Overview:
ANKR is aiming to build a resource efficient blockchain framework enabling Distributed Cloud Computing and a user-friendly infrastructure. They are addressing issues with current cloud computing platforms such as a lack of incentivisation, security, scalability and resource in-efficiency. Using a mining scheme based on Proof Of Useful Work (PoUW), Scalable blockchain frameworks enabled through plasma sidechains + sharding and a native oracle service connecting existing businesses, they aim to solve the barriers to mass adoption. They are the first project to leverage both blockchain and trusted hardware using Intel SGXs.
Team:
Founders/Management:
- Chandler Song – Co-founder and CEO: Berkeley Graduate and ex-member of Blockchain at Berkeley. Software Engineer at Amazon for 5 months, SAP 4 months, Developer at Blockchain Berkeley for 7 months. Research Intern at DiDi for 3 months. Electrical engineering degree.
- Stanley Wu – Co-Founder and CTO – 10 years’ experience in large scale cloud services. Senior Software engineer and tech lead at Amazon for 10 years ending in 2018. Uni of Rochester Ms Electrical and Computer engineering along with certificate in data base management from USC Berkeley.
- Ryan Fang – Co-founder and COO: – Investment banking summer analyst, Credit Suisse, Enterprise management intern, State Street, Consulting Intern, Capgemini etc. Business administration at USC Berkeley.
Business/Marketing Team:
- Stephen Liu – Blockchain researcher – Masters Degree in system innovation and bachelor of engineering. Skilled in C++ and Python.
- Christina Jin – Marketing Director – New York University, Experience from Goldman Sachs, Ogilvy as Intern marketer.
- Rahim Noorani – Business Development – Intern at ICONIQ Capital, Signia Venture partners, Bessemer Venture Partner.
- Yige Liu – UI Designer
Tech Team:
- Song Liu – Chief Security Engineer – Principal Software engineer at Gigamon for 2 yrs. 5 months. Experience at EA sports as Senior server engineer. Boston University Master of Computer Science. Built next gen firewall from scratch, security and hacking and blockchain development in source code of Bitcoin and ETH.
- Yan Xiu – System Architect – Principal engineer at Gigamon for traffic visibility and protection.
- Quanlai Li – Blockchain engineer – Committee member of Symposium of applications of blockchain, software engineer at uber. Computer Science degree UC Berkeley. Worked on Blockchain enabled social media.
- Hanping Lin – Blockchain engineer – Advisory System Service Representative at IBM for 5 yrs. Cloud infrastructure experience /storage and server. Software engineering and computer science degree.
Advisors:
- David P Anderson – Technical Advisor – Research Scientist at Space Science Library, BOINC project and SETI@home creator. Presidential investigator award and IBM faculty development grant.
- Ramsey Hanna – Legal Advisor – Stanford Law Graduate, Reed Smith LLP attorney 11 years.
- JZ Zhang – Technical Advisor – Founder of PDX Technologies, Principal Engineer at CISCO and Architect at Director level with Yahoo. 20 years + technical and executive leadership in large MNCs.
- Christl Quek – Marketing Advisor – co founder CCO of BOLT Global which is a mobile streaming platform. Worked as advisor for Switcheo and Zilliqa along with Lightbulb capital. Vice President at Asia Pacific Brandwatch.
Rating:
Chandler Song and Ryan Fan are intelligent however they have only either worked as intern’s or only for a few months in each job in which is not really promising for the CEO and COO of such a project. On the other side with Stanley Wu, he has very good experience in Amazon which is a big competitor in the industry. Very relevant knowledge which should help the project. We do not like on the website how it portrays Ryan saying he has worked at Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley etc. making it sound better than what has been achieved. Founders together look like a good team, however without Stanley it would be worrying.
At first look, the tech team looks deep and promising with Many Blockchain positions however there is a lack of blockchain experience by the Blockchain engineers along with the business development and marketing director both only having experience as Interns prior to ANKR. We believe is it not wise to have an intern as the sole marketing director and person in the business. Amongst the team there is good experience in software and engineering for companies like IBM which is promising to see.
The advisors boast a broad range of experience through business aspects. We like the marketing advisors experience in other ICOS along with extensive experience in marketing. Other advisors have great experience and reputations in their spaces however they seem to lack any note of blockchain or crypto experience and a more legal and tech advisors.
Business:
Idea:
ANKR being a distributed cloud computing platform is aiming to solve large challenges regarding blockchain and it’s downfalls to being mass adopted. These include Resource-inefficiency, Data-insufficiency, Low Scalability, Inequity and Exposure/Confidentiality. Introductions of a resource efficient blockchain framework including innovations such as: Novel Incentive scheme – Based on useful computing workload, distributed computing power – composing of server-less and stateless computing units and reliable oracle service – for connecting to existing businesses, Security and confidentiality. This is done through trusted hardware and cryptography, Speed and Scalability – through plasma-chain implementation. The project is not first to market in regards to Decentralized computing platforms, however introducing PoUW and is the ‘first’ project to combine blockchain with real hardware.
Market and Competition:
Cloud Computing is projected to be a trillion-dollar market. Currently it is mostly monopolized by large tech giants. It is slowly being infiltrated with competition from the blockchain industry. There are Many competitors in and outside of cryptocurrency, but large market share is attainable with growing demands for the platforms.
In cryptocurrency there are multiple projects with a similar goal including but not limited to; Dfinity, Golem, SONM. These projects have been quite successful particularly Golem. ANKR aims to be the first project to leverage both blockchain and trusted hardware and differentiate itself based on Cloud security increases with mass adoption of trusted hardware. It also uses Proof of Useful work to eliminate the wastage of electricity and computing power.
Golem: is a computing resource marketplace based on Ethereum. ANKR is aiming to improve the consensus mechanism and not be limited by Ethereum throughput along with utilising the computing power of miners in comparison to the 3rd party computing containers Golem use. With Golem and other competitors, users have a single source of income through cloud computing where as ANKR users have potential income streams through mining, transactions and cloud computing.
SONM is similar to Golem and ANKR boast similar competitive advantages mentioned above. In comparison to Dfinity ANKR’s PoUW is executed directly in CPU and not constrained by the limitation of smart contracts along with all miners participating compared to a random selection model. Perlin is a similar ICO being executed in the near future however the main difference of ANKR is targeting computing efficiency. Perlin uses virtualized computing container and ANKR is using miners directly.
AWS from Amazon and Google Cloud are competition in the real world. They are centralized, have High fees and Wastage of computing power resources however very large and successful projects which will put up a fight. The blockchain solutions allow for reduction in infrastructure and efficient utilization of resources.
In a growth comparison of Golem; 0.0101 USD Up 3000%+ since. ICO. SONM 0.59USD ICO price 0.77 of ICO. Although the Total supply very different along with projects having their differences it is Good to show the market demand for cloud computing projects and potential market cap attainable for ANKR.
Business Challenges:
ANKR will face several business challenges in the decentralized computing space particularly in regard to Security and Privacy requirements of data. The blockchain and security methods must be strict and adhere to privacy rights. The adoption and challenge for market share against real world competition such as Google and Amazon being very influential will cause conflict as they will not allow a competitor to take market share with ease. With ANKR being based on SGX hardware and it being required, this may limit the expansion/adoption particularly into mobile devices etc.
Whitepaper:
The Whitepaper is short and concise. More of a Technical Whitepaper and Business aspects not mentioned. Explains the short comings of other blockchain projects, and how ANKR solves them. Shows hardware and blockchain integration technology whilst Explaining Proof of Useful work. Token utility outlined along with token economic model. It Shows Plasma and Sharding solutions which is also a positive to see rather than just mentioning in many whitepapers.
Partnerships:
Partnered Boinc project which focuses mainly on scientific computing which is used as a volunteering computing platform. BOINC partnership will result in leveraging existing resources along and the help of their strong privacy and incentives. Quarkchain is a strategic partner which will be accepted in the Token sale. Partners: Open Token, Blockchain at Berkely, DoraHacks, CPC. Strategic Investors: NEO Global Capital. Pantera, DHVC, J Lab, OK Blockchain Capital, Block VC and more. No publicly announced partnerships with any enterprises currently however they have partnered with 2 fortune 500 companies officially and in talks with decentralized storage and network projects.
Rating:
Although the project is nowhere near the first in regard to decentralized computing platforms, it definitely has its differences. The PoUW to remove the wastage of resources in mining along with the three income streams the ANKR platform provides along with not being limited by the throughput of Ethereum like many competitors puts ANKR in a great position.
There is a very large market for cloud computing outside of cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency projects are growing rapidly. The competitors including Golem have seen large growth in returns and a large market share attained. Cloud computing competitors outside of cryptocurrency such as Amazon will prove to be a hurdle to the cloud computing in blockchain taking off however the reduced costs and infrastructure needed to use cloud computing for individuals and businesses we believe will hold enough power to give them a run for their money.
ANKR seems to have their computing efficiency as the highest priority followed by security and privacy. With stringent requirements of privacy of data they must be on top of this and we are yet to have seen any doubt surrounding this. It will be good to see a business whitepaper come out exploring more of the token metrics, fund breakdowns, marketing and execution plans. As for the technical whitepaper we found it informative and explored the need for ANKR and how the technology will solve the issues discussed.
Although ANKR are currently mostly partnered with strategic partners – it is very promising to see NEO Global Capital invest along with the strategic partnerships with QKC who have proven to be an impressive ICO over the past few months. With 2 confirmed fortune 500 companies on-board this could be a huge factor in ANKR taking off and gaining adoption particularly with having real-life users in decentralized computing solutions has been an issue for current cryptocurrency competitors. We will have to wait and see who these companies are! The partnership with BOINC and the Advisor on-board is promising with the potential to leverage its users, experience and more.
Overall the business of ANKR looks strong and it differentiates itself enough to stand out in a competitive market. The main downfalls in this section is the lack of partnership announcements yet along with there being a saturated market of decentralised cloud computing solutions.
Technology:
Use of Blockchain Technology:
The advantages of moving to a decentralized cloud computing system to Blockchain include: allowing application owners/individuals to rent computing power from other users, implement a blockchain-based payment system which can allow for direct payment amongst operators, sellers and software developers removing intermediaries and the Reduction of wastage in computing resources and power. Core value propositions relevant to ANKR include security/privacy because of the cryptography combined with underlying hardware, removal of intermediaries and infrastructures for businesses or individuals to utilize therefore leading on to reduced costs and it allows for a decentralized nature of sharing computing resources creating new digital relationships. Blockchain characteristics also allow for no vulnerability against server downtime which may occur in current cloud computing services outside of cryptocurrency.
The Proof of Useful Work offers a sustainable framework in the way it reduces the wastage of electricity and computing power on hashes in cases such as Bitcoin. This consensus method uses these resources for useful work tasks provided by enterprises and consumers. It has enough incentive to for the idle computing power to be utilized and the protocol runs on SGX-enabled CPU’s with remote attestation ensuring high security and privacy.
MVP/Prototype: (MVP Review will be updated Upon Release)
Coming Hopefully by the end of July. A YouTube video illustrating the four nodes working in the Proof of Useful work prototype. Will be analysed more in detail once released to public.
Token Utility:
The token Serve as a means of both store and transfer value. Used for computation fees of PoUW along with being used to incentivise engagement on the platform. Mining participants can earn tokens through offering computing power. Self-sustained model creating ‘Decentralized world computer’ costing ANKR token to use.
Technological Challenges:
The Proof of Useful work with identifying what is considered as ‘Useful Work’ may actually create more work to be done to verify transactions. With it setting a number of re-verifiable codes and every node will be re-executing the same code. It may ends up being as efficient if not less possibly as competitors and therefore scalability not as large of a competitive advantage as it may have seemed. SGX is prone and open to spectre=type attacks research shows and can be used as a malware delivery vehicle. There is also the Potential of fake websites exchanging data with the oracle platform which needs to prepared for.
RATING:
The blockchain is rightly used in regards to the distributed cloud computing platform in which will reduce infrastructure costs greatly for individuals or enterprises requiring resources. The use of blockchain technology is impressive however the fate of this project almost lays in the hands of the business currently with till now being a lack of or if not any projects that give users enough incentives to sell their idle computing power along with being largely adopted.
The potential scalability issues with Proof of Useful work along with the SGX security threats need to be recognised and solved in which hopefully with the release of the MVP soon we will be able to have a clearer understanding of this.
The token utility looks promising and is an important aspect of the ecosystem. The users can acquire tokens by selling the idle computing power. with the more ANKR tokens they have, the more services they can acquire in the ecosystem. The holders can run requesting node, categorizing or dispatching node, processing node and verification node.
Overall the use of blockchain technology is impressive and it holds itself in strong light against competitiors. The downfalls in this section obviously being the potential threats to the scalability along with the delayed released of the prototype and no Github to analyse. This section should be updated soon and we can only see it going up!
Marketing/Hype:
Social Media/Website:
There is currently No Facebook account, Bitcoin Talk or Reddit. The Twitter is very new and has 1200 + followers and relatively active postings. Website is well made – simple although seems to be lacking certain information and links to reviews, social media etc. although it is relatively early stage.
Medium Account recently created on Jul 1st. Not very active with only two posts. The PR presence is picking up with articles being posted around the ICO community. AMA sessions have been more frequent popping up in ANKR Telegram as well as in Quarkchain Telegram spreading the word.
46k members. High join rate per day. Active community and admins with founders being very active amongst the general chat and AMA’s. Reply in timely matter. Members seem organic along with no airdrop. YouTube reviews are positive overall with a large array of coverage. Mentioned in TOP 7 ICO as a top ICO. Reviewed on many ICO review sites boasting positive reviews and content regarding the project.
Market Hype and Sentiment:
The market Hype for ANKR seems to still be building and is high in our opinion. The join rate on telegram has been steady and promising with organic members interested in the project continuing to push demand. There is a positive attitude and sentiment around the ANKR project and the team have aimed to deal with all questions and FUD throughout. The private sale has already sold out raising $15.95m and people are trying to find ways to invest in this 5% Crowdsale in which demand is building very quick seeming to outweigh the supply.
Rating:
The marketing team is not necessarily impressive for ANKR however the telegram avenue has been executed well. There is a very positive, helpful community with both founders and tech members responding to AMA questions of the followers and instilling confidence. The Telegram partnership appearance with Quarkchain was well done and broadcasted to a large audience positively.
With the private sale selling out and the Crowdsale only being 5% of tokens – the demand is already seeming like it will exceed the supply of tokens by far and it will be a battle for the allocation! This is positive with the continued demand following through to hopefully when the product is listed on the exchanges.
The external press and social media presence could be a bit better – however currently ANKR has gained high traction in the ICO space without significant effort and is mentioned in numerous ICO rating and YouTube channels so not necessarily an issue at all.
Overall there seems to be a strong hype in the investor communities for ANKR, irrelevant of there being other decentralized computing platform projects out there currently. The backing of strong VC funds including NEO Global Capital have played a large role in the built up hype. The project has gained great traction and we believe it will continue to do so.
Token Metrics:
Fund Breakdown:
Fund usage of token sale and allocation is as expected to be released soon.
Private Sale/Bonus:
No more private sale rounds: Only Public Sale to come which is expected to be 5% of total supply. $0.0044 Token price and sold $15.95m. 30% Private Sale. Vesting period of 6 months lock for bonus funds.
Roadmap/Timeline:
- Proof of Concept in April 2018 Complete
- Private Sale May 2018 Complete
- Whitepaper Release June 2018 Complete
- Whitelist expected by end of July.
- Prototype expected to be released by end of July.
- Crowdsale August.
No other information. Brief Roadmap on site – being updated soon.
Rating:
The hardcap currently based of the private sale is not very high considering the hardcap of other projects in the space with such strong backing. 35% of total supply of tokens is good to see.
The private sale is already sold out showing the large demand and positive sentiment for the project and it doesn’t seem like there was any huge bonuses given.
The project is at a very early stage with the POC in April and the roadmap is a let-down at the moment with both the Whitelist and the Prototype not being released yet and we are 2 days away from the end of July. No mention of the future tech or business targets in the roadmap is not promising.
With the fund breakdown and vesting periods being released soon we will have to update upon release.
X – Factor Bonus:
There have been two Fortune 500 Company partnerships confirmed by the ANKR Team, but names have not been publicly announced. We believe that these two partnerships could help in the adoption of ANKR and play an influential role on its success. However, we will know more so the impact once the companies are revealed. NEO Global and Pantera Capital partners are two well respected capital firms that put promise into the project. Along with the 30% private sale being sold out this has shown the large demand for the project.
Final Rating:
Overall, ANKR looks like a solid project. Its founding team seems quite young with mostly internship roles however they are supported strongly by Stanley and the experienced tech team’s along with business support from advisors and other members. The idea of decentralized computing is not unique, however we do like ANKR’s difference points regarding mulitple income streams and its high-throughput potential although on the downside it’s potential scalability issues in regards to PoUW. The competition is plenty in this space and ANKR will have to utilize their links with BOINC, Quarkchain and the two fortune 500 companies to propel itself in the market. The roadmap is very basic and does not show us the tech/business plans for the future months which is not positive however this is expected to be released very soon with a more detailed release of token metrics and the MVP. The lack of MVP and GitHub has led to a speculative and therefore conservative rating approach to the technology and will be more accurate in the coming weeks. The two downfalls at the moment is there being no Prototype/MVP to assess in solving the technological issues, along with the lack of Token metrics. All in All – ANKR’s sold out private sale, large community and hype and competitive differences leads us to be positive about its future! Watch closely for information in the coming days.
ALTCOIN BUZZ ICO REVIEW RATING:
This analysis was produced by The Altcoin Buzz ICO Research and Analysis Team. Members: Shashwat Gupta, Andrew Grapsas, Mohak Agarwal with the help of other members of the Altcoin Buzz Team and Community.
Disclaimer:
The information discussed in the Altcoin Buzz ICO review is not financial advice. The reviewers are crypto enthusiasts and not Financial Advisers. This information is for educational, informational and entertainment purposes only. Any information or strategies are thoughts and opinions relevant to accepted levels of risk tolerance of the writer/reviewers and their risk tolerance may be different than yours. We are not responsible for any losses that you may incur as a result of any investments directly or indirectly related to information provided. The system and numbers indicated are our own ICO rating metric and may be updated and changed according to what we believe the current ICO market trend to be. It is not to be taken as investment advice, do your own due diligence and rating before making any investments and consult your financial advisor. The reviewer may have or wish to invest and have an interest in the project reviewed. The rating is only indicative of the rating during a certain time and may have changed over time without being updated. The researched information presented we believe to be correct and accurate however there is no guarantee or warranty as to the accuracy, timeliness, completeness. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are high-risk investments so please do your due diligence. Copyright Altcoin Buzz Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.
For more information visit: https://ankr.network/
Sources Used:
https://medium.com/ankr-network