Such an intense price surge is no joke. ICON’s native token ICX has rallied to its all-time high since August 2018. Is this its moonshot? We don’t know for sure but it definitely trivializes Bitcoin’s 25.8% gain in the first 30 days of 2020.
If someone happened to be active in crypto space during early 2018, s/he knows this is not the first time this kind of price surge happens to ICX.
In January 2018, ICX was trading at its all-time high of $13.16. It was riding the crypto bull with a promising idea and concept. On top, it released the ICO bang on time and positioned itself among the coins that 100xed in 2018.
But then the coin lost 99.133968 % of its value. Along with that drifted the trust of token holders. As a result, ICX faced it all: from being called the Korean Ethereum to quick cash grabbers.
Why the pump now?
There happen to be two primary reasons, fueling the pump:
- Technology- ICON is ready with market-ready products that support mass adoption of blockchain;
- Geo-Political – South Korean government is encouraging the growth of blockchain technology. And the ICON products are in complete alignment with the sectors the government is eyeing.
Source: msit.go.kr
In 2018, ICX went with the bull. Did it have a working product? The answer is “No”.
Right now, things are different. Commendably, the team continued to build what they believe in.
Ready Products and Services
- LoopChain – Proprietary Blockchain Core Engine
- MyID and MyID Alliance- Decentralized ID
- DPASS – Manages both identity and Cryptocurrency
- #broof – Online certificate issuance service
- Chain ID – World’s first blockchain joint certification service with 26 domestic securities companies
- ICONex – Multi-currency Wallet
- ICONick- A unique Wallet ID for the wallet address
- ICON Vote – a Communication platform for P-reps and ICX investors
According to Min Kim, the ICON co-founder, the ICONLOOP partnership has played an instrumental role in driving the success of ICON. In addition to building products and services, the IconLoop foundation kept generating revenue to support product development.
Staking stirring the interest
In 2019, ICON staking and the rewards excited lots of ICON proponents. And its P-Rep community swears that staking ICX is ridiculously easy. Currently, the community is excited about:
- The Daily dividend;
- Close to 18% staking returns.
Funding and Revenue Performance
One area where ICON lagged was marketing its milestone achievements. And it seems to have taken its marketing gimmick seriously since it went completely decentralized in late 2019.
- In the first quarter of 2019, Jong-Hyeop Kim, CEO of Icon Loop shared the company had generated annual sales of $ 8.4 million;
- In the last quarter of 2019, the technology partner, ICONLOOP raised over $8 million in a Series A investment round;
- The project is also supported by massive Korean investment funds like Kenetic Capital.
Partnerships
While ICON kept expanding its team, it continued to partner with other blockchain projects, government bodies, and enterprises.
Government Alliances
- Seoul plans to launch their Cryptocurrency the S-Coin in 2020 and the Samsung SDS and ICONLOOP are the technology partners;
- ICONLOOP announced working with Financial Supervisory Service and Korea Internet and Security Agency. This is in relation to the recent anti-spam agreement;
- South-Korean Army will receive a blockchain-upgrade very soon. And it will use ICON blockchain;
- Works closely with South Korean Investment and Financial Consortium
- Associated with The Korea Healthcare company which the largest operator in the South Korean market.
- Has developed an offline payment system for the Association of Universities of South Korea.
Blockchain Partnerships and listings
- Recently, ICON partnered with LINE, ChainLink, and more reputed projects
- Crypto.com listed ICX
- Binance US-listed ICX
- Hardware Ledger wallet supports ICX
Enterprise Alliances
- It plans to tokenize Gold with the largest exchange in Korea
- Has over 45+ corporations with MyID Alliance program
- ICON discussed its drone integration with a billion-dollar company today
- #Broof certificates will be introduced in the USA soon.
In National News
ICX is receiving a potential pump from South Korea. And does not seem to be a politically driven pump. The projects by IconLoop have been featured in national news multiple times. This is a rare event for blockchain technology. Moreover, the ICON projects are in alignment with what the government plans to achieve. Thus the belief of South Korean citizens in ICON seems to be fortifying:
- MYiD Featured in the news
- ICON ChainLink partnership made it to National News
- Product DID was featured on National News
Current Drawbacks
- The ICX wallet is clunky as compared to the existing players in the crypto wallet market.
- IconLoop App Download stats or the month of January failed to impress us.
Source: Sensortower.com
Here is a video from ICON that details how they are using their blockchain technology products every day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShIdaW97sFc&feature=youtu.be
Final takeaway
Admittedly, nothing has changed fundamentally to flare up the ICX price. However, it still seems like ICON has a lot to offer and might be a highly undervalued project, which is reaping its hard work now. Let time be the better judge whether this is just another hype or something more.
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