gracias a la propia criptomoneda y una tecnología de contabilidad distribuida que permite la Integración “inteligente” y descentralizada de la Cadena de Suministro global del Aceite de Oliva.

El propósito principal de OLIVACOIN, como Mercado Blockchain de Futuros del Aceite de (MB-FAO), es incrementar la eficiencia en los procesos de negocio actuales, gracias a las características implícitas de Blockchain (= inmutabilidad, trazabilidad, seguridad, robustez, consenso distribuido y transparencia) y minimizar los abusos y el fraude que se producen en este sector, permitiendo realizar un seguimiento del Aceite de Oliva dentro del ámbito de su cadena global de suministro.

Otro objetivo planteado en esta criptomoneda es llevar la Industria 4.0 (o cuarta revolución industrial) al sector económico del Aceite de Oliva.

La consecución de los mismos se conseguirá mediante el desarrollo e integración de las tres fases y funcionalidades principales, que 48

ofrece la tecnología de Cadena de Bloques de OLIVACOIN: IDENTIFICAR, MARCAR Y ASEGURAR. IDENTIFICAR: la cadena de bloques de la criptomoneda OLIVACOIN permitirá registrar e identificar la trazabilidad del aceite y dotarlo de Smart Identity, mediante una tecnología propia de contabilidad distribuida que permita dar seguridad, veracidad, incorruptibilidad y descentralización a sus usuarios. Esto permitirá convertir un mero commodity como el Aceite de Oliva en un producto dotado de inteligencia (“Aceite Inteligente”), facultado, gracias a su Smart Identity, para interactuar con agentes, medios, información y otros elementos de la propia cadena de suministro global del Aceite de Oliva.

MARCAR: la Blockchain de la criptomoneda OLIVACOIN permitirá marcar digitalmente cada tarea y proceso de la cadena global de suministro del Aceite de Oliva, generando nuevas ventajas competitivas como: • El aumento de la velocidad del comercio internacional del aceite de oliva.

• La eliminación considerable de intermediarios y de los costes de intermediación.

• La reducción del riesgo cambiario al emplear el OLIVACOIN.

• La reducción drástica de trámites en los procesos de importación y exportación (créditos documentarios, etc.) gracias a los smart contracts de OLIVACOIN. • La aceleración de los procesos de cobro y pago internacionales seguros en segundos, gracias a la tecnología criptográfica de OLIVACOIN. ASEGURAR: OLIVACOIN es una criptomoneda que tiene el propósito de ser el instrumento de mercado referente del precio actual y futuro del commodity “Aceite de Oliva “, viniendo a sustituir las funcionalidades del difunto Mercado de Futuros del Aceite de Oliva (MFAO), gracias a su tecnología de Smart Contracts y su integración robusta con las dos fases descritas anteriormente.

La PRE-ICO establecida para el segundo trimestre del 2018 está enfocada exclusivamente en la captación de financiación para terminar de abordar con éxito la primera fase, mediante el desarrollo de un Identificador Blockchain.

Las empresas agrarias y los agricultores del sector del Aceite de Oliva siguen dependiendo, en gran medida, de registros en papel, promesas verbales y acuerdos complica-

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dos; esto con frecuencia causa problemas esenciales debido a la falta de transparencia, el acceso restringido a los datos de precios, la mentira y hasta el soborno.

análisis que permita la comuniEl Identificador es una innovadora cación dinámica y en tiempo real, tecnología Blockchain que garanentre los distintos agentes y entiza, de forma transparente, segura y pública, la trazabilidad de tidades intervinientes en la cadena de suministro del Aceite de Olitoda la cadena de suministro del El Identificador Blockchain (primera fase de- Aceite de Oliva, lo que permitirá va. El análisis de esta información scrita) está enfocado a brindar las siguientes certificar la calidad de ésta y sus agregada ayudará en la predicción El sistema soluciones Blockchain a estos agricultores y identidades digitales: procedencia, de los precios de este commodity, Blockchain de empresarios agrícolas: permitiendo a los productores, agpropiedad, tratamientos, cultiricultores, consumidores e inver• Facilidad de rastrear la cadena de sumivo, análisis, procesamiento, alma- OLIVACOIN se sores planificar sus respectivas denistro global del aceite de Oliva, en tiem- cenamiento y entrega. Esta histo- aplica a través po real. La utilización de Blockchain per- ria digital asegura la autenticidad de un novedoso cisiones de futuro. del Aceite de Oliva para el consumite que todos estos actores se comucódigo de seguriPor último, respecto a las caracniquen de manera confiable. Esto deja midor final. dad que registra terísticas propias de la propia cripuna pista de auditoría abierta a todos las y rastrea toda la tomoneda, decir que OLIVACOIN entidades y agentes intervinientes en la El sistema Blockchain de OLIcadena de suministro del Aceite de Oliva. VACOIN se aplica a través de un trazabilidad del es un token propio, con un forma• Seguimiento y de demostración del orinovedoso código de seguridad que Aceite de Oliva. to ERC-20; para entenderlo, primeramente, necesitamos entender gen y procedencia del Aceite de Oliva, para registra y rastrea toda la trazabque Ethereum es una plataforma disminuir el problema de comida falsifiilidad del Aceite de Oliva, desde descentralizada sobre la cual se cada que enfrenta actualmente al mundo. el trabajo en el campo, el almaceejecutan Smart contracts.

Según un informe de 2016, realizado por namiento, la distribución y el conla consultora PwC, la suma de fraudes con sumo final; garantizando la certificación, ERC20 es una interfaz estándar que garancomida a nivel global para el año pasado gracias a su funcionalidad Smart Identity y rondó los 40 millones de dólares. así proporcionar a los consumidores un pro- tiza la interoperabilidad entre tokens. Los tokens ERC20 son simplemente un subcon• La alternativa y ventajas de pago (y fiducto de calidad certificada superior. junto de tokens Ethereum que se ajustan a nanciación) que ofrecerá OLIVACOIN; Los datos recopilados y procesados dinámideterminados parámetros. ERC20 es una inpor ejemplo, ventas internacionales que terfaz estándar que garantiza la interoperabtardan semanas en cobrarse, cuando camente, a través de la plataforma Blockilidad entre criptomonedas. chain de OLIVACOIN, serán la base del pueden ser minutos con este sistema.

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Etheal: Connecting One Billion Patients With The Best Possible Care A WORLD-CLASS TEAM AND ADVISORY BOARD Etheal is the brain-child of Artisan Marketing, a Budapest-based digital marketing agency that has already successfully built Doklist.com, a mediONLINE MEDICAL COMPARISON cal comparison site working in Hungaby DR. MIHALY SITES ARE DRIVING HEALTHCARE ry and Brazil that sees 2.5 million visits per year. The core Etheal team is KERTESZ FORWARD Have you ever injured yourself while joined by an experienced and connectabroad and found yourself in the sticky ed advisory board including David Orsituation of having to find affordable, ban, founder of CoinAgenda and Netreliable, healthcare in a pinch? Or how work Society Ventures, Tibor Bartha, a about when you’re at home and you’d Harvard alumnus physiology professor, like to see a specialist, but can’t seem to Barnabas Debreczeni and Gyorgy Cseh, get connected to someone who you can Ethereum genesis block miners and trust, no matter where you look or who 4-year cryptocurrency entrepreneurs you ask? What if your need is so niche, among others, who are committed to or so private, that you can’t really ask our vision and roadmap. anyone at all?

Starting in December 2017, the team Online medical treatment comparison launched a world tour of cryptocurrensites have assuaged the pain of accesscy and blockchain technology focused ing care, evading long waiting lines and conferences. Their efforts have been reavoiding overpriced care for general warded with the Audience Award at health issues, but there is a lot of prod10e in Ljubljana, Slovenia, as well as gress yet to make in healing a bloated 2nd place at the CES Digital Money Foand unreliable system for treatments rum in Las Vegas. across the board.

VC VALIDATED VC and patient validated online health BUSINESS POTENTIAL start-ups have started to put down the ZocDoc, Docplanner and Etheal’s prework needed to create a pain-free future, decessor Doklist.com, have made sigand now blockchain-based Etheal is ready nificant strides indexing thousands of to take it further, harnessing the power treatments, and Doklist.com’s 2.5M of community and incentivization to emyearly traffic rate is sound consumer power the healthcare system to grow itself. validation that an urgent need is being How is Etheal using blockchain to reform a healthcare market validated by $270 million in VC investment? Read about the Etheal Business Model and User Acquisition Strategy.

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addressed. Simultaneously, the business potential of these initiatives has been validated, with ZocDoc seeing $223M real fiat dollars in venture capital investment and Doklist.com receiving two acquisition offers from competitors.

What’s more, in a study conducted by the IBM Institute for Business Value, results showed that 16% of healthcare companies are ready to implement blockchain in 2017 for commercial purposes.

While these events tell us that we are on the right path, the Etheal team plans to push further, with an aim to design a future proof model that could allow for infinite scaling through decentralized growth. After a period of testing and searching for different business models by Etheal’s mother company, digital agency Artisan Marketing, we have created a unique value proposition and business model to map out our vision.

OPPORTUNITIES AND BUSINESS MODELS IN THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY The rise of medical tourism We first encountered medical tourism, while working with a client in the healthcare industry. We were immediately intrigued. According to Oxford Economics and Visa, the market is predicted to grow to $540 billion by 2025,

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with medical tourism agents charging 20–35% commission for doing the same work as traditional offline travel agencies do, without any additional innovation.

By analysing the business models, strengths and weaknesses of offline medical tourism agents and whatclinic.com, Etheal was able to identify the potential for disruption. We then crafted a business model using emerging technologies that captured this potential and simultaneously addressed the shortcomings of existing solutions.

1. Accepting payments and paying users for their contribution globally: in traditional settings we would need a massive legal and accounting team to make it possible for anyone, anywhere on the globe to buy services, not to mention the funds needed to pay hefty credit card processing fees. This would make it incredibly difficult and unsustainable to pay or reward users who develop the ecosystem across state borders. With smart contracts and blockchain, this problem becomes almost trivial.

2. Incentivization of signing-up medical professionals and creating easy-to-digest medical content: normally when medical professionals write, their goal is to impress their fellow medical professionals, and there is little to no incentive to make the content easy to consume for the general public.

With smart contracts, it’s easy to reward content creators in proportion to how everyday visitors perceive their content (based on how many “upvotes” or “claps“an article receives, for example). Moreover, rewards are an additional push for medical professionals to sign up to have a free mobile-friendly online profile.

3. Incentivization of review writing: if you undergo a paid medical treatment, you won’t feel inclined to spend an additional 15 minutes writing a review. With a smart contract-based incentive system, providing monetary rewards for writing a quality review is easy.

ENTER BLOCKCHAIN: THE MISSING INGREDIENT TO A KILLER STRATEGY Blockchain and smart contracts solve three very important issues of existing solutions:

THE DISRUPTION AND USER ACQUISITION Combining blockchain and its own dedicated token, the Etheal ecosystem provides a motiva-

A VALIDATED HEALTHCARE APP BUSINESS MODEL Another start-up that we encountered throughout our work led us to our business model. Irish start-up whatclinic.com, incorporates a genius business model using a clever Pareto sales tactic, that works by allowing patients to search for care providers abroad and make inquiries to clinics, through a system that automatically offers to forward the same inquiry to four more clinics. Meanwhile, clinics are charged based on leads, with one lead costing $10.

We call it a Pareto sales technique, because if we assume that there are 1,000 clinics in their system, and only 5 clinics pay for leads, the agency will make an average of $40.05 / lead.

tional structure behind content creation, and a currency to foster participation and payment rewards in future applications. This provides the social feedback missing from whatclinic. com and enables us to move into other healthcare-related spaces in the future, including medical tourism, fundraising and pharmaceutical research and communication among others.

TOKEN FLOWS WITHIN THE ETHEAL ECOSYSTEM HEAL tokens are used exclusively for settlement; to attract a core community of users to expand upon, Etheal will focus on simplifying the complex process of crypto token purchase by planning their own fiat-H exchange.

Furthermore, buying tokens or services with current exchange partners will be a no-brainer for new users, and as the core community grows within Etheal, so too will projected demand.

Finally, expansion to other countries and the development of apps on top of the ecosystem are future milestones that will increase demand and participation within the Etheal ecosystem.

View our video here: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=wZY3pWhLMZA Join the community: Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/Es92FwvIMHnoa2q_fbLV_Q Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/Etheal-1067896046679549 Medium: https://medium.com/etheal 51

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Blockchain as a Service

23 Million Reasons to Help Bring the Future of Blockchain Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) is poised to play an important role in the information technology sector for many years to come.

In case you don’t know what Blockchain as a Service is, BaaS is when an entity sets up all the “blockchain tech” for you. If you pay for BaaS, you pay a company to set up blockchain connected nodes on your behalf. A BaaS provider would deal with the confusing back by end for you or your business.

MUSTAFA

INAMULLAH Creative Content and Design Lead, MIMIR Blockchain Solutions

This article will assume the reader has a beginner level to intermediate level understanding of blockchain technology.

You have likely heard the words “blockchain”, “Bitcoin”, or even “Ethereum.”

We will take the position that BaaS will serve as an essential catalyst for bringing about the adoption of technology.

Taking the burden of difficulty out of the equation will allow a wide range of businesses and industries to adopt blockchain into their existing platforms.

BaaS does have some limitations though. BaaS is a means to an end.

BaaS necessarily involves adding some centralization to blockchain, which is never ideal. The purpose of blockchain is to have decentralized solutions to centralized problems. This could be the banks as much as it could be any trusted middleman.

Though BaaS does require one to rely on a centralized third party, it is a strong step towards bringing blockchain technology the world. To get to this point we must first examine the blockchain hype.

The first question we need to address is adoption. How big will blockchain get?

How many companies will plan to incorporate blockchain technology? Is blockchain the foundational technology BLOCKCHAIN IS A BIG DEAL for the next generation of the internet You’ve likely noticed all the buzz or is it simply a passing fad? around Bitcoin and Blockchain recently.

It’s not all just speculated hype, though Once we have understood the scope for a hefty serving of speculation does exhow large blockchain technology is set to be, and once we have understood how ist. People who haven’t done their remany industries blockchain will disrupt, search may just be jumping in to the “cryptoclub” because of the hype, but the need for BaaS becomes clear.

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that doesn’t mean the entire industry is speculative.

Blockchain is beginning to weave its roots throughout the fabric of our society. According to Gartner: “As of February 2017, “blockchain” was the second most-searched-for term on Gartner. com, having increased in volume by 400% in the last 12 months.”

People are starting to notice it. A quick peruse through google trends will show you that all aspects of blockchain are showing exponential growth in interest over the past few months. But all of this interest isn’t simply curiosity.

Just take a look at the recent growth of ICO’s. The ICO market grew over 4 billion dollars in 2017. And it’s also not just the new startups that display business interest in blockchain.

According to IBM, “91 percent of surveyed banks are investing in blockchain solutions for deposit-taking by 2018 to protect against start-up nonbanks.” This paints a very clear picture of just how big of an impact blockchain has made on the financial sector. There have even been estimates that the entirety of Google’s computing power

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would only be 5% of the total computing power of the bitcoin blockchain. That’s not 5% of all blockchain computing power. That’s just compared to Bitcoin’s blockchain.

Now that we understand this rapid interest and growth of blockchain, we can start to understand just how important BaaS is.

It’s not just banking, there are dozens of industries that blockchain could disrupt. This could include Cybersecurity, Academia, Government, Music and Arts, and even Ride Sharing. This list has several other potential candidates, but we only need to make the point clear.

BAAS IS DIRELY NEEDED Not many people realize how big of a deal HTTPS is. This isn’t technology that end users have to understand at all. For that reason it often gets taken for granted.

Blockchain is about to be a part of our everyday lives.

Without HTTPs, online business would be impossible. Otherwise all passwords and information would be public for everyone. Nothing on the internet would be safe.

The big hitters are already throwing their hats into the blockchain rings with BaaS. Microsoft has been adding BaaS modules to their cloud-computing platform, Azure. Microsoft’s Azure is focused on the Ethereum blockchain.

IBM has also built their own BaaS service. It is a Hyperledger BaaS system based on the Bluemix Cloud Platform. They are focused more on private consortium blockchains.

There are other players as well. Ardor, is a BaaS platform that will allow people to use the NXT blockchain. They use “child chains” to bring BaaS into the front of the equation. Instead of leaving BaaS as an afterthought, they frontloaded the ability for companies to use their BaaS platform.

But how many people really know that? Despite using HTTPS almost every day, your average user wouldn’t be able to tell you HTTPS does for them. That’s what makes HTTPS so great.

Dev Mukherjee, vice president for strategy, e-business on demand, for IBM’s global services division, once said, “Technology becomes truly useful when it becomes invisible.”

HTTPS is completely useful as a way to enable secure online busi-

ness, and there's nearly no sign of it while used by end users. It’s omnipresent, yet invisible. This is how you know it’s a truly useful piece of technology.

According to IBM, “91 percent of surveyed banks are investing in blockchain solutions for deposit-taking by 2018 to protect against start-up nonbanks.” This paints a very clear picture of just how big of an impact blockchain has made on the financial sector.

When blockchain reaches this level, it will be useful. BaaS allows the blockchain part of the technology to be relatively invisible. And if not invisible, it’s at least translucent. It’s a step in the right direction. Allowing someone else to take care of the dirty backend of blockchain for you allows you or your business to benefit from blockchain technology without really having to deal with blockchain technology.

There are two options when interacting with the blockchain. You can either set up your node directly, and remove the invisibility cloak of blockchain, or you can have someone else do that for you. This is what BaaS is. It’s your second option.

The question is, how much demand is there for this option?

According to Etherescan, there are well over 23 million unique ad53

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dresses on just the Ethereum blockchain right now. This gives you a decent idea of just how many people there are trying to interact with blockchain services.

According to Ethernodes, there are about 26,000 connected nodes to the Ethereum blockchain. This means at most, there are 26,000 people who are directly connected to the blockchain.

to the blockchain. What they can do is make requests to a BaaS operation which then does all the heavy lifting on behalf of IoT devices. The more we see IoT incorporate blockchain and cryptocurrencies, the more of a need we will see for BaaS.

In case you don’t know what BaaS is an essential step. Without it, Blockchain as a we won’t be able to bring blockchain mainstream. That being said, in a per- Service is, BaaS fect world, we wouldn’t have centralis when an enYou may be wondering, “how are the ized BaaS. tity sets up all other 22,974,000 people interacting the “blockchain with the blockchain?” Well it’s because We understand how blockchain is tech” for you. many of those nodes are being used needed to evolve the blockchain ecoin BaaS operations. They are interact- system, now let’s look at what a perIf you pay for ing with the blockchain on behalf of fect blockchain ecosystem would look BaaS, you pay a end users. like. company to set up blockchain That goes to show that the demand for Blockchain’s Perfect World blockchain connection outpaces supSo, what does a perfect world look like connected nodes ply by about 88,461.5%. That makes for Blockchain? on your behalf. a pretty strong case that there is a A BaaS providstrong need for BaaS. Millions of peo- Blockchain is certainly extremely imer would deal ple are interacting with the blockchain pressive technology, but it does have and they are doing it through BaaS. some limitations and drawbacks. Let’s with the confusBlockchain is only expected to grow address the biggest and most pertiing back end for dramatically for individuals and com- nent issue first. you or your busimercial interests. ness.

This doesn’t even include future projections of an IoT based world. If the world wants to connect blockchain technology to IoT, they simply cannot rely on direct node connection. It’s not possible for every tiny IoT computer to carry the load of connecting 54

What are we going to do about this giant electricity problem?

Bitcoin itself uses enough electricity to compare itself to a small country. There is such a crazy arms race in the world of crypto mining that computers have spawned up left and right.

The blockchain network is now easily one of the largest computer networks in the world.

This could be a catastrophic problem economically as well as environmentally. A great solution to this problem is Proof of Stake (PoS). The new Casper protocol will switch Ethereum’s current Proof of Work (PoW) standard to Proof of Stake. This means you won’t have tons of miners competing with computational power. Instead, you will have a smaller number of “stakers” who put down stake to ensure security. This prevents the need for security by computational security, and replaces it with security through invested stake. This will greatly reduce the electricity burden.

What about transactional capabilities?

Will blockchains ever be able to handle the load of an entire globalized world sending billions of transactions a day?

When will blockchains be able to handle say 100,000 requests per second?

The recent Crypto Kitties Fiasco displayed how strong blockchains like Ethereum aren’t fully capable of handling an explosive growth in adoption. In this example, a tremendous amount of people surged to the Ethereum blockchain to buy and trade Crypto Kitties. This almost killed the network and operational costs shot up dramatically.

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Thankfully, some of Ethereum’s brightest minds are working on the solution to this.

Plasma uses a technique called sharding alongside Lightning Networks (Raiden) to greatly help Ethereum scale. This is being led

by Ethereum’s most prominent leader, Vitalik, himself. By using the Raiden network as an extension to the Ethereum blockchain, it will help prevent bottlenecks.

As of now there is at least one startup trying to do this. MIMIR Blockchain Solutions is a Decentralized Ethereum Service Provider (DESP). They use similar Proof of Stake mechanics to allow for decentralized BaaS.

tion for this. His project, called Polkadot, uses Proof-of-Stake mechanics to allow for token interoperability. This will allow for blockchains to interact with each other seamlessly.

In a world where we have Casper, Plasma, Polkadot, and MIMIR, blockchain has the ability to play an enormous role in our everyday lives.

Without current BaaS systems, we may never get there, but once we do, it will be important to adopt a decentralized BaaS model.

The recent Crypto Kitties Fiasco displayed how strong blockchains like Ethereum aren’t fully capable of handling an exploBut what about all these tokens? There are sive growth in adoption. In this example, way too many of them to the point that crypa tremendous amount of people surged to tocurrencies are at the risk of suffering from the Ethereum blockchain to buy and trade the “too many cooks” dilemma.

Crypto Kitties. This almost killed the netDr. Gavin Wood, one of the most brilliant work and operational costs shot up draminds in Ethereum, is working on the solumatically.

So now back to “BaaSics”, what does the ideal version of BaaS look like? Well it could be one of two things. It could either look like Ardor and Nxt, where BaaS is front loaded into the fundamentals of the blockchain, or we could find a Decentralized Blockchain Service Provider (DBSP).

Instead of having one entity set up all the blockchain infrastructure for you, MIMIR creates a system where the 26,000 nodes can work together to share blockchain access to the growing 23 million people who want access to blockchain. Instead of relying on a centralized party to share blockchain access, MIMIR relies on a distributed model where all connected nodes can get paid to do the heavy lifting for people.

The purpose of blockchain is to provide decentralized solutions after all. This decentralization isn’t perfect yet as it is still a new technology. Because of this, BaaS is the pair of crutches that blockchain desperately needs to get to where it needs to.

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Blok Technology to Drive the Global On-Demand Workforce The gig economy is the future of the global workforce. Blok is poised to remove frictions expediting the growth of the independent workforce.

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Last year, the gig economy contributed $1.4 trillion to the US economy. Further, 85% of IT and Business executives say they plan to increase their organization’s use of independent workers by over the next year.

KYLE WHITE CMO at Blok

Almost half of working millennials (47%) freeWhile the gig economy conlance, which actinues to grow, companies need the opportunity to scale counts for more their business to meet their than any other business needs. Scaling is expensive and time-consuming. generation.

With Blok’s new token, platform, and API integrations, we are closer than ever to realizing a global workforce with no boundaries or time clocks.

Blok technology replaces the outdated hierarchical workforce model, creating a productive, lean, and agile workforce. Current technology and economy limitations include lack of trust, slow payments, limited transparency, difficul-

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ty for small companies to connect with verified workers, legal compliance, and static teams.

Blok uses smart contracts to eliminate frictions regarding time, cost, quality, and transparency in matching workers and employers. A blokpreneur can browse all the gigs provided by the companies, assign relevant gigs to themselves, mark them as complete, and get paid in BLK tokens.

By utilizing the Blok platform to eliminate friction in the gig economy, we will empower workers and make hiring freelancers easier for companies. Further, by improving need identification and matching processes, Blok will provide significant advances in the gig economy space.

While the gig economy continues to grow, companies need the opportunity to scale their business to meet their business needs. Scaling is expensive and timeconsuming.

ENGAGING BLOK’S ECOSYSTEM The Blok platform enables companies and blokpreneurs to move their interactions, entirely or partially, to the blockchain. At the heart of the Blok platform is an atomic job offer, a “gig”, that companies offer for blokpreneurs to complete. Gigs are any service which can be completed by contractors for an agreed upon payment.

The gig becomes discoverable through the directory contract within Blok’s platform which lists all relevant gigs. The directory automates formal checks and verification to validate the gig. Once the gig is verified, it becomes discoverable to all blokpreneurs.

Blokpreneurs will be able to search for the gigs through the Blok platform or a companies’ native platform using open source API. If a blokpreneur wants to do a specific gig, they apply to the gig, are approved or rejected, and then receive instructions. Once the gig is completed, they submit it for approval and get paid.

THE GROWING DEMAND FOR INDEPENDENT WORKERS Companies need to remain agile in the on-demand economy to meet the needs of consumers. Almost half of working millennials (47%) freelance, which accounts for more than any other generation. At its current growth rate, most of 57

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A world without hiring boundaries will democratize the global workforce, helping drive pay and transparency for consumers.

BLOK CLIENT APPS The client apps are portable Ethereum wallets with easy-to-use UI to browse Blok gigs, start work on them, mark them as complete, receive funds for completed gigs, and distribute reputation. An essential feature of Blok client apps will be the ability to convert BLK tokens to a digital asset or fiat currency.

With Blok’s new token, platform, and API integrations, we are closer than ever to realizing a global workforce with no boundaries or time clocks.

The Blok platform and subsequent token will make it possible for workers to move their interactions entirely or partially to the blockchain.

the U.S. workforce will be freelancers by 2027. These workers will need a diverse portfolio of jobs to remain solely in the gig economy, outside of traditional employment.

tem that allows gig workers, the blockchain, and technology to work together.

Blok benefits companies looking to distribute tasks on a decentralized platform which reduces labor and capital costs, increases the scale of production Generating a diverse portfolio is where and reaches large subject pools quickly. automation, blockchain, and the gig Companies and individuals can conduct economy link. By isolating and codifybusiness solely on Blok, optimizing the ing a gig so that it can be outsourced to a services and products they provide. worker, we are now automating the gig.

Once the gig has been automated, gig Blok’s goal is to bring millions more peoworkers are only used to supervise and ple to the gig economy by connecting carry out the gig. This leaves an AI systhem with verified jobs across the world.

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SEE HOW BLOK CAN BUILD Blok welcomes companies to engage with the Blok protocol. They can directly push smart gig contracts to the blockchain, validating them with the Blok Directory, find, hire, and pay blokpreneurs for their gigs. Blok will allow companies to have significant economies of scale when it comes to dynamic hiring and meeting on-demand needs.

Blok and the Future Global Workforce The Blok platform and subsequent token will make it possible for workers to move their interactions entirely or partially to the blockchain.

As more millennials are entering the gig economy, finding work online will continue trending upward. Currently, 59% of freelancers have obtained a freelance project online. With a majority of freelancers acquiring a project from online, this will increase the trust in the online gig economy, benefiting the Blok marketplace.

Furthermore, the share of the work freelancers are finding online is increasing.

71% of freelancers say the percentage of work they have obtained online has increased since 2016. High confidence in the freelance work found online shows the sustainability of Blok’s marketplace to encourage repeat work arrangements through our platform.

Blok sees unyielding potential in the gig economy and believes it will continue to grow based on current worth, the younger workforce, changing attitudes, and technological advances.

Blok’s diverse team focuses on creating a platform to empower the global workforce and truly provide ownership of their futures. Through Blok, workers will finally have access to a vast array of jobs with instant payments and financial security.

The Blok pre-ICO and ICO are focused on raising money for platform development. The platform will further Blok’s mission of revolutionizing the global workforce.

prediction markets smart contracts supply chain stablecoin all in support of economic development around the world

empowering growth by enabling investment

Token sale coming soon Learn more at www.topl.co

JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2018

Disrupting the Future of Work –

How Blue Whale’s ICO is Set to Sink the Monopoly of Giants like Uber in the Rapidly Growing “Gig Economy”

Against the backdrop of technological disruption and offshoring, the “gig economy” in America and across developed economies is burgeoning.

Freelancers will make up a whopping 53% of the US workforce by 2027.

Consequently, peer-topeer booking platforms like AirBnB and Uber have seen a meteoric rise in demand accompanying these shifts in the job market.

However, the growing dominance of these tech giants has a dark side for workers in the gig economy. None of the service providers who depend on these platforms to make a living are actual employees of these tech giants. Legally hired as “contractors” they sufby ICO CROWD fer from three main problems: 1) High Commission Fees; 2) Exorbitant Marketing and Advertising Costs; and 3) a Lack of Security that inhibits them from becoming successful small business owners.

Decentralized Associated Network: In order to build the network, we provide free tools such as booking software, customer relationship management (CRM) tools, and intelligent advertising solutions. These tools drastically reduce the need for freelancers and small businesses to spend exorbitant sums to stand out through paid ads, and search engine optimization (SEO). The decentralized network creates a new revenue model based around an advertising network constantly being refined by a cycle of consumer data mining and maThe Blue Whale Foundation’s ICO is set chine learning. This takes the power of to rock the boat of the gig economy by data analytics traditionally held behind leveraging on blockchain as a decentral- closed doors by companies like Googized ledger to cut out the tech giants le and Facebook, redistributing those who are currently the largest middleinsights and rewards evenly throughmen between freelancers and their cus- out the ecosystem of freelancers, small tomers. businesses, and consumers.

Blue Whale will introduce the WORK (Worker Optimized Reward Keeper) system which will comprise of three main components: Contribution Activity Manager: This keeps track of, and rewards individuals who help to drive traffic to freelancers and small businesses, turning everyone into a potential advertiser.

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Reward Bank. The bank receives and disburses the Blue Whale eXchange (BWX) coins as the currency of this network. This balances the pay-outs to contributors by the contribution activity manager, and the revenues generated by the decentralized associated network. The use of blockchain technology allows for the transparent and trustworthy distribution of the BWX coins.

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As the definition of work changes and evolves, the difficulties encountered by freelancers and part-time workers such as the lack of protection, and the insecurity of self-employment will only worsen. This not only affects the growing mass of freelancers, but also ruptures the social contract between workers and governments. Consumer protections have also weakened in view of the murky legal relationship between freelancers and their host platforms. This simmering dissatisfaction has created popular backlash, as concerned governments in several countries have begun to crack down on platforms like Uber and AirBnB. Despite these worrying trends, no workable remedy has been proposed - until now.

continue to develop and improve themselves through knowledgeable experiences.

dustry. His expertise lies in infrastructure, software, web, and mobile applications. Most recently, he was the head of product and service at DomoSafety S.A. a leading healthcare startup in Switzerland. His responsibilities include managing service strategies, designing and implementing machine-learning algorithms for healthcare platforms and medical data analytics. Previously, he has led numerous largesized projects at Sun Microsystems and Oracle that required the application of ERP, MES, Enterprise Portal and Cloud Platform for Samsung, LG and Hyundai.

Hawon Chung / COO, co-founder (https://www. linkedin.com/in/hawonchung/) Hawon Chung, CEO of ChainTOB. He studied computer science and engineering at POSTECH. He holds a wide breadth of experience through multiple positions (e.g. country manager, sales, strategic programs manager, product/project manager, and system engineer) at various companies including Sun Microsystems, Oracle, Splunk, and Elastic. He had setup multiple startups and has ran Changsub Keum / CIO (https:// his own business in the IT industry www.linkedin.com/in/changsup-kesince 2000. He believes that blockThe Blue Whale Foundation’s blockchain-based chain technology would not only The Blue Whale um-20922626/) WORK System of smart contracts is the only Changsub is a software architect and change the world, but also give fair Foundation’s solution on the market designed to alleviate not value to all participants in the econresearcher with 20 years of experionly the financial and the legal problems with omy. He is continuously looking out ICO is set to rock ence in the ICT industry. His interests the boat of the the “gig economy”, but also the looming coninclude blockchain technologies, serfor new IT technologies that would centration of power in the hands of a few tech vice platforms, and software architeccontribute to the society. gig economy by giants. tures. Most recently, he was the releveraging on search director of a trustworthy netJaehyun Park / CAO, co-founder blockchain as a The Blue Whale project was also one of 6 prowork service platform at ETRI, a gov(https://www.linkedin.com/in/wisedecentralized jects picked to present at the ICON Annual ernment-sponsored research instifree/) Summit and is fully supported by ICON, one of Jaehyun Park. He worked at SKT ledger to cut out tute in South Korea. He got the Ph.D at CMU(Carnegie Mellon University). the top 15 cryptocurrencies by market capital(EVP) and at Samsung Electronthe tech giants ization. is a board member of Korean Softics (VP) for 10 years. He developed who are current- He ware Engineering Society. the first sharing economy platform ly the largest If you want to join the Blue Whale team in disin Korea and created Samsung Pay middlemen beRyan Chew / CRO, (https://sg.linkerupting the future of work, subscribe to Blue as Global General Manager. He has Whale’s Pre-ICO at www.bluewhale.foundation. spent over 24 years in the S/W and tween freelanc- din.com/in/ryan-chew-zi-jie) Early subscribers will get a purchase bonus.

ICT industry. He is also an entrepre- ers and their cus- He studied the sociology of small business at the Nanyang Technologneur, a blockchain investor, and a ical University, and is now the ReWill Lee / CEO , founder (https://www.linkedin. public speaker. He has written about tomers. gional Director (SEA) at Verlocal. He com/in/willwhlee/) Software technology for over 10 Will Lee, CEO of Verlocal. He studied Artifiyears and continues to write technical columns runs Verlocal’s operations in the Southeast Asia cial Intelligence at Stanford University and on Electric Daily and ZDnet Korea about block- region: a SaaS-enabled, decentralized marketnow runs Verlocal, a SaaS enabled decentralplace for freelancers. Ryan spent several years chains and cryptocurrencies. He is leading a in the startup scene, having founded several ized marketplace where people can monetize blockchain technical research group. startups including Fixir, an Uber for car repairs. their intangible assets such as skills and knowledge. His mission is to empower individuals to As a serial entrepreneur, he is on a mission is to Jaewoong Choi / Head of product, co-founder create a sustainable ecosystem which empowbecome one-person business owners and max(https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaewoongchoi/) ers individuals to become unchained from office imize their full potential. He aspires to create a Jaewoong is an experienced product managhuman-centered industry where individuals can er with over 10 years of experience in the IT in- desks and become successfully self-employed.

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Confideal: Trusting People is Easy Again ABSTRACT Confideal is a visual smart contract creator that makes creating, managing and enforcing smart contracts as easy as never. Confideal enables users with no coding skills to create an enforceable, self-executing and secure digital by ICO CROWD agreement powered by Ethereum for all types of transactions. Built-in arbitration module allows to resolve disputes in the Confideal environment picking the top-rated arbiters without any need to reveal your personal data.

THE PROBLEM Drafting and enforcing deals is constantly associated with onerous need to involve third party intermediary like banks, lawyers and escrows which takes both time and money, especially when dealing with overseas partners. Smart contract technology eliminates administrative and legal barriers but requires programming skills to draft digital contracts powered by Blockchain on the daily basis.

THE SOLUTION Confideal makes drafting of smart contracts simple and accessible for anyone from enterprises or small businesses to individuals.

Confideal provides the platform that offers a full stack of tools necessary to 62

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create, maintain and fulfill agreements, resolve disputes in one comprehensive environment arbitration module, owing to which users may easily access top-rated arbiters to resolve any disputes arising from the smart contract.

Simple interface that requires no programming skills to create and deploy smart contracts in the Ethereum blockchain environment WHAT MAKES US UNIQUE? 1. Easy and accessible platform eliminates need in coding.

2. Data is encrypted and protected by Ethereum blockchain what guarantees the immutability of the terms of the deal, when no personal information is revealed even in the process of arbitration.

3. Built-in arbitration module with best arbiters and unbiased rating. Arbiter is a qualified third-party legal firm or professional,

chosen as an arbiter to resolve a dispute on Confideal platform.

4. Smart contract management option gives full control over the transaction (e. g. to close the deal, break it, set up fines and down payments, etc.).

5. The use of cryptocurrencies eliminates all barriers to payment, no need in an intermediary, resulting in the lower cost There are currently no analogues to this combination of all integrated features and tools.

Confideal makes drafting of smart contracts simple and accessible for anyone from enterprises or small businesses to individuals.

WHAT`S NEW? Tokenizer by Confideal is a new product that we have released recently. While it inherits the "fill out a form and have your smart contract deployed in a minute" philosophy from the main Confideal product, it empowers a very specific use case. It enables the user to launch a token sale campaign in 3 easy steps:

CONFIDEAL USE CASES Crypto community

Individuals

Small business

Large enterprises

Issue ERC20 tokens

Real estate deals

Automatic royalty payment

Long-term contracts with delayed or step-bystep payment

Make TGE (ICO) contracts

Rentals

Domestic trade and international trade deals

Chained contracts (derivatives)

Cryptocurrency bails for fiat credits

Online / offline services

Order mining equipment

Freelancing and outsourcing c2c marketplace

Multilateral contracts delivery of containers

1. Fill out a form with the basic info about the project and the campaign; 2. Upload the logo and the white paper; 3. Set up ICO properties, such as: duration, targets, incentive program.

Thus, launching a crowd sale campaign via Tokenizer is much faster and cheaper than launching a custom ICO. It is also very secure as our smart contracts are tested with SmartCheck, a leading vulnerability scanner for Solidity smart contracts. Confideal' proprietary CDL token will be accepted by Tokenizer as the means of payment along with ETH coins shortly after our tokens are issued.

CONFIDEAL ECOSYSTEM 1. Confideal platform • smart contract creator • arbitration module 2. Confideal token (CDL) • pay to the counterpart with CDL tokens • avoid 1% of contract value service fee • voting for arbitrators • possibility to exchange CDL tokens for a different ERC20 token with 33.3% discount • the only means of payment for other services to use the protocol 3. Tokenizer by Confideal • a smart contract creator that helps you generate your own tokens and run an ICO • accepts CDL tokens 63

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Cubaaz:

Opening a New World of Several Possibilities CHALLENGES PLAGUING THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY Like many other industries around the world, the travel industry has been facing several challenges over the years, and these have been largely responsible for poor customer expeby ICO CROWD rience as well as satisfaction. Topmost of these challenges is the oligopolistic nature of the industry which has made only about five companies to be in control of the travel industry.

Resultantly, these five companies are capitalising on their positions to make exorbitant profits at the expense of the clients. Clients are overcharged for their traveling and also made to pay excess commissions. While these few companies are blossoming at an exceeding rate, it has become increasingly difficult for budding and new startups in the travel industry to find their feet and get a good return on their investments. In the face of these challenges, Cubaaz has come as the solution that both new startups and clients need.

WHAT IS CUBAAZ? Foremost, what is Cubaaz? What solution does Cubaaz proffer to the problems facing the travel industry?

Cubaaz is a platform that has been established to create the suitable con64

ditions that allow competitions to exist between different travel suppliers so as to improve the experience and satisfaction of the clients. Not only are the transactions going to be faster and more reliable than ever before, they will be fully automated with direct integrations into the reservation systems of various travel suppliers. Based on its technological advancement, Cubaaz will use the platforms of Trivago, Tripadvisor, Uber, Expedia, booking.com, Airbnb, Bravofly, Cheapticket and other travel suppliers to offer customers more satisfying services.

Customers can use Cubaaz platform to browse through different offers from various travel companies and decide the best deal. Cubaaz will be utilized by clients to search and compare the prices for hotels, vacation home, flight, car rental, tourist guide, restaurant, chauffeurs/private taxis, bus/ public transport, train cruises, cinemas, and theaters.

Based on its technological advancement, Cubaaz will use the platforms of Trivago, Tripadvisor, Uber, Expedia, booking.com, Airbnb, Bravofly, Cheapticket and other travel suppliers to offer customers more satisfying services.

Cubaaz can also be used to get more information, prices and reservation processes for where to visit during a touristic visit, car sharing, amusement parks, water parks, tours sightseeing, and other activities that can make tours or travels more enjoyable. There are several other travel-related services and products that customers can access through Cubaaz without having to visit hundreds of websites. Without mincing words, Cubaaz eases and quickens the processes involved in enjoying the services of various travel suppliers by acting as a one-stop platform that brings all services and products closer to the customers.

Although Cubaaz is spearheading the campaign to bring about a change in the travel industry to help both clients and travel agencies, it is working alongside other companies such as Knowdle in implementing the various strategies. Knowdle will be bringing in its

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experience, expertise, and versatility in the use of several technologies to provide ultimate travel experiences to everyone. Artificial Intelligence, Collective Intelligence, Big Data, and Blockchain Technologies are some of the technologies that will be made use of in the implementing of the strategies of Cubaaz.

ports, chauffeurs/private taxis, cinemas, theaters, car sharing, tours sightseeing, places to visit, amusement parks, water parks, where to go, and several other services and products related to the travel industry.

Since Cubaaz serves as the go-to platform that brings prices and offers of different travel suppliers to the fingertip of everyone, customers do not have to go through the stress of browsing through hundreds of websites of getting the best deals.

Although Cubaaz is spearheading the campaign to bring about With the aid of the various technologies employed for Cubaaz platform, a change in the there will be no downtime. In adtravel industry to dition, there will be near-real time help both clients transactions, bank-level security, and Notably, it is only the Cubaaz Coin and travel agenblockchain-enabled B2B to facilitate that will usable on the Cubaaz ecohigh-quality travel which is the main system for these activities, and uscies, it is worktarget of the Cubaaz team and its ers need to familiarise themselves ing alongside partners. with its usage for easy and seamother companies less transactions. Even users that such as KnowdCUBAAZ COIN do not have the tokens and willing le in implementCubaaz Coin is a utility token that will to use the Cubaaz platform are exbe primarily used within the Cubaaz pected to buy from the token holders ing the various ecosystem to conduct various transbefore enjoying the benefits of the strategies. Knowactions that are under the control of platform. dle will be bringCubaaz. It is the only legal tender for transactions on the platform of CuEach user can acquire the Cubaaz Coin ing in its experibaaz. through the use of Bitcoin (BTC), ence, expertise, Ethereum (ETH), and fiat payment and versatility in Using the Cubaaz Coin (CC), custom- such as credit card and wire transfer. the use of severers have access to make various trans- The token will be issued to users dural technologies to actions including searching and com- ing the pre-ICO and ICO of Cubaaz, paring the prices for flights, restauand it can be used afterward. You can provide ultimate rant, hotels, vacation house, tourist learn more about how to get the Cutravel experiencguide, car rentals, bus/public transbaaz Coin at www.cubaaz.io. es to everyone.

CUBAAZ ICO LAUNCH The Cubaaz Coin will be launched on February 5, 2018 at 11:59 GMT, and it is expected to last for 65 days. However, if the ICO final goals are reached before the proposed date of closure, the token sales can be closed earlier.

Each token costs just 0.0001 BTC, and at least, a total of three hundred million tokens are proposed to be sold during the pre-ICO period. 70% of the total ICO will be distributed to the community for anyone to purchase, 15% will be made available for marketing and loyalty purposes that will be overseen by the Cubaaz team, and 9% will be allocated to founders and management of the ICO program that will take place. Of the remaining 6% of the ICO, ICO partner advisers of Cubaaz will take 3% while the 3% will be reserved for the marketing campaign team.

Any interested persons can still be part of the initial coin offering of Cubaaz, purchase the tokens and enjoy the several benefits that the Cubaaz platform is established to provide for everyone around the world. You can join the platform now by visiting www.cubaaz.io to read the details of the programs and platform of Cubaaz to make informed decisions on whether to join the ICO or not.

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Databroker DAO: A Global Market for Local Data DataBroker DAO is the first marketplace to sell & buy sensor data. As a decentralized marketplace for Internet of Things (IoT) sensor data using Blockchain technology, DataBroker DAO enables sensor owners to turn generated data into revenue streams. This will by ICO CROWD open up a wealth of opportunities for various industries. Data will be used and become more effective.

DataBroker DAO was built & launched

by SettleMint in July 2017, using their own core technology Mint.

THE CHALLENGE: UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL & MONETIZATION OF IOT SENSOR DATA Individuals, companies, researchers & governments are spending hundreds of billions each year on buying and maintaining IoT sensors. The growth of the investment and applications in IoT is truly staggering, and yet, all data captured by these devices is locked up in silos and walled gardens.

THE SOLUTION: A PEER TO PEER MARKETPLACE FOR IOT SENSOR DATA This is where DataBroker DAO, as a distributed marketplace (or an ‘Amazon’) for IoT sensor data, comes in. DataBroker DAO will enable the monetization of gathered IoT data, turning costs into perpetual revenue streams.

BETA platform: We have a fully functioning platform for you to try.

Want to know how selling or buying IoT sensor data would work on DataBroker?

Check out the BETA version of the platform: https://beta.databrokerdao.com

A quote by Patrick M. Byrne - CEO and Founder of Overstock.com: “The intersection of IoT and blockchain is enormously promising. For sensor- owning organizations, the ability to use an immutable ledger to store data, ensure its integrity, and provide a clear path to data monetization, is a stellar example of the promise of blockchain. The value of the IoT sensor market is greater than USD Whether for primary usage or for en600 billion per year, and is expected to richment and direct resale, the data re- double in the next three years, simply for mains grossly under-utilized and locked primary usage of the data by the sensor away in deep organizational silos, stiowner! The magnitude and potential valfling innovation and holding back soci- ue of a marketplace for data-hungry third ety as a whole. parties is staggering.

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I believe that what online retailers like Overstock.com have done for making physical goods accessible online, DataBroker DAO will do for sensor data.”

THE BENEFITS: - recoup sensor costs - gain access to thousands of sensors - turn expenses into investments - monetize your data WHO IS IT FOR? DataBroker DAO connects people with complementary needs.

The platform allows sensor owners to earn back their investments in hardware while enabling entrepreneurs and organizations to buy and aggregate data for their own purpose or resell the enriched data via DataBroker DAO. SENSOR OWNERS Are able to monetize their data and turn a sunk cost into a potential moneymaker and at least the opportunity to recoup some of their investments in IoT sensors.

NETWORK OPERATORS Gain scale and speed in the adoption of their network as connected telcos can present a win-back to their enterprise accounts, a clear USP.

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SENSOR MANUFACTURERS Can stop the "race to the bottom� for production and pull resources and capital out of manufacturing and allocate these to profitable SaaS offerings.

SMART CITY INITIATIVES Can limit the upfront cost of populating the town with sufficient sensors and turn the expense into an investment with a 2-3 year payback period and a continuous income stream after that.

AGRICULTURAL SECTOR In the Agricultural sector in Belgium today, 10% of farmers are "techie". They deploy sensors include for wind, temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, PH level in the soil. The platform will provide the possibility to recoup some of this cost.

ACADEMICS Can get access to thousands of sensors and can buy data directly and more cheap on the marketplace, cutting out established data providers.

THE DATABROKER DAO ALLIANCE: Building a platform and business like DataBroker DAO requires real sellers and buyers of IoT sensor data. Over the past couple of months we have been hard at work integrating these parties into an alliance. The first official mem-

bers of this DataBroker DAO alliance are YUKTIX and SENTHUS, DESIDEDATUM, IQUADRAT, SKYLARK and TECHNILOG. Looking ahead, we envision DataBroker DAO forming an integral part of the IoT data-fabric, which means there will be a greater need for effective and multidisciplinary collaboration between active stakeholders. These parties will have a clear need to define collaborative models to work together to create better synergies between their collective businesses and use-cases.

Therefore, in order to kick-start the ecosystem and facilitate a collaborative environment, we have formed the DataBroker DAO Alliance. This Alliance will increasingly play a role in defining the further development of the DataBroker DAO platform.

Throughout 2018, we will continue our proactive efforts to continue growing the Alliance. At this point, membership is without cost so if you are working for an organization big or small that has an interest in radically broadening access to and monetizing IoT sensor data, please visit https://databrokerdao.com

and register as a DataBroker DAO member. We will get in touch shortly thereafter to begin your member onboarding.

Individuals, companies, researchers & governments are spending hundreds of billions each year on buying and maintaining IoT sensors.

TOKEN SALE: For the DataBroker DAO upcoming token sale, the Databroker DAO team has set a tentative date for the main token sale and we are validating this with our advisors and extended team. The date will be announced soon.

Check the DataBroker DAO website (https://databrokerdao.com/) to know everything about other alliance partners, the events we will be attending in the near future, who’s who and what the media and Industry experts worldwide are writing about DataBroker DAO. Stay tuned for more exciting news and insights very soon and please join one of the live webinars in the coming weeks or follow DataBroker DAO on Telegram!

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Developeo:

The future of software development and humanity is on the blockchain by ZHIVKO TODOROV Developeo Community Manager

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It is important to understand the macbig numbers. Open-source has bero trends such as the 4th Industrial Revcome the dominant software develolution. It’s not only blockchain that’s opment method. changing the world we live in. The big2 Talented engineers are quickly ger technological movement is drivsnapped up by “big tech” while openen by frontier technology such as Artifisource contributors are left unrecial Intelligence, Neural Networks & Mawarded chine Learning, Data Science, Internet of Things, Automation Systems and, of THE DEVELOPEO PLATFORM course, blockchain.

Imagine 27+ million code contributors on Github being rewarded in cryptoAnd as their adoption is yet to peak, the currency for the code they commit. Dedemand for talented engineers increasvelopeo will be built on the Ethereum es exponentially, creating a serious mar- blockchain, enabling talented engineers ket gap. to get rewarded for their software code contributions through smart contracts.

WHAT ARE THE BIG ISSUES IN THE 2 Contributors get rewarded in DEV MARKET? tokens which can be exchanged or 2 The demand for talented engineers spent in the Developeo Marketplace, is ever-growing, proportional to Bootcamps or Developeo University adoption of technology driving the 2 Code is reviewed by project managers fourth-industrial revolution + contributors of the project (decen2 Tech education is insufficient in tralized democratic voting platform) emerging domains such as Machine 2 The community votes on code quality Learning, Blockchain, Data Science and others EDUCATION & DEVELOPEO 2 Next-gen jobs require a blend of inDevelopeo’s vision goes well beyond savdustrial, digital expertise. ing open-source software development Open-source Projects are growing in through tokenized rewards. The grand

vision behind the project is to first educate and then provide work opportunities for aspiring engineers, helping the humanity in the fourth industrial revolution.

2 Intense, 2-month-long, domain-focused boot camps on Deep Learning, Neural Networks, Blockchain Programming, Data Science and more.

2 The graduates would be instantly able to find projects through the Developeo Marketplace.

2 The long-term vision is to establish the Developeo University, aiming to become a pioneer in the new era of tech-education, with a 360-degree scope of next-gen education.

Developeo is already working on the alpha version of the platform which will be delivered in Q1 2018. While the venture is bootstrapped so far, Developeo will be launching a token sale to boost its development and marketing resources with the official launch expected in May 2018. For the whitepaper and more information on the project - visit developeo.com.

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Blockchain Brings Trust Back to Media in the Age of Fakenews By looking around at recent major media market and related startup events we have come to a conclusion: Media is heading towards decentralization today.

Blockchain will transform our everyday transactions, because it’s capable to esby tablish trust and able to provide a simTIBOR SZOKE ple way to change ownership of almost any goods — even media contents.

REPORTER COMMUNITY AMONGST PEERS UTILIZING BLOCKCHAIN We recognized that most of the new ventures in the media space are (or willing to be) using blockchain technology to guarantee content integrity, service quality and process transactions automatically. We strongly believe that today’s media is at the brink of decentralization, and the near future may result in tokenization of existing media businesses.

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We developed and launched an MVP app and web platform for User Generated Contents (UGC) a year ago.

Today we already have 30k+ installs from 136 countries, and 100+ media clients of the platform.

As a 'cross industry' solution we've started an ICO, based on our new blockchain based development.

We are using Blockchain to verify and validate the content - against content manipulation. 4 'big fishes' are on the board as beta testers. We also have a detailed development plan for additional features (AI implementation and micro api’s for sellable livestreaming contents).

Media is heading towards decentralization today.

“It’s not just an idea – we have a working product”

There are many different types of tokens currently being minted around the world, such as “network tokens” or “fuel”, “equity-type” digital assets and even “debt” structures, however in the case of the Reporter Community NewsToken token sale, our tokens represents royalty rights to future user generated content being published and purchased on our Reporter Community marketplace.

With this in mind, we, at Reporter Community, are launching our NEWS token, placing effort specifically in being as transparent and accountable as we could so potential token buyers obtain a clear understanding of our

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mission, vision and the expected returns that we aim to deliver on. To do so we focused on three key areas, where we hope to bring extra value to our backers: 1. “It’s not just an idea – we have a working product” Yes, we have launched the Reporter app for both iOS and Android, developed a user base of more than 25 000 citizen journalists, and secured the interest of many global news outlets. We firmly believe in our ability to execute and deliver on our plan and roadmap. We have a strong community: 50K+ followers on Twitter or Instagram to stay up to date with our product and daily content.

2. Publishing financial forecasts for proper valuation Budgets, action plans and delivery roadmaps are important and critical to ensure transparency and accountability to all our stakeholders: clients, investors and token owners.

We’ve written our token sales documentation in a manner consistent with these beliefs, and therefore we have included our forward-looking financial forecasts for the operations, beyond the usual use of funds chart, action plan and roadmap.

3. Escrow and transparency audit More than words and promises to token buyers, we’ve partnered with Mithqal.io to bring independent third party verification and validation, as an assurance to potential token buyers that everything we claim and plan is on the up-and-up. Beyond auditing our token sales, Mithqal’s team will serve as the escrow of record on the multi-sig account holding project backing tokens, and any funds will be released only once the appropriate structure is in place, all required documents are signed and sealed.

WIN-WIN The initial funding raised through the token sale will go towards development of our blockchain content verification, smart contract settlement and growing the UGC community and in return a 15% perpetual royalty right on all content sold through the marketplace will be awarded to token owners.

By offering full transparency as well as eliminating the middleman and the third parties, smart contracts could ultimately have a profound impact on companies of the media industry.

Through smart contracts media companies can exchange content, data, texts or anything of value in a transparent, frictionless way while avoiding the third party services. They can perform calculations, store information (like metadata of a media content) and send transactions to other accounts if the certain conditions are met (execute set of instructions that two parties have agreed to in advance).

Here are six advantages of smart contracts (in our case NewsToken) can bring to the media industry: 1. Trust: while data (metadata, additional data of a news story etc.) are encrypted on a shared ledger, smart contracts regulate how parties can have access to them anytime creating a trusted environment 2. Transparency: for organizations like big media outlets, smart contracts add another level of transparency to dealings like sources of media content, clear information on copyright possession etc.

3. Autonomy: there is no need to rely on centralized third parties, who could act as gatekeepers of authentic media content 4. Immutable: media data can be recorded in a particular manner — even encrypted, if needed — which is resilient to manipulation, as any retroactive change would impact the whole chain which is clearly identifiable by all participants 5. Redundancy: media data are stored across the network in multiple instances on the blockchain, which can’t ever be “lost” or deleted without the shutdown of the entire network 6. Speed & savings: smart contracts automatically self-execute when triggered according to preset rules, thereby saving operations time and costs related to settlement for all involved parties Reporter’s NewsToken ICO is out to kill ’fake news’ in the UGC field. We’re accepting contributions in ETH, in XEM (NEM’s native cryptocoins – we have a strategic partnership with NEM Community for tokensales and development phases too) and also XRP (Ripple’s cryptocoins).

Find more: www.reportercommunity.tech

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NPER,

Global Peer to Peer Intellectual Property Investment Platform NPER is a project that allows creators to take legitimate rights by defeating the unusual intellectual property (IP) industry structure that takes away the legitimate rights of creators. NPER will build a peer to peer blockchain investment main network to innovate the IP by ICO CROWD industry and challenge on various possibilities.

NPER started from the awareness of Lee Jun-won, the Co-Founder who works as an artist. Creators are seeking structural changes because sales revenue is not enough to cover the cost of materials as well as livelihoods.

The IP industry is growing every year, but the creators are not getting their rights and rewards properly, and this unfair industrial structure has been going on for decades. The IP industry can create endless value, but there is no 72

business model which enables the investment of individuals, due to the monopolistic industrial structure and its stereotypes.

However, NPER project approaches the existing IP industry by reclaiming the legitimate rights of creators and presenting a new 'Intellectual Property Investment Business Model' in which everyone can invest.

Creators have little to do with their works, even though IP is their rights and assets. They just must wait until their works are sold. However, some creators would like to finance their IP ownerships for sale or lease, either for other creative activities or for any other reason. NPER recognizes creators' IP as an asset, purchases it and turns it into a digital asset called NPER coin.

In this way, we can share the value of

a creators' intellectual property rights and present a new investment business model that uses the cryptocurrency to ensure investors have a stable or high royalty income.

Using block-chain technology NPER’s main network platform allows peerto-peer trading of license / ownership rights on IP. This project will innovate existing structure by simplifying the distribution channel with smart contracts.

It meets the needs of both creators and investors in general.

Smart contracts eliminate the needs of trust among the trading partners. The current juridical interpretation explicitly listed the interests of the parties, but did not enforce the transaction. Blockchain technology with smart contract goes one step further to enforce the contract immediately. Thus, through the

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system that forces the transaction, the middleman who takes excessive brokerage fees between the trading partners are eliminated. The use of blockchains and smart contracts enables a variety of attempts in the IP industry. It is possible to have a direct match between the creator and the user, therefore eliminating the excessive brokerage fees taken by the distributors.

In addition, by recording the IP distribution structure in the chain in real time, the possibility of the illegal use of IP can be greatly prevented. And there are many other attempts in the IP industry. The introduction of block-chain solutions in the IP industry can create a huge wave that changes the industry structure itself.

Accordingly, in NPER‘s global IP trading platform, payment methods will be unified with the NPER coin, and a simplified distribution structure with few commissions and instant IP transactions will be available with a smart contract. In this process, NPER has reduced the risk of hacking by using blockchain technology.

In addition, NPER has qualified technicians, an advisory board and many business partners.

The block-chain main network is being built with a professional block-chain development team called “Hexlant”. Its CTO has a long experience in data development lab Nextel, WEB International and other main developers are from Samsung Electronics development team and research department. With qualified expertise in blockchain and other technical aspects, the main network will be built professionally and quickly. On top of that its advisory lawyers and patent attorney have broad experience in IP cases, and its intellectual property M&A specialist has many successful experiences in trading IP which gives more forces to the project. Apart from this, NPER also has an advisory specialist from the blockchain industry and venture capital as well.

NPER has formed partnerships with many businesses, such as Kiwi Media, The Star Asia and global entertainment Media Companies that have extensive networks in South-East Asia, and North-East Asia. Recently NPER also has partnered with renowned cryptocurrency corporation CENTRA and global cryptocurrency investment fund LDJ Capital.

To review NPER’s latest activities, the CEO of NPER Daniel Nam had an interview in NASDAQ discussing about the ICO and the future of the blockchain industry. On January 23rd, 2018 NPER Token pre & crowd sale has successfully ended. On January 27th, 2018 the CENTRA and NPER Meet Up was held at Meridian hotel in Gangnam. It was to celebrate the partnership between NPER & CENTRA. Around 400 people including authorities and participants graced the event with their presence. At the meet-up Daniel Nam introduced the NPER project and in sequence, Alex Park of Hexlant announced the technical roadmap of NPER. According to him, NPER Wallet’s open as scheduled in April 2018 and the completion of NPER’s main net build is in Q1 2019.

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A New Way to Present, Measure and Monetize Ads, Secured Through Blockchain Technology

Digital advertising is a fast-growing industry, surpassing even TV advertising in volume in 2016. Mobile ad spending alone has reached around 100billion USD spent in 2016, with in-game advertising reaching around 20billion USD. However, a lot of the advertising budget is lost due to fraud, repetitive ad content or ad blocking. This is where our solutions and developments come in, which can be put into three different categories: in-game advertising, gamer participation and later on funding. All of them make use of blockchain technology.

by ANDREAS SCHEMM CEO

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IN-GAME ADVERTISING We have developed an innovative solution for software developers and advertising brands called vreo, which enables the placement of digital billboards (surfaces within software to show banners/posters/videos) within software. This enables the placement of ads dynamically and natively embedded within said software (no popups, so no pop-up blockers) and reports back all interaction of the user with the ad. vreo supplies the devel-

opers with plugins and algorithms which are tethered to various graphical engines (with which the software is developed). These plugins and algorithms are used for streaming and exchanging the ads as well as evaluating the exact number (and the quality!) of views and other user specific data.

Contrary to other developments our solutions are not bound to specific hardware devices but usable on every platform and make use of blockchain technology.

GAMER PARTICIPATION Gamers fuel the whole industry, which is why we find it outrageous that they don’t get to participate in the revenue streams. Using self-determined control and digital profiles, every user can choose to make his data available, in turn receiving a fraction of the ad revenue he is providing through gaming.

This enables both better targeting of advertising and content and a reward system for gamers.

UNTAPPED POTENTIAL All categories of our developments have a lot of untapped potential: while a lot of in-game advertising is happening on mobile, it is still “im-

mobile” advertising that interrupts the gaming experience of the user.

With our plugins, we provide a solution to embed ads into the surroundings of the game, for example at roadside or on billboards and TVs, without interrupting the gaming experience. On PC and console there is next to no in-game advertising present, as there was no technology available to do it on a larger scale, a problem our plugin and marketplace solve.

Currently, gamers have no way of participating other than gaining in-game rewards, if any, and get presented with repetitive, non-fitting ads. Customer retention models are on the rise, but still mostly provide no real or monetary benefit to the users.

USE OF BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY Blockchain can solve a lot of problems all around both gaming and advertising. All ad data gets gathered and written into a blockchain, where, due to its decentralized nature, it cannot be manipulated, providing a high amount of trust for everyone involved. Combine this with gamer profiles, which are based upon self-de-

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We strongly believe that blockchain technology will be a great solution for advertising and gaming in general, which is why our solutions are always scalable, as we plan to adapt other forms of advertising to our data and billing routine as well.

WHO ARE WE? We founded the company in the beginning of 2016 with the plan to revolutionize the gaming industry. Our team consists of professionals and entrepreneurs of all ages, with industry veterans in PR, marketing, sales and coding.

We have strong experience in building companies up from scratch and establishing new business models. In addition to our core team, we rely upon our vast network of developers and contacts all around the world, some of which joined our advisory board. For every step we take and every industry we are in contact with, we either have a team member or a well-recognized advisor in their respective field, such as Iconiq Lab, who help us greatly to navigate the waters of marketing as well as connecting to investors and industry experts.

THE VREO TOKENS The Vreo network will make use of a two-token structure, enabling the stability of fiat-backed volatility-free token mechanisms (the ViewCoin) and a volatile utility token that grants network access and additional utilities like elimination of transaction fees (the MeritCoin).

WHAT LIES AHEAD? We are closing in on a sale of our vreo tokens, with a pre-sale taking place in early April 2018. The main token sale runs through May of 2018 and will accept Ethereum (ETH) in exchange for MeritCoins. The ICO has a target size of EUR 8m and a hardcap of EUR 16m. To learn more about our project and our

termined control possible thanks to blockchain, and fraudulent content gets minimized.

Another key aspect is the payment through cryptocurrency. A lot of advertising models currently out there are paying out weeks or even months after the ads have been shown, leading to shortages of funds on the developer side. International transactions are also costly and slow, while cryptocurrencies like Ethereum can be transferred in a few minutes at less cost.

roadmap, please visit us at http:// vreo. io/ or contact us at info@vreo.io or one of our other channels that are listed on our website.

All ad data gets gathered and written into a blockchain, where, due to its decentralized nature, it cannot be manipulated, providing a high amount of trust for everyone involved.

OUTLOOK: GAMES FUNDING While we focus on our in-game advertising solution at the moment, we know there are more problems in the gaming industry that need to be solved. One of these is games funding: we want to provide a platform for developers to launch their own (mini-) ICOs in the future.

Gaming is, despite having surpassed both music and film industry in worldwide revenue, still often not as valued as traditional markets, leaving software developers with next to no means of acquiring funds. Providing market intelligence through our advertising marketplace, financial forecasts can be made based on median performance of games in the targeted genre/sector as well as references from former projects.

Software funding will also be easier, faster and more flexible thanks to smart contracts. It is both possible to reward funders with in-game currency or revenue shares.

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Blockchain-Based Loyalty Ecosystem Bitrewards Launched Public Pre-Sale on January 12th, 2018 BitRewards is a blockchain rewards and loyalty platform and ecosystem that enables retailers to reward the purchases that their customers make, with cryptocurrency. The end-users are rewarded for their purchases with liquid Ethereum-based tokens, which by ICO CROWD can be redeemed against future purchases or offers, or transferred to another crypto-wallet and spent on other products or services. The public pre-sale started on January 12st, 2018.

A BRAND-NEW LOOK AT LOYALTY MANAGEMENT The conversion optimization, referral, and loyalty solutions market are estimated to be $20 billion. On top of that, there is more than $50 billion worth of loyalty points that are issued globally every year. Despite the strong growth, the efficiency of this market leaves much to be desired: customer loyalty programs are not realizing their full potential.

The main problems of loyalty management are: • account inactivity; • low retention; • low motivation by offered rewards.

Those issues can be caused by different factors: poor user experience, inconvenience, and sophisticated registration processes can prevent users from signing up for loyalty programs. Sophisticated rules of participation can also drive up the cost of customer service. Customer retention is another problem as it’s a commonly known fact that it’s cheaper to retain an old customer than to attract a new one. All the 76

above mentioned problems can be easily solved with an integrated loyalty system.

TOKEN GENERATION EVENT BitRewards token BIT is an ERC20-compatible utility token. BIT is an internal unit and is used to technically conduct all operations within the BitRewards ecosystem. BIT tokens are used for processing of goods and services within partner merchants of the BitRewards system and can be circulated under the BitRewards smart contract.

LOYALTY ON BLOCKCHAIN: WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT? BitRewards is based on a successfully working product in the field of user rewards and loyalty (GIFTD) - for small and medium-sized e-commerce businesses. The team has been engaged in the product development for more than five years, knows the market and client The BitRewards team has scheduled needs well and has great expertise in several token distribution stages. The motivational marketing solutions. private pre-sale took place between December 25th, 2017 and January With BitRewards, the merchants can 11th, 2018. The public pre-sale startboth issue their internal points or BIT ed on January 12th, 2018 and will end tokens to reward their users on our sys- on March 31th, 2018. The main token tem. They can choose to reward for any sale will start on April 1st and end on custom action (likes, shares, referred May 1st. friends' purchases) with the crypto. The platform provides all necessary infraThe total volume of BIT tokens will be structure for a solid loyalty manageup to 2,000,000,000 BITs with a $3 ment system: modules or plug-ins for million soft cap and $15 million hard all popular online trading platforms cap. At the moment, the estimations (OpenCart, Shopify, Magento, etc.), show that the optimal number of tomobile wallets for customers, mobile kens should be around 1 billion BITs apps, and extensions for browsers. depending on the ETH price. Whichever amount of BIT tokens will be sold BitRewards also includes BitRecomduring ICO, it will count as 64% of tomendations - a decentralized crowdkens. sourced recommendation system tailored to the needs of e-commerce that Additional details on BitRewards touses blockchain to monitor the quality ken sale are provided on the official and integrity of the Big Data. The syswebsite of the project: https://bitretem is AI-based as its training is carried wards.network. out on the data of thousands of stores, which ensures the high quality of recFor more information about the team, ommendations. All data received from vision, and technical architecture of stores is stored on a decentralized IPFS BitRewards, visit the company website file system. Metadata, including the at https://bitrewards.network, downrating of data quality, is stored on the load the whitepaper, and join us on Ethereum blockchain.

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JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2018

The New Ecosystem: ICOs Today by JOHN KAPLAN Managing Partner & CEO at Aslan Capital

When I first bought Bitcoin back in 2011, it was a different time then. You didn’t have the community you have today. There wasn’t a paved path of security measures to consider. There weren’t many events happening and people would not publicly talk about Bitcoin.

It was an uncertain time and there was a lack of resources for the technology we were using. Today it is a completely new world.

Recently someone asked me, “what is the biggest difference between 2011 and today?” My answer is simple; the creation of a new ecosystem. Bitcoin, blockchain, and alternative cryptographic assets have grown to create a new world of opportunity in the community. Blockchain alone has branched off into thousands of use cases which people have taken a high interest in especially due to the disruptive nature of the technology and, of course, the involvement of money.

plementation of smart contracts to be processed on the blockchain – giving people the ability to interact and use its technology today. Ethereum also paved the way for the ICO boom in which it allowed other projects to leverage its platform and build on top of it. Many new projects would go on to do ICOs in which they collect Ethereum to fund their vision in possibly being the next company to disrupt the world.

Today ICOs have raised over 3 billion dollars in 2017 and are poised to raise double that in 2018. Why would a company want to do an ICO rather than go through the Why would a com- old Venture Capital model to receive funding? Acpany want to do cessibility, better terms, an ICO rather raising capital faster, and than go through many more benefits. Dothe old Venture ing an ICO, you open yourCapital model to self up to a global commureceive funding? nity which supports your product, vision, and team.

The community has a network like effect in which they tell their friends and Although there have been their friends share with othmany alternative cryptocurrencies for ers. Some foundations decide to make some time, the most impactful large their efforts open source and reward name that everybody recognizes next these tokens in return for any help to Bitcoin is Ethereum. Ethereum is provided by blockchain developers inknown for the disruptive nature & imputting code into the project. A very 78

unique concept that was never possible, till now.

This is very disruptive to the Venture Capital model and extremely efficient in accelerating companies to scale quickly. So, the number one question people ask me comes up: How do we choose which ICO to invest in?

Recently someone asked me, “what is the biggest difference between 2011 and today?” My answer is simple; the creation of a new ecosystem.

We like to take the angel investors approach and simply ask ourselves: “What should we require from a potential company before investing?”

It’s a loaded question, but some of the things to consider are the projects use case, team’s executability, token sale structure, on-going development & roadmaps, and it’s economic incentives & market supply. One of the major pre-requisites is that the company should have at least an MVP before doing the ICO. We believe that the companies we are investing in today will eventually change the world.

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Blockchain: Ultimate Solution for the Survival of VR-Technologies Today, VR is almost always associated with the purchase of VR glasses or headsets, most of the time for gaming and entertainment purposes. This is quite unfortunate, since VR is a technology that has so much more to offer. This article explains how MARK. SPACE - a VR ecosystem for social and business interaction has managed to complement VR by powering it with a Blockchain.

As mentioned in the introduction, VR technologies can offer people much more than just their usual games and gadgets. Imagine a world where relatives, separated by thousands of miles, can still celebrate New Year’s eve together. Imagine a world, where paraby ICO CROWD lyzed patients can swim with whales in the ocean while lying in their hospital bed. Imagine a world, where an old couple from a small Chinese village is able to visit Barcelona’s “Sagrada Familia” or Milan’s “La Scala”, without ever leaving their living room. Or one, where designers and artists have the technology to literally walk through their own sketches...

These are the opportunities where we soon will be able to apply virtual reality - and there’s much, much more to it. Based on IDC predictions , AR and VR revenue will jump from 11.4 bil80

lion USD in 2017, to 215 billion USD in 2021. In the not so distant future, we’ll be able to immerse ourselves in any world we can think of. A world so fantastically real that the only thing separating us from reality will be our own imagination. To achieve these amazing possibilities, however, these processes have to be monetized in one way or another and be of either commercial or practical benefit for the user. To put it simple: if people invest in an expensive VR-headset , they want it to have a practical purpose. If people use VR-technology, the only way it can continue to be a needed tool is if it opens up real-life application opportunities, or simply is able to somehow improve the quality of people’s lives.

decentralized alternatives, because they will be so important in everyday use. Think about it. Just like we already demand decentralized finance, which has become a large part of our lives, we will soon come to demand decentralized VR applications. The MARK.SPACE team has spent three years and millions of USD of personal funds to find a way to achieve this. The thing is, you’ve probably never heard of them, yet. The reason is that MARK. SPACE is (fortunately), not the only company that wants to bring VR-technologies to the next level.

Also foreseeing this trend, a leading social network and one famous VR-technology company have already developed and presented the world with To apply VR in practical or commercial their joint-project that uses applied VR cases, Blockchain is the technology that capabilities. You’ve probably heard of will help achieve this and will almost it, since it’s among the hottest discussuddenly thrive much more in VR than sion topics in the field. Because of their it would ever have in real life. A Blockbrand recognition, they are already and chain can support a wide range of apunderstandably so, rising in populariplications and is already used for P2P ty. But if taking into account the earlipayment services, supply chain tracker notion of the beneficial options VR ing and the like. Today, transactions should be able to offer to stay afloat the are verified by a central authority, like market in the future, three major isa government or a financial institution. sues stand out with these well-known Blockchain applications can replace brands: these centralized systems with decentralized ones, where verification comes 1. They divide the world into the rich and the poor, by making elite-club from the consensus of multiple users. memberships and expensive subThe distinction between games (as scription fees. “Ordinary” users may only take a peek through a “keywe now know them) against virtual hole”, so to speak, to see a preview worlds, is that users will soon demand

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of a virtual world, which in reality was created for only the wealthiest of the users.

2. They don’t have practical real-life use cases. Users can set up avatars to create the illusion of being at a party, event or location, which is fun - no questions asked.

The interface allows for vocal and visual communication and users are then able to make “selfies” within the platform, with the choice of posting the experience on the integrated social media. And that’s where the options stop. The platform, even if advertised differently, in reality is applicable for one thing- entertainment.

Which, in itself, is a great achievement in the development in VR, but not so much for its future.

3. They don’t provide monetization opportunities. Trends and fads die off for the same reason: we get tired of them, because they don’t provide us with opportunities for personal benefit. VR-platforms offered to us by these big names will probably see the same fate, because, for regular users they: a. don’t make them feel unique; b. don’t provide a stream of income; c. don’t productize processes created within the platform.

Now let’s get back to the project that deserves much more credit and attention. MARK. SPACE, a social interaction platform which uses VR and 3D technologies, has indeed managed to overcome all challenges that all other existing VR-platforms have not. MARK.SPACE not only incorporated a crypto economy in their VR-universe, but also powered it with a

Blockchain - the technology that, for logical reasons, is crucially needed to make VR a popular tool in the not so distant future.

MARK.SPACE, unlike its competitors, is accessible to all social layers in full functionality. It does not divide by class and creates equal opportunities for all its users. One of the ways MARK.SPACE achieves this is by making it possible to visit the virtual spaces without pre-registering or paying any membership fees. The other way MARK.SPACE creates equal opportunities in this decentralized democracy is by setting transaction limitations to prohibit the wealthiest investors, or so called whales, to create a virtualized monopoly by simply buying out the virtual estates.

In contrast to other VR-platforms, MARK.SPACE not only offers a wide variety off, but already has real-life use cases to show. The platform’s demo, which is openly accessible online, invites the public to visit the currently four existing thematic districts: Shopping, Business, Residential and Community.

The Districts let us visit virtualized copies of actual fashion boutiques, offices, apartments and fan-clubs, where people can use their avatars to fit a clothing item in a virtualized copy of an actual fashion store, sign a business contract (with the help

Imagine a world, where paralyzed patients can swim with whales in the ocean while lying in their hospital bed. Imagine a world, where an old couple from a small Chinese village is able to visit Barcelona’s “Sagrada Familia” or Milan’s “La Scala”, without ever leaving their living room. Or one, where designers and artists have the technology to literally walk through their own sketches...

of pre-designed smart-contracts, which means that knowing even the basics of coding is not needed!), create designs of apartments or visit existing residencies, or join a fan club community, based on their hobbies and interests.

In addition, MARK.SPACE offers its users many monetization opportunities, because it enables people to express their uniqueness, gives business-owners or freelancers commercial opportunities which create a stream of income, and can productize processes by turning virtual services into sold goods.

Of course, these are just simplified examples of the capabilities of MARK.SPACE, but the opportunities are indeed, limited only by our own imagination.

To conclude, the fact remains that virtual reality technology can and must be used for the benefit of the quality of people’s lives. However, it will be able to do so only if it provides the cover of several dimensions of real-life application processes. The Blockchain, as a technological foundation, has the ability to achieve this, and MARK.SPACE is truly the first platform that has managed to combine these progressive technologies, which are unhesitatingly erasing the thin line between the virtual and physical realities.

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Why is Personal Data The Oil of the 21st Century?

The internet has made it easier for businesses to launch new products and services, but also easier to waste time and money, and fail. The human imagination can launch endless new products and services. Now, low entry barriers (children can build simple websites), an by increasingly interconnected world, and CHRISTIAN LANGE the rise of outsourcing have led to an explosive proliferation of new products and services, all competing for limited market share. For example, on Amazon in the USA, the number of available products jumped to 488 million from 253 million in only two years (since December 2013). That’s an average of 485,000 new products per day! Numbers similar to Amazon’s can be found in most markets worldwide .

Figure 1: Understand - design - advertise cycle

SO WHY DO COMPANIES NEED PERSONAL DATA? The lesson is that products and services must strive to fuel the deepest human desires of their target customers. Additionally, companies need to put the right The downside and bitter truth of this de- advertising and sales strategy in place. velopment is that 70-80% of all product Companies need to know and understand their target customers, the best channels innovations fail, which leads to investment losses of more than 12 billion USD to reach them, the right advertising messaging, and the right time to offer and per year, as pointed out by GfK market research institute and Harvard Pro- advertise the product or service. fessor Clayton Christensen . The major Figure 1 shows this cycle which is key reason for failure, according to Dr. Ken for the success of any of the worldwide Hudson , is that a new product or ser57 million B2C companies. vice does not excite customers and retailers” because companies misunderstand consumer needs and the problem Personal data drives this understand-design-advertise cycle, which that the product is allegedly solving.

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is why we believe personal data is the new oil of the 21st century. Collecting and analyzing personal data is the fuel that’s increasing driving today’s new economy. Raw data needs to be collected, processed, and transported. We are following similar principles of 100 years ago during the oil boom.

One tries to gather data from as many sources as possible in order to profit from them. A typical approach is to analyze a large number of touchpoints and use the data obtained to generate actionable forecasts and, as a result, derive new products and services.

FORECASTING Collecting and analyzing personal data allows companies to better forecast con-

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sumer behaviour and trends, and thereby continually iterating on better products. Predictable changes in purchasing power, travel habits, mobility preferences or attitudes towards topics like fitness/wellness, health and environment allow companies to come up with, for example, new concepts for cars, novel travel types or radically different hotel concepts.

This allows companies to better allocate their R&D budgets, including early stage efforts with new launch targets as far as 5-10 years from now, where predictions are toughest.

car, such as starting the engine from inside a warm home on a cold winter morning. Mercedes Benz research measured for two weeks when, how and where customers were using the Mercedes me app. They also received daily feedback in the form of comments, pictures or videos. This allows Mercedes to make just the right changes and adjustments as well as to integrate exactly the right new features that customers want.

spending can get better results, or lower spending can get the same results. Companies win either way.

CONCLUSION Personal data from and about cusAdditionally, com- tomers give companies a huge companies need to put petitive advantage. Companies that better understand their customers the right advercan build smarter products and sertising and sales vices that much better meet cusstrategy in place. tomers’ deepest human desires. The Companies need result is fewer failed products and to know and unmoney savings from fewer failed derstand their investments. Another benefit is a target customers, more optimal allocation of company the best channels R&D budgets.

CUSTOMER CONTACT Collecting and analyzing personal data allows companies to better understand and target specific customers. For example, what is a cus- to reach them, the tomer’s preferred medium to access right advertising Personal data also allows companies the internet (smartphone, tablet, to optimize their customer contact. messaging, and laptop, PC)? At what time is the inA better understanding of their tarternet accessed? What is their shop- the right time to get customers enables them to conoffer and adverData on how customers actually use a prodping history? What kinds of prodtact them with the right message, via tise the product or the right channel, with the right pricuct or service can feed right into the design ucts and services were purchased service. of a next generation offering. Companies and what is the purchasing power ing at the right time. This improves hence achieve “targeted optimization” of new of the company’s target customer the customer experience, brand repuproducts. group? This information allows companies to tation, and reduces spending on advertising drabetter understand and segment customers and matically. In summary, collecting and analyzing Mercedes Benz Research of North America used to contact them very specifically with the right personal data allows companies to increase their Opiria research platform to track and undermessage, via the right channel at the right market share whilst improving profit margins. stand how their customers are using the new time. Today worldwide spending on advertisMercedes me app, which allows customers to ing is almost 500 billion USD . By better unTHIS IS WHY PERSONAL DATA IS THE remotely control certain functions of their own derstanding the customer the same amount of OIL OF THE 21ST CENTURY! DEVELOPMENT Companies spent 1.8 trillion USD on R&D in 2015 - which is 15.5 percent of their total revenue - without often knowing exactly how to further develop or optimize their products and services to better meet their customer needs and requirements.

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DAICOs Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, has come up with a more secure approach for traditional ICOs. He shares his idea about improving the ICO model by merging in some of the benefits of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) but doing so in a way that minimizes complexity and risk for ICOs. In addition to solving the trust issues for investors, there is as well a huge motivation problem. ICOs who raised large amounts of money suffer from deterioration in its motivation to implement it.

We’ve seen such examples many times.

Having raised the required funds, the work ceases, or at least the activity decreases significantly. This happens even though now the team has the money to invest in marketing, development, hiring the best employees, and could have by ICO CROWD made a high-quality project at the earliest date. A DAICO can offer the needed pressure to retain the high productivity levels seen at the beginning.

Vitalik explains the DAICO model as follows. A DAICO contract is published by a single development team that wishes to raise funds for a project.

The DAICO contract starts off in “contribution mode”, specifying a mechanism by which anyone can contribute ETH to the contract, and get tokens in 84

FIGURE 1 exchange. This could be a capped sale, an uncapped sale, a Dutch auction, an interactive coin offering, a KYC’d sale with dynamic per-person caps, or whatever other mechanism the team chooses. Once the contribution period ends, the ability to contribute ETH stops and the initial token balances are set; from there on the tokens can become tradeable.

After the contribution period, the contract has one major state variable: tap (units: wei / sec), initialized to zero.

The tap determines the amount per second that the development team can take out of the contract. This can be implemented as seen in figure 2.

Vitalik suggests another mechanism which should allow token holders to vote on resolutions. There are two types of resolutions. The first one allows users to vote if the development

team can take out more funds. This is a well-needed function as the ’tap’ is initialized to zero. Secondly, users can vote on permanently self-destructing the contract and ICO itself. Think of the case in which a team performs a scam, does something illegal or the investors are just unhappy about the progress of the project. Investors can now vote for the self-destructing resolution. If the vote passes, the remaining funds will be reallocated to the rightful owners.

Vitalik explains how a majority can be reached, “Either resolution can pass by majority vote with a quorum (eg. yes no - absent / 6 > 0). Note that lowering the tap by vote is not possible; the owner can voluntarily lower the tap, but they cannot unilaterally raise it.”

SECURITY ASPECT OF DAICO If a development team decides to spend its funds on lambos instead of on the

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FIGURE 2 actual development, voters can prevent this by not raising the tap too much too quickly. In the case it does happen, a self-destruct vote can be issued.

But what about a 51% attack maliciously raising the tap? Vitalik reminds us that honest developers can just lower the tap again, or just not claim the excess funds. Lowering the tap doesn’t require voting.

SOME VARIATIONS Instead of using a tap value that uses Ethereum as the base, you could make a variation that looks at the USD price. What if the price of Ether doubles, developers will be able to take out more money as probably needed.

More complex voting algorithms can be implemented to reduce the risk of a 51% attack. Vitalik just uses the simple voting algorithm as an example.

and lies on the surface: the reserve fund, advisors’ and company’s tokens, the locked tokens, etc. It’s all about the smart contract code that you show to the public. And it’s even more transparent than any of annual reports the “real-world” companies issue to their stakeholders.

In case of bad performance or failing to reach milestones, investors can trigger the self-destructing resolution, returning the contributed funds. At the same time, it helps to increase confidence in the ICO as a fundraising method. At last, a DAICO provides the pressure needed for a project to perform well. It happens all the time, where projects Vitalik Buterslow down after having collected in, the foundthe required funds. A DAICO moder of Ethereum, el only allows them to take out a has come up with specified amount per day as they a more secure ap- must show progress before getproach for traditing more funds. It’s a good mechtional ICOs. He anism to enhance the activity of the project. shares his idea

vant field, who will have the exclusive right to hold polls for project shutdown. Ideally, these people do not hold project’s tokens and are chosen by the contributors of the project.

THE ABYSS DAICO The Abyss is the world’s first DAICO. Boyko-Romanovsky, the founder of the Abyss project, tells us why they choose for a DAICO, “During the past year I participated in numerous ICOs, witnessing various projects’ failures happening in the industry. And I know what the token holder feels when the project he has contributed to starts to collapse.”

The Abyss project finds it hard setting up a DAICO as they don’t have any examples of how you can implement this. It’s also very costly to have your smart contract audited by several reputable auditors. overall, it is always hard to be the first.

What if the owners of the DAICO need more funds quickly? How fast can the DAICO model provide you with the needed funds? Boyko-Romanovsky told us they will implement an addiAdditional functionality can be a tional resolution where contributors can vote about improving resolution that allows developers to the ICO model by DISADVANTAGES OF DAICO for a one-time withdrawal. This process of setpropose functionality or milestones merging in some Konstantin Boyko-Romanovsky, the ting up the poll and starting it takes 4 days. to be added to the product/roadmfounder of the Abyss project, who The poll itself must run for 3 days. So, after a of the benefits of ap, so investors can vote for this plan to perform the world’s first total of 7 days, they will be able to withdraw decentralized au- DAICO, finds two disadvantages in the needed funds. functionality to be actually implemented. In this way, we can give in- tonomous organusing the DAICO model, “The provestors rights in the ‘company’. This izations (DAOs) ject is not 100% secured from the The Abyss project proposes a voting mechabut doing so in a is a good thing because almost all Ethereum collapse. We are exposed nism where 10% of the total tokens supply has tokens issued in token sales are util- way that minimiz- to this risk, but we understand and to vote for raising the tap. They even want to ity tokens. This means that no one es complexity and take it since we have faith in Ethere- add an extra mechanism where they can only has any rights in the company. This risk for ICOs. um. The second disadvantage is increase the tap once in 14 days. mechanism allows investors to get that it is hard to create something virtual rights in the company. new when nobody has implementCONCLUSION ed it before. We all remember the The DAICO model offers a lot of benefits like Vitalik is only talking about the development DAO story, so security is always our number improved security, transparency and the needteam. But there is more, what about marketone priority. Getting independent audits from ed pressure for a project to be successful. The ing, HR, daily operations? Another variation well-known audit companies is costly, but we Abyss is the first project that wants to imwould be to create a DAICO smart contract for see it as compulsory.” plement this model. It’s a very brave choice each functional department. to implement this as they have no predecesWe raised some concerns about the self-desors which can guide them. The DAICO model BENEFITS OF DAICO struction function. Competing projects can seems to be very flexible. Any ICO can change A DAICO creates a secure environment for in- potentially abuse this function to bring a pro- it to its own needs and add custom rules and vestors where they can take back control. The ject down. Konstantin Boyko-Romanovsky ex- resolutions. The Abys’s project for example is key difference is the absolute transparency of plained to us they will appoint industry prousing Oracles as they want to prevent any inthe DAICO model. It won’t allow you to withfessionals which will act as Oracles. These Ora- vestor from being able to trigger the self-dedraw all the funds and run away. All is visible cles have an established reputation in the rele- struction poll.

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THEKEY DMI Deployed in Heilongjiang Province

to Enable Easy Medical Insurance Management and Purchase of Medicine WHAT IS THE BACKGROUND OF DEPLOYMENT OF THEKEY DMI TECHNOLOGY IN HEILONGJIANG PROVINCE? In Jan 2018, Heilongjiang Provincial Bureau of Social Insurance and THEKEY jointly announced the deployment by ICO CROWD of THEKEY DMI technology to the online social insurance system running in Heilongjiang province, China. With the support of the Bureau, THEKEY is right in the process to build a brand new system of open information, social supervision and livelihood service for 38 million people in the province. This important announcement is viewed by many as a clear sign that blockchain technology, represented by THEKEY, is finally marching into people’s daily life and providing a robust solution to identity verification (IDV).

January and February in Heilongjiang province are chilling cold. The temperature falls as low as -30 degrees and the snow outside can reach knee-deep. With the windows rattling against the ferocious north wind, local people love to stay indoors and enjoy some delicious food or sipping on a glass of Chinese white spirit.

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It is not difficult to imagine how worried and anxious people in Heilongjiang will be when their family members suddenly fall ill and have to be sent to the clinic under such extreme weather. The issue gets much more complicated when the family have to overturn one box after another to look for the precious social insurance card, which is compulsory for patients in China to enjoy highly subsidized medical service. Loss, misplacement and information mismatch are some major problems that have plagued the medical industry of the country. Many patients were not able to receive timely treatment because of various problems linked with the piece of paper. At the same time, enormous resource is also consumed to keep the information on the card aligned with the updated information in government database.

WHAT BENEFITS WILL THEKEY BRING TO THE PEOPLE’S LIFE? All these are going to change with the solution provided by THEKEY. Combining the rapid development of “Internet +”, e-commerce and pharmaceutical retail stores, THEKEY has launched “Online Medicine Purchase” service which

will completely revamp the current system, providing much greater convenience to the people for purchasing medicine and visiting hospitals.

The DMI technology at the back of “online medicine purchase” module provides many revolutionary advantages. The entire process of medicine purchase process is now open and traceable. Problems previously associated with medical insurance card are completely eliminated. On the other hand, personal information, online payment and medical insurance funds are now securely maintained with maximum safety. THEKEY also helped to solve the problem of “difficult to buy medicine and too expensive to buy medicine”, which has been prevalent in China. With greatly improved efficiency and transparency of medical insurance funds, the medical an now enjoy a much more reliable and efficient social insurance plan. As THEKEY starts rolling out the system to the entire province, 38.12 million insurees in Heilongjiang province will soon benefit from the new platform by paying directly with their insurance and have the lowcost medicine delivered right to the doorstep in the harsh winter.

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one click, the insuree can make instant online payment with the appropriate combination of the fund from statutory social insurance program and personal expense.

To bring it further, THEKEY is in cooperation with the biggest pharmaceutical chain in Heilongjiang province to enable direct access to medicines by the users. Through reducing manpower cost and fixed expenditure, medicines ordered online will be at least 10%-20% cheaper than retail price.

COMPARED WITH OTHER IDV SERVICE PROVIDERS, WHAT ARE THE UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS OF THEKEY? WHAT’S THE PROSPECT OF THEKEY? THEKEY is a pioneering 2nd generation IDV platform. Ever since its launch, it has captivated the attention of investors, government bureaus, tech gurus, enthusiasts and people all over the world. It is the first application in history that can prove the identity of a person beyond all doubt. By linking the application directly with government database, it ensures that all the data is updated in real time and the verification is completely authenticated. The verification technology can find applications in almost every aspect of life. For example, when returning home to open the door, fetching your kid, using medical insurance, checking in at the airport, and so on, by combining data collected through all the different applications and keeping them over the blockchain, THEKEY also revolutionize profile building and has created 3-D profiling of its users through data integration and assimilation. This highly valuable 3-D profile database can in turn be used by many service providers for advanced and comprehensive verification and evaluation.

Snapshot of the account details of an insuree on smart phone. Historical record of the account can be pulled out any time on request.

THEKEY is the only product that has been able to tap into existing government data of 210 million people in 66 cities authenticated on a real-time basis. The team has obtained 23 relevant copyrights, and 15 patents have been accepted by SIPO (State Intellectual Property office of the P.R.C).

Snapshot of medicine ordering page on smart phone showing all the information users need to make an instant online purchase and delivery HOW TO ENROLL IN THE SYSTEM AND ENJOY THE SERVICE WITH DMI TECHNOLOGY? To enroll in the system, the user should first follow the official Wechat channel of Heilongjiang Provincial Bureau of Social Insurance. The channel provides all the services that the insuree can benefit from. The insuree then verifies his personal identify through the database maintained by government authorities, and a PIN number will be sent to the designated mobile phone.

With that, the insuree will gain instant access to his/her personal social insurance account. If the insuree has changed phone number, facial recognition will be deployed instead to complete the identity verification (IDV) process by accessing the digital facial data stored in the local social insurance department database.

With this new platform, the insuree can easily view his or her social insurance balance and order drugs or medical consumables. With just

WHAT’S THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN OF THEKEY IN THE NEAR FUTURE? According to its roadmap, THEKEY will incorporate the database of 500 million people in 150 cities in China. The team is also seeking to expand globally so that people around the world can all benefit from the innovative platform. With the deployment of the platform in Heilongjiang, THEKEY has advanced far ahead of the milestone set in the initial roadmap.

The token of THEKEY, known as TKY, will be first listed on Kucoin on 6 February. It is expected the project will capture more attention after listing and more followers will join THEKEY community.

For more information of THEKEY, please visit the official website: www.thekey.vip and join the telegram for interactive discussion: https://t.me/THEKEYOFFICIAL 87

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Opiria & PDATA Token Opiria is revolutionizing the data brokerage industry by creating a central marketplace for companies to buy personal data directly from consumers without a veiled middleman in a fully transparent and secure way.

Visualization how the Opiria and PDATA ecosystem works Companies worldwide desperately need to know their customer. They need fundamental human insights about their consumers in order to design innovative products and services that fuel desire, which leads to sales. Companies also need precise data from and about by ICO CROWD consumers to perfectly target marketing and sales activities. Now companies face an arms race in growing demand for consumer data as the world becomes more interconnected and new competitors emerge. This is why data brokers – companies that collect consumers’ personal information and resell or share that information with others – collectively the data brokerage industry became a 250 billion USD per year business. The data brokerage industry grew on average 13,5% in the past 5 years and is estimated to keep on growing with at least that rate.

Unfortunately, data brokers operate behind a veil of secrecy and a good number are evidently stealing personal data and packaging and reselling it as a commodity to companies worldwide. By do88

ing so data brokers are violating consumers’ data privacy and not even compensating consumers.

enforceable from 25 May 2018 and will make it even more complicated for data brokers to access personal data.

Consumers worldwide are becoming increasingly aware of these violations and have started to actively protect their data privacy. But this makes it increasingly difficult for data brokers to access good quality personal data.

It seems like we are in an accelerating downward spiral with no way to stop or reverse the trend.

As consumers get smarter, and for instance block cookies while browsing, data brokers´ can simply compare IP addresses. But that’s only one simple and innocuous example. Data brokers can engage in much more sophisticated or veiled methods that are getting even more questionable. In sum the current system is opaque and uncontrollable, consumer's privacy is violated and companies don´t get enough data that meet their quality requirements.

There needs to be a fully transparent open marketplace that enables and ensures the following: • Consumers can control with whom they share which data • Consumers get proper compensation for the provided data • Data flows directly from consumers to companies with no middlemen And this is exactly what Opiria will be doing.

This already leads to fail investments in the double-digit billions. In addition, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union becomes

With the PDATA token and the blockchain based Opiria platform we plan to offer a central marketplace where companies can buy personal data directly

But the good news is that there is a solution for that serious problem!

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Spend PDATA / Purchases

Earn PDATA / Payments (to)

• Buy consumer´s personal data from the database • Request specific personal data

• Consumers who provide specific personal data • Consumers who give access to their personal data

PDATA Token usage from consumers without any middlemen. Consumer acquisition strategies include paying consumers to join or take surveys; and partnering with companies to invite consumers from their client databases. The PDATA token puts value in personal data and creates a currency that exactly expresses their value.

Very importantly Opiria and PDATA enable companies to gather more and more specific personal data from consumers than they can get today from data brokers (e.g. tracking data from wearables, smartphone usage or eye tracking and browsing behavior on the web).

That´s a huge added value for companies!

Consumers can create a profile on the Opiria platform by disclosing personal data and giving allowance that data is being collected via e.g. a browser plugin, a smartphone app, from wearables and smart devices or through surveys. They can decide which data they disclose to the Opiria database. The more they disclose the more valuable their profile becomes.

The following figure shows how the blockchain-based Opiria ecosystem works, what personal data can be accessed and how consumers are compensated via PDATA Tokens for disclosing personal data.

Companies can ask consumers for permission to access the disclosed personal data via the Opiria platform. If the consumer consents to providing their data, a smart contract between the consumer and the company is established.

On this basis the consumer is paid with PDATA tokens and the company receives the requested personal data.

Opiria and the PDATA token create an ecosystem for the secure trading of personal data while fully protecting the consumers´ data privacy, and granting consumers full control over direct payments for their personal data.

This fully transparent open marketplace will motivate consumers to provide data instead of fighting against surreptitious data brokers.

Companies get a quick and easy way to access more specific personal data of higher quali-

ty and will be able to make much better decisions when designing new innovative products and services, and better target marketing and sales activities.

In contrast to most ICOs who just sell ideas, Opiria already has a real product with real customers. Fortune 500 companies such as Intel, Volkswagen, BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Freightliner, Procter & Gamble, General Motors and Nissan are already using Opiria.

Right now the Opiria consumer research platform is helping companies worldwide to understand consumer needs and requirements. Using the Opiria web-application and the Opiria smartphone app, companies have a direct line to consumers and can get their opinion and feedback, worldwide and 24/7 in real-time.

The blockchain-based Opiria & PDATA Token ecosystem builds on top of that already existing business with already existing revenue. We believe the addition of PDATA Token will disrupt the 250 billion USD per year data brokerage business and become the gold standard for companies to access consumers´ personal data. Furthermore, we expect a growth spurt of the whole business because of the easier and better availability of personal data due to PDATA and Opiria.

“Personal data - the oil of the 21st century” 89

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Key Points for Evaluating ICO Investments ICOs are a relatively new phenomenon but have quickly become a dominant topic of discussion within the blockchain community. Many view ICO projects as unregulated securities that allow founders to raise an unjustified amount of capital, while others argue it is an innovation in the traditional venturefunding model.

Generally, an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) is a fundraising mechanism in which new projects sell their underlying crypto tokens in exchange for bitcoin, ether or other cryptocurrencies.

Nowadays, in addition to an ICO, other terms like a token sale, token generation event and DAICO have been invented. All of these are somewhat similar to an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in which investors purchase shares of a company. Bear in mind, most tokens do not offer you rights or any stakes in the company. So, before deciding to invest in a project it’s crucial to analyse the project properly. As the maxim goes, do your own research (DYOR). Let’s take a closer look at the different aspects of analysing a new project.

Key Elements for Evaluation In general, ‘start-up and sale characteristics’, ‘operational transparency’, ‘busi90

ness model and partnerships’, ‘profiry board included. This tells us they are ciency and knowledge’ are the main not afraid to show their people as they points of attention when evaluating probably have skilled people. It’s a boan Initial Coin Offering. In addition to nus when the projects add a description this, we want to look out for medium to on each member to show their relevant long-term scoped projects as we consid- experiences, preferably info that’s not er this as a safer investment option be- yet included in the LinkedIn profile of cause it reduces the risk of pump-andthe team member. dump projects. We are on the lookout for projects that Furthermore, investigate the grow in time where the valadvisory board as this can ue of the token represents give you some clues about the true value and stage of the project. Let’s think about the project they are developa situation where the advisoing. Many projects are overy board consists of many fa... others argue it mous people in the industry. rhyped. This gives the opportunity to day traders to You might feel ok with that, is an innovation take some quick profits out in the traditional but this can give us an indiand leave the project behind. venture-funding cation of a pump-and-dump We want to avoid this as it project. As we want to create model. makes a project very volatile. long-term value, it’s not an Let’s get into detail. ideal project.

PROFICIENCY AND KNOWLEDGE TEAM COMPOSITION AND EXPERIENCE Most projects in the ICO space try to develop highly technical innovations.

This is a long-term effort and having the right people is the first step towards accomplishing the project. First, find out everything about the team, especially the development team and advisory board. The first sign of trust is whether the project links the LinkedIn handles of each member, adviso-

An advisory board can have unknown members, as long as they have previous experience with other IPOs or ICOs. We do not consider a person an advisor when he has no previous experience in this field.

At last, we want to scrutinize the lives of the CEO, CFO, and CTO as these persons are the key to a successful project. As a successful ICO will pull in at least $5 million, these people need to have experience with

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running a million-dollar business. It’s not something you can learn overnight by reading a ‘how-to-for-dummies’ article. We speak about real money, from real people who might depend on this money and the well-being of the project.

WHITEPAPER Investopedia describes a whitepaper like this, “A whitepaper is an informational document, issued by a company, to promote or highlight the features of a solution, product, or service. It’s a sales document, used to entice or persuade potential investors.”

In our opinion, a whitepaper is a non-technical document intended to pitch an idea to raise funds. But, a lot of projects fail to provide a technical paper in which they further discuss the technology behind the idea. A technical paper gives a project the chance to show their proficiency and create trust. It suggests that the project has a good understanding of the solution they want to provide.

So, take your time to read the whitepaper and write down the strong and negative aspects of the product. You can use this information to compare with similar projects and find out if they have a different approach to tackling a certain problem. Typos can give you an indication towards a poor project but this is certainly not a deciding factor as many Chinese (and other) projects have difficulties crafting a whitepaper in English.

OPERATIONAL TRANSPARENCY GITHUB CODE Many people are not aware of www.github. com. Github is a website which allows developers to host their code publicly. It allows other people to make contributions or improvements to the code. It’s a common thing to host the code of a smart contract or even the product itself publicly on Github.

as well that the team is not here for collecting our money, but for solving a problem. In addition, this shows that the project already has some funds from private investors or people who have put in their own money to develop this first prototype. Again, this creates trust.

Many investors distrust an open cap as it SALE TERMS shows that the The difference between an unlimitteam behind the ed (open) and hard cap has a huge ICO mostly has impact. An open cap allows invesno clue on the tors to send unlimited funding to amount of funds the project’s ICO wallet. Many investors distrust an open cap as it they need to deEvery code addition is called a ‘commit’.

Github stores statistics about the amount of shows that the team behind the ICO velop the product. code additions and the different contributors. This allows us to monitor the development activity and see how many people are working on the project.

A non-technical person can even try to evaluate the quality of the code. A good indication of proper code management and quality is the presence of comments in the code.

Comments help other developers to understand what the function is doing. In addition, look out for consistency in the code like naming variables. Messy code can be easily detected. Developers who care about their code divide their code into a meaningful folder structure.

STARTUP AND SALE CHARACTERISTICS STAGE OF PROJECT We give you this piece of advice: Try to avoid projects without a working prototype. The stage of the project shows people they are really working on the product. It tells investors

mostly has no clue on the amount of funds they need to develop the product. An open cap is generally related to greed. We want to avoid this kind of projects.

BUSINESS MODEL AND RELATIONSHIPS VENTURE CAPITALS AND BUSINESS PARTNERS Look out for venture capitals (VCs) backing the project. VCs tend to invest and support projects from early stages. An ICO will mention this info on the main page of the project’s website usually. Some wellknown VCs in the crypto space are Blockchain Capital or Fenbushi.

Believe us, it’s very hard to reach the stage of finding a VC willing to invest in the product you want to build. The idea must be very good,

otherwise, a VC won’t spend any of its time on your project. VCs put in a lot of money and need to make sure the project performs well, reducing the risk of failure. Besides that, VCs tend to aim for longterm projects. As we seek for longterm projects as well, we consider VC backed projects as a good investment.

TOKEN VALUE AND FUNCTIONALITY First, it is important to make a distinction between utility and security tokens. security tokens are a subcategory of security tokens that represent ownership of an asset. As security tokens are considered to be equity, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has indicated that security tokens are subject to federal securities regulations.

To comply with all applicable regulations, a startup must spend tons of money which makes them very unpopular among ICOs. On the other hand, utility tokens are far more common. A utility token provides a user with future access to a product or service. Projects tend to use utility tokens to raise money to fund the further development of their product. It’s basically a way of letting users purchase future access to the product in which they are interested. In most cases, the early investors can buy the tokens at a discount. However, watch 91

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Source: commits for BigchainDB project - https://github.com/bigchaindb/js-bigchaindb-driver/graphs/commit-activity LEGAL AND REGULATORY ASPECTS Some questions to ponder include: • In what jurisdiction is the company incorporated?

• What legal structures are being disclosed?

• How is security handled (General Data Protection Regulation applicable to Europe)?

• Are there plans for external or internal audits?

• Have they published the terms and conditions of the sale in clear language?

We want to express the importance of multiple audits. I don’t need to tell you about the various breaches happening in the crypto ecosystem.

Projects should perform audits regularly by an independent company and publish the results on their website. It’s key to creating trust and being transparent. It ensures the security of investors as they will send their funds through a smart contract that has been audited.

Source: BigchainDB code - https://github.com/bigchaindb/js-bigchaindb-driver/blob/master/src/baseRequest.js

out for projects offering ridiculous discounts in the early phases of the project. Utility tokens are generally built on top of an existing blockchain such as Ethereum. This is the largest class of tokens now being built in the crypto space.

It is important to evaluate the token use. Several projects sell their token as a utility token but, the token has no functionality within their ecosystem. To help you with this evaluation, we will ask you some questions. If you can answer ‘Yes’ to most questions, the token has clear functionality within the platform.

• Is the token tied to a product usage?

• Is buying/selling part of the business model?

• Does the token result in a monetizable reward based on active work by the user?

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. Projects should perform audits regularly by an independent company and publish the results on their website. It’s key to creating trust and being transparent.

• Is the token required as a security deposit to secure some aspect of the blockchain’s operation?

• Is the token required to run a smart contract?

This list of questions is inspired by William Mougayar (https://medium.com/@wmougayar/tokenomicsa-business-guide-to-token-usageutility-and-value-b19242053416).

TOKEN ALLOCATION STRUCTURE & ROADMAP Greed can be defined by a high token distribution to the team members, let’s say, more than 50% of the tokens is suspicious. A detailed breakdown of the token allocation creates trust as the team knows what it’s doing. A good approach here is to link the allocation to milestones on the roadmap. Look out for projects with a detailed and long-term roadmap.

All these factors indirectly lead to creating an environment of trust for potential investors.

ADDITIONAL ELEMENTS Communication around the project is also important. Keep an eye on the announcement thread of a project on Bitcointalk and especially monitor what’s being said about a project on Reddit. These are the number one platforms for finding information and feedback about a project. Reddit users are considered the most critical people, providing constructive feedback for projects. A Bitcointalk thread is often promoted as projects reward bounties for users who say positive things about a project. A good project should be able to get positive feedback and handle negative feedback. It’s ok to get negative feedback, as long as the project does something with the received feedback. We like it when a project is easily reachable and adapts to the requests of users.

THE BOTTOM LINE The most important aspect of an ICO is creating trust among their investors. Showing operational transparency is key here. Don’t be fooled by ‘positive comments’ as many users are sponsored by a bounty program to say nice things about a project. Evaluating the token functionality should provide you with good insights on how the product works.

At last, look out for projects providing a detailed token allocation structure tied to their roadmap. When you combine all these elements, you should be able to make a proper evaluation of a project.