We're going to review the Initial Coin Offering of XYO Network, a decentralized application to challenge the dominance of the location tracking of Google.
An Initial Coin Offering (ICO) is a campaign by the developers to raise funds for their blockchain technology. Developers of a blockchain will use the raised funds for the development, marketing, and future milestones of their project.
This article answers the question “What to look for in an ICO?”. Before investing your hard-earned money to any available ICO, better check the items if a blockchain project is feasible to have mass adoption in the future and its legitimacy.
Just a note: This is not a rating guide where 0 is the lowest and 11 is the highest. This article just serves as a guide for the things you should be looking for in an ICO and you should still DYOR.
1. Whitepaper
The whitepaper explains everything in detail about the blockchain project. Some are very technical, some are explained in layman’s terms. Some are full of graphics, some are text-based. Some are very much explained in detail, some are direct to the point.
In XYO Network: They have a detailed whitepaper in their website and it can be viewed here: https://docs.xyo.network/XYO-White-Paper.pdf
2. Roadmap
The roadmap pertains to their long term goals in planning, development, and executions of their project. This includes the planning before the ICO. Some give up to 5 years in the future while some only give one or two years of development and execution mapping. This is one of the most crucial things to check for an ICO because you can see if the developers are within the time period of launching their promised milestones such as listing to an external exchange, developing another application, and so on.
In XYO Network: They have a roadmap in their website.
3. Community and Social Media
An exquisite project has a very active community to support each other. The community is composed of the developers, investors, end-users, and supporters. They should have at least the three primary social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram.
In XYO Network: They can be reached through the top social media platforms. Also, their admins are very active in Telegram.
4. News from the Media or Blog Updates
Cryptocurrencies are not anymore just for the technical ones because Bitcoin had mainstream attention last year. Since past technologies need to be further improved in the future, mainstream and online media tend to be updated with current technological trends. A very good project should be active updating the community with events, partnerships, and other thingamajigs about them.
In XYO Network: They’re already featured by famous online sites such as Forbes, CNBC, NBC, and Forbes China.
5. Bitcointalk Announcement
The Bitcointalk forum website is regarded as the most crypto-oriented forum in the world for Bitcoin and altcoins. It is expected that the earliest adopters of crypto are there. So it’s safe to say that if you want to launch a specific blockchain technology or application, it should be first announced to the Bitcointalk community.
In XYO Network: They have an announcement in Bitcointalk website with following link: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2470481.0
6. Specific Use
Just like companies focusing on their specific industry in banking, healthcare, and electricity, crypto projects should have a specific use. The most common crypto uses in general are currency, platforms, payments, and utilities. Bitcoin is the most famous cryptocurrency. Ethereum is the most used platform because of its smart contracts. Ripple is the most common used for payments. Monero and Verge are the top privacy coins in terms of market cap. Sia is the most famous crypto-based cloud storage solution. Without a specific use, it would just be a sh*t coin.
In XYO Network: XYO Network plans to enter the real-word by offering a decentralized means of verifying the location of just about anything. Since it’s decentralized, it’s more reliable, trustless, and you wouldn’t rely on a centralized entity for location tracking. In current location tracking of Google Maps, Grab, and Uber, sometimes we’re being brought to wrong places because that’s what’s mentioned in their application. In XYO Network, it will be verified by the beacons and gadgets that are connected to the network, not relying on a central server. It can be used in e-commerce, medical care and hospitals, rental car agencies, commercial airline luggage logistics, insurance agencies, national security agencies, and drone package delivery systems.
7. Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
Most ICOs I’ve seen never had any working applications before their ICO. Whether it’s a working product, a website, or even just a prototype, an ICO should have at least a sample of their application or product also known as a Minimum Viable Product. Most ICOs were merely plans and papers where they would just start developing their application or product after raising funds. ICOs should already have at least a sample of their project to be developed in full force once their crowd funding is finished.
In XYO Network: Although it’s mentioned in the roadmap that their MVP will be launched in the 1st and 2nd quarter of 2018, since we’re still in the 2nd quarter, their website doesn’t mention of any MVP yet.
8. Token Distribution
In their whitepaper or their website, it should be clearly stipulated how they are going to distribute their tokens. Meaning, they should be very transparent to indicate how many tokens would be available for the public crowd sale, how many tokens for the marketing efforts, how many tokens would be given to the development team, and so on.
In XYO Network: Their token distribution is detailed in their whitepaper.
9. Maximum Supply
The main reason Bitcoin had unbelievable price increase in 2017 because it only has a finite supply and its current distribution of around 17 million is nearing its max supply. Just compare it to the analogies of cars. A Ferrari and a Lambo will always be more expensive than a Toyota and a Mazda. You should also read about a coin burn for unsold tokens in their whitepaper. Since a crypto should have a max supply, they won’t be distributing new tokens after the ICO so there would surely be an increase in price in the future.
In XYO Network: Based from the ICO Rating website, they have a maximum supply of 100 billion XYO tokens. Since unsold tokens will be burned, it’s just right that the total projected XYO supply in their website is around 24 billion.
10. Publicized Team
The team is behind it all. From the planning stage, to development, execution, and of course for future milestones, the team behind the blockchain project should always be checked. You should verify their names and affiliations especially in LinkedIn if their reputation has been kept in pristine condition or if they had been part of some malicious activities in the past. ICOs should publicize the team behind the project so they can be held accountable for problems that may arise in the future.
In XYO Network: Their team is posted on their website.
11. Partnerships
Since blockchain technology is just in its infancy, many businesses built on traditional platforms may be wary of adopting or partnering with companies built on top of blockchain. If prior the ICO they already have a working application or product, add that to the years of expertise and connections of the team behind the project, they should have at least some partners with their project.
XYO Network: They have some several partners listed on their website already.
Summary:
In summary, here are the items to check: whitepaper, roadmap, community and social media channels, news or blog updates, Bitcointalk announcement, specific use, usable product or application, token distribution details, maximum supply, publicized team, and partnerships. Out of 11, XYO Network has ten of them, lacking only one.
Just a disclaimer for everyone: This is not an investment advice. Invest at your own risk. Invest only the amount you can afford to lose because the world of crypto is a very speculative one. No one can predict the price of any crypto.
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Website: https://xyo.network/
Whitepaper: https://xyo.network/whitepaper/
Bitcointalk Announcement: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3040825.0
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/xyonetwork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/XYOracleNetwork
Telegram: https://t.me/xyonetwork
Author: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1767289