Hello ICONists,
Every month Ricky Dodds, ICON’s Head of Institutional Markets and Contributor Relations, participates in a community AMA session on the Official ICON Subreddit. Below is a transcript from the May 2019 session. The content is divided into 4 sections (Business, Development, Marketing and Other). If you have any questions, be sure to tune in to the next AMA session which usually occur in the 1st week of each month.
Business
Q: My question is based on the business partners mentioned in the latest roadmap:
“DID based service is launched with business partner”
“Vault feature is launched with business partner”
“Launch of secret voting service with business partners on public blockchain”
“Stable coin service is launched with business partner”
My questions for ama- are these business partners identified / agreements in place or speculative of future business partners? Thanks!
A: Yes, we’ve identified partners. Once finalized/confirmed, we will release those details.
Q: Do we have any updates on MOU’s ICONLOOP signed back in 2017/2018, Samsung, Deloitte etc?
A: To my knowledge, there’s no update from last month’s AMA. That said, I’ll double check if there’s anything noteworthy we can release.
Q: How will ICON try to bring value to the ICX token in the future?
A: Near term we want to increase network participation and adoption by building and/or supporting the build of useable applications and features in the ecosystem.
Q: What will the p-rep rewards be and what does ICON think about the effect that will have on token value? Increased selling pressure should lead to cheaper ICX in my opinion, which doesn’t look too promising for new investors.
A: P-Reps should be taking a longer term view. However, like you, I believe selling pressure is a risk. You should consider this when voting for P-Reps. As far as rewards, we’ll be releasing more details in the coming days.
Q: If the proof of concept is going well with the insurance companies, hospitals and banks that has been going on since last fall. Are there any plans or meetings set up with the majors players in those respective industries to expand beyond Korea to Canada, Europe, USA, or south or Central America. I mean it’s an easy concept to understand making things more efficient with smart contracts. Is there a group or team from Icon that is making appointments to pitch the idea to all those other countries to expand the global reach since they are fantastic use cases. Are there appointments currently being set up for initial meetings with either individual hospitals and insurance companies or major universities in these countries to get the smart contract platform set up and get the rest of the world in those respective industries in the icon ecosystem. Those are 3 great use cases that can be expanded to other counties with the right meetings set in place.
A: Yes, we have global aspirations. There is a team in place that is currently exploring BD opportunities in the geographies listed above (and Africa among others).
Q: Will there be an update regarding the ‘Samsung Secruity’ partnership in the near future?
A: We are always looking for ways to deepen our relationships with high quality companies, such as Samsung. To the extent updates are available, we will share those accordingly.
At this time, I don’t have anything new to share.
Q: Does Icon expect that ICONLOOP’s private partners will opt to publish their data on ICON’s public chain?
A: Yes. I think that in general public/private blockchains will converge over time as the technology matures.
Q: What is the benefit to a private company using ICONLOOP technology to publish its data on ICON’s public chain?
A: Immutability, transparency, and cost efficiencies. Some use cases include: proof of ownership, authorization, and identity
Q: Will a company opting to publish its data on ICON’s public chain require ICX token to accomplish that?
A: Yes, any interaction with the public chain will require ICX.
Q: Considering this article “South Korea financial regulator authorizes 9 fintech blockchain firms for trial operations”:
Is ICON, ICONLOOP or DAYLI one of the companies given room for trial operations?
A: Hello! Unfortunately, I don’t believe we’re apart of this group.
Q: How is that possible? You are “number 1 blockchain in South Korea, one of the largest blockchain networks in the world, backed by Korean government, focused on Korean market” and have not been authorized by SK financial regulator but 9! others have been ?? Why so? It’s not important for Iconloop and you didn’t try or you were refused? I just can’t understand how these things going out
A: To provide a bit of context, there were 3 blockchain solutions (ie applications or implementations) selected for the 1st batch to be included in the fintech sandbox (of a total of 18 solutions). Unfortunately, the title of the cointelegraph is misleading; there weren’t 9 blockchain firms selected. As you know, fintech covers a wide spectrum of new technologies (ai, machine learning, natural language etc). Blockchain is just one part of this initiative.
The 3 blockchain solutions chosen at this time are:
- Directional will be testing a stock lending platform based on blockchain technology offering stock lending and borrowing services for individual investors;
- KOSCOM will be testing a blockchain-based financial service that computerizes and updates the list of shareholders of non-listed small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and provides assistance for peer-to-peer (P2P) over-the-counter (OTC) trading of such stocks; and
- Kasa Korea will be testing a blockchain-based financial services platform that issues and distributes mortgage-backed securities (MBS) in a form of electronic securities.
An ICONLOOP solution can be added in a later batch.
This article does a good job of explaining:
Q: I know where Icx token worth derives from, they need to interconnect private and public blockchains but I feel somehow we got worthless ICOs in the end and bunch of MOUs with no clear usecases. And even more, that Blue moon event was for me OK back in January 2018 BUT a lot of dApps quit on Icon or simply vanished. They need to get their shit together and get the job done. Hospitals, insurance firms, universities, etc etc public and private blockchains…LINE, Deloitte and so on. Whats the situation on that now? Also what about 300 new dApps on Icon in next 3 years? Whats with that event New kids on the blockchain?!?!
A: I discussed DApps in greater detail in prior AMA’s. But in short, the bear market has had an impact on many DApps funding situations and the ability to execute their expansion plans. We’re seeing a pick up in activity recently and hope the market supports this expected growth. As far as MoU’s I believe I touched on most of those mentioned above. I’ll check to see if there’s anything noteworthy we can disclose.
Development
Q: We see some status on interopetability in the latest update, but can you let community know the approx time frame when this feature will be complete. Since ICON was primarily focussed on interoperability, we would like to be first to achieve this before the competitors like Cosmos or others
A: Hello! I agree. It’s still the main focus and we’d love to complete portions of BTP (our interoperability solution) ahead of others (such as Cosmos (w/ IBC) etc)). JH gave some commentary on the timing in a recent interview. I think the timeframe he mentioned is a reasonable framework for the community.
Q: How far is ICONLOOP with the development of interoperability?
A: Please reference the latest monthly development update and recent JH interview.
Q: 22 nodes is the intial node count. But that cant be ICONs final goal? How decentralized is a 22 node network? and are there any current plans to add more nodes in the future to let say 100 nodes, 1000 nodes etc?
A: I’d expect the number to grow over time. Personally, I can’t point to a ‘good number’ on what’s decentralized enough (maybe several hundred or even more?). But ultimately those decisions will be made by P-Reps and something to keep in mind as you vote for P-Rep candidates in the coming months.
Fwiw, I think this is an excellent question to ask each one of the candidates.
Q: any chance we will be able to stake through our ledger wallet?
A: Yes, staking will be possible through ledger.
Q: My question is around ICON’s work on Stable Tokens. Will we, as outsiders, have the possibility to know for sure that a created Stable Token is backed 1–1 with real tangible assets ie USD?
A: I think the burden of proof probably falls with the provider. If our provider utilizes a fiat collateralized stable coin, audit-ability will be extremely important.
Q: How does ICON / ICX benefit from ICONLOOP being an AWS Advanced Technology Partner (ATP) where AWS offers blockchains built on IBM Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum.
Secondly, the Samsung MOU is not being addressed. Not giving an answer is being interpreted as ‘something = not right’, either say you can’t reveal info or things don’t work out, but silence kills credibility after what we have been through.
A: AWS is agnostic to blockchain technology providers to my knowledge. Think of it more as a distribution arm. By partnering, they can support our technology for AWS clients.
For the separate question, we’ve addressed the MoU in prior AMA iterations. We haven’t been silent. Unfortunately, we don’t have further details to provide at this time.
Q: When does Icon expect to have interoperability functionality completed?
A: I touched on this in some of the prior questions. Hopefully that info answers your question
Q: How long will the P-reps be in testnet environment? April 2019 until Q4 2019 seems to be not enough time to fully test the nodes? When will they be allowed to go live on the mainnet? Because until then nothing is really decentralized and mainnet is only an illusion. Can the Q4 2019 window be delayed and will that be communicated accordingly?
A: Hello! We don’t anticipate any delays with fully decentralizing the nodes.
If there are any delays, those will be telegraphed in advance. But again, we don’t foresee any issues with our timeline for staking to start in August (with full decentralization to happen in September).
Q: Can you confirm staking will be operationnal starting August ?
A: Confirmed. More details will come out in the coming days.
Marketing
Q: I would like to know if there are any plans to increase the marketing efforts of ICON, either by the official team, or a 3rd party agency
A: Yes, we have a 3rd party coming on board. Internal resources are also focusing on efforts.
Q: What has happened with Icx stations? What value has it brought to Icon? All the talk with repurchase? Where is this now?
A: I answered this in either last month’s AMA or the prior edition. But to recap…Outside of the investing/acceleration responsibilities, ICX Stations are also focused on integrations, migrations and general BD for the ICON network.
Other
Q: Do you have some insights about the korean government policy about ICO ? will it be back anytime soon ? are there some rumors ?
A: Sadly, I don’t have any intel with regards to the ICO policy in Korea.
Q: What has pilot project for importing ecommerce with Icx token? And what about voting system for Korea? What does Icx token for this? I suppose nothing. Its just one win for your private side of the company. And if icx token is needed in this, why have we seen total big decline both in volume and satoshis?
A: As you know, ICX will be necessary any time you interact with the public blockchain. Please see recent example with Seoul Metro (utilizing ICX). More examples of this will be provided in due course.
As always, please feel free to reach out to us if you ever have questions about ICONation and thank you for stopping by our Medium for the latest!
By Iconists, for Iconists
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