Icon (ICX)
What Is ICON Network (ICX)?
ICON Network is a layer-one blockchain from South Korea. Its declared vision is to build an interoperable blockchain network bridging autonomous online communities and real-world enterprises. ICON Network focuses on delivering real-world utility by advancing hyperconnectivity through the promotion of frictionless value exchanges.
By verifying transactions on its decentralized ledger, ICON can minimize the number of intermediaries and eradicate boundaries to cross-border interactions. In particular, the company focuses on the use cases of decentralized identity, digital certificate issuance, blockchain payments, decentralized finance, non-fungible tokens and additional use cases: e-government, elections, decentralized oracles and e-health.
Thanks to its focus on enterprise adoption, ICON was able to secure several partnerships with South Korean companies and the country’s private sector. For instance, ICONLOOP, a leading blockchain technology company in South Korea and the primary contributor to the ICON Project, leads Korea’s largest decentralized identity consortium. Also, in August 2020, the country’s Jeju island selected the company for private and secure COVID-19 contact tracing. Other partners of the Icon Network include Shinhan Bank, South Korea’s second-largest commercial bank, and Danal Fintech, the company behind Paycoin, a global payments and remittance app.
Who Are the Founders of ICON Network?
ICON Network was founded by Min Kim, the former chief strategy officer of DAYLI Financial Group, Korea’s largest fintech holding company, and the chief operating officer at Tapas Media, a U.S. digital content distribution platform. He is also an alumnus of Haas School of Business at the University of California in Berkeley. Min Kim incubated ICONLOOP, a South Korean software company behind the development of ICON Network’s loopchain. The company develops and maintains the blockchain with oversight from the ICON foundation and is as such permissionless, but not completely open-source.
What Makes ICON Network Unique?
ICON Network focuses on several different use cases to advance its declared goal of hyperconnectivity in South Korea. One is decentralized identity through Zzeung, an identity authentication and management solution. The company obtained an exclusive license from the Financial Services Commission in South Korea to provide decentralized identity services to enterprise customers in South Korea. Companies can securely store their users’ authentication information and provide facial recognition services for opening financial accounts. Data is secured through the ICON Network. Another example of decentralized identity services is Zzeung’s use for COVID-19 contact tracing.
ICON also provides digital certificate issuance, storage and verification services to South Korean universities issuing diplomas and qualification certificates. Moreover, Korea’s largest online job search platform certifies applicants’ academic and professional credentials through a digital certificate management solution secured by ICON.
Another use case is a visitor check-in and management service utilizing the ICON Network to issue unique visitor passes for cafes, restaurants, hospitals, and other venues that required tracking their visitors during the COVID pandemic.
ICON also has a thriving DeFi and NFT ecosystem connected to the Ethereum network through Orbit Bridge, allowing Ethereum based tokens to be transferred to ICON. In contrast to most DeFi products, those on ICON are heavily focused on the user experience. Examples include Balanced Network, a DeFi collaboration created to introduce stablecoins to the ICON Network, and Open Money Market, a lending and borrowing platform.
What Makes ICON Network Unique?
ICON Network focuses on several different use cases to advance its declared goal of hyperconnectivity in South Korea. One is decentralized identity through Zzeung, an identity authentication and management solution. The company obtained an exclusive license from the Financial Services Commission in South Korea to provide decentralized identity services to enterprise customers in South Korea. Companies can securely store their users’ authentication information and provide facial recognition services for opening financial accounts. Data is secured through the ICON Network. Another example of decentralized identity services is Zzeung’s use for COVID-19 contact tracing.
ICON also provides digital certificate issuance, storage and verification services to South Korean universities issuing diplomas and qualification certificates. Moreover, Korea’s largest online job search platform certifies applicants’ academic and professional credentials through a digital certificate management solution secured by ICON.
Another use case is a visitor check-in and management service utilizing the ICON Network to issue unique visitor passes for cafes, restaurants, hospitals, and other venues that required tracking their visitors during the COVID pandemic.
ICON also has a thriving DeFi and NFT ecosystem connected to the Ethereum network through Orbit Bridge, allowing Ethereum based tokens to be transferred to ICON. In contrast to most DeFi products, those on ICON are heavily focused on the user experience. Examples include Balanced Network, a DeFi collaboration created to introduce stablecoins to the ICON Network, and Open Money Market, a lending and borrowing platform.
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Cryptocurrency