What is ICON?
ICON is a project that was developed by a Korean company called theloop. Theloop’s engineering team began working on the project in June 2015. It aims to make it possible for people to use the ICX token to purchase goods and services directly from the organizations that are operating on the ICON Network.
The ICON blockchain uses ICX as its currency. ICX tokens can be used to generate other tokens within ICON.
Some of the project that theloop has been working on include:
- Creating insurance claims automation platform for the Korea Healthcare Consortium
- Generating a payment system that accepts digital currency payments for the Korea University Consortium
- Developing a proof-of-concept for YINC’s crowdfunding platform
Many communities are forming across the globe for various business purposes and relationships. Due to the recent growth of the blockchain sector, the number of these communities is highly likely to increase.
In such an environment, many tasks will be handled through smart contracts which will reduce the roles played by intermediaries and centralized agencies. ICON takes pride in being the first blockchain platform in the world to connect several self-regulating blockchains, allowing them to carry out transactions freely and securely in real time.
How does ICON work?
The main aim of ICON project is to connect various activities in a country through the blockchain. The project aims to create an open source environment that allows different organizations such as universities, hospitals, government departments and financial institutions to interact with each other freely.
There is no intermediary involved. Hence, it reduces delay in various processes and removes the high transaction fees that are usually charged by mediators.
ICON Foundation – The Team
ICON Foundation team members include leading technologists in cryptocurrencies and blockchain and experts in the finance sector. More than 150 people have contributed to making ICON a success. Among them are the ICON foundation council.
They include:
- EJ Eee- theloop’s CEO
- JH Kim- theloop’s CEO
- Jay Kim- theloop’s CFO
- Hoon Lee- CSO of theloop’s CSO
- Min Kim- theloop’s CBDO
ICON also has Don Tapscott, the co-founder of the Blockchain Research Institute, Jehan Chu, the Managing Partner of Kenetic Capital and Jason Best, the co-founder of Crowdfund Capital advisors as for their advisors.
The team has an extensive engineering and computer science background. They are also supported by other team members who are all listed on the ICON Foundation website.
ICON Network
The ICON Network involves several self-governing blockchains working together. ICON facilitates transactions between these independent blockchains with different governances.
ICON can be used for e-commerce, hospitals, security firms, insurance, universities, and much more. The network currently hosts communities with the mentioned institutions. It has decentralized apps (Dapps) which include blockchain identity and payment apps. Security organizations can also use the network for blockchain identification systems and verification.
ICON Network Features
The ICON network consists of the following essential elements:
- Payment and a decentralized exchange
The ICON wallet is used to transfer and exchange currencies within the ICON community in real time, through a decentralized exchange (DEX).
- Compatibility
ICON works with other blockchains including Ethereum and Bitcoin. It also has plans underway to integrate with real-world currencies.
- Decentralized governance
Each blockchain has its governance and an equal chance of being represented, hence democracy. There are also representation channels that can be used to recommend policies and vote.
- Loopchain
Loopchain allows modification of the smart contracts so that they can meet various operational needs and be connected to other ledger networks available on the ICON platform.
- Loop Fault Tolerance
This is an algorithm that can process vast amounts of transactions in real time. Loop Fault Tolerance enables a fast consensus and guarantees that an agreement will be concluded without any errors.
- Smart Contract On Reliable Environment (SCORE)
This is an improved feature of Loopchain. It is a smart contract platform. It ensures that high-performance smart contracts run directly with a single virtual machine.
- Blockchain Signature Infrastructure (BSI)
BSI is established using smart contract technology. It allows the construction of digital signature infrastructures such as the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).
ICON Token Sale
The ICON Exchange token sale begun on October 20th, 2017. The starting price was set at 2,500 ICX token per 1 ETH. Ethereum was the only currency that was accepted during this sale.
What is the future of ICON Foundation?
ICON is one of the most advanced blockchain projects in the world. It has a well-established technology and strong partnerships with several large companies and government affiliates. It is a strong competitor among other blockchains with a good upside potential.
ICON may face challenges expanding outside of Korea due to culture, language barrier, and first-mover advantage of other blockchains. Also, uncertainties are surrounding the ICO regulatory environment in Korea, and facilitating ICOs is a potential use case for ICON.
ICON aims to interlink various blockchains and allow inter-blockchain transactions. It also has a plethora of exciting use cases typical of a blockchain project of its caliber.
The mainnet is set to launch in the next few weeks, and we are incredibly excited to see the ICON project come to fruition.
